My Story

The Bride Continued....

2011-04-28T18:22:00.000-07:00

I knew that wishing Soumya is a kind of sin and getting her is quite impossible. But, still I don't know why I was trying for her. May be its love, or lust or a competition.

"Competition" The lady put a exclamatory mark.

Yah, competition. I was trying her but I knew it was not gonna happen. So, in the back of my mind I was just trying for Rahul not to get her.

"And Why is that?"

Because I didn't want Rahul to get such a sweet, nice and beautiful girl. I know I sound stupid but I can't help it. Thats what another reason I am here to say Sorry to him. Sorry for all those silly things that I have done. We are good friends but there was a little bit of competition in everything. I knew that I never gonna get such a beautiful girl in my life and so how can I see that Rahul is on its way to a nice girl like Soumya. Its stupid, isn't it? I said and turned back. The lady gave a sarcastic smile.

"So, whats next?" the lady asked.

I continued:

Their love story started on that spring. Rahul took her phone number and his Phone bill started to have some more zeros. I got lonely. He was either busy in talking her or busy in her thought. I was a kind of lonely and angry. Then something happened. They were getting married but both the families were still waiting for some kind of formal wordings and rituals. So, soumya's father was somewhat reluctant to Soumya's talking with Rahul over phone. So, some days later he restricted Soumya for Rahul's call. And, with that the phone lines become free but for a short period of time. Rahul decided to give her a cell phone and it was I who got selected for this ambitious project.

The Bride Continued....

2011-04-21T22:21:00.000-07:00

On the way back to home, I and Rahul both were silent. Rahul was lost in her thoughts, I guess. So I brought him into realty and asked: what did you talk?

“Nothing much” Rahul said.

“So, do you like her? I asked again.

“Hmm, yes, I think.” Rahul answered.

I feel like an axe fell on my sentiments.

Hmm, that’s good. I said with a sarcastic smile and asked: “Will you marry her?”

“Let’s see, I like her, the families will decide” Rahul said.

“She is marvelous. If it wouldn’t have your proposal, I could propose her” I said.

Rahul burst into laughter and said: “hey, bhabi maa samaan hoti he. And for your kind information, marwaris will never give their daughters in non-marwari families.”

We laughed and drove back to home.

For the first time in my life, I thought if I would born into a marwari family so I can offer myself for Soumya. I prayed that I will be vegetarian; I will eat only sweets and ghee; I will never drink alcohol; if Soumya would be mine. At the corner of my heart I knew that’s not possible but I didn’t want to loose hope. So I tried. The first thing I tried is to take Rahul’s mom into confidence.

Time 1:30 pm. Venue: lunch table. I joined first and Rahul was little late. Rahul’s mom asked me: “So Vijay how is the girl, have you talked to her”.

“She was good. Rahul talked to her” I said.

“So Rahul liked her?” Aunty asked again.

I thought it was the right time to save my dream girl. So I manipulated the answer.

“Hmm, yes, he is. But, I don’t think she is the right girl for her” I said

Aunty promptly asked: “what made you think so?”

“She is general graduate and she is a homely girl. I don’t think she can adjust with Rahul. Rahul is a trendy, modern and extrovert person” I said

“That’s why, I selected her. In life, you need a person to balance and not the person of your type.” Aunty said.

Before I could say something, Rahul entered.

Aunty asked Rahul: “so how is she. Do you like her?”

“Hmm, she is good. But before saying something, I need sometime to know her better” Rahul said.

That really soothed my mind. Damn, I really have some time to get that girl back and I need to work on this; I said to myself.

The Bride Continued....

2011-04-20T19:00:00.000-07:00

After 7 long minutes of waiting, Soumya entered the room with typical Indian woman attire. She was wearing a saree of dark pink color having silver works at the saree liner. She has kept her hairs open. The very light pink lipstick on her lips and a white bindi on forehead gave her a gorgeous look. The bangles on her hand and the legring was creating a eternal romantic sound that can sooth your pain. I could not take off my eyes from her. She came close to the table and her father introduced her to us. She put the tea plate on the table and made an eye contact with Rahul and me too. Her black eyes and the pink eye liner on them were the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. If anything called ‘Love at first sight’ is there, that’s this one, I could bet. She sat in front of Rahul and gave a smile to him. I looked at Rahul and prayed to god “please god, make Rahul to reject her”. My conscience again came to the scene and thrashed me badly. Rahul started talking with her sidelining me. "Bastard", I said not loud of course. Her father asked Soumya to take Rahul to her room. "Another Bastard", I thought. Rahul went with Soumya leaving me with the aliens. Her father got a chance to complete his question bank and I answered all of them. After 10 minutes, they came back. As soon as I spotted Rahul, I asked: can we leave? Rahul said: sure.

And we left her place.

Rahul said bye to Soumya and exchanged a sweet smile with her. I could just see her smiling face. Damn!!!!!!.

The Bride continued....

2010-11-07T11:27:00.000-08:00

Rahul and me got ready to go and see the prospective bride. Rahul got dressed with a blue denim jeans, a white shirt with red stripes and a sports coat. I wore a white jeans and black tee shirt. At around 9 am morning, we set for their house. Rahul's mom looked at me and I understood what she wants me to do. Anyway, we left home and reached their house in half an hour. Their house was a big one. It is actually wrong to say that it is a house. It was a bungalow. Its a one storied having slopy roofs and white walled building with a big lawn in the front and a wide verandha. We drove almost to the entrace of the house and figured out someone is on the wings on the verandha. As soon as we arrived, the guy ran towards us and introduced himself as Soumya's dad. We put a big namaste to him and he made our way to the living room. The living room was a huge one with 4 large size sofa sets and a glass coffee table in the center. The floor has black and white granite pieces with all walls white in color. The walls were decorated with some canvas art works of some unknown artist. There was also a magnificent glass chandelier hanging from the top. From the house, it was obvious that the family is a rich one. Her father made us sit and left assuring us to come back soon. The room was so quite that our whisper made a noise. We wonder whether this calm is before the storm and we were right. As her father left us alone in the living room, we made ourselves comfortable and rolled our eyes throught out the room to capture its beauty. And, our rolling ends when we saw a huge crowd is marching towards us. We stood and made our hands close to greet them. Her dad introduced all of them to us. Grand father, grand mother, uncle, aunt, brother, sister, niece, his brother, daughter in law, brother's children and a lot of them. They are all total 21 people. But, Soumya was missing. She was not yet in the scene. After 15 minute of long introduction ceremony, we are allowed to sit again. All those people sat around us. Then we are served with 15 types of sweet emerged in ghee, 10 types of snack and 8 types of fruits. There were total 33 different kind of things served on the coffee table but nothing was eatable, at least not for me. There was nothing thats spicy or at least of any taste other than sweet. Marwaris belive that on this type of occasion, anything other than sweet may turn into bad endings. So, I preferred not to touch anything, though all the members forced us a lot. Rahul took some snacks and then a question answer round started. We have been fired with a series of questions. They didn't even bother to spare me. I was not there to see their daughter. I was just there to have a feel good factor for my best friend. But I got into the victim's shoes.

What school did you go?

Whats your college?

Which company you are joining?

Is it a private or a govt sector?

How many people work in your company?

Will you settle in INDIA or abroad?

Why are you going for a job?

Why not you start your own business?

Is your job secured?

What type of work your company do?

What work you are going to do?

Why not you open a shop here?

We have answered all the nonsense questions with a lot sense. After 40 minutes of rigorous question-answer session we got a break. May be they are short of questions. It was the best opportunity for us to escape, I thought. So I gave a call to Rahul’s cell. Rahul took out the phone from his pocket and before he could react, I said: “I have set the alarm. We need to attend the get together party at 11. I have told you Rahul,right?”.

Soumya’s dad caught the exceptions and asked: are you guys going anywhere? I jumped and replied "yes, we have a get-together of old college friends. It is at 11 so we have to rush". Soumya’s dad was an intelligent man. So he promptly looked at Soumya’s mother and told her to bring Soumya though his eye gestures.

The Bride

2010-10-30T17:56:00.000-07:00

Rahul finalized a photo and threw it. The breeze brought the photo towards me and it fell on the ground with back side top. Something was written on it. I watched it closely and it was "Soumya". I picked it up and turned it to see the girl that Rahul selected. A close up face of a beautiful girl with hairs open and a smile. I jumped from the couch and ran towards Rahul's mom. I handed over the photo to her and the emotions on her face was worth watching. She was too happy to know that her son finally selected the bride. But I knew the truth. Rahul is not going to get married. It was just a trick to make the situation a little better for him till he left to join his job. Rahul's parent were overwhelmed by his selection. What I came to know is that Soumya is the single daughter of her parents. Her parents have own a big garment shop in the town and Soumya is considered the most beautiful girl ready to get married in their community. Her family is humble, intelligent and respected in the whole marwari community. So Rahul's parent thought this proposal is the best of all and got ready to make it happen. It was decided to see the bride after two days and the preparation started.

A list of people that needs to go to see the bride is prepared. It starts with Rahul's parents, his uncle, aunt, their son and daughter-in-law, his two cousin sisters, his mom's sister, husband and their daughter and son in law and a lot of people involving both short and long distant relatives. After a lot of discussion, inclusion, exclusion, a final list is made with 17 people in a three hours duration. Being an family affair, I kept my name out of that list. Though I have been a part of their family in the last one month and his parents forced me a lot to go with them, I preferred to deny. Rahul was ignorant all bout this. In the evening dinner table, his parents revealed it and Rahul blown out. "I am not going with you" the only thing Rahul said on the table. His parents got worried again and tried to convince him. I also joined and tried to make him understand the thing. But Rahul was adamant.

