That Corner Room-4

Now finally to the end of the story....had some exams on between, hence the long gap...

Part-4

David snatched up the letter and began reading. It was not long, but it said a lot:

'There is a pistol under your bed. I noticed that your predicament was a bit too one-sided, hence I thought I'd give you a concession. Use it wisely.

Mr. D'

David frantically searched under the bed and his hands fell upon a cold, metallic object that he grabbed and pullet out. There was indeed a pistol. He gripped it tightly as he stood up and walked towards the two doors again. He looked at the clock again and noticed he had fifteen minutes more to decide what to do. For a brief moment he considered putting the barrel to his temple and pulling the trigger. He would rather die at his own hands then at those of the creatures in the right room. Hell, he didn't even KNOW what was in the other room, but the thought made his blood run cold.

He quickly put the barrel into his mouth and his finger hovered over the trigger. He could not bring himself to press it. He began sobbing as the barrel lay in his mouth, too helpless to do the necessary. He had just realized that killing yourself was much, much harder than people thought. He lowered the gun, his shoulders sagging. Then in a split-second, quick as a viper, he brought the gun to the mouth and pressed the trigger. The click sounded, but that was it; there was no flash of light, no momentary pain in David's head. The gun had not fired.

David who had gone bug-eyed, now took a moment to realize he was still alive. Puzzled, he took the gun out, observing it and pressed the trigger again. This time there was a huge report and a brilliant flash of light, as the gun fired. Again he tried, and again he fired.

He realized what had happened, and this time he put the gun to his mouth, confident he wouldn't die. He pressed the trigger, and as he expected it did not fire. Suicide was not an option for him, the gun was to be used on something else. He gripped the gun, pressing down in frustration and disgust. He started pacing the room again. Ten minutes left to decide. He thought of his time in both the rooms.

The first room was full of creatures that wanted nothing more than to kill him. He knew that at some point the bullets in his gun would run out and he would be overrun by them. There was no denying that. But at that point a thought struck him.

Damn it, at least he KNEW what was in the room. He had absolutely no clue what was in the other room, but he knew he had been much more afraid in the second room, because he had no idea where he was, how he could get out, and what was getting at him. At least in the first room, he knew which way was out. Then a thought rang clearly through his brain, and in that instant of clarity, he made his decision.

The fear of the unknown was and would always be much, much more than that of the known. You would always choose to fight that which you could see, but what do you do when you don't know what to do? The darkness, the death, the unknown...that was there fear truly lay. Everything else could be handled.

And without further hesitation, he turned the knob of the right door, entered and closed the door behind him. There was no going back now. At least here he would know what was happening and he would look his impending death in the eye, being fully aware when it would come.

At soon as he closed the door, the lights in the room turned on, revealing those same creatures. The wolf-like animal pounced at him, and David let loose a flurry of gunfire, that halted it in its tracks. Then came the zombie people, and by the time he had downed the fourth one of them, his gun ran dry. He threw it away with disgust and tried to take on the remaining four or five of them with his bare hands. But pretty soon, he was overpowered, by them and as their hands prodded all over his body as they held him, he shut his eyes in sorrow.

His whole life flashed by him. How he had been a small kid, playing around as his mother held his finger. How he had once been a promising college graduate, with a potentially bright future in front of him. How he had fallen into the wrong friends, had started smoking and drugs. How he had slowly but surely denounced his family, caused them pain. He silently vowed that if he could live his life again, he would do none of this, he would try to right his wrong. But of course, it was too late....

Or was it??

With a violent jerk, David felt the current scene being yanked out of his vision, and the next thing he knew, he was sitting on his bed in the room, sweating and panting, but unhurt and alive. For a few seconds he just looked about himself and then it hit him.

The whole thing had just been a dream!! Immediately he realized that it wasn't a dream, no. He had had a really bad trip because of the heroin. The vividness of the dream, the clarity with which he remembered his trip, awed David. He had never experienced anything like it and never again wanted to. He remembered the vow he'd made to himself in his last moments, and decided he wanted to stick to it.

It was morning and time to leave it all behind. He took a long, hot bath and packed his things. He felt like a new man, with a lease of life. He walked to the reception, and saw a look of fear and surprise flitting across Hari's features. Could he have been privy to what was happening inside David's mind? Maybe he had heard the noises David must have made during his trip, he didn't care.

'Sir, did you by any chance have any discomfort in there? Because..'

'Because you heard some scary sounds from my room last night didn't you? Well, you could say, I was having a real bad dream.'

'Well that too sir, but the thing is...the reason I was hesitant to give you the room was that, I have heard its occupants say that it's haunted. There's something in there they say, but they cannot explain further. No one has ever spent a silent night in there sir, they all have nightmares, and usually they come out looking worse than you do right now. I tried to stop you yesterday, but. To be honest, the room doesn't really any history of violence or sorrow for this to happen. But then that's only what the movies say right sir? In reality, why should there be a reason for any of this to happen? It is taking place, simply because it is and we must accept that. I beg of you not to tell anyone of this sir, we don't want any negative publicity.

