Ritikesh Sharma Aka Boxer

Some People Become Part of Your Story

If I ever had to write an autobiography about my college life, there would be certain people whose names would automatically become part of the story. Ritikesh Sharma, better known as Boxer, would definitely be one of them.

I met him in college, and at that time, I had no idea that this guy would eventually become such an important part of my life. He had a background in boxing from his school days, while I was a Taekwondo player. So naturally, sports became the first bridge between us. Boxing and Taekwondo gave us something to talk about, but eventually the conversations moved far beyond sports.

We started talking, then became friends, and slowly something much deeper developed. I don't even remember exactly when it happened. There was no particular day when I thought, "This guy is now my brother." It just happened over time.

The Beginning of Our Friendship

During college, we started spending more and more time together. Second semester was probably when our friendship really started becoming what it is today.

We would go out for Bombay cutting chai, have cigarettes, talk about random things, make stupid plans and simply enjoy being around each other. There was nothing extraordinary about most of those days. In fact, most of them were completely ordinary.

But sometimes, ordinary days become the most valuable memories of your life.

With Boxer, I never had to pretend to be someone else. I could simply be myself. We could sit together without talking, talk for hours about nothing, or suddenly make some completely unnecessary plan and actually go through with it.

Somewhere in all those small moments, he stopped feeling like just a friend.

He started feeling like someone of my own.

When We Decided to Live Together

By the third semester, we decided to shift together into a new 2BHK flat. Looking back, I think living together changed our friendship completely.

When you live with someone, you don't just see their good side. You see their habits, laziness, mood swings, bad decisions, good decisions, the way they handle money, the way they behave when they are tired and the way they treat people when nobody is watching.

And that's when I got to know Boxer properly.

We used to cook together. He was learning cooking and was actually a quick learner. I knew a little bit too, but honestly, I was much lazier. Boxer would often wash the utensils and help with the cooking while I found ways to avoid doing my part.

He never made a big issue out of it.

We also had dreams of building our own agency. We would sit together and discuss ideas, talk about work, imagine what we could build and plan our future. The only problem was consistency. Planning was never the issue. Following the plan was.

Still, those conversations mattered because we were dreaming together.

The Days When Money Disappeared

Our financial management was honestly terrible.

The month would start, money would come in, and somehow by the first or second week, most of it would already be gone. Then we would spend the rest of the month figuring out how to survive.

There were days when we would ask friends for money just to have cigarettes. There were days when we ate only once or twice. There were even days when we went to sleep hungry.

But I never considered those moments as something sad.

We weren't poor. We were just young, careless with money and extremely bad at planning our monthly expenses.

And somehow, even those difficult days became memories.

What mattered to me was that Boxer never judged me. He was supportive, genuine and simple. He never made me feel less because of money or circumstances.

That quality stayed with me.

The Things That Never Mattered Between Us

Boxer is from Bihar and was born and brought up in Sikkim. But throughout our friendship, I never once felt that his caste, religion or background made him different from me.

I never looked at him through those labels.

He was just Boxer.

My friend. My roommate. My brother.

That's one of the things I value most about our friendship. There was never a discussion about who came from where or who belonged to what. None of that mattered.

I think sometimes you realize what a genuine friendship is when you stop noticing differences altogether.

And with him, I stopped noticing them a long time ago.

Nepal Became One of Our Biggest Memories

On 31st December, we went to Nepal together.

I had around ₹1.25 lakh in savings at that time, and somehow I managed to spend approximately ₹82,000 of my own money in just nine days.

I never once thought about how much Boxer was supposed to contribute. I never looked at him like someone I had to calculate expenses with.

He was my own.

We spent around six days in Kathmandu, staying in a dorm, exploring the city, eating, walking around and doing whatever came to our minds. There was a lot of food, a lot of fun and, because of Saif's pastry obsession, probably more pastries than necessary.

Then we went to Pokhara.

We rented two bikes, an Xpulse and a Bullet, and started exploring. We went skating, ate a lot, went boating and basically tried to enjoy every possible moment.

The Boat Incident I Still Remember

One of the funniest memories from Pokhara happened during boating.

I somehow managed to take the air out of my own surf boat and then jumped onto Boxer's boat.

He got scared and suddenly started speaking in a completely different voice.