"I am not going with you. If you want me to go, I will go alone or with Viji." Rahul declared.

With no other option, his parents agreed. But I shouted "Not me, I will not go". Rahul's mom rolled her eyes on me and I kept my mouth shut. The list came down from 17 odd people to 2, Rahul and me. Soumya's parents get informed about the plan and everything has been set. Rahul left the dinner table and as soon as he left, I told his mother that I am not interested to go. His mom got emotional and started

"Look Viji. Don't misunderstand me. We have a good reputation in our community and we don't want Rahul to mess that up. It is not like that I don't care for his emotions or choice. If he rejects her, we will not utter a word. But, if he does anything stupid or asks her anything that is not acceptable, we will be in a mess. The whole community will talk about it. So, we just want you to be with him and curb him if he intends to do something like that". I got speechless after her speech and could able to say just one word "Okay".

Watching girls in mulls, disco is immaculately different from seeing a girl in her house with presence of her parents. No parents will love to see a guy scanning her daughter from top to bottom and mostly the guy like me and Rahul. The day before the bride selection was a night mare for me. I couldn't sleep at all. I was in a dilemma. One side is my nature to scan the girl which I couldn't help and the other side is Rahul's moms expectation. I couldn't decide what to do, how to behave, how to stop my eyes, my mouth and my nature. Seeing a girl in disco, we scan her from all the top to bottom, the hips, the legs, the breasts everything. If everything is well in shape, we give her a rating from A to D being A the most sexy and beautiful. But here the case is different. I couldn't decide how to judge whether this girl is beautiful or not. Rather a right girl to get married or not. Then I gave some more deep thought and find out that nobody wants to marry a item girl though the item girl is the sexiest girl ever. Everyone wants a caring, nice, lovable girl for marriage and being beautiful is the second thing that comes. So I finally decided to control my eyes and look for the other things that makes a girl a good wife. Anyways, its is for my best friends's marriage.

Rahul's home sweet home

2010-10-24T21:49:00.000-07:00

As Shiva left, I don't have any other good friend than Rahul. After four years of college, it was too difficult for me to go back to my village and stay there for three months. So I decided to stay in Rahul's house. Rahul is a marawari and single son of his parents. His parents are really nice and caring. They have their own business of garments and they come in the rich list of the town. Being the single son and a engineer by education, he was considered as the most eligible bachelors in his community. Being in their house for 2 months I leanred a lot of things about marawari family. Most of the marwari guys go for own industry, shops or any kind of business. They consider the people doing job as slaves. They don't eat meat and they treat alcohol as a sin. The girls are usually slim before marriage and grow side-wise exponentially after marriage. They love to play dandia and a lot of things happen on dandia nights. The guys generally don't go for highier educations as they knew they need to go with the family business. So they don't waste time and money on it. As the destiny for them is family business, they go for early marriage. By nature, the people are good but a litttle bit of stingy. The can do some gigantic additions, subtraction just like that. They hesitate spending money on anything on the world until and unless its life saver. And if they spend, they remember upto the minute detail of expense. They cook everyhting with ghee and they know the only taste, exists in the world, is sweet. Rahul was quite different from his community. He loves alcohol, he loves spices, he will die for sea foods and he spends money like anything. His parents also support him except certain things. The only thing they get into fight for is marriage.

I leaved in there home for two months. The first month went nice. We used to enjoy the whole day and night. Our day starts at around 11 and ends at 11. We used to spent the whole day in mulls, theaters, juhu beach, parks and bird watching. With all this, we were also doing one more thing. We regularly attend his mom's lecture for marriage, its benefits, advantages, requirement and all the stuff related to marriage. His mom didn't care to spare me. Rahul and I both got bored with his mom's lecture but we were helpless. So, from the second month I changed my place from the receiving end to delivery end. In simple terms, I joined his mom and started giving advice to Rahul. With no other option, Rahul finally agreed to start looking for bride. His mom has already shortlisted some candidates and as soon as he agreed, her mom gave a bunch of photographs to pick one. I looked at all of them and each of them was far better than the other. But Rahul just picked a photograph from the bunch without seeing her and said " This one".

The wet eyes

2010-10-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

I stopped with that, turned back and got surprised. The blue eyes of the lady are all wet. I have seen a lot of ladies crying, screaming, feeling sad, felling sorry but the situation with this lady is different. The eyes of the lady and the facial expression has something uncomfortable in them. It was like the lady wants to do something. She desire to be there in the terrace on that day. Something like travelling back to November 25, 2006 and stop everything; stop me to let Shiva going, stop Shiva to break the friendship, stop Rahul to comment anything on Juhi. It is like the lady just want to roll back the whole thing but it was not possible. After all it was all happened long back in 3 years and I am just a story teller and she is just a a listener. There are tears all over the lower lid of her blue eyes ready to drop and kiss her cheek. I stared at those blue eyes and it came out after a moment. The lady moved her hand and cleaned her face with her fingers.

"What happened" I asked.

"Nothing. Just got thoughtful". The lady replied with a small cough. I could feel the choking of her voice.

The lady asked "Thats all. These guys never talked to each other after that".

"Yes, thats true. Shiva didn't talk to Rahul and Rahul didn't try to talk to him. May be its each others ego or may be something different. But, the friendship broke. " I replied.

"But, Did Rahul mean everything that he said on that night? Or Shiva just over reacted?" The lady asked again.

"I don't know exactly whether Rahul mean it or not what he is saying. But I know Shiva. He got possesive with people he met. And, he got more possessive for juhi than Rahul I guess"

"Then, what about you? Why you didn't try to patch up?"

I smiled with that and said " Because I knew thats never gonna happen. Actually something more also happened on that night that I missed to tell you. When Shiva left he did something that hurts Rahul. He threw his beer can on him splashing the beer on Rahul's face. He then pushed him back and said that Everyone is not like Shrabs. He fell on his back with his push but that didn't hurt him. The comment on Shrabs hurt him more. So he never tried to talk to Shiva again. That also made Rahul to stop saying anything. I was with him for the rest of the night. We spent that whole winter night on the terrace without a word saying. Rahul was actually hurt. So I knew that its not going to work out in recent future and the wound needs time to fill".

"And you think that the wound is now filled" the lady asked.

"Yes, I expect. Thats why I am here to reunion our friendship. May be they patched up by themselves. I don't know"

"What do you mean by 'May be'? You don't know"

"Yes, I don't know. I have no contact with both of them from last three years"

The lady surprised again and her surprise has sufficient reason. So before the lady ask any further question, I started.

When our college ended, Shiva flew to join his company. He left no contact of him, no phone numbers, no mail ids, no social groups. So we lost contact of him. We had to join our companies in three months. So I moved with Rahul to stay in his home for the next three months as I don't want to get bored in my village. During these three months, Rahul's marriage got fixed and I left his home in anguish. I fall in love with the bride. I know its sounds ridiculous but I couldn't help. That just happened.

"But How? How could you fall in love and have you speak to Rahul about that" The lady asked again.

Sorry, but I can't, actually I don't want to talk about that part of my life. I said.

"Okay, I don't want to force you. But you can share, if you feel like. May be, I can help you."

The lady said so in such a sweet voice that I couldn't resist any more. I took a deep breath and started to reveal that part of the life.

The Khatia Party Continued (The broken heart)....

2010-10-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

We reached hostel at around 9 and went straight to individual rooms. In the auto rickshaw too, we remained silent and didn't talk at all. Shiva didn't share anything about last night and we were not in a position to ask anything. The night mare, the ride and the morning mess up with the pimp made us tired. Our examination was at 2 o' clock that day. We put our alarms and went to sleep.

We didn't meet the whole day. We went for college, appeared the examination and returned back at around 5. As it was the last examination of the semester, everyone got prepared to leave for the holiday. And so as me and Rahul. Shiva was not in his room. We packed out stuff and got ready to leave. Then Shiva came and went straight ahead to Rahul's room.

"Hey Rahul, I am sorry for the scooty". Shiva said.

"Hey, its ok man. You don't need to be sorry for this"

"No man, I feel guilty"

"Its ok buddy. It was an old second hand scooty. So better it is gone"

"I will get back that scooty" Shiva said to Rahul.

"Hey, I will not take that scooty any more. If you want to give me something, buy me a new bike with your first salary" Rahul said and we all three burst into laughter.

"I will buy for you man" Shiva said and with that we all got a little bit emotional. We hugged each other. Shiva thanked us again for coming to the pimp in the morning.

That was the last hug we had with each other. Shiva didn't go for the holiday and preferred to stay alone in the hostel. He told us that he wanted to spend more time in the hostel as it was the last year and he has to prepare for his MBA. We didn't force him. But, as we left the hostel, we decided to come back in a week to join him and surprise him.

One week left. As decided, I and Rahul came back. We reached our hostel at around 5 evening. We searched for Shiva in the whole hostel but didn't find him. His room was open but he was not around. Then we headed towards the hostel terrace and got surprised to see Shiva with code '0'. They were sitting in the parapet wall busy in talking with each other. The girl was looking completely different with the red-yellowish sunlight of the evening sun on her face. They were so busy that they didn't even notice us. We went near them and Shiva got surprised to find us.

"How you guys are here?" Shiva asked with a frowning face.

"We couldn't see our best friend to be all alone in this big hostel. So we came back" I replied with a big smile.

"But, it seems you are not alone at all" Rahul said and this time he didn't give a smile. Rather, he said with anguish.

