🤝 Reconnecting after years abroad

Last week someone added me to our old school batch WhatsApp group. I've been abroad for 8 years. Within a day I was scrolling through photos I'd completely forgotten. Bad haircuts, a farewell day, a cricket trophy. Nicknames came back instantly. Someone still calls me by my tenth class nickname, and I answered. Some friends are still in Hyderabad, a few moved cities, and 3 or 4 are abroad like me. Then the catching up started, and it was a lot. Marriages, kids, job changes, 2 friends who lost a parent. One friend went through a divorce and told it in 3 short messages, like it was weather news. 8 years of news came in one evening. I read it on the bus and missed my stop. Some chats felt like we'd never stopped talking. Others felt like meeting a cousin I barely knew. Now we're trying to plan one video call with the whole batch. It's harder than it sounds. People are in the Gulf, the US and India, and everyone's evening is someone else's morning. Half the group hasn't heard each other's voices since school ended. We only know each other's typing. Someone made a poll for Friday and it got 9 votes for 5 different times. I don't want this to fade in 2 weeks like these groups usually do. I've promised myself to message at least 2 people directly every month, not just post memes. Has anyone done this after a long gap? Did it feel natural or did you have to work at it? Also, how do you pick a time when everyone is in a different zone?

I got back in touch with my college batch after 6 years and the first week was loud. Then it went quiet. What kept ours alive was 1 friend posting a random question every Sunday. Some people felt like strangers at first. I decided that was okay, and spoke to them 1 on 1. Those private chats are the ones that stuck, more than the group.

Our batch did a video call last year, 19 people on one screen, and 5 of them talking at once. Nobody could hear anything and it was the best 40 minutes I've had in months. Let the person in the most awkward time zone pick the hour, since everyone else can bend. Someone will drop out, and that's fine. The ones who come will carry it.

Good that it happened by accident. Those group chats usually start loud and die in a week. I'd bet a few of them were also quietly checking how you're doing abroad before they warmed up. That's how old batches go, a bit of showing off first, then the nicknames come out. Hope the video call gets a real date. Pick one day yourself and just announce it.