One might wonder what could possibly happen at this time of the day - or rather night - that could qualify as something worth putting down; another one may wonder what could NOT possibly transpire at this auspicious moment - when the owl is up and the innocent souls have entered the world of sweet dreams, thereby inadvertently giving an opportunity for the 'wicked' beings or studs to do what they may choose to choose....
Sentences getting too long?? - Yes, that is why they are gonna be short - they cannot be otherwise through the phone, right? I was coming after calling home - my own dear dear mother - to intimate her about my impulsive plan to run home that night- as if answering a call of nature. The Puja vacation had already been half over, and were I to go home, I had better gone earlier - according to my well-meaning mother (and any sensible person I hope). However, being credited as well as discredited with the distinction of thinking differently, for me, the vacation was still half left, and 42 hours of train journey in an overcrowded general compartment was nothing but nothing more...however, my mother being habitually dissatisfied with this expedition of mine (and already having issued many 'last warnings' against this 'heroic' feat), was most reluctant to give me an opportunity to grant her the vision of her beloved son landing home with swollen limping legs....so I was expecting her to call me back - when I would pronounce my final decision....
The phone at the security counter of my hall rang.... a female indeed it was, but not Amma.... she asked for Abhijit Sinha - room no: B-312..- in a voice with a degree of smart politeness that can be exceeded only by a good-looking receptionist at a five-star hotel. Keeping up with the sacrosanct tradition of RP hall (as well as my personal etiquette), I told her that she may please call after 10 minutes...and being lazy enough to contemplate myself climbing the stairs, I asked the security guard to call the guy...he humbly refused since he happened to be a neophyte (in this activity of snoring from midnight till dawn) - left with no alternative, I pulled my towering body up the stairs.... and lo!!!
To my delight and surprise (as well as a sense of vicarious sympathy towards the voice over the phone), I discovered that the room B-312 was missing!!! i.e., the rooms 311 and 313 are very much there (both being corner rooms of adjacent wings), but the mid-point is devoid of any other room....I beamed with a sense of suppressed excitement over my serendipitous exploits…but I did not give up hope; my immaculate heart yearned for the good-old lady at the phone..(I have vicariously experienced very well the agony of a mother longing to hear her son's voice).
I dared to disturb the dreams of the boy in 311.... yes he opened the door…on asking for 312, he declared - after a brief examination for himself - that 312 does exist!!! - but is the toilet ...oh...my perspicacious eyes had not beholden that spectacle...well, that is even more enchanting (what a wing this is - this phenomenon is apparently absent in any other wing) as well as soothing - at least, 312 is not a non-entity.... better a toilet than nothing.... after all, it is the predominant abode for studs and non-studs alike - the abode where all the purgation is done on a daily basis...and yes, I also asked the boy for anyone by the appellation "Abhijit Sinha"...but no, no one....woh…we have a small mystery at hand....for which there could exist multiple solutions - but none of them at a visible distance of perceptibility...
Downstairs my heart led my body.... the phone had already been ringing - as if she anticipated my advent by some telepathic effect - I took the receiver with characteristic hesitation…since I would have to announce the unbelievable...
Doubtless, it was she...I told her hesitantly,
"Well, actually, you see, there is no one here by name Abhijit."....
"You see, I am not a fool to make a blank call at this time of the night, you see"...
"Fine, fine...but he is not here…I mean, he is not there..."
"What do you mean? "
"Yes ma'am, there is no one by that name here"...
"Oh Com'mon, he is a second year student of the Dept. of Metallurgy"...
"Fine, fine, but he is not in the room you told.... actually, I am sorry to say that...the room B-312 does not exist..."....
"What...are you joking ???"
""No, not at all, I am pretty serious...actually...the room B-312 is a toilet..."...
"Watttt?? What are you saying ? You making fool of me ?"..
"No, I told you I am serious."
Then, I went on to explain the disposition of the "room" B-312...sandwiched between two wings - locked like a small listless child between the eternal embrace of the parents 311 and 313.
I concluded the results of my discovery "...I cannot help it you see..."
Then her voice assumed a more serious tone...."You see, I need to get Abhijit Sinha ...It is really urgent...please call him..."
"Com'mon, I have told you the situation..."
Presently, she burst into a laughter..."OK, ok, wait a moment...isn't this IIT Kharagpur??"...
Quite confidently and delightedly, I replied..."Yes, yeaaaaaaas...."..
"RP hall?? "
"Yes, yes..."
"And Abhijit Sinha, Room no: B-312?""
"Yes, that too is right...”
"Then, ARE ... you kidding?"
Suddenly, an idea flashed through my mind - as if digged out from the sacred recesses of my mind whose intuitive powers are renowned to be par excellence.... I reassured her "OK, ok ...let us do one thing…I shall get some second year ...and he will be able to tell where Abhijit is, if he is there…maybe he has changed his room...."...
"Ya, he might have changed his room.... he gave me this number 2 months back"....
(What a lady she is...she should have told this earlier...)
"Oh, then it is ok...actually second-years have changed their rooms some time back, you see...so you please call after 10 minutes..."
"Ok...can you tell me your name?? " ...I sensed that would be to add weight to my words...to increase believability....
I answered with aplomb and pride " Sure, I am Dheep Joy...- a final year student"...
"Ok.... I am Adhiti"...
"Ok fine...are you his mother? " (That was my tacit assumption - the default possibility...at least for my innocent mind - that could not conceive of girl-friends and all that at least at that moment)...