"No, She just came by to say hello. Let me introduce you guys." Shiva introduced us with code '0' girl and we found out that her real name is Juhi. As soon as Shiva introduced us, Rahul asked "What the name you said".

She replied agin "Juhi". Rahul made a face on her and didn't say anything. I was happy for Shiva. She got a girlfriend, good looking and beautiful and he was happy too. But Rahul seemed concerned. I couldn't make out what made him so concerned. I was planning to sit there and enjoy the evening but before I say something , Rahul announced.

"We are in room and plaaning to go for dinner at around 7. Do you want to join us?

"Yah sure. We can sit here" Shiva replied.

I again got ready to say yes but as usual Rahul jumped.

"No, we are waiting for you in my room. You just finish what ever you are doing and meet us at 7" Rahul left the terrace without waiting to listen Shiva any more and thrashed the door while leaving. I got myself in a dilemma. I could't decide what to do for a moment. But, as per the situation demands, I gave a smile to both Shiva and Juhi and left.

Rahul was smoking in the corridor. As soon as I reached him, I asked "What happened? Why you behaved so?"

"How I behaved" Rahul fired me back with a question and he looked tensed. I preferred not to ask anything else as I didn't want to ruin the evening. I borrowed the cigarette. By final year, i have also started alcohol, smoke and all the stuffs thats must for an engineer. We smoked sitting in the corridor. We watched some new porn movies, played carom but didn't discuss anything about Shiva. Shiva and Juhi came to the room by 7. They came straight to Rahul's room. Rahul was busy in his computer and I was busy in debonair. As I spotted the couple, I closed my magazine.Rahul looked at them and didn't react.

"Juhi will also join us. Is that fine" Shiva asked.

I looked at Rahul. He didn't bother to listen. So I replied "Its OK".

Shiva went for a shower and Juhi got there in Rahul's room. I said her to feel free and she sat near the study table. Rahul didn't give a damn look to her. I just smiled at her and pretended to be busy in a book. Shiva left us in that situation for almost half an hour. In that half an hour, the room was completely silent. Nobody opened their mouth. Rahul didn't care to talk. Juhi, being a girl and new to us, didn't talk. And the one and only me couldn't figure out what to talk. Anyways, Shiva came around 7:30 and we left for dinner.

We preferred to walk. I and Rahul at the front and the couple followed us. The dinner was also silent. Nobody speaks. I cracked some jokes but nobody laughed. Juhi just gave some smile. Dinner got over and we headed towards the hostel. Shiva went to accompany Juhi to her home. I and Rahul picked some beer and went back to hostel. I thought the most silent evening of my life got over with that but it was not the case.

Shiva joined us in a hour in the hostel. we had a beer for him. As soon as he joined us, Rahul opened his mouth.

"Whats going on dude"

"Nothing"

"Hmm. Is that? You have a different glow in your face. You are a changed man."

"Am I?"

"Okay, What she is doing here?" Rahul asked with a admonishing voice.

"Nothing, we are just friends" Shiva replied.

Rahul smiled in his unique sarcastic way and said "Friends!! my foot. She is a prostitute".

Shiva got tensed with that and just said "Not by will".

"So?" Rahul asked.

"So What?" Shiva fired back.

"So, these girls are good for a night only. And, you must know that" Rahul said pointing his finger to him.

"May be. But she isn't". Shiva replied and got ready to leave.

I was just standing dumb there and couldn't figure out where this discussion was heading to. As Shiva got ready to leave, I should leave him but I didn't do that and that was my mistake. I called Shiva from back and made him sit with us. I interrupted Rahul and made him to stop his shit. Everyone got stop for a moment. The situation was heavy. Then Rahul Started again elbowing me "hey, ask Shiva how was she? Did she satisfy him". I burst into laughter with that and with that Shiva started

"Enough. I love her."

I looked at him with my eyes extra wide. Rahul got angry with the statement.

"Why not you understand man. That bit** is just using you. She is a slut". Rahul said.

"Enough Rahul. Thats enough. I can't hear anything more. I love her. I know whats wrong and whats right. Thanks for your advice but no thanks. Thanks for everything you have done for me. But please spare me now. I will send a cheque for the scooty. I don't want to talk to you any more".

Shiva said and left the terrace. With that one of the legs of the tripod broke.

The Khatia Party Continued (The Last Ride)....

2010-10-18T21:20:00.000-07:00

The pimp smiled at us and didn't reply anything for a moment. He was busy in chewing his beetle. After a few moment Rahul asked again "So, Its a deal?". This time the pimp tried to say something. He moved his upper lip and asked "Where is it?" We took him near the scooty. He made almost three rounds of the scooty and investigated almost every part. He took the keys and checked all the lights, honk and every movable part. It was a good deal for the pimp. So at last, he agreed and took the keys with him. We requested him to hand over the rest of the money after the party. He. He went ahead and told something to the code '0' girl.

Shiva reached hostel at around 1 and handed over the money to Rahul. His eyes were on the lawn searching for the code '0'.

"Hey, what you are looking for man? The whom your eyes are looking for, is waiting in your room." Rahul said.

"Is it? How did you arrange the rest of the money?" Shiva asked.

"You don't worry man. I know how to collect. You go and enjoy. We will talk later" Rahul replied.

Shiva was excited and was almost ready to ran for his room when Rahul called him from back and put a condom in his pocket and said "Remember safe sex".

Shiva smiled and disappeared in a moment. He was excited, anxious and in the seventh sky but I couldn't see the lust in his eyes for that girl. There was something different.

We stood at the corridor and stared at the window of Shiva's room. Time passed on and the morning got closer. We didn't go to the lawn. We had some beer and just stood in the corridor. At around 4, I asked "Lets have a last ride". I knew that the scooty is never going to come back. I don't know how Rahul didn't care for his scooty. He didn't give a second thought before the deal. At some corner of his heart he also knew that the scooty will be gone but he didn't care. He valued the friendship more than anything else. I couldn't take that decision if I would be in his position.

"Hey, why last ride? We will get it back" Rahul replied.

For the first time, I gave a sarcastic smile to Rahul and asked "Are you sure?"

Rahul looked at me and didn't reply. He remained silent for a moment and then said " You are right. Lets go for a ride".

Though the keys were with the pimp, still we managed to start it and went for a long ride. We went to the same railway station chai shop and had some Tea there. By 5, we headed back to the hostel and to our surprise, the scene was completely different.

We reached hostel at around 5 past fifteen and found nobody in the hostel. The lawn was in a big mess. It was full of puke and beer cans. Nobody was awake to let us know what happened. We searched for Shiva in each room but couldn't find him. With no other option we set for the pimp. By 6 AM, we reached the pimp's house and found Shiva at the gate only. Shiva was standing near the pimp with his head down and the pimp was sitting in a culvert chewing his beetle. As soon as he spotted us, he started accusing us and used all the slangs. We parked the scooty and I simply joined Shiva in the queue. But, Rahul didn't. He almost started a fight with him.

"How you can do this? What made you to bring him?" Rahul asked the pimp in a high pitch tone pointing towards Shiva.

"He slept with my girl and have no money. If you don't give my money, forget to go back.You all three" The pimp replied.

"Don't create a scene. You are getting more than you have asked for" Rahul said.

"You fuck**, You have made me to wait for 1 hour more. Who will pay for it." The pimp asked.

"Thats why you are getting the scooty. Don't forget" Rahul replied.

"Okay, you want to mess with me. You will never get the scooty back then. Remember" The pimp replied.

"I don't need. Take it" Rahul told him.

"Okay. But, if you ever try to mess with me, then I will create a scene in your director's office" The pimp said.

We preferred to be silent after that. We left the scooty there and headed towards the hostel in a auto rickshaw.

The Khatia Party Continued (The Deal)....

2010-10-17T23:49:00.000-07:00

The party started and everyone indulged. Some danced with the songs. some preferred to sit and watch the girls dancing. And, some made themselves near to the beer only. I was in the first group and when I am finished with my beer, I tried to find Rahul and Shiva. But, none of them were there. I headed towards the canteen to have a beer and in the corridor I saw Shiva. Shiva was standing in the corridor leaning towards the wall with folded hands. He had his glasses on. Shiva uses glasses in two different situations. First, when he got tensed and the second, when he wears his thinking cap. I didn't make out why he is wearing his glasses on a day like this but that set an alarm. I passed him like I didn't notice as I didn't want to ruin my evening. I went straight ahead to the canteen and found Rahul with a bunch of papers.

"Hey, whats up? What are you doing here?" I asked Rahul.

"Hey Viji, just a little bit of calculations. I guess, I have spent something from my pocket" Rahul replied.

"We will share it you know"

"Hmm, I guess so. We have to." Rahul smiled.

"Hey, what happened to Shiva? He is standing all alone with his glasses on."

"Oops, thats not a good sign" Rahul replied.

We burst into laughter. I took two beers, one for me and one for Shiva. I met Shiva in the corridor and handed over one beer. He denied. He was really thoughtful. He had a lot of questions on his face. He had a different kind of tempo in his voice.

"Hey, What happened? Why are you here?" I asked.

"I want her" Shiva replied pointing his finger towards the code '0' girl.

"What? Are you gonna mad?" I replied.

Shiva didn't respond. He looked at me and I could see the anxiety in his eyes and could hear the warmth in his voice.

"Do you really mean it" I asked.

Shiva nodded his head.

In life, you hardly get any chance to do something for a person you like most. I got that chance. So I decided to do that for him. But How? That bothered me.

