AneStory

             The words spread very fast, if its something not so good about a so considered good student. Some one or the other will take out the competition. As soon as the word spread among faculty about Miss Meteorite and Hera, they became little careful in praising Hera. And Hera slowly lost interest in college work. Though he never bunked classes and never did anything wrong, but neither did anything right. His journals were complete and checked. But he was no more studying ahead of class, but he did not need too. Most, 75% of the portion is covered in 1st two months of the semester and in 3rd month its about completion and compilation.

              One can understand completion of journals, but compilation? is another thing. Compilation is process of getting all the notes, checking various sources- the so called genius or book worms, pets of faculty and some wiz kids, seniors and sort. Also getting all the required printouts in the file, whether there are any diagrams missing, which books need to be followed for what portion of syllabus? Which books will cover maximum portion? Will it be enough for passing?  

              4th month was all about last minute buttering the faculty for good internal marks. Race had begun, and this time Hera was unwittingly, part of it. He had to be, who else had a zero absenteeism record, no one. Last dates of submission were announced, files were being circulated, index were being borrowed and cross checked. But Hera had already gone through the most of the Race. He was on his final lap, and needed just index signatures, and he was done.

             Now, Hera had become completely laid back, was lazying around about the index signatures. And, as one of the Murphys law states, unthinkable will happen when you think nothing can go wrong. And it did happen that way. One of the faculty from whom index signature were needed, went on a 15 day leave, vacation time. And Heras crying days were back, got all files through on last date, smoothly, but one.   

            Hera toyed with the idea of going to her resort and get it signed, but no one told him, where she was. Everyone thought he had alterer motives. Eyed him with obvious submission. As she was young, besides she was on her honey moon, it would have scored poorly on Heras scorecard too. He did not have any other choice, but to sit quietly and study. Which he did but in very poor way, this time it was tension of last file, and not any girl.

            The last file to be signed was signed by faculty, in front of external examiner, who pitched in to scold Hera in full force, as was enjoying it, but gave him slack for doing well in practical, he was 1st person in whole day to have got all the readings right, and only one to have signs on all practicals on the performing dates. 

           But away from Hera there was large scale drama going on, about the punishment and fines for not attending college. 

             Hera was having fun, basking in the glory of being regular, and getting attention of teachers. It had never ever happened before in his life. Some had started calling him teachers pet. But it was not all rosy path  all the way.

             Never before had Hera have to work so hard on his practicals, do homework and revise and study so much before the exam time. It was only start of third week, only one ma'am had not yet started teaching, for she was on leave. And now Hera was looking forward to work his charm on her, he had already read some part of her portion, the part she might start with. Very promising semester in terms of academic performance and marks to look forward too. And more importantly, heavy hand of internals on back for sure. 

             Thats when Miss Stela walked in, the ma'am who had been on leave, and will start class from this day. And she started teaching, had already heard from staff about Hera, and asked a question straight away, and Hera answered it. After teaching for about one hour, she had two joint lectures, she decided to give other off, so as to get introduction from class. 

              One by one she was going through the students, Hera was happy, for he had answered all her questions and was already in her good books. Also, it was first time in this class, that all girls would introduce themselves. Hera had all ears on there voice. It went well. Hera was not particularly interested in any one of them, but interest could be developed, or could get developed, if there is an opportunity, why let it go to some one else. That kind of killer instinct had developed in Hera. 

              It was Heras turn to introduce. And as he was starting to do so, Miss Stela stopped him, smiled and said, I know you very well. And skipped him. Hera was very happy at this treatment. A V.I.P. among all class mates. 

              Classes went on, and Hera continued to perform well. Did not put a foot wrong, remained ahead of his class and faculty too at times. And hence an apple of eyes for his faculty. 

              Again, it was the lecture of Miss Stela, and she decided to give 2nd lecture off, well she was a very good at her job and pupil did not flunk in her subjects. This time she came close to Hera, and started a chat session with him.

              Miss Stela: "So how do you study?"

              Hera: "I just read the books and notes." 

              Miss Stela:"You were not like this in first year."

              Hera: "No ma'am, i did not study this much, because i was not able to, did not knew how too"

              Miss Stela: "I know you better than that, i agree you have changed, so don't lie to me." 

