This post is the continuation of Missed recalls(Part 1). Before reading further, visit and read the following link so that you can relate the babble and do not feel lost.
Caution 1): The author wrote the following piece while in total control over his own mind & supreme concentration, with zero % alcohol in his blood. At least,he believes he did. The reader(s) may feel otherwise.
Caution 2): All characters appearing in this work are real and alive. Just in case some one's already dead, the author can not be blamed for the same. At the same time, the author states it clearly that the above "ALL PERSONS FICTITIOUS DISCLAIMER" as fictitious in itself.
Caution 3): Please do not kill or injure the author for his heinous act of unnecessarily stating the above two CAUTIONS.
Caution 4): The above caution is in itself a CAUTION taken by the author & the author assumes that not a single reader noticed it.
MISSED RECALLS (PART-2)
DATE: MAY, 2009.
LOCATION: BANDSTAND, BANDRA.
CHARACTERS: THAT’S A LOOOOOONG LIST. PUT 76 PEER PEOPLE (wrong to call them PEERS, they are more than just colleagues) & A FEW LECTURERS.
OTHER DETAILS: VIVA TIME. A TAPRI. A SAPLESS, DECREPIT WALL WITH A GARDEN BEHIND, AND THE INTERMINABLE ARABIAN SEA IN THE BACKGROUND ACCOMPANIED BY FRESH BREEZE.
AND. A LOT OF ANXIETY AND LACK OF SUBJECT PREPARATION. And whatever else the situation demands.
This is followed by a few more instructions. The VID’eyelids’ sense a few visuals. The system says it is ready for execution. And it begins. Back to 2008.
I can see myself. Much younger. Not much physically fit though.
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8:00 A.M.
ME:“Boss, when are you leaving? We’ll go by an AUTO. I am yet to finish the whole syllabus once, forget about revision. Of course,Bath.Brush.Breakfast pending.”
IYER: “ Such mein yaar. Just now I spoke to Pranav, he is coming with Bhide to the college at 9:15. We shall also reach by the time. Ok, toh Shoppers’ Stop pe at 8:45. OK? I’ll get ready in 10 mins…
ME: Tere 10 mins mujhe pata hai. Boss, we need to reach on time. I have a lot of DOUBTS to be cleared. Mallu has got some important notes. Nadar has some VIKRAM Notes too. We have to ‘Go Through’ them all.
IYER: I’ll be there at 8:45. OK. Even I am yet to take a bath & do breakfast.
I hung up the phone.
Although it was always me giving Iyer a dosage for his ‘usual’10 mins delay, it was his turn today to avenge, when I arrived at the decided place at 9:05 am. 10x2 mins late. I had to eat my own words. The Autowala had earlier confirmed that he knew the route up to the Bandra SV Road signal. REALLY BIG DEAL. I guess he & Mr. S.V. himself are the only people cognizant about the BRAHMAGYAN that is the mystic S.V.Road. TOO SIMPLY STRAIGHT PATH I GUESS. To add insult to the injury were the many criss-crossed INDUS- VALLEY-CIVILISATION-inspired BANDRA LANES. Each time you visit Bandra, you come across a new LANE that had been unknown to you till date. Even the Bandra residents agree to this.
DIGRESSION 1.0
I got reminded of the time when one day I, Mallu & CR could not locate ‘JUST AROUND THE CORNER’. We had been to every CORNER of BANDRA, but JUST NOT AROUND THE CORNER. Pali Hill to Carter Road. National College to Andrews. Some B-Grade movie hall (PINKY I guess, bgrade movie hall always IS named as PINKY, should be named NEELY) to Bhabha hospital. This was repeated at least 4 times. A BONUS for the Rickshawala. And finally when we saw the hallowed JATC, we also noticed that the place was all broken apart and the NOTICE said “UNDER RENOVATION. SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE”. KLPD. Actually BBPD. Bulging Belly Par Dhoka. More to this scrimmage with luck was the decision made by the aforementioned BBPDied people to watch JODHAA AKBAR. 4 Hr Movie. And on the very day the mid-terms got over. The frustration caused by the midterms can be enormous. While watching the movie, I remember how all the 3 of us went berserk, laughing uncontrollably, at the SLOW motion picture that is the JODHAA AKBAR. Even the supposing sensual scenes were shot at the slow pace. Few septuagenarians naturally got irritated by our behavior.
DIGRESSION 1.0 ENDS. REVERIE ENDS.
9:30 A.M. Bandstand.
