10:00 PM, the four of us entered the flat. Quietly and well
equipped we headed towards the bedroom, to start reading.
Me, J.B, Dharmesh and Mamu meet daily at J.B’s uncle’s vacant
flat to read through the night with peace and dedication, without any
disturbance. But such a reading session as serious as it sounds here, hardly
took place. I do not think I need to say why. Still to brief it up, we spent
most of the time joking, laughing and talking. And when were quiet, our minds
were at play. Apart from myself, I can confidently say this for my friends
owing to that wonderful sense we all know, by which you can tell what are your friends
at, by looking at them.
As I could not read their thoughts, I am unable to describe
any interesting one here. But I am sharing one of my own.
I had the chemistry text book. And one sentence read ‘This
acts as a catalyst’. This is an interesting word, I thought. ‘Catalyst’, ‘Cat – a – list‘ , ‘cat’ ‘a list’.
‘Cat’ – My mind ran back to Kolkata when it was Calcutta and
I used to live there. We had about 10 cats. I started recalling their names. ‘Bageera’,
‘Kudaku’, ‘Minibai’, ‘Dhodki’, ‘Phantom’….. . I wondered where were they and what
were they doing. Ah! Those were the days.
Then I jumped to ‘a list’. ‘A list’. Which list? My list!
Where was my list? I reached for my pocket, but it was not there. Because I was
wearing my nigh dress track. And I had put my list in my Jeans. The list was of
all the activities I had planned to do during the vacation. Joining a gym,
swimming, watch movies, outing etc. First thing’s first. I will join a gym on
the very evening the last paper ends. It will be the 14th. But will
I be able to pay the membership fees on pro rata basis? Or will I have to pay
for the whole month? If so, why not pay today? It’s the 1st of the
month. That’s a good idea!
And suddenly, I snapped out of the thought process as I
realized that the exam is yet to start tomorrow and I am to prepare for the
first paper right now. So completing the circle of thoughts, I came back to the
chemistry text book.
I looked at J.B. He was starring at a pigeon sitting outside
the window. It seemed like he was trying to hypnotize it to sleep. Because the
pigeon lowered itself on the ledge and kept closing and opening its eyes as if
dozing.
Dharmesh was sitting with his back against a wall and knees
bent to his chest, with a book on his tummy. But he was looking at his right
fist and seemed lost in thoughts.
Mamu was sitting with one leg bent to his chest and other one
folded perpendicular to it on the mattress, with his head resting on one hand.
And he was looking down at some diagrams. But when I bent dow and checked, I
saw that he was looking at the nail of his toe which he was pricking with his
finger.
As I read through to the end of the page, my nose tickled and
I sneezed. After a few seconds, I sneezed again and again and again. So in a
minute, I sneezed about 8 times. It was like the allergic sneezed attack many
people get sometimes. I get it too. But after such an attack, I also get a
secret thing which others don’t. I get hungry!!!
After clearing and wiping my nose of the natural adhesive, I
announced, “Brothers, I am hungry now”. J.B who has a distinct toy gun sound
like laughter (The one that goes rat-tat-tat-tat) went “HA HA HA HA HA HA……HA
HA HA HA HA…”. Mamu looked at me and exclaimed
“What!”. Dharmesh stared at me for a while and asked “Haven’t you had your
dinner?”. I said, “Yes, I have. But guys don’t know, whenever I get such a
sneeze attack, it leaves me with a sudden and immediate feel of hunger. I need
to eat something now.” J.B’s toy gun was still rattling and Hardik said again “What!”.
I smiled and said, “It’s true, I feel hungry and need to eat
something.” Dharmesh said, “But look at the time, its 11:30 pm. What would we
get at this time?” Mamu said, “That’s true, we won’t be able to find anything
to eat in our area.” I looked at J.B who had now settled down to smiling and
asked, “Do we have any eatables here in this flat?” “No, my uncle used this
flat as an office. And it has been unused since long now. So there is nothing to
eat here.” J.B said.
“What do we do now?”, I said. Mamu replied, “It’s our first
paper tomorrow.” Dharmesh said, “There is nothing to do. Lets get back to
reading.” But J.B came to my rescue. He said, “But guys, even I am somewhat
hungry.” “See”, I said, “Let’s go out and have some snacks. We will come back
soon.” Dharmesh said, “Okay, but I will not take out my bike. We will just walk
around and see what can we get.” “No problem”, I said. “Come on Mamu,” J.B
said. “But its our first paper tomorrow”, Mamu repeated. “So what? We will be
back before the paper start”, I said. J.B added, “And why do you need to worry
anyways, you are a ranker.”