              Hera: "I am not lying. I really was not able too. "

              Miss Stela: "I know about you and Miss Meteorite, she told me, the way you used to act in her lecture, Why you have not done that with me?"

              Hera was speechless and amused and shocked, did not knew what to say and how to react, would it be right to say it all was a lie, or will it be better to wink at her or let go and forget everything about the conversation. As he was about to respond, bell rang. It still remains to be known, whose skin was saved by that bell, but Miss. Stela was embarrassed, cause everyone was paying attention to them now, and she had said last two to three statement too loudly, while Hera was embarrassed, because his secret was known to others, than his friends too.

               1st week of college in second year was a different kind of liberation. It seemed like they were no more "The freshers", but one year old. No more total juniors, soon junior juniors are going to be here, while super super seniors were gone, with hefty pay checks and respected jobs, breathing new dreams among 2nd year students, Hera, being one of them.

                There was going to be a change, a big change, all classes were going to be mingled, mixed and set for next three years, for now the students will begin there specialization. Hera was nervous, what kind of people will they all be? Will he be able to make new friends? Would some one give him notes and more importantly, practical files and experiment write-ups.    

                Hera, had taken the "fine if absent" warning seriously, but not all of them, and attendance was lets say, none to nothing. 

               Day 1: Hera alone.

               Day 2: Hera and two others.

               Day 3: 7 in all.

               Day 4: 14 made it.

               Day 5: 20

               Day 6: 50% came.

               Day 7: was Sunday and

               Day 8: All were there. And finally teachers were happy, and so were the college authorities. Soon the lists were out, sums of fine imposed and further the scheme was extended, now even if one lecture is missed 50 bucks were to be charged. But no one had made any payment till now. 

              The day list was announced, Monc had no other option but to cry foul. Among mischief mongers, some genuine cases were lost too. Monc on other hand did not have fine stars, he missed a class, only one, the 1st one and had to pay the price for whole day. But, he was not alone in this boat, and there was no mistake of his. For the new timetable meant, college started one hour earlier than last year, which was not propagated as much as the fine thing. 

               On other hand Hera was elated. Hera, was the only lucky person, to be spared the fine, despite being known case of delinquency among other so called delinquents. Hera, thanked Monc and then thanked his stars, for not being on the list.  For, for the first time in his life he was declared, "the most sincere among all!"

               Well, trouble had just started brewing, more was yet to come, for starters no one paid fine, and authorities never stopped the punishment.

              It was last paper of second semester examination, and Hera was ready to pack and live for home. But today was the longest paper of his bachelors, not that anything happened, but it really was 4 hours long, while all others were only 3 hours. Hera, as usual had not taken this in consideration and therefore, booked a ticket of bus which was half an hour too early.

              Hera only realized his mistake when he was in examination hall, writing, rather drawing the answer, half hour in to exam, supervisor said "3 and 1/2 hour more to go." All others, anyone in right mind would speed up, and they did, but Hera stood up and clearly said, rather shouted "Wha....T!" There was pin-drop silence, before and after it was deadening silence! Every one had there eyes on Hera, and most of them went back to there work, while Hera was grilled for disturbing others, in process disturbing even more people.

              Next half hour or so went in thinking of bus that he would miss, and cursing the university. As examination progressed it became more and more clear to Hera, the 4 hour examination was for others, with his choice of questions he could still complete it in under three hours. And he speed up the work.

             The university also gives four hours for last paper, taking things in consideration, it was not only the lengthy paper, but for the Gods tradition too.  

              "2 and 1/2 hours into exam, Gods tradition begins", is what used to be told by seniors to every junior, each and every year, "its  the real initiation in to bachelors, the ones who clear this hurdle will make it through, through the finale." 

              First, clouds come over, taking out the sun, then goes the power, hence blackout in examination halls followed by rains outside.  And if you want to be tested more, it will leak on to your desk, ruining your answer sheet. And hence ordeal of Hera had begun, he was allowed to shift, but leak followed him two times, at third place there was no leak but no light either, not even a weak flicker. 

