October 10th : Swaroop Venkat Yellapragada :

In 2013, I called up swaroop on his birthday and asked him "what did you achieve in these 25 years" he laughed it out but was dumb struck for a moment not knowing what to say. He had one year to find an answer for that. Little did he he know that his childhood buddy found the answer for him in the same one year. So swaroop sit back and relax reading this as I wish you on your 26th Birthday. I am awesome my friend and one of the first names which comes into my mind when I ask myself 'why I am awesome' is you.

A Mother, A Father, A Teacher

I met Swaroop when I was in Class 5. he was this extremely confident, arrogant and cool dude who loved knowing everything and being there for anyone who wanted any kind of help from him. He had to be the best in everything. He believed he was the best and he loved people around him. This is something which I was very new to. I forced myself into becoming an introvert but luckily Swaroop was one of the few persons who saw the wild side of me in school. We travelled together everyday and for the next 5 years he was a part of my family and I forced my self to be a part of his. At every important situation in my school I learned from him. He made sure that I was being guided properly. This is me concentrating on what good about everyone but back then I was this idiotic monster who would never trust anyone. But I enjoyed every moment being with him, arguing with him,trying to prove him wrong, make him look bad and best of the best wanting to be him. Its in class 10 I finally realised that Vamshi needs an Identity not as Swaroop's friend but Vamshi himself. We grew apart from there on. I never told him why I stopped talking to him but I did eventually distanced myself from him as I strongly believed that he was being a bad influence on me. what I took 8 years to find out later that he was not perfect. It was my expectation for him to be perfect. It was my disappointment which made me angry when he was not what I wanted to be. No matter how much hatred I had towards him, he never dropped that concern for me. Life's some of the best memories I had were made in his presence no matter how small they were, I always get a wide smile when I recollect them. He not only taught me how to dress, how to behave, how to talk, how to respond, how to be confident but also trained me in finding my self. This is a son writing about his father. This is a student writing about his teacher. Now replace 'him' with 'her' and 'he' with 'she' in every sentence and what you will see is a son writing about his mother.  In one of the short film stories I wrote, there is a line which says 'Janma ichina thalli prema lo Swardham undadhu'. As I write this, I am proud to announce this statement in a different version 'Punarjnama ichina Mithruni prema lo Eersha udadhu'. You are stuck with me Swaroop for a life time.

I am not good in remembering places, names, routes but I do remember that

• Swaroop's Maturthi 800 had a name plate 'AIV 405', 
• His sister Shilpa akka taught me how to dance for 'Yeh mere dil' from Kaho na Pyaar hein' 
• He was the first person to show me what internet is. 'Vamshi_regalla@yahoo.com' is the email id he created for me.
• He was the first person to teach me how to solve one side of a Rubix cube
• He was the first person to show me what a walkman does and thats how I listened to the first Hindi-pop song 'Kya surat Hein' by Bombay vikings.
• He was the first person to teach me that one should remember surnames more as that gives the other person more respect.
• He was the first person to tell me that AOC stands for 'Army Ordinance Corps' , ATM stands for 'Automatic Teller Machine' and that there will be signature of  RBI's governer on every Indian currency note.

The God 

I love mytholgy ever since I was introduced to it in my chilhood, And I never believed in throwing everything over God. I was never scared of Him but loved his stories and treated him as my Friend. May be thats the reason I see God in Everyone including one in the mirror. Swaroop used to tease me in school that I have a big mouth. May be thats the reason I started to believe that I was Hanuman for him and I treat him as my Lord Ram. He was always there to motivate me and give me that boost up I always needed. Even when the whole world was against me, he stood next to me saying 'You know what you are doing. I believe you' . No matter where I am, No matter what I do, My life's one of the biggest achievement is winning his friendship. Lord hanuman tore his heart to show that there was Sri ram and Sita mata in his heart. How lucky should I be this Hanuman be on knowing that I have a special place in my Lord Ram's Heart.

Ever since I started writing short film stories, Swaroop was gladly reading them and playing the main protagonist role in few of them. He was my Hero. He loved my stories. He once said that some day he would expect a book written by me. I lately realised that I am an ardent disciple like Annamayya writing my keerthanas as short films for lord Venkatesawara. I believe it now that Venkata Swaroop will have his disciple's Bhakti for the rest of his life. This is what you have achieved in these 26 years my friend. I have only one thing to say. you never understood why people around you had so much confidence and faith in you but you never believed it yourself. I too was the same and I found out the solution.  This is what I did and its my responsibility to let you know. Fix a date and strongly believe that its important to you. Believe it and you will be the change you always wanted to be. Aug15th 2014 is the date I chose. It's your turn my friend. Librans rock, You always said that. 

We do because 

• We Just do things we don't give explainations, excuses and reasons
• We forgive what is bad to us and appreciate what is good for us. Thats the balance
• We value people more than anything
• We are one of the best peope to put Money to its right use. We 'Spend' money in the best way.
• We love and spread it all around us.
• We forget and let go of people who cannot understand our true intentions. That's the patience.
• We tame the beast in us better than any other person. We know how to hurt people thats why we are always careful on what ever we speak.
• We think and that's why we exist.
• We dream big, even if its a long journey, we know how to take the first step
• We are the Spiders, every King needs; inspiring them to keep on moving every time they fall into failure.

Thalliivi Neevey

Thandrivi Neevey

Guruvu Neevey

Daivam Nuvvey

Shakthi Nivvu !!

Happy Birthday Swaroop.

Stay Awesome

Keep SMiling.