Basking under the Sun: Convocation 3

Day 2. I wake up at around 10.30 am and see Arun rushing to attend some class. Benzene waits outside. I take the room keys and get back to another 5 mins..before I realise that I can get back to sleep once I leave Durgapur. I have to go to college and see how it looks like...and also inquire about Degrees being handed over to people with authority letters. Before I go to college, I go to Techno for something to munch on...I choose my favourite nutrition during my 4 years...'Bum' and Frooti. I meet Shambu and Kailash...small talk. I move towards college from the path behind Hall 1. That patch hasnt changed. As I near college...I see another change - a fountain in front of the college building. Inside the college building...I am using the best of my corrected 6/6 vision to avoid contact with any professor who can remotely recognise me. The first floor is always emptier, so I take the first staircase to it. Outside IT dept. I meet one of my EE profs and he wishes to talk. We a 10 min conversation of i-dunno-wat but goes on the lines of where-are-you-and-how-have-you-been. I move on...Mech Dept...LG..TR..AM dept..TR..LG...the dept that screwed me...completely. I stand outside the dept looking at the signboard - Electrical Engg Dept. Below it...the doors to my hell...long corridor with the rooms on the left belonging to the demons and the rooms on the right - their workbench. At the end of the corridor- the broken window pane. The white wash still giving a very dull but calm look on the outside...probably signifying the silence before a storm. I see some students coming out of the dept. silently like we used. Somehow, none of us never had anything to say to each other whenever we walked out...there would be something when we walked in..but nothing when we came out. In the LG behind me, SKD teaches another batch of uninterested students. I peep in just for kicks...there are none. My work is done. On my way out I take the ground floor corridor...ask someone from the Academic Section about Authority letters...nobody is informed. I move to jhoops. Haria is already there...his dishevelled look remains constant with the image of jhoops...plate in hand..glass of chai on the side..asking for more...some guys sitting around...but food is prime..where are the other guys?? I see Dhiru...he came early in the morning....some guys from junior batch also have come for the convocation. The college is saving money...conducting the Convocation ceremony of 2 batches of BE and one batch of MCA and some Ph.d students. A big convocation hall belonging to the CPI(M) has been booked somewhere in citycentre. Saif has also come..there must be more people from our batch...guys working in Kolkata plan to come down in the evening. Its nice to meet batchmates that you want to meet after a period of a couple of years. They remind you how fast things are changing and how further away you have moved from your previously known self... The only sad part about such meetings is that they can't last for more than 15 mins. > kaisa hai.. >> main theek hoon...tu bata.. > bas yaar chal raha hai.. >> job shift maara kya..ya waheen hai... > arre abhi nahin yaar...dekhte hain..tu abhi bhi hyderabad main? >> haan...agle mahine shayad Bombay move hai..company relocate kar rahi hai.. > sahi..wahaan pe toh public hai apni.. >> haan..sahi hai...timepass ho jayega... ........... eventually there is nothing more you can talk about....it always veers off to this....its frustrating and at times depressing..but I guess thats all what it is all about... I have such conversations on the phone...on chat...and I had it there with Saif and Dhiru. I settle down...my poch and chai are ready without me asking for it. Jeet hands it over to me. Kya baat hai - I exclaim. Jeet smiles and leaves. Trainee Chhotu is doing the dishes these days...there is a dog around jhoops -Kalu- adopted by Shani after it bit Shani during Holi earlier that year. I go thru the HT City to find the sleaze quotient of Bengal page 3 these days...it is impressive but nothing compared to Bombay times....or Times of India actually. The Gang left for college...none of them seems to be around jhoops arnd 11.30 am...Haria observes. Within moments Kelu and Imtiyaz arrive. Guitar in hand. Shani cannot manage the smirk. He is not at his dias today...he relaxes...probably the after effects of the previous night. He calls me over and gives me an envelope...the package sent by Jitu. Before I manage to see whats inside...I smell MaryJane from shacks of Hoskote and I thank my stars...Haria turns around to see me...he knows that our prayers have been answered. An aura of excitement sweeps thru jhoops...Shani doesnt understand what makes us smile...I ask him to give me 15 mins to explain. We get to work. Kelu and Imtiyaz throw in their supply and look on...I return that. Arun and Alamin walk in..there are murmurs about logging into some strange frequency within the next half hour. I am told about a certain personality...we await his brilliance. This personality has been introduced to me in the previous evening but his talent hasnt come to the fore yet. We are talking about Kush. I ask Alamin about Kush's whereabouts, he nods and starts making frantic calls. He will arrive another half hour. What is it exactly that we are expecting..I ask. Just wait to see... While I am at work....my hands moving like that of a professional poker player..a silent guy watches me..asks - yeh kahaan ka hai? I explain...he is satisfied by the answer. Watches me work without a work...I am done in 10 mins and Shani is ready to understand. The silent guy also wishes to know...I am willing to explain because I like his questions...his way of putting them. Haria is also ready...we are honoured