              Bus was out of question, but there were serious questions in Heras mind of being able to finish his paper in time. Deadline was now 45 minutes away, 45 minutes being wasted in moving here and there, next he finds out, the rounder and set-squares had fallen out while coming to exam hall from room. He had to draw the curve free hand, and it had to come right, class act, he managed a curve, somehow scampered through other questions and bell ranged. There was no time to tie the sheets together. He was sweating heavily, had he made any mistake, no time to poof read it, no time to check anything, well thats "Gods tradition!" 

              Under more volley of words, Hera managed to tie the sheets together and submit it, lift all of his remaining stuff and make it to room, where he started packing frantically, though first bus had gone, there may be a chance to get second. It was still raining. As soon as Hera had packed the bags, all the gang walked in. 

              Monc: "Where are you going?"

              Hera: "Where all else are going?"

              Rack: "We are not going anywhere."

              Hera: "Home!"

              Smoky: "He does not know, i guess. Who will break news to him?"

              Hera: "What news?"

              Monc: "Okay, I will. Hera, our second year collage starts day after tomorrow. You can not go home stay for few hours and come back."

              Hera: "No it starts on 2nd!"

              Monc: "Today is 31st, and if you do not come on first day, you will be fined Rs.1000, and Rs.100 for each lecture you miss of first week."

              Hera: "Oh Shits!"

              Hera went down to STD and called mom and told about college, and canceled his home visit. Monc said " Now he understands the importance of that deepawali vacation!"

           As every one was habituated to study at night, college lights were always lit for its students. And hence, to avoid any unpleasant things, there was an inspection squad, which would carry out surprise inspection to check if any one was smoking or was there any girl sill sitting in college at night etc. On one such night, as the inspection squad came to carry out a surprise visit, as they reached the floor, smoky was smoking. They had reached the door, smoky was still smoking, and black out happened. Saved by the whisker, as the squad came in, every one moved out. 

           Well squad did smell some thing fishy, rather smoky, but no one waited long enough to be caught. On more important note, they had lost a day to study and were not at all felling sleepy. It was only 1:00 in night. The obvious question was "What to do?"

           Monc and Hera decided to go to Hera's flat where Rack had already reached. All three were thinking of doing something when the dog next door, barked at something, next rack answered it.  Yes Rack mimicked it to the T. They had found what to do next. All went in to balcony and sat on the leaf bed, yes it was still there, and Rack followed up the first bark, with that of a pups, a hurt dogs shriek and so on, each time he got response from the Alsatian next door. 

           Everything was going fine until, Rack decided to do a grown dogs howl. No, other dog did not think it was a man it was responding too, but now not one but all dogs of the locality were howling. Rack followed the first one with one more, and another, and then she came out.

            The cat woman, hostel owner and wife of a drunk advocate, just walked out with a black plastic bag. What followed next was never seen or heard before. She put her hand into bag and out came a stone which was aimed in direction of Rack and friends, albeit towards ground floor. Then another one towards Alsatian, she missed him. One towards opposite side, one towards other side. Rack looking at her behavior said "it seemed that she is sleep walking and standing in the middle of the road, randomly throwing stones at non existing dogs".

             All agreed at this, however Hera was perplexed, looking at him,

             Monc: "What is troubling you?"

             Hera: "She is so prepared, she must have got distinction in her bachelors, look she keeps a bag full of stones with her." 

              Neither Monc nor Rack could say anything...they slept, for black out continued. 

             As is the habit of Monc and Hera to study late at night, and have dinner at Laxmi, but they had another habit. Those were the days of happy hours, yes happy hours, and i am not talking about hippie or drugs or nothing as sinister, but the only ones who would be hurt were telecom companies. At night time after 10:00, all calls were charged zero bucks. And people like Monc and Hera made full use of this facility.

             Monc owned a cell phone and so did Pee. Monc and Hera used to call Pee or vice versa and keep the call on for hours altogether, when ever one of the 3 had doubts they would shout in the mouthpiece and other used to reply with solution. What started as an aid to studies, soon became an accessory to fun. When ever one felt bored, all would start chit chatting.

