“Mom…where’s my black shirt…?” I yelled out loudly…
And there she starts muttering about how irresponsible, clumsy and unorganised I am.
I start finding my beloved black shirt cursing myself to be on time from tomorrow, only to find it crumpled and lying in one corner of my cupboard.
Unfortunately, on the first day of my college, I was the last one to arrive at the Orientation Programme.
“May I come in Sir…?” I asked and all heads in the hall turned towards me….Ohh I just so hate being in such a situation.
“So young boys and girls, this is a perfect example of a casual life, which you tend to get into once you are in college, which I was just saying about”, the example in this case being referred to as ME.
“Ohh Fuck”… I cursed myself with bated breath.
So I was let in and I made myself comfortable in the last bench of the gallery classroom.
I don’t know what the teachers ranted about for the next half an hour. I was lost in another world when suddenly the guy just in front of me nudged me and asked me to give my introduction to the teachers.
I stood up and said “Good morning, my fellow professors and my respected classmates…My name is Dev Bhattacharya”…and there was a huge roar of laughter in the classroom.
“Sorry” I said and finished with my intro, this time without making any mistakes.
Sweet packets were distributed at the end of the programme after which the professors left.
I immediately left the classroom and went to the notice board just outside the classroom.
“Hey, where is the time table put up?”
I turned around to look at a very beautiful girl, with a charming smile on her face n brightly lit up kohl lined eyes. I was lost again.
“Excuse me, Are you OK?” she asked
I got my senses back.
“Ya” I said without looking at her, fearing to be dumbstruck again if I look into her eyes.
“Ya, it’s here” I said pointing with my finger to the place on the notice board where it was put up.
“You are Dev rite?” she said.
“Ya that’s me” I said
“Sorry…but I forgot your name” I said not letting her know that I wasn’t even listening to the intros’ of others.
“Priyanka Das” she said with a heart warming smile.
She had unusually chubby cheeks n I felt like pulling them but controlled myself.
“Which School?” I asked carefully observing her movements.
“South Point” she said n tucked her hair behind her ear revealing the beautiful earrings which she wore that day.
“Ohh ok…I am from National Gems” I said
Suddenly a bunch of geek looking guys came up to her and said hi.
I guessed that they may be her schoolmates and I left.
After the initial few days of interaction ( ragging) by our seniors, we were going to have our first class in college.
Physics Practical.
That’s where I met a great guy, my batch mate and my very good friend Arnab
We were divided into groups of 10 each. So guess what… Priyanka was in my group too.
“You are to perform the Wheatstone Bridge experiment today and I don’t want anybody roaming around in the Lab. Each of you should do the experiment “said the lab instructor.
“Hey Arnab… I m not interested in doing the experiment” I said leaning on the experiment table.
“Do you think I am?”He said in a very serious tone…which made us laugh loudly.
“Hey u guys wat r u up to”? said Priyanka
“Just chilling out!!! You wanna join us?” said Arnab casually.
“No thanks but r u guys not going to do the experiment?” she said
“Do we look a wee bit interested?”I said sporting a quizzical look.
She frowned as if “whatever” and got back to her work. She was the serious types I guessed who would panic at the drop of a hat.
“Hey do u smoke?”Arnab asked
“Hell Ya…Do You?”I enquired
“Let’s share a smoke outside and then we’ll come back” He said
As we returned to our classroom we saw the instructor scolding our group about something going wrong in the experiment. Everybody had a puzzled look on their faces and Priyanka’s face looked like she was just about to burst out crying like a small kid.
We immediately shifted to another group’s table and looked interestingly into their experiment so that we were not caught roaming around.
As soon as the instructor left our table after sometime, demoralising everybody to have taken up engineering without any basic knowledge and that they would have been better off taking commerce as their career, we returned to our group to an eerie silence.
“Hey what’s up guys, Having fun?”Arnab addressed the group with a sarcastic smile
Only if looks could kill, Priyanka looked Arnab in the eye and it seemed to me had it been Satyayug, he would have been reduced to ashes. It killed the smile on my face, seeing the look on Priyanka’ s face.
I immediately referred to the manual stating the Wheatstone Bridge principle.
“Hey I can do this” I announced to the group.
“What do you think we were doing up till now “said, Arun a geeky looking guy with moustaches, which would bring the Chinese to shame.
Without replying I took out the correct resistance plugs from the experiment setup and it started showing results which seemed correct.
“Now please guys note down some readings ‘coz we only have 10 minutes to go before the class gets over.” I announced and suddenly noticed the drooping shoulders rising around me.
“Hey Thanks” I turned back to see Priyanka running fast to keep up with my pace.
I stopped in my tracks. Seeing her smile, my heart skipped a beat.
“Ohh…You are welcome Ma’am” I said animatedly.
Again she giggled at me addressing her as Ma’am, n man I was damn happy.
“But how did you do it in no time while we were struggling for the last 1 hour?” she said quite astonished.
“Cigarette...That’s what keeps my brain from getting dull” I said with a royal air.
“Bullshit” She just laughed.
“Lunch?” She asked
“Where do you wanna go?”I asked looking at her.
“I wanna have paanipuri” She said with a kiddish smile which wud melt your heart.
Girls have strange urges. This is one good example. I mean to say who eats paanipuri for lunch.
“Ok, let’s go to Haldiram’s” I said suppressing my surprised look at she wanting to have paanipuri for lunch.