I went to the canteen again and told everything to Rahul. Rahul got surprised to hear that. He said only one thing " Our friend gonna become a man. We should help him".

We took Shiva to my room and the discussion started.

"Are you serious" Rahul asked.

"I am" Shiva replied.

"She is 1500 per hour. You have to spend around 6000 bucks to be with her for the rest of the night" Rahul said.

Shiva nodded his head.

Rahul sat on the chair , thought for a moment and then started

"Ok, We will do something. I have around 1300 cash. How much you have guys?"

"I have around 750" I replied.

"I have 250 only" Shiva said.

"okay, you go to ATM and draw the cash. I will arrange the rest". Rahul said to Shiva and handed over his ATM card. I too did that.

Shiva left for ATM and we left for arranging the rest of the money.

I couldn't make out what Rahul's mind is cooking. Because I knew that no one in the whole hostel had money at that point of time. But at the same time I knew that Rahul will made this.

We went straight ahead to the pimp and Rahul tried to convince him

"We need code'0' for the rest of the night. It is four hours more. So it is 6000 rupees. But we have only 2300 cash right now. For the rest of the money, you can take my scooty. I will pay tomorrow and get back my scooty. And, If I don't, then you can always sell it and get your money back. You can get more than 3700 bucks.So Its a deal?"

The Khatia Party Continued(The 'o' girl)....

2010-10-16T20:33:00.000-07:00

Rahul made the detailed plan. He took the charge of arranging the Khatia girls. Shiva assigned with the charge of arranging beers and I was assigned with the task of taking the hostel security into confidence. And, then we left for arranging money. That was not at all a diffcult job. We went door to door and when we reveled the plan, people gave money more than we expected. After collecting all the money, shiva took half of the money and went for beers. Rahul went for arranging the girls. I left all alone with my task. I knew that the security people will never listen to me. So I started to talk with the mess workers first. Like other people in the hostel, the mess workers also got thriled to know the plan and promtly agreed with the idea. Seeing their excitement, I simply delegate my other task of talking to the security to the mess workers. They talked with the secuirty guys and everything got set for the party.

Shiva reached hostel at around 8 PM with 15 packs of beer means around 300 cans. We removed all the vegetables from the refrigerators and loaded all the beers in it. The mess workers got busy in preparing special tanduris for the night. Everything got ready by 9 and we started waiting for Rahul. As time passed, the hands of the clock started making fun of us but at last Rahul made it. At around 11, an auto rickshaw made an entry to the hostel all through the ground corridor breaking the hostel protocols. Nobody came out of it for the first five minutes and that made people anxious. Then Rahul made his entry with his scooty and stopped near the auto rickshaw. Then a middle aged man came out of the rickshaw. The man in his early 40 was a short, fat and black skinned guy having a tommy bigger than a 10 liter pertrol tank. He had a bittle in his mouth and was moving his mouth like cattle rechewing their food. He was frequently moving his toungue on his black lips removing the red spots of beetel. He had a red tilak on his forehead and he was carrying a handbag tightly in his armpit. Following this guy, 5 hot chics came out of the auto rickshaw and took attention of almost all guys of the hostel. They had an thick layer of makeup on their faces. They were in lehengas, a bra and a transparent odhni in ascot style. The lehengas were in the lowest level of waist possible with the bra tightly fitted, clealy showing the clevage. All of them had a pierce in their tommy giving a sexy look. In brief, none of them was any less than a ponrt actress. But, among them, a girl was looking tensed, giving a futile try to cover her exposed body parts with her folded hands. Her face was inncocent and looked younger than rest of the girls.

Rahul escorted them to the lawn. The mess workers already arranged a khatia in the center of the lawn. The girls made themselves comfortable in the khati and they are offered with tanduris. Rahul called a short meeting in the canteen with the all the people and started

"Guys, as you can see, everything has been arranged. And, we will strat in next 15 minutes. But before that, let me set the ground rules. The girls will sing, dance and entertain us. But, don't try to touch tem.If you really want to, you can do this by spending some extra bucks. If you want them in your room, contact the pimp."Rahul pointed to the girls and said "The girls are sitting in increasing order of their age. The leftmost is of 32 years, right to her 29, the middle girl is 27. right to her 23 and the last one is 20 only. Remeber their codes 2,9,7,3,0; the last digit of their age. The hourly rates vary as per their age. Less the age, more the rates. The rates for them are 500,750,1000,1200,1500."

One of the guys asked "Can't we get a college discount"

Rahul smiled and said "The rates are already inclusive of college discounts. But, if you can bargain with pimp, you may get additional beenfits. But, he is an assho**.The show will continue for next five hours and by early morning, we have to clean the place. There are five girls and we have five hours. So, each girl will perform for at least one hour and for the next four hour she may be with you.So, at any point of time, one girl is always on the stage".

So lets start and dn't forget the ground rule "Don't touch".

Then the party started with a song "Bijli Giri". Everyone except Shiva and Rahul were in the lawn with a beer can in their hand.

The Khatia Party

2010-10-14T22:36:00.000-07:00

As our cab started rolling in the dark road, I lowered down the window. The full stomach and the cold breeze made me sleep. But the lady interrupted "Hey, don't sleep. First tell me who is she?".

"She! who?" I exclaimed first and then asked.

"She, the girl, who broke your great friendship" the lady asked with a sarcasm.

"There are two girls. Who you want to know first."

"As looks perfect to you"

"Hmm. Lets go in chronological order then" I said and started to tell her the story of Shiva.

Shiva, a guy with 5 feet 10 inch height, well built and dark skin. With a low emotional tolerance and great helping nature, he was a guy everyone takes advantage of. We made a great friendship in four years. We enjoyed our time and lived our life there. But, within our great friendship too, we had differences. Rahul being the smartest and intelligent guy, was famous in the whole college. Everyone want to have friendship with him. But he loves to hang out with two of us only. Being Shiva my childhood friend, I like Shiva more than Rahul. In true sense, I envy Rahul for being the best. There was another reason too. Shiva likes Rahul most for his extrovertness, easy going nature and extra ordinary attitude of getting things done. So, it was always Rahul who lead us. He made us feel from the beginning that Girls are not trustworthy. Use them else you will be used. So, we generally refrain ourselves from the thing called love and that worked until the last year of our engineering. Shiva got his girl in the last year and to that a Prostitute.

With the word 'Prostitute'. the lady screamed. "Yes, Prostitute". I repeated and continued.

Shiva, with his super helping nature always stands for others. The emotional guy fell in love with each second girl he met but the next moment reminded him of our friendship and he refrained himself. But it was winter of 2005 when he couldn't curb his emotions.

It was 25th November. The day before our last examination in seventh semester. We, Rahul, Shiva and I, having two beers each struggling hard to solve previous year question paper with no interest at all. By then, we all were placed in big MNCs with decent paychecks. So nobody had a interest to study. It was just a formality to clear the papers. We are forced to sit in that room waiting for one of us to ignite the spark. It was like the situation of gas molecules in a closed box. When confined, the gas molecules remain in the boundary and when open, takes the whole space and got mixed with the air. We three are too confined in that room searching for the hole to leak out. Rahul made the hole.

"Enough, I can't do this bullshit anymore" Rahul suddenly shouted. The wait was over. Rahul ignited the spark. I and Shiva promptly closed our notes and asked "What to do?".

Rahul behaved like thinking and said "Let go for a movie". The idea was not at all exciting.

Shiva opened his book and said "It is better to be here then". I also nodded with him.

Rahul folded his hand and started with a admonishing voice

"Guys, this is our last year. We are not supposed to waste it like this. Tell me guys whats the last craziest thing we have done lately. We have done nothing. In a few more day, we will be out of this institution, this hostel. We will join our companies and can't meet anymore. Lets do something. What you say guys?"

His speech made us nostalgic and we also started thinking. "Lets do something funny and interesting" Shiva replied. Rahul gave a thought for sometime and came up with a idea.

"Hey, what about a khatia party".

"Sounds interesting but what it is" I asked.

"You don't know Khatia party" Rahul gave me a surprised look. I looked at Shiva to know whether he is aware of it. But, his pale face confirmed that and fills confidence in me.

"No, I, means we don't know that" I replied.

"Okay, Khatia party is a special kind of party mostlydone in Bihar and UP. Khatia or cot is a must in the party and the people surrounds that. The girl dance on the cot. Famous khatia songs are "Bijli giri by Yanna Gupta and Bipasha in upcomning flick Omkara. The best is "Chuma leilo Rajaji in bhojpuri. Now you guys got the point." Rahul said.

We took a deep breath and Shiva started "Okay, so do you know where this kind of party happens in Mumbai".

Rahul burst into laughter and said "We will go nowhere. The party will be here". That made us feel uncomfortable. So I started blabbering

"Rahul, you gone crazy. We can't take this risk. And what if we caught by the warden? He will not spare us. Having such party in hostel is no picnic"

As usual my blabbering has no impact. Rahul said "Don't worry guys. we will take advantage of this structure. Remember, whatever happens inside it, never gonna cross this wall. So we are safe."

We don't have anything to say after that. So, we nodded our head in support and gathered to prepare a plan to make it a success.

Gas Lamp Dinner

2010-10-13T22:58:00.000-07:00

With the end to Rahul's story, I stopped and turned back to check whether the lady is still awake or gone into sleep. To my surprise, she was staring me with her big blue eyes with a lot of questions on her face. I got shocked and asked "Hey, what happened?" She was completely indulged in the story. With my question, she came into sense and said "Sorry, what you asked? I was thinking of Rahul."

I burst into laughter and said "What you are thinking of Rahul".