             Days, or should i say nights, were quickly running out, and hence time before exams. On one such night all three of them were studying seriously, so much so that Monc and Hera over shot the time for dinner at 11:30, and hence missed it, as Laxmi shut down for the night.

             That night, luckily they had smoky's bike with them. So they went on looking for some dinner at night. They were very hungry now, being studying hard till then. Hence, food was a priority, besides none of the students had any snack so late in the semester. Therefore, the only option was to go look for some open hotel that will serve dinner, and it should be cheap too. 

             Only, one place in a normal city would fit this description, that would be a railway station. for, even bus stands have little traffic at 1:00 in night. And they ended up in a hotel which is in no way cheap, and forget the concept for value for money either. They were in no position to pay for anything. No choice but to move out and go home and sleep with stomach full of water, as they were cursing and going home, Pee called, yes they had forgotten to even call her and so had she. It was not possible for Monc to drive as well as speak on phone, so bike was parked, Hera was to hungry to do anything without dreaming of food. So, no driving for him today. 

              As they were walking, Monc told her about not felling of studying today and they were off to sleep today, when Hera shouted! Food! Monc, Food! look there is food! Over there! 

              Monc, thought Hera has lost it and neglected him, but Hera started walking down in direction of his food! Monc hurriedly, ended that conversation with Pee. He did not want to damage Hera and more importantly his own reputation in front of Pee. She was there only friend of girl kind, over here, and his only anywhere. More about them latter.

              Well, Hera was on his way, and Monc had to follow him fast and as he cached up and started to pull at Hera,

              Hera: "Smell it Monc, Food! from there."

              Monc: "Shut up! Hera and come along with.......yes you are write!"

              Hera: "Yes, there!"

              And there they saw, two men walk out from behind the gate, and on inquiry, a back door to a hotel was pointed out, at last food! was available. Monc and Hera discovered the taste of Bun Muska and Mutton Kheema fry, at dead of night, that is, at 2:00. Hence, one more joint was added on there map for food. It served the meal in 85 bucks flat. 

              Sadly, it does not exist any more, but the hotel in front of it still serves the same taste, but not as cheap and not at all the unholy times, that Hera and Monc would have thought of, like 3:00, 3:30 and even 4:00 in night or shall i say start of the other day!

               If it were not the case of some students getting first class and distinction, most would have thought college are not good for there kids. And if going by Hera's experience, the more pressure for studies, greater is the chance of new romance budding. So if there are preparative leave, last minute cramp tuitions etc, the higher is chance of them falling in love. Hera, thinking this might be one way to meet his Miss right, decides to join a cramp tuitions for two of the most tough subjects of the semester.

               Here is where he meets Tee on very first day, and on very first day he ends up sitting with her. While Monc ends up in another batch, for he came early, thats the way Hera puts it, not that he was late. There was nothing romantic about Tee, nothing special about her, well her appearance can be summed up in following points

              1. Fair complexion

              2. Boy cut, uncombed hair style.

              3. Jeans, and shabby top.

              4. Not much tall, neither too short, normal height.

              5. Roundish-Squarish face.

              6. Chubby cheeks, nearly double chin, white teeth within.

Well thats for outer appearance, but more importantly she was tomboy, late and lazy, a mirror image of Hera, only plus point, she was female and sitting next to him.

              Well first day was the last day she sat with Hera, well it had nothing to do with Hera or Tee not wanting to share the bench, but was just not in their faith to be. Either Hera used to be too early, unlike him but for her sake, then she used to be late, when he was late, she used to be early. After, 1st day Hera thought of various ways and plans to go about and asking her out. 1st one was to get her phone number and call her, she was localite, that is she lived with her parents. 

              The day was decided, and Hera was going to get her number that night, and was all ready to make that call. Then is when he overheard a story, narrated by Tee, well he had all ears for her voice. It went this way,

        Tee: Yesterday, I got a call from someone called R.

        Friend: About what?

        Tee: He said "You are Tee. Your voice is sweet, I love it, no I love you."

        Friend: What?

        Tee: I said " Bro; whats your problem? I do not know you, so I am cutting the line." And i cut the line.

        Friend: So the episode is over.

        Tee: No he called back and said "First thing: I am not your bro, Second: What ever is the problem, its mine, and because its i who has called, its me who will cut the line, bye." And he cut the line.