David looked at him for a couple of seconds, wide-eyed and stunned. Then he smiled at Hari and said:

'Right you are my man, this will not go beyond me don't worry. Now its time I leave. However I was wondering if you knew where the nearest pharmacy was? I needed to buy some syringes...'

David took the directions from Hari and walked out of the Overlook. As he walked out the doorway, a lit cigarette now dangling between his lips, only one odd thought ran through his mind...

'Fate does indeed have a sense of humor!'

His laugh could probably be heard all over the numerous valleys that Mussorie was full of....

That Corner Room-3

PART-3

David tried to move, tried to make sense of the situation. He took a few deep breaths and tried to calm himself down. He knew that if he did not act in the next two hours, he would indeed be dead, or worse. He got up and dusted himself off. He went to the wash basin and splashed some water across his face, in an attempt to clear his head. He went and stood in front of the two doors. They looked just as menacing as they had when he'd first seen them. A pulsating orange glow behind both of them, heat emanating from the gaps in the frame. He debated on which door to open first. He decided on the right.

Not pausing for the growing apprehension to immobilize him, he quickly snatched the doorknob and turned it. A part of him still hoped this door would be locked as well, and he would come out of this psychedelic dream. But his other part simultaneously observed how easily the door had opened. Surprisingly, the room within was dark and cold, but David knew that for the next few hours, his definition of 'strange' would undergo a drastic modification.

The room was silent as a tomb, and too dark to see through. David took a couple of tentative steps inside, looking back to make sure that the door was open. But his visitor had earlier said that only he would decide which door to close, and he was being true to his word. He tried to find the light switch, but it seemed like there was none. He made his way deeper into the room, while taking out his lighter out of his pocket. He slowly brought it up, and tried to get a light. All of a sudden he was aware of other forms within the room. Things were going bump in the dark, there was a low moan from somewhere in the room. His skin could feel the presence of other beings in the room.
Finally he got his light, and he looked up to find himself staring into a pair of cold, lifeless yellow eyes. The eyes had only anger in them, nothing else. He jumped back in fright and fell against the wall. That's when he noticed that the room had a window, but there was no moonlight filtering through. Because there were storm clouds gathering outside and there was thunder and lightning. The lightning flashed once, and in its brilliant brightness, the whole room was illuminated in all its terrifying glory, in front of David.

There were all manners of creatures in the room. The cold, yellow eyes belonged to a wolf-like creature, six feet tall and extremely muscular. It was baring its razor-sharp teeth at him and growling. There was a severed hog's head nailed to the opposite wall, bleeding all over it. But it was moving in a frenzied way, clomping its jaws down, desperate to get free, its eyes and its wrath focussed on David. There were piles of dead, decaying bodies in a corner that weren't look all that dead anymore as they started to get up and move towards him. Their entire countenance bore a hollowed look as they crawled towards him. Then the flash ended and the room was plunged once again in darkness.

David lay frozen for a second, then ran our of the room screaming as its inhabitants chased him. He just managed to beat them to the door and close it, hoping and praying that they wouldn't follow him out. They didn't. He stood there for a while; panting, sweating and trying hard not to lose his wits. So that was one room. He looked at his watch, it had been half an hour since his ordeal had begun. He stood up and started pacing the room, wondering what he would find in the other room. He had said that the very nature of fear were hidden in these rooms. David's mind was too clouded to think of what that meant, but he knew he did not want to go in there. However after fifteen minutes it was imminent he had to make a move on, if he wanted to come to a decision. So he reluctantly made his way to the other door and planted his palm on the doorknob.

Once again, the room was dark and cold and quiet. Was it just his imagination or was it darker here? It was as if the room was swallowing up light. He entered, ready this time for whatever there was in here. He looked into the inky depths of the room and received a jolt when he saw a pair of glowing red eyes staring back at him from those depths. There was a growling sound coming from it. Gulping, he stole a look a look at the open door, that all of a sudden looked too far away. He tried to get a light again, to see what he was pitted against this time. The lighter flickered, but then went out. He tried a few more times, but then realized, it wasn't the lighter, it was this room. An unnaturally cold and damp breeze blew across his hand, extinguishing the light every time. The fifth time he tried, an icy, clammy hand actually dug into his arm and pressed into it, drawing blood. David yelped into the dark and saw that those red eyes were now right in front of him, right next to him. He ran blindly into the vast room, losing his direction.

That was when he heard the low, deep moan from a corner. It sounded like the song of the dead, the lamentations of a soul long-resigned to an eternity of solitary misery. It was emotionless, it was lifeless, it sounded lost. A deep, scratchy sound. It made David's hair stand on end. It continued so for a minute and then it grew in volume. It turned into a scream, a tortured wail of agony. Shriller and shriller, it sounded like someone was being burnt alive. Just then, David's skin was invaded by an army of sensations, as if there were things crawling all over him. They pricked, they tickled, they made him feel impure all over. Something was pulling at his hair, he could no longer breathe comfortably. It was like the room was swallowing him. He stood up, and looked at the distant pinprick of light which was probably the door. He stumbled across to it, determined to ignore the grasp that was trying to pull him back. He reached it, and closed the door behind him.