"Hmm, just like that. About the story, Rahul, Shrabs and all of them". She replied. She was going to say something more but the cab driver interrupted us.

"We will take our dinner here" The driver said and turned the cab into a dhaba near a petrol pump. He parked the cab and left for dinner. He didn't give us a option. As soon as the driver left, I asked the lady "So, what you are saying?"

"Hmm, are we not going to take dinner here?" She questioned me back.

I lowered the window , rolled my eyes and asked again "Do you really want to have your dinner here?" making a ugly face. She not only answered me with her eyes and ordered to accompany her. We came out of the cab and chose a table far away from the crowd. As I got busy in examining the cleanliness of the table, the lady sat down and relaxed. "Don't expect a 7/11 here. Its not your California gas station". The lady made fun of me. I got her and without any further investigation of hygiene, I preferred to sit. A kid came with two 1 liter glass full of water holing in one hand and a gas lamp in the other. He put the gas lamp on the table, then started cleaning the table with the uncleaned towel kept on his trouser pocket and made a hand gesture asking for the order. "Mutton Masala and Butter naan" The lady ordered and asked me "What you want". I have actually forgotten the names of Indian dishes. So with out wasting time I said "Same as her". But before I finish, the kid was gone and I saw him saying "Mutton masala , Butter naan" with his hand raised up having index and middle finger open, to a guy standing far away at the kitchen. I expect the guy in the kitchen and the kid both understood our order. The lady drank a sip of water and kept the glass on the table. I sensed that nobody is going to disturb us for a while. So I started again "So, you are saying something about Rahul".

"Hmmm, The story was nice, romantic and painful. But, this is the story Rahul told you. So, do you think it is real?" The lady fired the question. Frankly speaking I was expecting that. I smiled and replied "Look. This is the same thought we had the next day after the debut match. We also got a little be doubtful. But, as we started spending time with Rahul, we figured out that everything was true. He always started behaving weird whenever we discuss about love, passion and girls. He never talked to any girl in the four years. I mean, why someone gonna behave like this until and unless something bitter happened." I replied.

The lady took a deep breath and paused for a while. After a moment, She started again "But, you never seen Shrabs, her pics, her love letters anything that prove her existence. May be, Rahul was just making a story"

With that, the lady put me into a deep thought actually. I was forced to give a second thought about this. But the thing that really made me thoughtful was not the truthfulness of Rahul's story but a question, framed in my mind."Why the lady is trying to prove Rahul's story false".

In the mean time, our dinner came. The same kid brought our dinner with three plates one above another in the left hand and another plate having salt and chillies in the other hand. He put the plate with salt and chilly on my side and the other three on the lady's side. I got confused for a moment by his action. I couldn't get what the lady will do with two plates of mutton and one plate of naan. And, what I will do with salt and chilly. The next moment, the kid exchanged the foods in the plates so fast, everything looked perfect. He didn't do any magic but spectacular. He placed the second mutton plate on my side, picked one naan from her plate and kept on mine. He then picked a pinch of salt and a chilly from my plate and kept it on her plate. Everything is done. I got amazed for a second. With the first bit of naan, I started

" I believe Rahul. May be he was making a story but I have spent 4 years with him. So I believe him though I have never seen Shrabs. May be she doesn't exist at all. Whatever, I am confused. Do I sound confused?"

The lady smiled at me and asked "So, is Rahul still single"

"No, not at all. He got someone, more lovable, beautiful and caring. I guess, they have been married and they must have some kid by now" I replied.

"Hey hey, excuse me! What do you mean by 'I guess'? You don't know" The lady asked with a shocking face.

"Yes, I don't know. And thats why I am here." I replied.

"And, what about Shiva?"

"I don't have any contact either of them"

"Why? I thought you said that you guys are best friends"

"Yes, we are. But, the things don't go as you expect. Thats why someone said that always expect the unexpected. Shiva got split from us in the last year of our engineering. And, I got split from Rahul in the mid of 2006 when he was going to marry. After that, we never met each other, never talked to each other"

"Why you guys split?"

The same "girl". I smiled with that answer.

"Ufff. then who is this girl then" The lady asked me.

I was just going to answer the lady and the cab driver showed up. "Lets go", the driver said.

We finished our dinner in a hurry and get back to our cab. The dinner was awesome. Gas lamp, open sky with stars and a beautiful lady. As soon as we entered into the cab, he put the life into the engine and we started rolling again.

The Debut Match Continued6 (The end) ...

2010-10-12T22:18:00.000-07:00

We dressed up and went to the Nescafe kiosk in the hostel ground floor. Rahul put his ass on the security guard's chair as soon as we reached and hold his head tight. "Uffff " Thats all he said.

"What kind of tea you need" Shiva asked Rahul.

"What you are going to do?" Rahul backfired him.

"You said you need tea" I barged into and yelled at Rahul.

"Yes, I need. But I need a cutting chai and not the machine made Tea" Rahul replied with a smile on his face.

Shiva and I looked at each other and said simultaneously "What?".

"Yes, Cutting chai. If you need it, you get it" Rahul said and closed his eyes.

I started to blabber.

"How we can find your chai at 4 o' clock morning. You can't do that. You have to complete the story now. You have to drink this Tea. We can't arrange chai now. Its impossible. How does the Tea matter? It is same. Have you ever tried this Nescafe Tea. It is good. You will like it. Have one first"

I stopped after a while and looked at both of them. Nobody said anything. Rahul didn't care at all. And, Shiva knew my blabbering was never going to work. I sat on the chair with frustration. Shiva lit a cigarette and after the first puff, he said "We can get it in Railway Station".

"Yes, Thats right" Ragul said.

"What! Railway station! Are you mad?" I exclaimed.

"At 4 o clock morning, we can get tea only in railway station" Shiva said again.

"Okay, then how are we going there" I asked.

"We will take a bike" Rahul answered.

"And, where you gonna get that" I asked.

"We can borrow it from senior" Shiva said.

I don't know why drunk people behave so smart. They think that they can do everything, achieve anything. Try to act sober, smart and intelligent. The same happened with Shiva and Rahul.

After Shiva's proposal, Rahul stood up and they both marched towards the seniors hostel. With no other option, I followed them but I have already smelled the tornado waiting for us there.

"Hall Of Residence 5" was the name of our Senior's hostel. With all rooms locked, we heard some noise from the third floor. We marched there. As soon as we reached the end of staircase and the start of the corridor, we saw around 5 seniors busy in discussing Cruel intentions. They spotted us instantaneously and got excited to see us. Three drunk freshers, one week older, in seniors hostel and to that at 4 o' clock morning. The situation was like three innocent animals walking to slaughterhouse willing to be butchered.

"Hey, you fuckers. come here." one of the senior asked us.

We went straight to him.

"So what brought you here" Another senior asked.

"We need a bike sir. We want to go station to have some tea" Rahul answered vigorously.

Three big bang sound. The whole corridor echoed. Three big slaps on our chicks and then down on the knee. "No questions asked. Be there as next command comes" One senior said.

Then they got busy in their discussion again. With kneel down, we prefer to remain silent to prevent any other worse situation. We saw one by one all the senior left. As the last senior left the corridor, he asked us to leave. But, again the alcohol showed its temptation. "Can we have a bike Sir" Shiva asked again. This time, good luck was with us. The senior smiled and gave us a key and said the location of the bike. We thanked the holy hearted senior and ran for the hostel gate. It was around 4:45, means, 35 to 40 minutes of kneel down. After reaching the gate, what we spotted was enough to ruin our plans but we didn't loose hope. It was not a bike but a HeroPuch AG, a moped. Still, we loaded all three and set for the railway station.

After 20 minutes of long and miserable drive, we reached the railway station. We spotted the cutting chai special shop and ordered three tea. The tea arrived and with the first sip, I asked "So, what after that". Rahul lit the cigarette,took one sip and started:

After Shrabs left my room, I ran behind her but she has left the hostel. I couldn't sleep on that day. I just lied on my bed watching the revolving fan. I couldn't figure out what has just happened. I wished everything to be a bad dream but that was not. Everything was real. As soon as the clock clicks 7, I ran for the college to see her, apologize her and to express my love to her. But, as I tried to speak her, she behaved normal like nothing happened and politely excused herself. I asked her for a walk. She denied. I waited for her the whole day. She didn't show up. Afterwards, she tried to avoid me and didn't talk to me at all. I wrote several letters, texts several messages. But, she didn't reply. I got frustrated, depressed and the things got worse when I spotted her with Vikash, the lecture. The things happened same as with me. The same coffee shop, same walk and everything was same except I was not there. I glumly tried to move on and live my life in a disoriented state, but I never succeed. More I tried to forget her, I felt more close to her. Then I started all the stuff alcohol, smoke just to get far away from her thoughts. That also didn't work.

Rahul took a hard breath with that and stopped. We also remained silent for a while. But, the curiosity didn't let us stay calm.

"so, thats all. She never spoke to you again" I asked.

No, thats not true. she spoke to me once and that to in my room. The breakup left no interest in me in living and pursuing anything. I almost cut myself off from the rest of the world. I left my studies far behind. She showed up in my hostel room when my 12th board exam results came out. I was flunked. She came to let me know my result. She just said one thing "You are a fool". That one sentence made me realize the whole thing. I lost my one year, lost my career and in return I learned the best thing.

Rahul started bawling with that. We made him relax. I and Shiva couldn't make out what to say. We spent some more time in the station, just looking at each others face. Around 5:30, when the sun started to come out, we left for the hostel. Alcohol, the cold shower, the 40 minute kneel down and the 20 minutes miserable drive made all of us tired. We reached the hostel and went for a good sleep.