I looked at him and asked, "Aise kyun bol raha hai? Teri awaaz ko kya hua?"

He simply replied, "Main aise hi bolta hoon."

And I told him, "Bhai, main tere saath itne time se reh raha hoon. Maine teri ye awaaz kabhi nahi suni."

It was such a stupid conversation, but these are the moments that stay.

Years later, I probably won't remember exactly where we went that day or what we ate, but I will remember that weird voice.

That's what friendship does. It turns meaningless moments into memories.

The Person Behind Boxer

One thing I have always noticed about him is that he thinks about other people.

He would often buy something and think about getting something for someone else too. He naturally cared about people. He didn't need to announce it or prove it.

That's simply how he was.

Eventually, we shifted again, this time into a 3BHK flat. By then, living together had become normal. The same food, the same cigarettes, the same conversations, the same plans, the same arguments and the same nonsense.

And yes, Boxer sometimes got a little too involved in love.

But even then, his heart was always in the right place.

Then Life Took Me to Kerala

Eventually, I moved to Kerala.

That changed our routine. We were no longer living together every day. No more random conversations whenever we wanted. No more walking into the next room just to ask something stupid.

Life moved forward.

My smoking also reduced a lot. These days, it's maximum one or two cigarettes a day. But strangely, whenever I go to a restaurant, go running or step outside for a cigarette, I think about him.

Sometimes there is no particular reason.

I just remember him.

I think that's what happens when someone becomes part of your everyday life. You don't only miss the person. You miss the routine that came with them.

We Are Still in the Same Story

The good thing is that this isn't really a goodbye.

Boxer is still in college, and we'll meet again soon.

And I already know that when we meet, there probably won't be some dramatic emotional reunion. We'll probably meet, talk normally, make fun of each other, have chai, maybe smoke a cigarette and start the same old bakchodi as if nothing changed.

That's probably what makes our friendship special.

We don't need a special occasion to reconnect.

Why Boxer Became My Brother

When I look back at my college life, I realize that Boxer wasn't just someone I met during those years.

He became part of the experience itself.

He was there during the days when we had money and during the days when we didn't. He was there when we were planning our agency, when those plans failed because of our inconsistency, when we were cooking, when we were hungry, when we were travelling and when we were simply wasting time together.

We shared flats.

We shared food.

We shared cigarettes.

We shared problems.

We shared dreams.

And somewhere between all of that, we became brothers.

I never decided that he was going to become my brother. It happened naturally.

A Person I Will Always Consider My Own

There are many people you meet in life.

Some stay for a few months.

Some stay for years.

Some remain friends because you have a history together.

And then there are a few people who become part of you in a way that doesn't really depend on distance or time.

Boxer is one of those people for me.

I don't care how much time passes or where life takes either of us. I know that whenever I look back at my college years, his name will always be somewhere in those memories.

Ritikesh Sharma, AKA Boxer, will always be one of the most genuine connections I made during college.

And maybe that's all I really want to say.

I don't usually express these things directly, but if I were writing the story of my life, I would want this chapter to exist exactly as it happened.

No exaggeration.

No dramatic ending.

Just two guys who met because one boxed and the other did Taekwondo, started talking, became friends, lived together, travelled together, struggled together, laughed together, and somewhere along the way became brothers.

We will meet soon.

And when we do, I'll probably just look at him and say,

Ladle, Kase Ho?

And everything will feel normal again.

Even When I Don't Pick Up

Funny thing is, today you called me and I didn't pick up. Maybe I was busy, maybe I didn't feel like talking at that moment, or maybe I just missed the call. But the truth is, even when I don't pick up your call, I still miss you, man.

Sometimes you don't realize how much someone means to you until you see their name on your phone and suddenly remember everything you've shared. The flats, the chai, the cigarettes, the random conversations, the fights, the travelling, the hunger, the stupid decisions and all the moments that somehow became memories.

I may not always pick up your call. I may not always say it. I may even act like everything is normal. But somewhere inside, I still think about you every day.

And honestly, I don't need a reason to miss you anymore.

I just do.

We'll meet soon, we'll sit together again, and probably talk about everything except this.

But for now, all I want to say is:

I didn't pick up your call today, but I still miss you, man.

Love you, Man!

- Faiz