by having the company of Saif. The gang also waits. Within the next 10 mins...everybody is mellowed down. We are back in our own time...the Durgapur Sun at 12 pm...our hunger..the after taste of tea and nicotine...the lazy traffic of Mahatma Gandhi Avenue... The silent guy thanks me...I feel embarrased by his sense of gratitude. Meet Norbu. He is a man of the mountains...there is peace and tranquility in his ways and speech..and a wisdom begeted from the mountain gods. I stand up to deliver a discourse....one of my favourite actions at such moments...I thank Shani, every member of The Gang present for making my trip so special. Norbu is part of the gang. He accompanied us for the rest of our trip. It was a privelege and honour to have his company...and more importantly...know him. Sometime after my discourse...a guy walks in with Shades on..Kush enters. Settles down at the far end leaning to the bamboo...his weight disturbs the ants meandering in the cracks within the concrete stilt...but they are too small compared to us humans to fathom what hit them. People gather around Kush...Aks sits on the other end disinterested. They all ask him his comments about a lot of things...last night..music..kurt kobain..professor...Aks' hair...etc. His answers are....well...I can try and sample one from my memory.. Kush About Haria - Haria is a light brighter than phosphorus sunshine...like rare element inside coke that is tasty and poisonous too. I hate pepsi. That is Kush for you..and now I undertand what they mean when the talk about Kush freqeuncy. We listen to more of Kush and after a while I am bored and I speak to Norbu...learn more about him. Imtiyaz keeps fingering the fretboard. Aks remains disinterested...coming out with his own wisecracks every now and then. Arun keeps tripping on Kush. Alamin keeps laughing. Jeet keeps cooking...Chhotu is on with his training..Shani keeps a watch with an occasional chat with Haria and me and another mouthful of smoke...passing cigarettes around. Saif moves out to see other people in college...Dhiru joins him. Kelu sits silently on the side. More players of the jhoops scene drop by for lunch...more smoke goes around. Its fun to get wasted like this. Haria and I plan to go sit in the Oval sometime late in the afternoon. Anup tells us that he has planned an LC meeting for the evening when Roshan walks in...tells Haria that the arrangements are done. Roshan has planned for a small gig on the Basketball court along with Mic and Speakers...people are told to pass the word around. This is simply amazing...our own gig. Roshan is incredible..I am eternally indebted to him. Firstly for planning the Dgp trip for haria and now this. Impossible. He sits down excitedly...I ask Jeet to fulfill all food-related issues of Roshan asap (which anyway would have occured)..I order Limbu pani for him...I dont know to thank him.. He inspects the chatter around...inspects each person. Roshan and Haria have been playing this little game of categorization for some months now where they study a person's movement/actions/words and then define his intellect level - viz. concept level 1, level 2 and level 3(legend)..with each of the first two levels subdivided into lower limit and upper limit for ease. Within the next half hour I watch in amazement at the expertise that Roshan has gathered...with ease he completes labelling every one of those present there. The Gang is disturbed by this as they donot understand the game and only see Roshan pronouncing the words 'Concept Level 2 Lower limit' or its other variant with a finger pointed at someone. Haria asks them to take it light...not to bother. They agree and Aks makes a crack on Roshan...Roshan looks at him...smiles and says 'View from Top'. The birth of a new label...a new school of thought...and in the near future..a new orkut community. Anup doesn't understand any of the happenings but still keeps laughing..Aks makes a crack at LC and he stops laughing. The Gang is all-active and it is fun to see them at work. Meanwhile Kush has been silenced with some 'ghugni' and chai and Arun sits at one end of jhoops monitoring all the activities..a la Godfather. Haria and I move to Oval...Arun accompanies us but later leaves for basketball..Norbu promises to meet us later in the evening at the gig. There is some cricket match going on in the Oval...we settle down in the topmost step of the stands. It is an interesting match...inter hall I am told. We light up another joint over there...and around that time are met by Elizabeth and Paromita. Pleasantries exchanged and they move on...we were more bothered to finish our joint. Babloo is with us...he has taken off from work for the afternoon. The match is soon over and the field is empty. We go down to lie on a patch of grass. Babloo doesnt understand why we would do so..but joins us anyway. We face the college building for a while and see some profs moving out..discussing about them. Then we face LH and finally the clear blue sky lying flat on our backs.... After an hour of silence...we wake up to get something to eat and get ready for the next biggest part of the trip...LC meeting and our little gig. The moment has all the signs of a memorable evening...but like all things between Haria and me...we could screw this one up too...or it might be straight out bad luck. For reasons best known to me...I am not very hopeful about the next 5 hours..and Haria expresses his skeptism too. We drop the conversation when we are arrive at the library going towards jhoops and Haria spots his HOD...we both decide that it is best in his interests that he doesnt see us in our present condition - shorts, slippers..twigs of grass hanging from wherever..we hide behind a pillar. Another day is saved.. ..we go to the jhoops.