He stood in one place for a while, getting himself mentally out of that room. Although he did not know what was in the room, he did know that it was no less scarier than the other one. He sat there wondering which room would give him a less terrifying and painful death. That was when he saw there was a note lying at the foot of his bed. It hadn't been there before, and it was signed Mr.D.

David snatched up the note and began reading...

That Corner Room-2

The first part was just used in setting everything up. Now, on with the real story!

PART-2

'Hello neighbor', the figure chuckled. The voice was cold, scratchy like metal grating upon metal, and gave David goosebumps on hearing it. It was devoid of emotion, and brimming with evil intonations. The hooded figure finally looked up and pushed back the hood, uncovering his face.

His handsome face was young, smooth and pale, unnaturally so. He had high cheekbones, a sharp chiseled jawline and a long aquiline nose. His lips were thin and the ghost of a malignant smile was playing upon them. His ears were inhumanly long and pointed. But it was mainly his eyes that gave him away. His eyes were crimson orange, and they flickered like the flames that burnt forever back in his domain. They gave him the impression of being an ethereal specter, one just as human and inhuman as any of us. And although he had said nothing after that, as he stood there smiling, David's soul cried in the hope that this was a dream and he wasn't actually seeing the Devil standing right in front of him.

'So how's it going David? Having good trips lately?' He spoke conversationally, as if he were a friend meeting David after a long time. When David still failed to say a word, he seemed annoyed and bent forward to give him a rap on the wrist.

'There. I am real, in case you are still harboring any doubts.' The part where he had touched was burning as if it were on fire, and at the same time, it was soothing like the touch of ice. He smiled knowingly at the look of bewilderment on David's face.

'Now let's get to what I came here to tell you. Well, contrary to what your folks believe, me and the Boss are pretty good buddies. And God isn't all of that benevolent and forgiving, come-hither-my-child kinda guy. Not really.' He was speaking in a casual, mocking, walking around and waving his hands; as if he was doing stand-up comedy.

'He sends me to get the people that really annoy him. People who fail to appreciate the gift he's bestowed upon them, who waste their lives and leave it being nothing more than a mockery of the enigmatic power of existence. This whole life-creation thing is pretty cool actually you know, even He admitted it the other day. But every so often come along the unworthy. That's where I come into the picture. He just points the finger and I do the rest. Now to be honest, he's been mighty pissed with you for some time now. With you wasting away your life in the pills, smokes and syringes and whatnot.'

'He'd almost passed judgement on you, but it seems your mother back home has been praying for your excuse-of-a-life. That sort of mellowed his anger a little, and he's sent me for a different purpose today. I'm here to just shake you up a little. Make you realize what you've been bartering away all these years. Trust me,' and here he smiled the most hellish smile David had ever seen,' this will be one night you will never forget.'

'So let me tell you what's going to happen now. You see those two doors in front of you?' He waited patiently till David nodded his head. 'There's uh...things behind each one of them. Things that might be injurious to you. Things that might scare the senses out of you. In fact, to put it in a single sentence, the very natures of fear hide behind each one of the doors. Its one in the night now. What I want you to do is to decide within the next two hours, in which of the rooms you will spend the rest of the night. You cannot come out once you decide.'

'However, if at the end of two hours I find you in this room,' and then his face went blank, devoid of emotion, his voice lowered to a growl and he raised his hands, with talons at the end of each finger,'then things will get very unpleasant for you.'

'Remember, two hours. And of course, I cannot guarantee that you will survive this night, I just said it was your test, I don't know the outcome. But know this; in spite of what your movies might say, the licence to kill lies only with me...all the best.'

These last words were followed by a thunderclap and a massive force pushed David off his bed and sent him sprawling onto the ground. When his head finally stopped spinning, he realized the gravity of the grave danger he was in. Something firmly told him this was not a dream. He rushed to the entry door, but it would not budge. The windows in the room had mysteriously disappeared. He was trapped, and his only way out was a gamble of his life. At was this truth that dawned upon David, and the full measure of the horror crashed upon him. He lay on the ground and starting shouting, the notes of despair and hopelessness ringing within its very soul...

That Corner Room-1

This story could be called a product of multiple what-ifs running in my mind. Inspired in part by stephen king, who, in my opinion can spin a bloody good yarn...yes, 1408. I've put in my opinion about the true nature of fear. However, i think its a pretty common belief, not just my own. Also its about how drugs could screw u up; all the themes that excite me, i've put em here. The only time i ever had as much fun writing a story was 'Metaphor's Game' (look back through the blog)...dark, dark! Hope u like it..