Her voice buzzed at me..."MOAUTHER ???? You think I am his MOTHER ?? "
"Oh...then you might be his elder sister...?""..
but she reiterated...
"Oh God...Mother???...is my voice that bad??"
"Oh ...no…not really...ya...I did not think of your voice...."...
"Oh...SHIT..."
It seemed that she did not want to give up - and that ‘holy’ word 'shit' convinced me that she is no mother...rather, it appeared to me that she wanted me to ask more about herself.... and her voice.... she would have wanted me to adulate her and her voice - as if she is the paragon of womanhood and the exclusive possessor and epitome of the gift of the tongue....
To the hell...I was in no mood to bolster her ego - already she had encroached so much upon my precious time and bottled up energy...and besides my mother would call any moment...and over and above that, my pride and self-respect did not allow me to cater to the feminine instincts of a girl calling a boys' hostel at near mid-night....
"OK, ok.... you better call after 10 minutes..."
"Oh ok, you will be there? "
"Oh sure...I am waiting for my call", I answered half-satirically and sarcastically and of course seriously too, as indeed I was waiting for my call....
She seemed satisfied with that.... and apparently kept the phone…or maybe, I kept it before her.... whatever it is, the conversation ended there...
Up my compassionate heart (as I 'knew' that she made a genuine call, whatever her reactions were...) pulled me.... - to Jayakanth - a very well informed second year...he was awake thankfully.... I called him and narrated the curious turn of events.... he too was obviously delighted...after convincing himself too that 312 is indeed the venerable toilet, he stated confidently that there is no Abhijit - not just in RP - but in their whole batch as well.... I summoned him downstairs so that he can speak to her…and possibly convince her.... about the non-existence of this non-entity....
By this time, the 311 gentleman too came down...curious to know the ending of all this.... the trio of us...waited for about half an hour…but no she, no her voice, no call...indeed, my mother called and seeing her discomfiture, I had to suspend the plan of going home.... I told her too about the unfolding mystery.... bearing myself the countenance of a Nancy Drew or Sherlock Holmes in the making....
My watch ticked 12:19 ...but no....she did not call.... I told my assistants to patch up...she is not going to call.... I reasoned and told them perspicaciously that she would have got disheartened by my anticipation of her being the mother of a boy.... well, for one, my postulate was not very blunt because I thought since mothers can be young too...well...
I went and told my wise and good friends Nishant and Sumit about the whole thing.... after listening to everything with an admixture of slight surprise and delight, Nishant - the Maths genius - found that there is a unique solution to this problem - and that is...the call was fake.... everything was fake except she.... Sumit supplied the proof: "she told you initially itself that she is not making a blank call...that means that she indeed was making a blank call...."....
"Wow...how come I did not think of that...you are right Sumit...oh man, I missed it"...Sumit laughed and said, in his perennial humorous way..."So Dheep, should I join CBI???"
Ya, that was it, it seems.... I learned a lesson, which my friends as well as parents and brothers and life in general have been trying to teach me strenuously but in vain.... - that I should learn to doubt people and circumstances and not believe anyone or anything unconditionally.... and that was precisely what happened.... I pity my credulousness...
I hope you my dear friends can also learn something from this...- the next time a girl rings you up at midnight, tell her downright that you are mad, lest she proves indeed that you indeed are...sweet dreams...
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7 comments:
'brilliant' is the only word i can think of!! naive and kind-hearted chap that u r, is just too apparent for anyone to ignore!!
Talent they say is inborn and not something that could possibly be inculcated over a period of time. Statements like these form tenet-like imageries, which are rarely questioned or debated on unless it is to amuse the idle mind. There are a few occasions however, which fish out such questions and lay them threadbare in front of our minds. To read your blog was a revelation of sorts. A revelation – which seemed as expertly crafted as Grimm’s fairy tale – where every word lets you deeper into the being of another person and leads you on to the next. A maze which one would not want to escape as quickly as possible, but would like to spend time exploring the unknown. A path – where every blind alley pushes one to search a new thoroughfare, where every hindrance seems like a deterrent to be overcome, where the journey becomes the reward.
It cannot be said for certain whether you intended the blog to be the way it came out to be. It cannot be assumed that the blog intended to give the reader as deep an insight into the creative mind of the ‘next-door neighbour’ as it actually does. You post is singular with respect to the topic it handles, but kaleidoscopic in the myriad shades of emotion it brings out in the reader.
It is not an eye-opener. More.
It is a surprise of the rare kind. Pleasant.
And most important of all,
It is a journey. Keep walking…
Dheep,
It was great to see that you gave time to some thing other than work.
Keep it up man.
And yes.... the narration you wrote was great... the immaculate details of the events.... and the statement... 'I pity my credulousness' is really very innocent...... The innocent that man you really are , makes me your definite fan..
Keep it up dear..
Kush
Great work Deep!!!
The speach of ur silence is still rocking!!! Wonderfull one!!!
~Lalitha
Brilliantly written - in your characteristic understated style. The palpable excitement was maintained rather amazingly well from start to finish. Well, this story does have its morals (so what if it was a blank call):
1. Moms dont call at midnight!
2. Neither do elder sisters!!
So next time, Dheep, you receive a call at midnight, summon up the baritone and serenade...the way you write!
Cheers!
Hi , It is Appu here..........I showed this blog to Sreekutty also........and now, she wants to start her own blog........
Your articles are very good.....
Keep it up.
Appu & Sreekutty.
excellent!!!!
Chickoochechy
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