The Debut Match Continued5 (R de Gay?) ...

2010-10-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

Rahul stopped with that with a usual sarcastic smile on his face. I and Shiva were so indulged in his story that we felt like being in that room while everything happened. But as he stopped, we were brought back from 24th December 2000 to 18th August 2002. We got speechless and couldn't make out anything for a moment. Rahul was still smiling and Shiva was in a deep thought with his glass in one hand. And I, was in doubt whether Rahul's story is real or not. So, I threw a bunch of questions to Rahul.

What happened after that?

Have you tried to meet her again?

Are you in touch with her now?

Why you made her down?

Did you really love her?

As I am done with my questions, I looked at Rahul. He showed me his empty glass and shook it in front of my eyes. He, then put the glass on the table and said "Climax is pending. I am overloaded and need some rest". I looked at Shiva and he looked fine to me. None of us remember how many pegs we have taken. But, I remembered mine. It was a single one that I was continuing up to that time. Shiva might have taken 3 or 4 pegs at maximum. The rest of the alcohol was in Rahul's stomach only, struggling to come out. As Rahul declared the pending climax, we got anxious. The ambiance, the flow and the curiosity didn't allow us to leave the story there. We can't wait for such a day to come again to listen to the rest of the story. I and Shiva, didn't say anything to each other but our minds cooked the same thing. We turned our face simultaneously towards Rahul but got shocked to see him.

He was sleeping on the table with puke all over the table and floor. We stepped back with our chairs. I unplugged the zero power bulbs and plugged the fluorescent light. The electromagnetic spectrum of the fluorescent light not only helps to see all the puke but also helped to smell it. It was terrible. We thought to leave him like this but our curiosity forced us to make him wake up and tell the rest of the story .So, we lifted him from the table, put his hands on our shoulders and set for the bathroom. I don't now why people gain so much weight after drink but people gained a lot. And, so as Rahul. With cat walk of Shiva and me with 1 peg, we managed to reach our hostel bathroom. Rahul was still in half sleep and couldn't make out anything. So, we just made him sit in the bathroom floor and opened the cold shower on him. As the cold droplets of water kissed his head, a big bang sound shocked the hostel. "Mad******", Rahul shouted. The cold water brought sense to him and as soon as he got it, he dragged both of us to the shower. We three enjoyed the shower in one bathroom. We asked him for the rest of the story in the bathroom itself and "I need a cutting chai first" is the only thing Rahul said.

We came out of the bathroom after a while and to our surprise all the hostel-ites are in our corridor and are watching us with a million dollar question on their eyes "Are they Gay?".

Rahul's room was no more in a condition to go. He went to Shiva's room and I went to mine. We changed our cloths and got ready for Rahul's demand "The cutting chai".

The Debut Match Continued4 (The Birth Day)...

2010-10-10T17:16:00.000-07:00

Rahul put his glass hard on the table and said in a firm voice "Its stump out and I need to pee". I rolled my eyes and noticed that the RS full bottle was empty. I didn't remember how many pegs we drank on that night. I checked my watch and it was only 2 AM. Rahul picked up the empty bottle and threw it into the dustbin. He got ready to open the door of his room and then I interrupted "Where are you going man?"

"Its intermission and so lets pee" Rahul said.

I don't know exactly how the pee works. But, if one goes for pee, others follow him. And, I noticed it several times. It may be in a long trip, long discussion or anything. If you stop the car in a long trip to pee, then you are not only the one who pees. Your co-travelers too pee. I always wonder how all the people feel like peeing at the same time. On that night too, we followed Rahul to the restroom. We finished early and waited for Rahul in the corridor. We started to figure out what must have happened on that day but couldn't make out anything. At the mean time Rahul came and we started for the next part of the story. Rahul opened the new bottle and made our pegs, a large one for himself and smaller ones for us. We were eagerly waiting for Rahul's sip and the part of the story after intermission. Rahul took his sip and started:

It was December 24th, my 19th birthday. I used to spend my birthday always with my parents. It was always x-mas holidays and I used to be with my parents at that time of the year. So it was kind of a custom for me to celebrate the birthday in home.But, that year was different. I have decided not to go home rather celebrate it with my love, Shrabs. But, the things got twist when my mom forced me to come. So finally I decided to go home and come back by afternoon so I can spend the evening with Shrabs. I neither reveled my birthday nor the plan to her. But, somehow she managed to know that it is my birthday.

It was around 5 PM when I reached back to my hostel from my home. I was a little bit tired. Still, I got prepared to meet her. Then, someone knocked at the door. I opened it and to my surprise Sharbs with our some common college friends were at the door. As soon as they spotted me, they started singing

"Happy Birth day to you, Happy birth day to you,

Happy birth day to Rahul, happy birthday to you".

I thanked them and invited them all to my room. I arranged chairs for all of them and then birthday bump started. Everyone kicked my ass badly and wished me. They had a cake with them. I cut the cake and they smashed it on my face. Everyone has a more or less small gift for me except Shrabs. So I made the mistake and asked "Hey Shrabs, where is my gift?"

"A big surprise, wait and watch" Shrabs replied.

We ate the cake, cracked some jokes, played dumb charades and finally everyone left at around 7 PM. Sharbs didn't left. As the last person left the room, Sharbs closed the door and asked "Do you wanna your gift?"

"Sure" I said and tried to clean the cake from my face. She came near me, kissed on my chick and took a piece of cake from my face with her tongue. I got stunned but didn't react.

"Hey, you sit and let me clean my face first" I said and turned back to clean my face. As I am done with that, I asked Shrabs to hand over the towel to me. She came near me, turned me towards her and brought her face near me. I could feel the warmth of her breath . I manged to open my eyes a little bit and what I saw, I couldn't believe it. I guess, no one would.

She was completely nude. Before I could say anything, she kissed my lips and I lost myself. We remained still for 3 long seconds. She knew everything, how to kiss, when to smooch, where to hold and how to breath. She released my lips and I got my sense. I stepped back, turned my face from her and said "This is not right. We are friends".

"So, when I denied?" She replied.

"But this should not happen between two friends."

"Why? Don't you enjoy the kiss?"

"Of course, I enjoyed. But this is not right"

"I don't understand you. If two friends enjoy something, then what does it matter in right or wrong?"

"I don't know all this but I know this should not happen. So please dress yourself and then we will talk." I said with a firm voice.

"Can you please at least look at me and say this" She requested.

I made her down and said "I couldn't".

She requested again " Don't you want your birthday gift. Have a look at your birthday gift."

"No, I don't want. So please dress yourself" I resist again.

She came near me, turned me towards her again and said "Lets Love".

I pushed her back and said "I can't do this".

I smelled a hot argument but that didn't happen. "Do you love me?" She asked me.

"Of course, I love you. Thats why, I care for you" I replied.

"Don't care for me. Just Love me." She said and with that she tried to hug me again. I pushed her hard this time, turned back and said "Please dress and leave."

"You are a hypocrite" she said, slammed the door and left.

The Debut Match Continued3...

2010-10-10T00:29:00.000-07:00

As I started going for my hostel, I saw her waving her hand. She was pretty but I was in my world and didn't actually notice her closely until the next day. The next day, I had a busy schedule. I was busy in labs and extra classes. I was in my chemistry lab all alone. Everyone had already left and I was the last person to leave. As I was winding up my work, I saw Shrabs came to the room.

"If I am not disturbing you, Can I sit ?" She asked.

I waved a Hi and nodded my head in positive. She sat beside me and I got busy in my work again. I didn't speak a word. After some time, she started

"Sexy Sharbs is beside you and you don't give a damn care" As I heard this, I turned my face towards her and for the first time I looked at her from the top to bottom.

Sharbs, a girl of around 5 ft and 6 inch, good height and above average of normal girls. Her slim body was the reason for her sexy look. Her green eyes were add-on to her innocent face. Her lips were so pink and beautiful that no one can stop himself from staring. She was wearing a cyan colored 3/4th and a white top. The top was so body fit that one can easily guess her body structure. Her silk hair was tied back with a black colored hair band. She had her nails polished with silver color. She was wearing a red colored shoe and the bare legs between her 3/4th and the shoe were giving her the sexiest look. Above all, she was carrying a college bag hanging from her shoulder with the strap in between her breasts exposing the bulky, sexiest portion of a woman.

As I looked at her, I got stunned for a while with my mouth open. Then she waved her hand in front of my face and asked "hey, what happened?" I got sense and I turned my face. She promptly asked "Am I Pretty?".

I smiled but said nothing. Silence had filled the room for next moments until she asked me " Do you wanna kiss me?" I got surprised by her question. It is just a second meet and the girl is asking for a kiss. I was not prepared for that kind of situation. So I packed my bag and got ready for leaving without saying a word to her. She smelled my uncomforted. She hold my hand and said "I am sorry, if you are hurt". I just said 'Okay' and left the place. She followed me and came near to the bicycle stand. She apologized again and said "Can I come with you?" I replied positively and we left for my hostel. It was a 20 minutes walk and first of its kind in my life where I was walking beside the sexiest girl I have ever met.I was felling proud when the passersby looked at us. She suggested to have a coffee. We went to the coffee house. She was too talkative. She kept on telling a lot of things and I was just watching her, her lips movements, her hand gestures with my face on my left hand palm and elbow on the coffee table. Suddenly I noticed my watch and it was 7:30 PM. I got shocked and shouted "It is 7:30. You are late. You parents must be worried". As I shouted suddenly, the smile from her face vanished. "My parents are not worried but It seems you are not enjoying my company" She said contradicting my expectations.