THAT CORNER ROOM

On a cold Mussorie evening, when the mist swirls in almost premeditated shapes and the wind whispers sinister messages in your ear, the last thing you want to do is end up in front of a motel as unwelcome as the Overhead. It's a seedy place, where the doors are rickety and the furniture musty. Tucked away in a remote corner of the beautiful hill town, the receptionist Hari makes no effort to correct the guests' opinion of the place. Serving with a perpetual sneer on his face, making sure that the people don't come here the next time around.

At was at the Overhead that David had to end up. After a day of trudging all over the town, it was too late by the time he realized he had to find a place to lay his head. So he followed hushed directions to the motel. Eyes avoiding his, voices low. It was as if there was there was something they were hiding from him.

But I ended up leaving myself no choice. I'll just have to take what i get, he thought to himself as he entered the foyer and dragged his luggage to the reception desk. Looking around, he wasn't particularly impressed with what he saw. Reaching up to the desk, he looked up to find that famous sneer plastered on Hari's face and shuddered inwardly.

'Good evening. I wanted a room for the night please.'

'I'm sorry sir, but all the rooms have been occupied tonight. It's a rare coincidence, but unfortunate.'

David was feeling the tremors coming and knew there wasn't much time left. He could not believe his luck. He sighed to control his anxiety and looked around. That's when he saw a lone key hanging in the rack behind Hari, all by itself.

'But there's a room key right behind that one. How about that one?'

Hari spun around, and when he turned back around, that sneer was replaced by a different look. It was concern and fear.

'Sir that is not for rent. For certain reasons, we do not allow guests to stay in there.'

'But I cannot stay outside for the night can I?' David replied, his voice rising a few notches.

'People do not stay in that room sir. Those who have, did not have a pleasant experience.

David grew sick of Hari's vague talk, and replied hotly, 'Look I'll pay you extra if you like, just stop wasting my time and give me the damn key!' Scared, Hari promptly placed the keys in his outstretched palm, at which David offered him a smile as fake as it was wide. He looked at the room number on the key.

'667...hmmm, the neighbor of the devil, baby' And so he walked away, laughing at his own joke, not noticing the look of terror that had now settled in Hari's eyes.

The room was the last one on the third floor, tucked away in the corner. The numbering system obviously didn't make sense. David had made up his opinion about the place long ago. But as he felt the urge growing within him, rattling his senses, he knew he had no choice. He reached 667 and opened the door, finding himself in a decent suite. One hall and two small bedrooms, all passably furnished. The yellow lights bathed it in a comfortable glow, and the cold wind glided in through the open windows, overlooking an endless cluster of trees. Nothing sinister, nothing to vindicate Hari's irrational fear. Time to get down to business. He could not afford to waste any more time.

David flung his backpack on the bed and took out his syringe, a needle and a spoon, along with a packet of powder. He put the white powder on the spoon, mixed it with water and held it over his lighter. The solution boiled and bubbled. He suctioned the liquid into the syringe, tapped it and without hesitation plunged it into his arm, sighing as he did so. All the tremors, and his fears melted in the oncoming wave of ecstasy and power. He felt himself being carried away in the flow and let himself free. He never even realized when he had lain on the bed; he was in a totally different place.

David awoke with a jerk, coming out of one of the worst nightmares he had had in a long time. They were becoming more frequent nowadays, but he remembered nothing of them; the drugs were showing their nasty side effects. He rubbed his head as he tried to get his bearings, tried to calm his racing heart. He looked around the room, taking a moment to remember where he was.

That's when he saw something that made his heartbeat skyrocket again. There were two doors where there had been done. There was a reddish-brown glow behind each one of them, as if the room within were on fire. And he saw a hooded figure standing in front of his bed, head held low, eyes indistinguishable. Its being emanated evil and inspired pure, unadulterated fear. For a whole half minute, it was as if time had frozen. The figure stood in the exact same position, no motion, no sound. And David inched closer and closer to losing his grip on reality. Just as he reached what he believed was his tipping point, at the very edge of reason, the figure finally spoke. And then hell finally broke upon David...

The Second PU Poem

Just as i was thinking of rounding off the base series with a photo album of last week, when we relived the trip, i found this poem in my bag. Its primitive, its kiddish. But it chronicles my second PU year in entirety n i would have it no other way :)...so here it is...lets c how the album works out next, that'll be a fittin ending...

A YEAR WELL SPENT

I was part of a crazy group once,

Kept doing the stupidest things ever.

I have grown up now, but in all these years,

Friends like these I have found again never.

The void best of three toss to decide,

The bunking that would anyway happen.

The rush to play pool at the usual place,

After every game the teams we were swapping.

The poem-writing contests, the tic-tac games,

The lunches we ate in English hours.

The rushing off to Mama’s house at every chance,

Worrying about suspensions, while dodging cars.

The aimless wandering, the burning of fuel,

Confessions from the scooter’s back seat.

The dancing to songs in orange sweaters,

Making obscene gestures to the beat.

