Friday, June 10, 2011

The Pinto Khareej Story - I

Introduction: All characters in this story are fictional, but the story might resemble your college life to some extent ;)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh boom badaaaaaam booooom badaaaaaaaaaam rang the phone alarm, for the nth time that morning. It was 9 a.m. now, the first alarm went off at 5, snoozing shamelessly every 15min. This time I had to get up, I HAD TO, with ONLY 3 hours left for the exam and still three more chapters of the dreaded "Control Systems" book to read. I forced my eyes open, and looked out of the small window to check what others were up to and found that everyone in the hostel wing was either carrying a notes register in his hand or a grumpy look on his face or both.

With almost no chance of completing even one chapter, I sank back into my bed again. But mid-term test marks had been a shocker to me (not because I expected to ace it but rather I had expected to get the pass grade, Sadly even that didn't happen) and now I had to do more than well to survive the course. Familiar stuff! Feeling terrible about what was so inevitable now, I walked into the next room to find some consolation in Aditya, my partner in all crimes. His room was an ongoing struggle between those who walk and those who crawl, the spider’s web on the ceiling was now mightier than the bird's nest on the side window. Aditya, the usually chirpy but frail figure was hidden under a pile of notes, curled over a small portion of the bed. Rest of the bed was occupied by a pile of clothes that generally embellished the chair, on other days. The chair is worth a mention at this point, its arms and legs were now weak having faced the wrath of many defeated players in numerous CS battles. Yet, it was the most useful piece of furniture in a student's room, it could be used as a rocking chair (it rocked anyways), a clothes hanger, a foot rest, its arms could be taken off to make a cricket bat, then could be used as dry wood to keep the flames high during the Diwali celebrations. However, like me that chair had very little chance of surviving through that term.

Anyways, back to the central issue, Aditya who was otherwise always serene and graceful before all exams, was like a meek mouse just caught ONCE again in the same old mice trap. I inquired if his girl friend had again threatened to hang herself? Well no, that’s not the reason this time, he replied. Then What? So while I was snoring shamelessly till 9, the grapevine was roil with rumors that all the questions in today's exam are available in "Advanced Control Systems" by Pinto Khareej. I looked up in the sky and quickly thanked the exam god. I knew I was his beloved son, he would never let me fail without giving me a chance.

But, Pinto Khareej??? The professor had never mentioned that name in all of 10(out of 40) classes I had attended that term, what a waste going to those classes. I was really upset that such a big news went unnoticed from right under my nose. Now the question was where to get this savior book from, and its here that the issue turned complex. Aditya told me that there was just one copy of the book on campus and despite sending more than 68 text messages and making more than 25 frantic phone calls he wasn't able to locate who had it. Apparently, each student could only keep it for 15 minutes and then pass it on. But all of a sudden it had disappeared somewhere, no one seemed to know who was hiding it(possibly one of the Ghissus...well who knows!).

To be continued....

2 comments:

sudhanshu said...

abe kis ki story hai ye.....teri ya meri to nahi lagti.....i never searched a book......hahaha... indira book depot was there we took books on rent for friends.

Liza Saha said...

Haha I can see the budding CB here. Update the rest of the story. Good attempt RT.