Chapter 5 - Times of 90's - An incident to remember [1]

That was not the first time in life that I had come to class without doing the doables. To the extend I can think of, I should probably go further back - to my degree time at EAC. And when I look back, I don't find too many such good days in life - infact EAC was where my life changed a bit.

Before even getting close with Sree, I was one of the 3 member group in the college - we proudly named it Trimurthy. And it wa one of the many groups in the class. Members of each of those groups (or 'gangs' if you'd like to call it that way) used to be seated one next to the other - that was a way of expressing the unity of the group to the others than anything else. And now when I think of those days, it really looks funny; Almost like 'Walk together, Sit together, Eat together... together... together...'. Funny funny days!

Trimurthy was just a consolidation of 3 guys who knew nothing about maturity in life. As a part of the unplanned set of activities by us, we travelled a bit around Kerala, we treated each other in reasonably expensive restaurants for no apparent resons, we went to Gym together - Nothing really worthy enough to be mentioned in detail though. And as it had to be, the group didn't stand strong for more than a year, as one of us (barring me) had that too close a friendly relation with a girl in the class. And that marked the begenning of the end, ultimately marked the end itself, of that group. Soon we were all different individuals trying to be somethingological.

Well, getting to be a very good friend of Sree remains to be one of the best things that has happened in my life. A trust that broke never. A friend that stood firm by the term friendship. Though it still remains a secret that both of us used to adore the same girl in the class, I finally gave in to him realizing that he was a little too serious in her. I was soon a link - a bridge between him and the girl (Apologies but I can't mention the name here). I finally promised him to take up his feeling with her and revert with a positive reply.

That evening, I called her and started talking in a slightly different manner and tone than usual. God, for heavensake I was not doing it for myself.
And with courage I managed to tell 'Hey, somebody likes you and would like to be with you for ever. He is not sure whether he can say it himself. I thought I should tell you this'.
I knew that wasn't enough, I had to switch on the creative part of my brain 'He was under the impression that you knew and thought you would realize and accept. But since he didn't see any positive sings from you, he sent me. Serious, he is so much in love with you'.
I was gaining in confidence and all I could hear from the other end of the phone was '...emmm'. Then it came to a stage where I had nothing more to say, and she wasn't saying anything either. And I asked 'So...? What shall I tell him?'.
She giggled and asked 'Who are you talking about?'.
Damnit! Now is this necessary? Is she so dumb or is she trying to make me feel myself dumb? 'Well he will call you sometime. Might not be today, could be tomorrow orprobably even a week down the line. But tell me, do you have anyone else in mind?'
'I don't have ANYONE in mind' was the stern answer - Anyone means not even Sree.
Ok, that is one of the positive outcomes of the conversation so far. How else in the world would he have found out that she is yet to love anyone? I'm Awsome!
'Great. So I think he probably has a chance there' - I was trying to re-inforce something.
'Lemme speak to my mom and get back' - I didn't wait for her to complete that statement.
Why the heck is she speaking - rather threatening - about bringing her mom in to the picture so fast. SHIT! I've made a mess of it!!
And it was as if Sree was trying to cal me for past half an hor or so.. the bell rang and with great curiosity he asked 'So how did it go?'
My first intention was to make him feel positive. I told him 'You lucky bugger, she is atleast not in love with anyone so far. I think you should call her and speak casually. You try to engage with her and be a good friend. You be first comfirtable with and for her'.
Advicing is the easiest thing to do in life. You can say wierd things and still make the listener feel great about you. I was doing exactly that!
In a flash he kept the phone. What the...?!
I tried ringing him back and it was always engaged. What was I thinking????
Hardly 5 minutes and he called me back. I didn't have to ask anything.
'Thanks a ton buddy' he said, 'The moment I said Hello, she told me that she was awaiting my call. What did you actually tell her?'. I disconnected!

Chapter 4 - A day when a few things went wrong...

I woke up the next day with a thud... Somebody was knocking and knocking hard. I quickly checked by mobile and it was 6:09 am. Though I appreaciated whoever it was for waking me up in time, I quite didn't enjoy the thud. I lazily opened the door to find my owner and his grand child in his hands. He wished me a good morning, though I didn't feel it was one, but nevertheless, I wished him back. He came with a warning - there is a scheduled stoppage of water for a few hours in the morning and I better fill up my buckets and keep so as to avoid havoc. That's when my eyes actually opened.