The laughing while a sad scene plays on screen,

Shouting nonsense in the theatre’s dark.

To top it all, the hypocrisy about the exam,

The confidence that we will make a mark.

In the evenings as we approached Base,

The sneaky turns to the Bajji shop.

The trudging walk to MTR soon followed,

Promising each time to give it all a stop.

Those windy sojourns on the flyover’s peak,

Giving the finger to the people down below.

The walking in circles till our legs gave way,

Our haunt the roads that I still don’t well know.

Shooting videos in the rain, as we danced without a care,

Listening to music on almost any device.

All the useless, unwanted advice that we exchanged,

Trying to outwit the other, to show we were more wise.

As I peer down memory lane, I reflect,

Had I been different, would things have changed?

But as our laughter echoes in my ear,

I realize I’d have done it all over again.

THE (not just A) walk to remember- 3

Three ice-cream bowls in our stomachs, things took a turn for the crazier...a true chronicle of the events that followed...the finale to the series dearest to me :)...i especially love the ending...read on...

PART-3

The way to MTR is fraught with traffic, many diversions and one too many bright lights. It’s not exactly a pleasant walk, but the fact that I was with my best buddies and that we were doing absolutely nothing useful was catalyst enough for me to amble on. And pretty soon, just like that, we were there. We made our way to our table which, obviously, was empty. It knew we were coming.

We ordered our three hot chocolate fudges, and tucked into them soon as they were on our table. Somehow we weren’t satisfied with just one and decided to have another, then another. Now when that much that sugar has entered your system, you had better be prepared to find a way to vent all the resultant energy. Going by the evening’s trend of course, we didn’t know exactly what we were going to do next. Around fifteen minutes after we’d left MTR, I first felt it. Mama was talking to be about football.

‘Man U has too many supporters as it is you know? Half of them don’t know why they support them..’ he hadn’t finished.

‘YA MAN!! I support Chelsea only because I like the color blue. BLUE BABY!!’ I started shouting, interrupting him. Something told me I couldn’t, shouldn’t talk slowly or walk slowly for that matter. Everything had to be done fast and loud now; I was getting hyperactive. Mama looked at me for a while.

‘Are you ok man? What the hell happened to you just now?’

‘Dude I just feel like…you know...we’ve got to do something man!! Not just walk around man, let’s run a little, let’s sweat, you know…MOVE!!’

‘I feel the same way dude…’ Midget and Thangi corroborated my views. We all looked at each other for a long second. ‘LET’S RUN MAN!!’

And then we ran. For no joy, if you might like to ask. Thangi lived a few lanes parallel to MTR and so we ran in a general direction away from there. It would certainly do him no good to be spotted by his mother running on the streets like a rabid dog during Base hours. For about ten minutes we just ran, the only sound being our panting and our footsteps. People we passed by just stared as us in fear, thinking that we were eluding pursuit from someone. After that, we stopped to catch our breath, utterly tired but exhilarated.

‘Dude, look at that chick near the main road!’Midget shouted.

‘Where? Let’s run up to her and check!’ I shouted. And we ran all the way to the main road to see whether Midget had spotted well. Suffice to say we did not regret our decision.

After that it was back to some aimless walking, albeit with some residue of the sugar-induced craziness still resident in us. In one of the lanes, we found a huge, stray dog and an empty wine bottle lying beside it. I dared Mama to break the bottle right beside the dog and see whether it chased us. On another day, he might have flat refused me, but today nothing was crazy enough.

He took the bottle off the ground, and before I could tell him I was kidding, he broke the bottle right beside the dog. It awoke with a start and jumped aside with a yelp. We were almost relieved that it was not going to do anything, when suddenly I started barking and chased us.

‘Mother! RUN!!’ Mama shouted and we ran for our lives. A woman living in one of the houses lining the side came out shouting, disturbed by the commotion. But we were already far off from the place.

Five minutes after we had ran away and had calmed down; we finally remembered to take a look at the time. At was 8.15, fifteen minutes till Base got over! We had to get back in time, as Migdet had to catch a van from the place to go home. There were other reasons why he had to get there on time, but we won’t get into them, or he will strangle me the next time I see him.

And so we made our way to Base, reliving the whole evening in our minds on the way. Running away right in front of the base attendant, dancing in the rain on the road, standing on the flyover listening to music, the MTR ice-cream and the consequent craziness, the bottle-breaking…the day was memorable, if nothing.

As we neared the building, unconsciously a feeling of solemnity, of responsibility crept into us. Unbidden, the realization that this could not happen too often occurred to me. By the time we reached Base, we had calmed down and looked just like any of the countless students that were now filing out onto the streets. I turned to the others and said what I felt I had to.

‘We cherish this, because we are not doing this again. Deal?’