        Mean while, Monc had gone out with Pee, who turned out to be Tee's friend and liked Monc. Monc was at first surprised to be next to her. He was not accustomed to be among girls, let alone approached by them. But Pee was different, unlike other girls and like Tee, was tomboy, but very confident. So Pee and Monc became friends and so did Hera, but line stopped there, it did not extend till Tee.  Pee gave Tees' number to Monc and Monc brought it to Hera. And Hera had no option but to not use it. 

        Hera had decided to go one step too extreme, he decided to send a love letter to her home. Well the idea was vehemently vetoed by Pee, thankfully, for if she had not it would have made it to Tee's father. Hence, useless and may be, suicidal. So, it was decided, to write a love letter, perfume it and leave it on Tees Scooty.       

         Next day Tee found a letter on her Scooty, she glanced here and there, she saw Hera standing next to Monc, and she pocketed the letter and left. She stopped on way to home and opened the envelope, it was written in blood. She nearly fainted and got seriously afraid. She quickly left for home that day. And called in sick for the rest of day. She was tensed and thinking was Hera a good guy or a freak. And was afraid of her choice. At that her mother came and this followed.

        Mum: Tee, what is this? (holding the envelope)

        Tee: Ah!

        Mum: What is this? Tee, tell me. What is this? (Shouting)

        Tee: Love letter. Written in Blood. (Rather too coolly, freaking the mother out)

        Mum: Who is he?

        Tee: Mum, i do not know, might not even belong to me. It was lying on the scooty, in college.

        Mum: (Thinking, with rage.)

        Tee: may be its for Pee.

        Mum: Okay.(Picks up phone and calls Pee, tells everything thats in the letter.)

        Tee: Let it be mum, if anything else comes we will go to police. ( hang that Hera, idiot, cant he write in simple ink, like all other guys, i would have remained sane and would have hidden it by now, like all others) 

        Mum: Okay.

        Well, her mother let it go then, for it would have been very difficult to disclose this information to Tees father, and burned the damn letter.

        On the other hand, Pee called Monc and shouted like hell at him and then at Hera. She did not allow a single syllable out of there throat, until she was exhausted, that was about 30 minutes latter. At that moment Hera said, "But i did not get a chance to drop that letter on her scooty, Tee came after me, she was too late and left earlier than me, my letter is still in my bag!" All in one breath.

        Next day Monc, Pee and Hera met, and it was decided to drop any plans of letter, he would have to go and meet her directly. And ask her out, face to face. Yes the oldest and the most difficult way to ask a women for a date. In her face and in front of all other 120 faces, who come from your college. Fear of rejection had to set in. It had too, already there were plans, that were foiled.

        In mean time, Pee had cleared the name of Hera regarding blood letter, and Tee already knew, cause the guy was caught while getting into her compound, he belonged to some other college. So that matter was resolved, but still the fear remained. They both glanced at each other and when one smiled the other looked away, too embarrassed being caught red eyed while stealing a glance. this continued without any progress. I find this stage most dumb of all and sweet to. Dumb cause they both know they like the other but neither is ready to take the first step. And sweet, for its like sweet, there is no better feeling of anxiety than this, both know that something will happen now, something will happen then and so on. 

       Well, soon it was the last day of the tuition, and it would be difficult to meet again, both were anxious to meet and reveal and live there inner feelings, none of them were able to pay any attention to the faculty. Soon it was over, the class, Hera stood outside and waited for her to come out and as she did, he got ready to say it, she got ready to hear it, and then as Hera stepped forward, and made a sound, Tee's father brushed him aside and held her hand and walked away. Her father was watching him angrily, but Hera was saved by Monc who came to his rescue. Well this romance ended then and there, for it was time for exams now. 

               Most people would decide not to travel, while having fever and vomits and stomach pains, but not Hera. What he did would be termed courageous by most. He first of all parked the bike at a secure place, where it would get as dirty as possible, he parked it right under a tree, where bird droppings were a common ground art, now bike art.