“Bhaiya, Theeka nahi hona chahiye aur bohut khatta hona chahiye”she instructed to the panipuriwalla at the counter.
“Jee Madam” he replied earnestly.
“Take one, come on” she said for the umpteenth time as I kept on saying that I don’t like paanipuri.
“Icecream?” she asked
“Sprite for me” I said
She was delighted that I finally said yes to something.
She just came and cooly sat beside me without bringing the aforementioned icecream and cold drink.
“What happened” I asked being confused.
“What type of a guy are you?” she said with a mischievous grin.
“Why” I said totally puzzled.
“You are a guy and it is you who should bring the order and not the other way round.”I burst out laughing not knowing what to say.
“Ok fine, here’s your cornetto and here is my sprite” I handed over the icecream to her which she duly took from my hand with a sheepish smile.
“Where do you live” she asked me
“Behala” I said busy sipping my cold drink.
“Oh, dat’s very near from my home” she said
“Why where do you live?” I asked
“Chowrasta” she said busy enjoying her icecream.
Her home was just 1 bus stop away from my place.
Could this get any better? I imagined.
“Class, today I am going to teach you the Reimann Integral and mind you if you don’t concentrate you might think I am speaking Hebrew to you after some time.” A teacher in his mid 30’s with a paunch and a moustache resembling Charlie Chaplin said aloud while pacing up n down the stage meant for teachers.
“Hey look at his moustache” I whispered to Arnab
“Fucking, he looks like a stand up comedian rather than a serious Maths teacher” Arnab said smiling but suppressing his laughter.
“Hey you two, yes you two, over there in the last bench” He shouted
We stood up.
“Tell me your names?” He asked as if after this we were to be rusticated from college.
“Dev” I said
“Arnab” He said with remorse in his voice.
“Tell me your ranks” He said sternly.
“805” Arnab said, his head hung as if he had barely managed to pass.
“932” I said looking at the professor.
“Look this is what happens to you once you get into college. You start to grow wings and fly so high that you need supplementary in one or two papers to clip your wings”
Priyanka looked back at us with a hopeless look as if we were going to be hanged in the next instant. She was the first benchers in the class who would note down each and everything the professor uttered, I suppose she was even noting down all the gyaan he was giving for talking to each other.
“Sit down and don’t you dare talk among yourselves. Pay attention” He said turning his back to us and started writing on the blackboard.
“Ufff” Arnab gave a sigh of relief on being let off so easily. I shrugged my shoulders and sat down as if nothing had happened.
“Let’s go to the field and have some fresh air” I said to Arnab as soon as the last class for the day got over.
“I am dying to have a smoke” Arnab announced.
“Oh yaa baby, let’s hav a Kiss of Death” I said in an animated fashion and we both ran outside the department.
“Hey check out dat babe, dude” Arnab shouted in my ear.
We were in a freshers party organised by the English department for their freshers. Generally engineering students did not have access to enter this party but since one of my schoolmates too joined the English department so Arnab and me were the lucky ones.
“Hmm…she is inviting, yaar” I said, my eyes fixed on her.
The Dj was belting out remix hits of yesteryears.
People were high on booze and there was a huge adrenalin rush.
The girl whom we were referring to was Chandrayee, who I later came to know was the school mate of Priyanka. She was the lady of the moment, freshly crowned Miss fresher and she was dancing a hell lot better than the others who seemed pedestrian as compared to her.
She was wearing a black off shoulders top ,and she looked hot.
“It’s a pity we cannot dance” I turned around to say.
Arnab was nowhere to be found.
Suddenly the Dj announced.
“Hey Guys…love is in the air and I have got the first request of the evening”
“This goes out to a beautiful girl called Chandrayee, from Arnab and it says Kya Khoob Lagti Ho with love. So people let your hair down and dance the night away.”
I was stunned.
After a few seconds Arnab came back.
“What the fuck, what are you up to? Do you want to get us thrown out?” I said
“Chill dude. Check out” I looked in the direction of which he was looking.
I saw people pointing out to us. Chandrayee was approaching us.
I wished I could disappear.
“Hi”, she said as she came up to us.
She looked even more beautiful and appealing from closer ranges and I appreciated my friend’s taste.
“Hi” we said in unison even though my voice couldn’t be heard because it was Arnab who was shouting literally.
She smiled and said “Can we go outside? It’s quite loud in here”
Immediately Arnab said “Yes sure” and they began to leave.
“Won’t your friend come?” she said.
“No, actually he is enjoying the music in here” Arnab said with his eyes fixed on me, hoping I would understand.
“Ya, you guys go ahead, I’ll join you later” I said with a smile.
Suddenly my schoolmate brought along two bottles of beer, and handed me one with a wink.
“Bottoms up” He said
I said “No way” and was the first one to kiss the bottle to my lips and to bring it down after I finished all of it.
“Fuck you buddy” he said on losing and we guys hugged. I hoped that life would remain this way.
“Ahhh…” I gave out a sigh. The first smoke after a drink or coitus makes you feel that a cigarette is the elixir of life and what would you have done without it.
“What’s up with Arnab and what is he up to?” Sanjay asked.
“I think he likes her” I said.
“Lucky Bastard” He exclaimed.
As I was about to leave, I saw Chandrayee entering alone.
“Hey, where’s Arnab?” I asked her.
“Ohh...he is waiting for you outside, Good night” she said with an innocent smile.
“Good night, Have a blast” I said
No comments:
Post a Comment