With exception of a few all the hostellers were now buddies. The corridors and the rooms were always
filled with howling and growling of the young, restless boys. To attend Pia’s
call Mannu had to sit in the bathroom. Calls from home were attended only for a
short duration, just to inform Mrs. K that the meals were taken on time, that
he had woke up on time and he was bathing daily.
Apart from the music
and chatter, enthusiastically the fresher’s discussed and worked on Physics. The
management in the rooms had gone berserk. Things lay all scattered and the
focus was to complete the assignments and get up on time. After a hectic week a two day holiday was
granted to the fresher’s. Nitesh and
Bijoy had become good friends with Mannu and they three spent most of the time
in 510. The assignments were divided
among three, Physics for Mannu, Mathematics for Nitesh and Chemistry for Bijoy.
This division of labour help them gain some sleep at night.
The long awaited weekend had finally come and the whole
hostel was asleep till 11. Breakfast was missed and homemade laddoos, salted wafers, biscuits helped
Mannu kill the hunger till lunch. But the dullness in the lunch and dinner had
started building up. Only the evening snack was a reprieve but it was served
only once. Hiding faces, even changing T shirts to go unrecognized in the queue
didn’t help. The mess workers were adept at stopping this theft. Mannu had
started playing cricket and very soon he was inducted in the team of Ssenior’s,
just as an extra, but it was an honour.
Going by the busy schedule Mannu’s lifestyle had found a new
dimension. Calls were frequently missed. Even the tone of his voice rose if
Mrs. K enquired much about the day’s happenings. He wanted to find some time
for himself, but it was unavailable. College was to be attended with sincerity,
so intense that the fresher’s had been barred to bring mobile phones to
classes. Back at the room personal space was completely absent. Some one or the
other was always present with Vipul, mostly a senior, and this again restricted
Mannu’s space and time for himself. He felt irritated, but what could be done
except making efforts to adjust oneself in the new situation. Most of the boys
cared not to call back home even for weeks, but Mannu was a daily caller which
compounded his problem. The new sim card that Pia had brought helped, but only
a bit. Her messages were read by Mannu hours after they were delivered and his
messages were read by her only when her mother was busy in the kitchen or with
the TV, for it demanded a high risk on Pia’s part in inserting the sim, reading
and replying to Mannu’s messages and replacing the sim with the original. It
needed at least five to ten minutes and her mother’s business. Also it needed
that no one call her mother during those quick minutes because a switch off
message would again send a doubt. On her
demand for a new phone, she was told that it would come as a gift if she tops
the final exams. Pia was sure that day was never to come. She had also adjusted.
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