                 After that, he packed everything in two bags, everything included all of the following,    

                 1. Books, all of them.

                 2. Drawing sheets, drawing board, etc

                 3. All dabbas and boxes, empty but unwashed

                 4. And ton of unwashed clothes

and carried them to STD, where he informed Auntie of his plan and got on to a rickshaw, to bus stand. There he got on to a luxury bus, 2 by 2 seater, got window seat, popped a pill and slept. And woke up only when bus stopped for tea time. Normally, people in his position would have stayed away from eating anything, but not Hera, he started with Wada pav, chat and so on. And then vomited everything out!

                  Slept, till next destination arrived. There, he realized, he might be late for the connecting train. Had to drag his bags all the way to railway station. There on 3rd platform was the connecting train, he was on 6th platform and ticket counter was on 1st platform. And, train was going to go, decided to hop onto it, and thought will pay fine if required and ran to get on the train.

                  There, as he reached platform 3, train started to move, he would not have been able to get on the train unless like any romantic movie, whether DDLJ, Jab we Meat etc., some one would like Hera, well there is no time wrong time to dream, and pull him on the train. And thats what happened, a hand from the cargo compartment, which was smelling heavily of fish, came out, Hera took that hand and got on the train. But unlike movie that person was unfortunately male, Hera was being himself, more over he was TC, and Hera stupidly asked "Is there enough time to buy ticket and come back?" Of-course not!

                  However, he did not fine him then and there, he did not have his ticket and fine book with him. So for time being, Hera was saved. The ladies in compartment who were carrying fish helped him get on a bench and sleep. They also advised him to get of train after 2 stations and climb on general boogie, 3 compartments ahead, by then TC would have traversed it, so you can save on fine, by giving the TC a miss. 

                  So as decided, Hera moved into the other compartment, and sat down. And his rest of the journey began and continued without any hindrance.

                  While, Hera was on his way home, his father had sent a parcel along with a family friend, and as obvious, he did not find Hera at the room, so he started searching for Hera, soon a search party of about 20 to 25 people had gathered. Well it was a valid reason, and noble too for Heas' seniors to miss studies. But no one asked Auntie of STD anything except for the sad girl!

                   Running here and there, proper investigation had began, had he left the town, gone to his relatives, all sorts of permutations and combinations were being worked out and if necessary, they had decided to approach police. Heras' parents were packing there backs to make an overnight journey, fearing all sorts of bad things. 

                    Then, bell rang! And Hera came home, what a relief, what followed was well over his head. About 20-25 phone calls were done, about same number of apologies asked, Hera just looked on and then remembered of the girl and said, "Oh! Shits! I forgot to inform her."   

             Hera's first Deepawali in bachelors was a good lesson in eating habits which he never gave a dime, before or after. It was going to be glorious festival as per his planning, Hera was going to borrow a friends bike, after all he would not be needing it and Hera did have a license to drive. So, there was no reason he could have said no. But Hera had to prove that he knew how to drive. 

             Time was fast running out for Hera, he had yet not got a chance to prove his metal as a good driver. And he was ready to do what ever it would take to get custody of that bike over the vacation, for he had planned it out. The 10 point plan..

             1. Get the bike.

             2. See all friends off.

             3. Hope most good looking girl stays back.

             4. Make a choice- based on looks and ease of winning.

             5. Break ice with her and move around in city with her.

             6. Full fill her small dreams- watch movies, candle light dinner, take her for a day long trip etc.

             7. Support her when she feels lonely and gets emotional.

             8. Get her habituated of his presence.

             9. Suggest more than friendship- She is very good, compliment her, say the one with whom she goes will be luckiest etc.

            10. Accept her proposal. 

             How bizarre that may sound, it succeeded partially.

             Hera got the chance to prove his ability, had to go and drop Smoky to his bus on last moment notice, for Crack did not wake up. Hera drove to station, dropped Smoky on time and came back. And hence got custody of the bike. Point 1 done.

            What was started by Smoky was followed by Monc, Crack, Rack, etc one by one. Each one advised Hera to go to home town too, as from next semester till the end of bachelors there was not going to be any vacation! Still, Hera stood his ground. Point 2 success.

