“He knew the questions beforehand.”Nitesh repeated, lost in
a vague thought. Mannu sat silent. He didn’t want to make a comment.
“Mannu...you have to find it out if you call me a friend.”
“Yes I will...”replid a hesitant Mannu.
“No you have to yaar...My
answers were better my performance was better. You saw it.”
“Now it’s done yaar. You
know you were better that’s it. Don’t bother too much about being called
better.”Shubh and Mannu repeated this phrase to console Nitesh. Their talks
went on when after hours Nitesh had a smile on his face. At four in the morning
they finally decided that it is time to rest and there are still four years to
prove one’s worth.
The mid term examination was near, so was Diwali and Pia’s
visit to Jaipur. A week’s holiday was
taken by the fresher’s extended by a bunk and this finally gave some personal
time to Mannu to talk to Pia. Talks extended for hours. So was the case with
many boys who had found a girl in the campus. Mannu and Pia planned about where
they’ll meet, which places they’ll go, how they’ll go? Unable to control her
excitement Pia came a out with silence or with love you. The planning did not end there. Other night they
discussed what outfits they both will put on and the flavor of ice cream
they’ll lick and even the size of the Coke they’ll order. Medium was her say
and the quantity was single without any doubt. Mannu just listened to her and
silently prayed to God for giving him such a wonderful life silvered by Pia’s
innocent love. He sang songs for her, the same which he had performed on the
fresher’s night and even more. Some of her choice and some of his favorites.
Choices were mostly the same. They slept after a good night, a kiss rather many
kisses and a happy thought that they were one more day closer to meet, to see
each other. One strange morning when
Mannu wakes up, he gets to know that he would spend four long years in her
maternal city. AIEEE could have dropped him in any state, any city, anywhere in
this big good country. But he was in
Jaipur. Even though Pia didn’t live there, she visited the city twice or
thrice a year. And so was it. They were meeting the next month. What was it,
destiny or luck? They both wondered.
From the past 3 days, Mannu was staying in a lodge whose
name was painted on the building years back. The plaster was falling out and
the name could not be read. After an
exhausting search of 4 hours, this was the cheapest hotel he had found out at
rupees three hundred per night and they didn’t demand any identity proof. Check
out time was twenty four hours. The location was near a bus stand which was non
operational. The receptionist had promised that there would be no issue in
terms of electricity supply to the room and the water would be available on
demand. No one, except Nitesh knew about
Mannu’s stay. The receptionist had a spat with him when he repeatedly asked
about the fare policy.
No comments:
Post a Comment