We all agreed that it was for the best. And so we went home that day, happier than we had probably been in a long, long time. The next day I came to Base again, only this time I was going to sit in class. I smiled silently to myself as I climbed up the stairs that we had run down yesterday. I made my way to class to find the other three sitting seriously and doing some problems. I sat down beside them and joined in. I was into my second problem when a hand fell upon my shoulder and I looked up to see who it was.

He was here, after such a long time. Another of our partners-in-crime, but one who we didn’t see much. You could trust him to be silent for long periods of time, and then say something that would totally crack you up. Like his idea of starting a show called ‘Pimp my Cow’.

Nikhil was here. He smiled at me and I felt scared. I did not want anyone to persuade me to bunk today and he was especially talented at that. He greeted all of us and sat in a bench behind us, with Thangi.

‘Guys I’ve already parked my vehicle somewhere else so that when we bunk we won’t get caught trying to take it out of there. So that’s been taken care of. Where do we bunk and go?’

We all laughed at his forethought and much as we tried to stop it, felt our resolve to study melt within us. Without a word this time, we got out of our seats and silently made our way through the exit before anyone could spot us.

And we were at it again. This time was almost as crazy, and by the end of the day we had managed to…

But that’s another story.

THE (not just A) walk to remember- 2

If you might remember, we'd just outrun the Base attendant and escaped from our prof's clutches. After a hearty snack of bajjis, we decided to amble along to the flyover. Here's wad happened...

‘You know it’s a far way off to the flyover right?’Midget asked. I found it pissing off that he was raising the doubt after right making the suggestion.

‘So what? Who cares? It’s not like pressed for time here; we have three hours to kill. Let’s just shut up and walk.’ I snapped.

We started walking. Just then, to truly make it an unforgettable day, it began to rain. At first we tried hopping from one place to another in a bid to stay dry. Put pretty soon we just gave in and immersed ourselves in the downpour. It was freedom the kind of which he hadn’t experienced in a long time. The utter freedom to do anything we wanted, with no guilt, no thoughts of ‘what if’, no nothing. Frankly, for those three hours that day none of us really cared where our life was going; it was all about making the best of the moment.

I don’t remember exactly what we were talking that day, but I distinctly remember it was about Ekta Kapoor’s soap serials. It began with Thangi dropping another revelation upon us, something he had heard from someone about someone. We all started making mock faces of shock, and soon conversation veered to Ekta.

‘Dude, define lame. I swear its spelt E K T A!’ said Mama, to roaring laughter. ‘Like imagine if we were in her show, and our parents got to know that we bunked Base, how would it be?’

I started making grotesque faces of horror, and shouted in a shrill voice, ‘What? What? What? And then there’ll be some obnoxiously loud music playing in the background, while we’re being attacked by obscure camera angles of the person on the screen, who’s probably making constipated expressions…’

And thus we went on, pun after pun on her. That’s when we committed our next fatal, glorious mistake. We saw this run-down garage kind of place right by the side of the road, with its shutter down. We decided to stand under it for some shelter as the rain was getting too heavy. After a few minutes, we got bored and were deliberating on what to do. The flyover was just a stone’s throw away, and we wanted to stand right at its zenith and look down at the traffic below.

That’s when Thangi said, ‘Come on dude let’s dance here right in front of everybody.’ He and Midget had a good laugh over the suggestion (we were so drunk with the moment; we’d laugh at the drop of a hat). Unfortunately Mama and I really liked the suggestion. Midget took out his cell phone, sensing a moment he didn’t want to miss. And dance we did.

‘You guys are so going to regret this dude!’ he laughed out loud as Mama and me started shaking our hands and moving our behinds, in full view of people who blatantly stared at us as they drove by. Thangi kept laughing throughout, not even stopping to say anything.

‘If my mom sees…’ I trailed off, busy thinking up new steps. That’s when Mama started doing the old hand-pointing-towards-the-sky-disco style step, evicting fresh laughter from Midget.

‘Hey guys, here’s the Johhny Bravo dance!’ I said, and jigged to the only dance step I’d ever done right in my entire lifetime. Pretty soon, I was joined by Mama. I passerby almost fell off his scooter as he stared at us. Then Mama did the moonwalk on the pavement beside the road and we were almost lying down in laughter. After that we realized that we had run out of steps, and also that we’d been soaked in the rain during our impromptu performance.

‘We’re wet anyways; let’s just go to the flyover. I can’t wait to stand on the top, giving the finger to the traffic below, while listening to the ‘Arriving somewhere but not here’ guitar solo’ Midget muttered.

‘YEAH man!!’ All of us screamed in unison. Another great idea.

So we made our way to the flyover, discussing more Porcupine Tree songs on the way. It seemed like Midget and me could never get enough of them, and we would talk of nothing else. I think we were talking about ‘The sound of Muzac’. We made our way quickly to the zenith, at the point where the flyover just about started curving downwards. The four of us stood there, and Mama put the guitar solo on his cell’s loudspeaker. As always, the solo managed to mesmerize us, and drenched in the moment, we forgot all our worries, our concerns. My mind was a churning pot of smelting emotions.