            Yes, most good looking girls stayed back, what difference does it make if most were at least one year older. It did not matter. There were still, plenty of fish in pound and much lesser competition. And hence, Point 3 was easiest to achieve. 

           Soon, it did not even took Hera to zoom through the population and decide on his target. Yes, a good looking girl was selected. First, four points were achieved with in 3 hours of Smoky giving keys of his bike to Hera.

           Perfect chance was served on a platter to Hera, the selected girl came to STD, lost her balance and fell! Twisted her ankle. Great, Hera helped her on to seat of bike, took her to doctor, where she got the required treatment and was discharged, on way back they had lunch in a fine restaurant and he dropped her back to her hostel, from there she was helped by her friends to her room. Point 5 in bag.

          Now it was time for Point 6 to be played out, the longest and toughest, had got the date for night with her set, and she come to STD, all ready for her first ever date, dressed impeccably neat, in a white off shoulder gown, she was quite modern, you see, to meet Hera, and waited for 1 long hour and at last asked STD Auntie about him, and the massage was delivered. She had been stood up!

          Now, most people would ask "Why?". Well, it all began the night before. yesterday night, Smoky and Hera went out and had chinese food, at a very ill maintained and unhygienic, make shift restaurant, which was opened only for the vacation. Result was clear, both got food poisoning. A gift from amoebas. Hera, had to leave for home town immediately, for no one was going to care for him here. So, just left a simple massage at STD, "I am going to home town."    

         She never ever spoke with Hera again, and Hera never ever got the guts to approach her again! Another, short lived romance bites the dust.

         Nothing, in Hera's life could be simple, the path that he has traveled, on so many occasions and so well on most, this time he nearly failed............what happened, we will see tomorrow! 

              As habituated to nocturnal way of life, Hera used to spend most of his nights in college and only go to room when he could no more keep his eyes open. However, for past few days, Hera had noticed the absence of other roommates too at night. And far less number of visitors too!

             A few days back, the owner of the bungalow had come, as always after a month, at first every one had thought it was normal check up on his property. But then someone noticed each time he came and came some Lemons with pins, Turmeric, black doll and other stuff. Curiosity had aroused. And hence Crack made the connection, of the stuff and owner and no moon days! And Cat was out of bag. Everything started looking sinister.

             The whole colony was now being looked through glass of Sherlock Holmes, only difference being, he used to look for clues left by humans, here people were looking for ghosts, banshees and witches. A character sketch was made of people who lived in that locality. It looked like this.

            STD Uncle and Auntie: Too sweet and over excited, always. 

            People with big Compound wall: Kept to themselves, but had one case of mental illness. 

            One of the Hostel owner: Cat woman, has at least 5 of them, Husband is drunkard. 

            Other Hostel owner: Could not speak with anyone unless fighting. Too liberal with girls. Leaves life in secrecy. 

            Lastly: Our owner, comes only on Amavasya, is as pale and white as vampire. 1st wife died in bathroom below!

            That was it, the proof, he killed her and now she haunts the place. This is how people jump to conclusion, and they did. Next time, he came, he forgot to switch of the light of bathroom, yes same one. People coming to room noticed that, which did not seemed to be on in morning, when looked in. On one such excursion to find the root of mystery of on light, Smoky fell to ground only to discover an arrow head with its head rising from earth. That put the seal on this bungalow being haunted.

           And hence Hera's friends became little afraid of coming to room and so did others, many times he slept alone. So one day with Rack, Smoky and Monc, Hera decided to carry out an investigation on his own, for he had not had any bad vibes from this place till now.

          Being, differently intelligent that he was, Hera pulled out all fuse to look at  bulb whether it works, it worked. That sent a chill through his spine. Next day Hera noticed that most of the furniture used to shift away from walls and more towards balcony! Something used to walk over the roof at night, which was made up of cement sheet in some part, which could not have supported weight of a small kid. these things were good enough to move every one out of room, but Hera had no where to go at first. So he stayed put, and ghost did not trouble him, either he was too good or simply worser than the ghost himself.

         With this knowledge came privileges, Hera got recognition among his colleagues as a brave person, fear of theft from room vanished, no one ever tried to come up the room, no one ever bothered to lock it. It was a freedom ticket, Hera, went wherever and whenever he wanted too, without searching for the lock and key, as it was never kept in its proper place!