“Fine, lets go.” Mamu agreed. “Wait” Dharmesh said. “How much
money do we have on us? Let’s check first.”. At that moment, we realized that we
all were in our night dress and not carrying our wallets. Pulling out his
pockets, J.B declared, “I have got nothing at all.” Mamu and I searched our
pockets for a while and came up with one rupee each. It was now Dharmesh’s
turn. He smiled, reached down the pocket of his short and pulled out his
wallet. He flashed it like a player holding the trump card. And we all started
grinning at each other. Dharmesh opened the wallet and added his fund to our
coins. And the total shot up to 700……..paise. Because after digging through all
the obvious and secret compartments of his wallet, he came up 5 1 rupee coins.
So now, we had a grand total of 7 rupees. And it was 11:45 pm.
“What will we get for 7 rupees?” I raised my doubt. J.B’s toy
gun was triggered again. “Forget it, we can’t get anything for this”, said
Dharmesh. “Right” Mamu agreed. But I said, “Let’s atleast go out and get
whatever we can. We will atleast get something. I am hungry guys. Look, we can
atleast get a packet of biscuits, can’t we?”. Finally after 5 minutes, we were
walking down the road, looking for a shop. After 10 minutes, we found only one
small pan wallah still open, but preparing to close.
“Dharmesh, quick go and get a biscuit packet before he closes”,
I said. Dharmesh replied. “No way man, I am not taking this chiller (change) to
buy anything.” “Why not?”, I inquired. “Because its embarrassing”, he replied. “What’s
embarrassing about paying money and buying biscuits?”, I asked. “The embarrassing
thing is this chiller (change). These 7 one rupee coins. And I am wearing a
short and this wrinkled t-shirt with a
hole here. If I go like this with this chiller, at this time of night to
buy a packet of biscuits, the person might take me for a beggar thinking I have
begged these coins during the day and now want to eat biscuits with them.”
Dharmesh replied.
We all broke into roaring laugher on hearing this. And
Dharmesh himself also joined in. After a full minute of non-stop laughing, I
said “But Dharmesh, beggars don’t wear these kind of expensive t-shirts. And
you don’t even look like a beggar, right now. You look good. Just go there,
give the money and take a biscuit, that’s it.” “No way man. I am not doing it.”
Dharmesh said firmly.
“Fine, Mamu will do this. He is not embarrassed. Won’t you,
Mamu? I said. “No no no no. Even I am not doing this bro. I feel embarrassed too.”
Mamu said. I looked at J.B. He put his hands up and said, “It’s your idea to have
biscuits at this time night. You do it.” “Come on guys, what’s wrong with you
all? What’s so embarrassing about paying in coins and buying biscuits??!! I
asked. “So why don’t you do it then?” Mamu said. “Fine, I will do it and show
you all that there is nothing embarrassing about this.”, I said. I took the
coins and moved towards the shop. As I took the 4th step, the
shopkeeper looked at me. And suddenly, I felt the embarrassment like
self-realization. I stopped for a moment and turned back. Dharmesh, Mamu and
J.B broke out in outrageous laugher with tears rolling down their cheeks.
“Okay, okay fine. I get it.” I said slyly. “But what do we do
now? We have to buy the biscuits. Please anyone of you go and get it for me.
Please.” Finally, still laughing J.B agreed. “Alright, give me the coins, I
will get it.” “Great, thanks dude.” I said and patted him. “Here you go.” I
said and handed him the coins. “And get bourborne if possible.” I added. J.B
reached the shop. We were observing from behind. J.B managed to keep a straight
face, handed the coins to the shopkeeper and asked for a packet of parle g.
The shopkeeper looked at the coins and then looked at J.B. The
three of us knew what the shopkeeper was thinking and started laughing. J.B
tried to appear as serious and as non beggar as possible. The shopkeeper took a
packet and gently gave it to J.B with a look as if he was doing the kind deed
of the day.
J.B quietly took the packet and looked at the shopkeeper. The
shopkeeper gave him a sympathetic smile. J.B came back to us and we all started
laughing madly.
Laughing our way back all the way, we ate the biscuits. 2 to
3 pieces each. But I think those were the sweetest and most memorable biscuits
I have had till now.