"Hey, this is not true. But, its too late. We must get going" I replied.

"Okay, Lets go" She said unwillingly.

I paid the bill and we left the coffee shop. I reached hostel at around 8 PM. I felt guilty of wasting so much time. So I took a shower and got ready for study. As soon as I opened my books, It was her face, her lips, her unique way of waving hand that I saw.I couldn't concentrate on my study at all. I just got impatient to talk to her again. The next day morning, I ran for the college just to get a glimpse of her and to my luck I met her at the gate only. We exchanged a "Hi".

"So, do you have anything important to do today?" She asked.

"Yes, but not important than you." I replied.

"Than, lets go for walk"

We left the college. It was the best morning I have ever had, I thought. Our hand touched a lot of times during the walk. but, none of us reacted to it. We talked a lot of things. We went to the coffee shop again. We spent almost the whole day together. When I reached back to my hostel, I figured out that I have missed the classes, and a surprise test. From that day onwards, I tried a lot to balance my study and Sharbs but that didn't happen. She started occupying me, my heart, and my mind. I started bunking my classes. I missed my tests. I just loved to be with her. We both were flying high. Four months had gone like this and it was December 24th when everything got over.

With this, Rahul stopped. As he stopped, we eventually asked "What happened on that day". Our curiosity was at the peak. Rahul gave his million dollar smile and put his glass hard on the table.

The Debut Match Continued2...

2010-10-09T01:36:00.000-07:00

We took our glasses, collided with each other and said in firm voice 'Cheers'. Rahul took a big sip and made his glass half with that. Shiva took a small one and I saw no reaction in his face. Then it was my turn. I took a sip slowly and kept it in my mouth for a minute or two. Then I made it to flow through my throat slowly and the bitter taste gave me goosebumps. I felt like vomiting but somehow I managed with just a small cough.

After the large sip, Rahul kept the glass on the table and lit a cigarette. With a big puff, he offered us. I shook my head and said "No, I couldn't". Shiva too denied. He smiled, didn't force us again and said "Guys, never ever love anybody. It gives pain. Woman is difficult to understand. You can't find out what there is in their heart. How deep their thought is!" Silence engulfed the room for next moment. Then Shiva made a comment "It looks like you loved her so much and you didn't forget her".

"What made you break up and where is she now?" I added.

Rahul made a sarcastic smile and continued "I don't know whether I love her or I hate her. But, what I can say for sure is that I can never forgive her not forget her. Shrabs, the name, I can't get rid of. This name always remind me of my inabilities, my foolishness and my failures. It was four years back. The time of August. It was my 12th board examination. I used to be a very good student at that time and a high ranker. I used to spend my whole day either in library and or in my room or in college. No play, no outing and no hanging around. I used to top in all the mock tests, quizzes and assignments. It was so obvious at that time that no one ever bothered to know who top-ed the test. It was always me. That day , 13th September 2000, had a quiz too, a physics quiz and I had topped it. After the test, I was busy in discussing something with the youngest lecture of my college, Vikash. But, I noticed, he is not even listening to me rather he is staring something else. I moved my eyeballs as per his ones, and they stopped at a girl. I rolled back and interrupted him. Then he got his consciousness and felt embarrassed. So, without any more discussion, he rescheduled our discussion. So, I left the classroom and went for library. As I was busy in reading, I felt someone standing nearby me. I turned towards that someone and to my surprise, I saw the same girl, the one the lecture was staring.

"Hi, am I disturbing you ?" The girl asked.

"No, Not yet. But, you might." I replied.

She smiled and said "You are Rahul, the topper, right ?"

I nodded my head and she congratulated me.

"Thanks but no body congratulates me these days for these silly tests."

"Well, physics test may be silly for genius like you but not for all."

"Excuse me, I am not a genius."

She smiled and gave her hand for shake and said " I am Sharbs. My friends call me sexy Shrabs".

I got astonished for a second with her wordings but didn't react. I shook the hand.

It was the first time ever, I touched a girl's hand and it gave a different kind of feeling.

"So, You are new, I guess" I continued asking.

"Yah, I got admitted in 11th and my dad wants me to top and get a good college after that."

"It seems, you don't want this."

"Ohh no, of course not. I too want this but not at the cost of my enjoyment."

With that, she wanted to talk more but I was not in a mood. I had to do a lot of things other than these silly things. So I excused myself by saying that I had some pending homework. She didn't force me to stay. I just said bye to her and returned hostel. But, she waved me a bye with a nice hand gesture adding a big sweet smile on her face.

With this our first meet was over.

The Debut Match Continued...

2010-10-06T23:12:00.000-07:00

As Rahul described the importance of alcohol in friendship, I agreed to him and took my chair. Rahul started arranging the stuffs in the table. He first picked three plates from the bunch, kept on the table and put them in the center. Then he picked some snack items from the plastic bag and kept on one of the plate. Then he put some salt, onion, mint and chilly on one side of second plate and peanuts on the other side. On the third plate, he kept chicken wings. All the side dishes got ready and we were eagerly waiting for the main course. Then Rahul took two bottles from his messenger bag. The bottles looked yellow with some yellowish-red colored liquid inside it. Rahul threw one of the bottle towards me and said "Feel it man". I caught the bottle. This was the first time, I was holding a whiskey bottle in my hand. I turned the bottle from one end to other, top to bottom, watched the label and then read it "Royal Stag". I handed it over to Shiva and made a long breath "Hmmmmm".

"Dude, call it RS" Rahul said. We smiled.

Then Rahul took the bottle in his right hand and bashed it from the bottom with his left hand palm. He then slowly opened the upper lid and threw it to the dustbin. He took the bottle near to his nose and smelled it. He behaved in such a way that we thought like he smelled an eternal smell. But he didn't. He took the three glasses and put them in a line. He then took the glass one by one, lifted up to his eye level and poured the whiskey. Then he mixed the cold drink in all , passed the glasses to us and said in a firm voice "Lets start".

The Debut Match

2010-10-05T22:47:00.000-07:00

Finally the D-Day arrived. Friday, 16th August when we will come to know the most awaiting, thrilling love story of Rahul. Classes end and with that the first hectic week of B Tech. A long weekend was there to chill, enjoy and digest the story. Rahul was absent after the lunch itself. I and Shiva reached hostel at around 5 PM and to our surprise, Rahul's room was locked. We got anxious about the match and thought it got cancelled. But, when Shiva opened his room, he got a note and the note was from Rahul with a one liner "Get ready, I will be back soon". The note put life in us. We took shower, got refreshed and got ready for the debut match by 6 PM.

The clock started ticking and the hour hand ran first. 6.30, 6.45, 6.60, 7.10,7.20,7.30,8.10. We keep on checking our watch in a gap of 10 minutes and waiting in the corridor. Finally, by 9 PM we gave up. With our broken hearts and thirsty emotions, we set for the canteen. But, the destiny has some other plans. We were in the verge of entering into the canteen, Rahul called us from back and that call put life into our emotions for the second time in the day.

"Hey guys, where are you going" Rahul asked.

"We thought, the match is cancelled" Shiva replied.

"Hey, No dude. the match is intact. lets go." Rahul said and went straight to his room. We followed him. We reached his room and to our surprise, the room was looking like a small bar. He has arranged two study tables and joined them to form a big L-shaped table and the whole structure is kept in the corner of the bed. Two chairs were there at the other side of the table. The room was illuminated by two zero powered bulbs to give it the exact atmosphere. There were three steel glasses, bunch of paper plates and two polythene bags on the table.

"Hey, no one else is joining?" Shiva asked as soon as he took his chair.

Rahul gave a sarcastic smile and said "No dude, you know these people are crap. They can never figure out what the friendship is."

"Hmm, what point you are trying to make? Does alcohol make the friendship? You want to say that?" I barged into the discussion.

"Not exactly. But, alcohol makes the bond strong. A bunch of smokers or alcoholics share a different wave between them. They make a good bond rather a better one than the non smokers/alcoholics" Rahul answered.

I didn't have any answer to that and Rahul was right . That night made our life a memorable one and laid a strong foundation to our friendship.

CFnL

2010-10-04T22:54:00.000-07:00

Third day of the 1st week has reached and the induction cum ragging was still continuing. We ,three, are the only ones who really enjoying that. May be its the assignment, or the punishment or the strange acts, we were made ourselves an active part of all. By third day, we also became favorite junior of our seniors. And, there is sufficient reason for that too. We have made the pretty assignments for the Net worth law, we described the law to other freshers, we sang the songs "Yeh condom he, ish condom ka yahi he yahi he.....", "G**nd me danda de". In fact, we entertained the seniors more than they expected. So, we were told that from 3rd day onwards, we can move to the other side and enjoy the ragging rather than got ragged if we wish.

The third day came and being the last day, we went to the room 205 in lunch break a little late. As soon as we made our entry, we were welcome by three magnificent slaps.

"Why are you so late, fuckers" A senior asked.

We preferred to remain silent to avoid another big slap. Thanks to God, nobody asked any more questions. Another senior asked us to join our other friends and he went to the stage. The guy started:

"Today we will know the second law 'CFnL'. Sir Ankit Upadhya devised this law and we should consider ourselves fortunate to have this law from its own creator Sir Ankit." We all clapped to welcome him. Then, a 6.5 ft tall, handsome, fair, well built guy came on stage and started his theory

"CFnL, the name speaks for itself. It consists of just mere three words but combining them makes a life long learning." Then the guy turned back and wrote CFL on the blackboard from all the top to bottom. Then he put arrow marks on all the letters and turned towards us.