‘Why am I here? How is this helping my life?

Chuck it!! You’re with friends, you’re finally having fun, what else do you need?

Shouldn’t I be sad about doing this? Isn’t this against my parents’ wishes?

All that studying hasn’t helped you an inch. It’s eating out your life bit-by-bit. It’s how education here’s been. Worry about it on another day, just enjoy right now!!’

And so at that moment, I dropped all my apprehensions, and just roared as I raised my hands and showed the finger to all the vehicles passing underneath. Pretty soon all of us were doing the same thing. It felt like flying.

In another fifteen minutes, we were back on level ground, metaphorically too. Sobered down by the experience, the same argument was running through all of their minds. Without exchanging a single word, our concerns were conveyed to each other. I guess that’s how it is with bros, and if anything, we were that. That was when each one of their faces broke into a silent, mischievous grin and I knew they had reached at the same conclusion I had.

‘Ok, I agree we shouldn’t be doing this again anytime soon. Our country’s system will not give us another chance to help ourselves if we screw up this opportunity. Our intelligence is a responsibility we cannot let down, right? Never again’ I announced rather formally.

‘Well at least not until we’re this bored again’ Mama slyly muttered. We all laughed at that, knowing full well that regardless of what we said, this wasn’t to be the last time.

‘Yeah well, whatever. On that note, how about we go MTR, have some ice-cream on our table. We still got enough time for that.’ I suggested. By our table, I was referring to a particular table where we always sat whenever we went to MTR, a popular ice-cream parlor nearby. After a few moments of thought, everyone agreed to the plan, and we started the long trudge to MTR, almost two kilometers away, sloshing our way through every puddle we could find.

As I walked with some of the best friends I’d ever made in my life, I thought of what else could happen. I guessed we would just go to MTR, have some nice ice-cream, talk and laugh a little and get back to Base at 8.30, by which time the classes would be over and we could leave with everyone else, like decent students.

But then little was I to know that the evening wasn’t over yet. That there was an incredible amount of nonsense, stupidity and general aimlessness in store for us in the next hour. But right now, I was just thinking of the Hot Chocolate fudge I was going to have there.

What happens when you have three excessively sweet bowls of ice-cream? Some crazy shit, trust me…

THE (not just A) walk to remember- 1

I wonder why i've been thinking up stories when i have one to tell from my second pu year. This is a story from my days at Base, crazy to say the least. Although i've jumbled the events a lil bit, and not all of it happened on the very same day, but they all did at some point of time, most of it on one amazing day. No fabrications, no fantasy. Based on our true story, right down to what we spoke about on that day, atleast to the best of my memory...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

‘When something warm and soft just passed through here,

It took the precious things that I hold dear…’

I hummed along with the lyrics of Porcupine Tree’s ‘Deadwing’ as I parked my scooter at the entrance to Base, my coaching centre for one of the innumerable exams we wrote in our 12^th grade. Though the classes were depressing to say the least, I looked forward to meeting my friends every day. With them, there was always something to laugh about, something to like about the class, and something to DO; a welcome change from the rest of the day. Evening 5.30 to 8.30 could be torture or bliss; it just depended on who you sat with in class.

I entered the class, my eyes immediately seeking out my friends. There they were; Keshav aka Mama, Ashwin aka Midget, and Rahul aka Thangi. The story behind the name Mama is too long to write, but Thangi was because Rahul always whined a lot, and his moniker means ‘little sister’ in kannada. Midget of course was short. Another of them, Nikhil was absent today, but he did that a lot. We have other bunk stories with him, but this one is just us four. Technically I never got a real nickname, but you could call me Kengeri, a reminder of an embarrassing experience I once had.

So back to the story. ‘What’s up guys?’ I asked as I settled myself beside them in the bench. It was to be a long evening, and we were preparing ourselves for the gloom that was soon to follow. ‘AVS and SMH’s classes today right? Integration and carbocations, great.’

‘Yeah at least we don’t have GKR calling us all losers again’ Mama laughed.

So did we all, remembering the class when someone had whistled in GKR sir’s class. He got really ticked, and proclaimed that our lives were over, we weren’t serious and that we were all losers who wouldn’t do anything in life. Although we weren’t the perpetrators, we laughed at his manner of speech, funnier when he was angry. Yes, focus and dedication had become just words in the dictionary for us by now. There was still ten minutes for the teacher to come, so were just goofing around.

Thangi piped up, recalling a funny story he’d just heard. It’s always funny to see him start talking. He lazes around silently most of the while, and then his body just uncoils all of a sudden and he begins speaking urgently in this really funny manner. Though he tries hard, everything he says is really…sloooowww. Rest assured, we’ve made more than enough jokes on that.

‘Dude…that Arun guy jumped to the other building again to bunk and meet his girl! And he’s got 39^th rank in this month’s IIT test man!!’