I thanked him and rushed inside to pick my bucket and then proceeded to the bathroom tap. While the bucket was slowly getting filled up (I worked out a quicks math and figured out probably it might take another 3 hours to fill up considering the speed of flow of water and the size of my bucket), I had already got started with my tooth brush. I hadn't shaved for a few days and thought I should do it today as the beard had grown considerably - info courtesy - my mirror!

I hate to wake up and find that there is something un-pleasantly different on that day. I am normally a routine man and I usually prefer to do things on a routine basis - whether it is about waking up and about timing of going to my college or whatever it is. Silly but I feel good when things go as per routine. But this very day, I wasn't quite feeling happy. For one, I had not got up at 6 sharp and now water scarcity. And I was waiting endlessly to see my bucket fill up, even my 3 hour calculation was going wrong.

It was almost 7:15 am and I could still see a lot of empty space at the top of my bucket. "Enough is enough", I thought. I picked up my second bucket and proceeded to my owner's room. Faking a little bit of tiredness and illness, I told him that I had to reach college early today and I would require some water immideately so that I could take bath and proceed to college at the earliest. It worked and he quickly rushed in, came out with a bucketful of water and transferred it into mine. I thanked him, carried the full bucket all the way to the 3rd floor and got into the act of taking bath. And I could hear the faint ring on my mobile. I was in no position to go and pick it up.

After the shower (almost a sea bath considering the kind of water I was forced to use), I went back, put on some deo and a perfume (that's just part of my another routine thing) and turned to pick laptop bag. As I wore it around my shoulders I could feel some heat at my back - as if I had taken the laptop from a stove or something. I un-shouldered the bag, opened the zip and saw the lappy lights blinking - the orange one which was an indication that I was out of battery. When did I switch it on last?
Yesterday morning....
And I didn't switch it off?
'Shucks!' I thought. I opened the lappy lid and turned it off using the button long-press feature.

As I waled down, I felt ever worse as my 3 friends on the balcony went missing today. How come? I checked my mobile and it was around 9 am. Aaahh! no wonder. I increased my speed and waved hands to Mahi on the way. From my speed, he would have figured out that I was late. He smiled and 'permitted' me to proceed.

As I reached the gate, there was an un-expected meeting with my college director there. I wished a good morning to him and he turned and walked in to his office as if that wish was not meant for him. I felt humiliated but managed to feel 'To hell with it' and climbed the stairs to my class. There were around 10 of them who had already reached there and they were busy with their lappy, some on rough sheets and all silent. Windows were open and AC remained switched off. I could sense tension in the air and I raised my eyebrows at one of them as if to ask 'Wazzup?'.
'Did you do it?' he asked.
'Did I do what?' I checked.
'That math problem man' he replied and bowed down to continue working on his papers.

The man of 4 D's - that was how we used to know our match professor. A heavy person with glasses and I usually observed his Maruti 800 lift a few feet from the road after he got down from the car. Anytime he found issues in controlling the young lot - us - he would say and repeat - 'You guys have no Decency, Dignity, Deccorum, Discipline. Blah Blah...'. And it was pretty hard to consume if he pointed the finger at one of us and repeated it.

My brain chuckled. My heart didn't speak. I felt like a fool - specially when I found that the class was out od electricity and I am out of battery on my lappy. And what more, I hadn't picked my math note either from room! This is as bad as it can get.

It was not practical to go and pick that note from room. I could probably spend my first one hour at library and then return for the 2nd hour but I was always against skipping classes. I felt it was better to be present physically and absent mentally.

In a few minutes there was chaos all over. Guys runing around to finish off the assigment somehow. And I stood there like a fool not knowing what to do! I had to take a decision. After all, that is an essential part of management right? And finally I took a decision - to not take a decision.

I figured out it was 9:30 as the bell rang and those heavy footsteps got more and more audible seconds after the bell. I closed my eyes hard anticipating that humiliation from him. And...

To be continued...