"Guys, keep your breath. You are going to learn a marvelous relationship of three common words" He said and turned back again. Then he started writing C for Catch, F for F**K and L for Leave.

He threw the chalk and turned towards us and said " Guys, it simply means Catch, F**k and Leave. Never trust a girl. Girls are not for friendship, they are just for sex. If you love, you will be destroyed. Never got emotional with a girl. These hot chicks are barrier to your growth, progress, career and future. Always remember, behind every unsuccessful man, there is always a successful woman.

Silent engulfed the room for next moment. Then another senior shouted "Have a big round of applaud for Sir Ankit". And we all clapped. The session ended and as we are getting ready to get out of the room, one of the senior called us and said " Hey, you three guys Rahul, Shiva and Vijay will make note of this law and you will be on the stage tomorrow". With no other choice, we nodded our head and get out of the room.

As soon as we figured ourselves in the safe distance of the room, we burst into laughter for the CFnL. The funny laws and how funny the guy is to describe the law. I and Shiva got busy in translating the same into different other versions, making joke on it but Rahul was upset again. The sadness on his face bothered us again. As we approached him, he tried to behave normal. But, he wasn't. The curiosity about his past errupted again in us. But, as decided, we thought that it is better to wait for the day when he will open his mouth. So, we remain silent.

The strange mail

2010-10-03T22:38:00.000-07:00

The next day morning, I woke up and opened my laptop. A message flashes "1 new mail in your mailbox". I got irritated and the sleepy brain asked itself "Who the hell sent a new assignment". I opened the mail and to my surprise the 'From' column shows Rahul and the subject shows "Who wanna play the debut match". I opened the mail and it goes like this.

Hey Fuckers/Freshers,

We are planning for a match, this Friday. Anybody who wanna part of it, please pass a Gandhi to me. The stumps, bat and the ball will be arranged by me. Dinner is complimentary. As this will be a debut match for most of you guys, I encourage participating and make it a success. I assure, it will ignite the spark in you that you need for your next four years.

Theme of the match is "My broken Love story".

Thanks,

Just another fucker, Rahul

I couldn't understand a single word from that mail or I would rather say that my sleepy brain didn't allow me to do that. I revised it again and this time I resolved the puzzle.

A Gandhi : 100/-

Stump : Alcohol

Bat and Ball : Snack

Debut match : Where people will booze for the first time.

I got excited as I solved a million dollar puzzle. I ran towards Rahul's room in my night dress, a striped blue vest and nude on top. Rahul opened the door and got surprised by seeing me like this. Before he could say anything, I handed over a 100/- and said proudly "I wanna play the debut match".

Rahul smiled and said "You are the man, dude".

Day2 in Hall of Residence

2010-10-02T16:48:00.000-07:00

Rahul remained silent for the rest of the day and preferred to keep in with himself. He even didn't talk to us. His strange behavior not only bothered us but erupted a different kind of curiosity among two of us. After class, he went straight to his room without saying anything. He skipped the dinner too. By the night, we couldn't control ourselves anymore. As per the say, "Sweet sixteen and curious eighteen", we couldn't wait anymore for Rahul to share his past life and the past where there is a girl friend. So, we two barged into Rahul's room at around 10 PM. Rahul with a cigarette in one hand, legs stretched and on the study table, other hand on the music player was sitting on the chair looking outside. He didn't notice our entry. So we went straight into his room and made ourselves comfortable on the cot. Rahul noticed us, turned his head with brows furrowed and smashed out his cigarette in the ash tray.

"Hey, Whats up" Rahul said.

"How are you?? Are you okay? What happened? I said.

"What will happen to me?" Rahul answered.

"Not to you. We want to know what happened between you and your girlfriend" Shiva said to Rahul.

We want to listen the love story and of course we don't want you to be DEVDAS alone. Share the story and let us enjoy. And with that Shiva started making fun of him. Rahul didn't react and with that the atmosphere went little emotional when Rahul said "Please don't make me remember all those shit and that fucking bitch". We got surprised by his language and that add more curiosity in us.

"You can share with us. You will feel relaxed". I suggested Rahul.

Rahul is a stubborn guy. He does what he thinks right and what he thinks wrong, he does neither do it nor let others do it. But, with my suggestion he agreed to share but with a condition.

"Those shit will come out only when some bitter goes in" Rahul said.

We couldn't make out anything and stood dumb. "Bitter, What you mean by that" I asked.

"Whisky and you guys too give company. And, then I will share" Rahul said.

We stood with our mouths open. On the second day of our college, we are asked to booze. We got terrified and said "We never did that".

"That doesn't mean you will never do that" Rahul smiled.

We got in a dilemma. The curiosity and the conscience got in a fight and guess what who won?

It is obviously the curiosity. So we agreed. Rahul took the whole responsibility of arranging the things and he also suggested to include some other guys of our hostel. We agreed. The date is finalized as the 16th August, the first weekend of our BTech.

Induction Session 2

2010-10-01T00:12:00.000-07:00

Everything happens with a reason. Thats why, we found Rahul's room in front of our rooms on the very first day of our hostel. That day we, three friends chat late night. We talked about our past, present and planned future. We also talked about college, hostel, girls, sex and a lot of stuff. And, we forgot about the assignment. On next day morning, at about 5, Rahul came to my room and handed over the assignment and said "Copy it dude and pass to Shiva". My sleepy brain couldn't make out anything till I opened the fist page. On the first page, it was written "Assignment on Net-Worth. Presented by Rahul Sharma to National Engineering Institute, Mumbai". "Shit" I shouted and said to myself how can I forget this. Without wasting any more time, I started copying it. To my surprise, I found that Rahul has made the assignment for 27 odd pages. The assignment was in no way less than any real one. He didn't forget to mention the subject line, the number of hours he spent on the test and with whom and described everything with proper pictures. Rahul was a perfectionist and he missed nothing in the report. I made a carbon copy of the whole assignment except the data points and rushed to Shiva's room to handover that. To my surprise, Shiva has already made for himself with actual data. I don't know how. We got ready and set for our classes at 7:30. In the lunch break, we headed towards room no 205 for Induction Session 2.

As per the rule, we asked for the permission in the unique way and made our entry. This time, the room was filled with some new faces. One of the senior took us to a different line and the session 2 started.

"Have you fuckers done with your assignment" A senior asked.

"Yes Sir" we replied and handed over the assignment.

The senior looked at the reports and started reading them loudly.

"Vijay: 1.4 million grams. Shiva: 2.5 million grams. And Rahul: 0.3 million grams".

"Rahul, your net worth is too disappointing. We have a lots of hope on you." Another senior made joke of him. Then he grabbed his assignment and surprised in the same way as I did.

"Oops, you really made a good job. The report looks pretty, man". The senior patted Rahul on the back and showed the report to the other freshers and told them to make something like that.

Shiva and I just entertained some other seniors for half an hour and then we are asked about our girlfriends. Some silly, unexpected questions are asked and we also answered unexpectedly. But, Rahul behaved odd when he was asked about his girlfriend.

"Do you have a girlfriend" A senior asked Rahul.

"No, Sir". Rahul answered and his cheerful and smiling face suddenly turned into a tensed one.

"Did you ever had a girlfriend"

"Yes Sir"

"What happened then? Where is she now?"

"I don't know, Sir. She dumped me"

"Gooood, what did you do to her. Have you tried to fuck her"?

"No sir"

"Ohhhhh, thats why she dumped you. Be a man, Rahul. Look, your net worth is too low. If it continues, everyone will dump you".

Then the seniors started making fun of him and Rahul just stared everybody without saying a word. He was a different Rahul standing in that room, at least different than we met the day before.

Hall of Residence

2010-09-28T23:24:00.000-07:00

Shiva and I left the ragging room and set for classes. On the way, the tall guy called us from back.

"Hey, you... wait."

We turned back and saw the tall guy coming towards us.

"Hey, I am sorry guys. I was helpless. you know !. If I would not have send you, then the seniors would kill me." the guy told us.

"Its okay. No problem." Shiva replied.

"Anyways, I am Rahul". The guy said and gave his hands for shake. We introduced ourselves and shook our hands. "So, Friends. Right? Don't keep grudge on me." He smiled and continued

"I need to find some freshers at that time. Else, You know. And, don't tell me that you didn't enjoy that. We are going to attend classes for the next four years and this is going to be tough. So let's enjoy the ragging now."

We got surprised by his thought but his cheerfulness and daring attitude boost our confidence. We reached our classes and the boring classes continued for next 4 hours.

That day, nobody knew that one single meet will be transformed into a life long bond. After one hectic day of ragging, induction and classes, we reached our hostel "Hall of Residence 6". It is a three storied building with two wings, east and west. Each wing has cell type of structure having four blocks forming a square and each block has rooms facing each other. There is a ground inside, enclosed by the blocks. The rooms that are faced towards the ground are even numbered and the ones that are opposite to them are odd numbered.There is a corridor separating the even and odd numbered rooms. This structure provides dual benefit. The first is nobody can see the ground from the even numbered rooms. One has to go to the ground or to be in odd numbered room to see the happenings of the ground. The second is that the three storied building absorbs everything that happened in the ground in its big-heart.

Shiva and I are alloted odd numbered rooms in the east wing and when we reached hostel, we figured out that Rahul's room is exactly in between and in front of our rooms. Mathematically, if we draw straight lines joining all the three rooms, it would form an equilateral triangle.