The Arun guy (I forget his last name) had become legendary in Base for this story. Though he was a brilliant guy, topper-type and all, many a times he’d climb over the wall to the right of our building, over to the parapet of the adjoining building and jump onto the street, from where he would go on to meet his girlfriend. The story never ceased to amaze us.

‘He bunked again…hmmm…guys, what the hell are we doing here?! What are we doing here??’ Midget spoke rarely, a contrast to me and Mama, but whenever he spoke, he’d mostly either utter some deep, enigmatic but unnecessary dialogue or give wise suggestions, like this one. He was a good laugher, but you wouldn’t bet a dime on him cracking a joke. We’ve been keeping count for the last few months, and last I remember, it was 14 good jokes.

‘No dude! Not today, I just want to study today man.’ We all laughed at Mama’s protests; he had spent one too many Base evenings playing football at Madhavan Park for us to take him seriously.

I was confused, so I decided to blabber until we reached a decision. ‘Okay, let’s rationalize. What do we achieve by sitting here? We can bunk and roam around till 8.30, out in the open. On the other hand, we might learn something important today, assuming we concentrate…what the heck, let’s go.’

I took my bag and got up. Something about the last word just got me.

‘Dude, we haven’t concentrated for months now. What you’ll start now?’ Midget laughed. ‘Come, let’s leave before AVS comes.’

‘Hey, we go with our bags, the attendant will notice man. What about that?’ Thangi asked. That we were bunking was a foregone conclusion by now, no one was debating that. ‘How about we leave it here and come back at 8.30 to get it?’

‘Bullshit, let’s just try to hide it with our hands, keep it to the left, and walk straight, walk quick. Before we know it, we’ll be out and free’ I said.

With a look to each other, we quickly took our bags and went to the class door. We peered out to find an empty corridor, an encouraging sign. We stuffed our bags under our left arm and prepared to take the brisk walk to the exit.

‘Remember no eye contact with the attendant or the guard’ Mama warned us before we started.

And we started walking. That was when I committed my first fatal mistake of the evening. Just as we were walking past the staff room on the way to the exit, my eyes flickered to the people sitting inside and I found AVS looking at me. Now let me describe to you the monster, the calculus fiend the world knows as A.V. Shivshankar.

He’s a short, very rotund man, with a bald head that catches the light rather brightly. He has a genial smile, but he is the archetypal example of the maxim, ‘looks can be deceiving’. He has a thick, loud voice that can be irritating in the confines of the classroom, especially when he is hurrying along with his endless problems. He expects a lot from his students, some would say too much, and we had absolutely nothing to offer him. And his seniority, his experience and his enviable record meant that when he questioned you or scolded you in class, being numb with terror was a common phenomenon. It was all his eyes actually, if you ask me.

And now it was those eyes staring at me as I hurriedly tore my gaze away before the panic attack set in. But in those milliseconds, he’d seen something in my wide eyes that told him something was afoot. Just as I passed the room and he disappeared from my view I heard him shout to the attendant.

‘Hey, stop those guys!!’

Oh by the way, I’m digressing, but there’s a story attached to that attendant as well. He was just as short and fat as AVS and just as uptight. The circulating joke was that he was AVS’s illegitimate son, and indeed we referred to him as AVS’s love child.

And so it was love child’s heavy tread that I heard behind us and I started panicking. Just as we reached the steps that led to the footpath, I couldn’t contain myself anymore and dashed down the steps, in an obvious attempt to escape.

‘Dude, don’t run its okay…’ Midget started to say, when he heard love child shout at us, telling us to stop. ‘Oh shit run!!’

And the dam finally broke.

There we were, right on the Bull Temple main road. Running helter-skelter, from love child, who was now chasing us onto the road. We took the first side-road to our left, and ran into different lanes. After about fifty meters I stopped and turned to look behind me, to find that I wasn’t being chased anymore. Love child had given up. In about five minutes, we all regrouped at the bajji shop. By unspoken consent, we somehow knew to meet there. It was where we always met if we bunked, starting the bunk with some hot bajjis. Not kidding, the guy probably sent his kids to school on the money the four of us spent on his bajjis.

‘Guys, we actually got chased by the base attendant!! We ran out of base like fugitives man!!’ I was thrilled and terrified at the same time.

‘I swear man! Surreal no? Okay, let’s have bajjis now’ Mama said. Food was always on top of his mind. ALWAYS.

Dissatisfied by his response, I turned to Midget.

‘Yeah man…love child probably lost some weight back there you know? Chuck man, don’t think too much. So now where?’ I grinned at him, fully aware that he had made a reference to ‘Fear of a blank planet’ one of our favorite songs from Porcupine Tree. One of the things we guys had in common was that we even loved the same band.

‘Flyover?’ I suggested.

All of us agreed unanimously, and dug into our bajjis with renewed vigor.

Little was I to know that the next three hours were going to be the craziest, funniest, weirdest and most aimless but awesome hours of my life so far. Once we were finished, we started on the long walk. A collective voice rang amongst us as we said together.

‘To the flyover then’…