So, finally we reach the LAND’S END. And as is the habit, I try to locate my friends at the garden or on the WALL while we both pay for the Auto. Aashiq is seen holding a ciggy & chai, standing on his wide spread stance. Pranav notices us. But, looks away into the notes he’s reading. This is the First step of the ragpatti ( always involving Iyer)to follow. Aayush (Of course, his hair disheveled) is there in the garden with Pappu & Bhaiya. Pappu has a look on his face that says “Let me go,Aayush! Mhatre and Vilas are waiting for me in the Library”. Pranav & Iyer get busy with their RAGPATTI. CR’s there (unshaven blonde beard look), sporting a wide grin that makes me anticipate a situation-based, professor-subject directed PJ. His turn for the VIVA is scheduled second from the last i.e. at around 3 PM, but still he comes early. 6 hours early. Probably, for KNOWLEDGE SHARING. And the WALL & the garden behind it are the best places for it. There is Mallu, Rao& Nag, the Autorickshaw triad. They have a different subject VIVA. Bhumesh shows Iyer a writing pad with a SYNOPSIS of an entire engineering subject hand-written on it. Anoop is seen getting down from 211 & directing himself straight towards us with headset in his ears. Now one can expect a deafening laugh. And the sheer uselessness of the invention of a mike. And then, there is NADAR. With his legs crossed sitting peacefully on the WALL (I am joking! He cannot sit peacefully till the time Rao, Mallu & others are around him.), with VIKRAM notes in his hand, mouth wide open, a ciggy in the other hand, and occasionally uttering “MASTI MAT KAR!” (TAPLI EFFECT). The Xeroxed (love the word) notes in his hand are either completely blackened or completely blank. What can be expected from the Xeroxed from the Xeroxed from the Xeroxed….. (Exponentially Xeroxed in short) copies?
There’s lot of “Yeh sab mat padh re! Yeh nahi poochenge!” All, turn by turn, explain why they feel unlucky for the KIND of VIVA partner they have! Pranav imitates the automobile freak ” What’s your good name,Sir? What is your job profile?” The automobile freak doesn’t have the common sense of occasion & the queries to be asked on such occasions. Iyer, sandwiched between 2 more Iyers, is distressed by the FACT & the TRUTH that he is the most capable of the three Iyers. It can be a burden really. I explain how the GEEK & innocent looking bewkoof VIVA partner of mine can prove to be dangerous. How the guy shows the audacity to interrupt you while you try to answer the Professor during the VIVA. While I avow to run down cactus (of course, with red chilly powder on it) through his ass crack as soon as we both get out of the VIVA room. HAHA! While sometimes the partners do change, but it is the USUAL SUSPECTS grouped together mostly. Anoop, sweating like a pig, feels an intense urge to go upstairs; he being one of the SACRIFYING openers at the VIVA. Feel sorry for the people who are lined up among the first for the VIVA. Amidst all this embroil, there are a lot of jokes, abuses. Fun in short. Few of us enter the college, time to time, as our VIVA turn nears. I sit there, asphyxiated due to passive smoking.
The moment the first two finish their VIVA, they are inundated by 'others to follow'. “KYA POOCHA? COOL HAI NA SAB? EXTERNAL KAISA HAI? TOLERANCE CHART POOCHA KYA?”
(To Be Continued…)
The mention of the great sacred wall was really a must...certain things take a place in our lives and become an integral part of the system unknowingly...we realize their importance only when we part from them...(Refer: Herzberg's 2 factor theory...I often used to give such references while sitting on the sacred wall and the next moment someone..most of the times Iyer.. would push/pull me down)...The great wall of CRCE is one such example...watching the profs walking down the slope...Ameya imitating them within a fraction of sec, even before they got into a rick...seeing Sid and VK (Jack n jill coming down the hill)...BJD walking down slowly..like this ,_/ \_, with his hand bag too offset from his body...NMJ marching down like Thorle Bajiro Peshwa...MD, Munshi,Prabhu, Pandit like a bunch of sincere kids pretending that they were not watching us...sometimes shehenshah-e-NC...walking down like a Sultan sometimes waving his fans and then getting into a TAXI...that used to be a majestic thing to watch...(except for his acidity)...and a group of comps/elex ladies (kiti party gang...who used to have parties in the micro processor lab)...We can call this wall as a great observation point from which the most chilled out species of CRCE would observe their Predators who would screw them in Vivas (the description of which you would probably read in Ameya's articles)...and there was a medium sized tree in front of this wall which used to facilitate the observation and had another special significance (some guys in our class had seen this tree growing from a 2 ft shrub..also this tree was a home of a specie which symbolised a prof. and often gave Prashad on the heads of his fans)...I remember the last Euphoria night when all of us were sitting on this wall and recollecting all the memories of four years..that night was devine...We the PRODEVILS walked down BANDSTAND singing songs...venting out our (highest)spirit...the spirit of ONENESS...forgetting all over differences...singing our hearts out...somewhere knowing at the back of our minds that this would be the LAST night...the LAST time when WE were together...there was a joy on our faces but some tears rolling down...the work hardened spirits were experiencing the AIR n the aura of BAndstand knowing that these days would never come back...and we reach the wall finally...we sat there for the last time...I remember every moment...We lived that moment...and everyone of us wanted to live it...those final 4 hours were great...probably everyone wanted to have it till eternity.....I remember a shloka at this point...."yaThA kAshTam cha kAshTam cha samEyAtAm mahArNavE, samEthya cha vyapEyAtAm kAlamAsAdhya kanchana."
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