        Hera got the meaning of phrase, Liberation from chains! He understood what girls felt, how they liked living alone in this alien town and have fun, have freedom! Being independent! Well outrageous, but thats what he thought!   

               Well after spending 5k in one day and realizing that they had not gained much in value, it was mutual caution on spending from all three of them. But Hera was going to be far from spending less. He had got himself audio tapes with labels like Runaway Bride; Lucky Alis' trio-logy, Match Box etc, and he did not even have a walk-man! So what next; go get one. Now, he did not want to defy the mutual austerity drive, so he went alone and as not to over spend walked to destination.

               His budget was modest, only 1200 bucks, got cash out of bank, walked to the nearest shop, and it was a sony shop. The cheapest cost 1500 bucks. He could not afford it, went to next, he did not like any, here the most expensive was available at about 600 bucks. In end, he gave up and returned home.

              Hera had started quite early and therefore was back at room by 11:00 and as soon as he lay down on his bed, Anth called from the street below, most people avoided rather feared coming up, to Hera's room, more about that in next post. However, today was last day for submission which Hera had of-course not completed. So first thing what he did was get Anth's file then and there and started coping it word to word, even the index. And then ran to college.

             As Hera reached college, it was submission for Miss Meteorites subject, as he was standing there, he heard Miss shout at some girl for coping the file from friend, "How did ma'am catch her?" was what Hera thinking, when Anth came running ahead from behind the line and took Hera's file, and on first page there it was, Anth K. in bold letters, instead of Hera's name.  

            They quickly changed the page, before reaching madams desk and Hera submitted his file.

           Miss Meteorite: "Hera, why did you copy Anth's file."

           Hera: " I did not." (How did she come to know?)

           Miss Meteorite: "You are impossible!"

           Miss Meteorite:(To students behind Hera) "Is Anth there?"            

           Anth came running ahead, now what has gone wrong and he realized it, he came running ahead to madams desk.

           Anth: "Sorry Miss, by mistake our files got exchanged."

          As Anth was coming in and was saying this, Hera had stooped ahead and tried to take a sneak peak in file. But as Miss Meteorite had been weary of Hera's presence, she took it otherwise and she just moved back into her chair, as Hera tried even harder to check the file out,  Miss had push her chair back and stood up, as she did this Hera with out most curiosity followed the moment of file, but to Miss and anyone else, except for Anth, it looked something else! It seemed as if he was openly being PERVERT! thats what Miss Meteorite's eyes said and as soon as Hera saw the look in her eyes, he said

         "NO! NO! Not that! I was trying to look at file, how you came to know that, I had copied from Anth."

          Well, though he had confessed to lesser of the two evils, either she was relieved that Hera was not pervert or she did not want to risk any more confrontations! She signed his and Anth's file without checking anything else, unlike for others who had come before and after Hera! This was the smoothest submission Hera had ever had until now! Else he used to be sent back and made to do corrections, and sometimes non existent corrections too, for he was not regular, he had not done most of the work etc...         

              It had been over a semester now, still Hera did not knew anything about the city he lived in. Why should he know, there was no reason to go anywhere, okay he was interested in movies, but why should he spend for them, if people would get CD's and he watched at there place on a PC. The only place other than the phone booth, if Hera had to go anywhere down the road was decided as per a fixed routine. Mess two times a day on weekdays including Saturday, to Mess one time on Sunday; and Laxmi on Sunday night. As mess was not open on Sunday nights. Well why only Laxmi? Its simple, it was cheap, it was quick and Hera loved scrambled eggs! And each Sunday mess served chicken, so that craving was well satisfied!

               So at last it was time to see other things, at first Hera resisted the the idea, but when Monc said "Where are you going to take your girlfriend, when you get one?" He readily accepted. Hence, Hera took out some cash from bank, so did Rack and Monc. Together they had about 5K bucks. Now only one question remained, "Where  should we go?", as they asked each other at the same time. Rack said lets go to Fashion Street. All agreed. 

               They walked down the street and started looking for Tum-Tum (Six seater Auto-Rickshaw) going to Fashion Street, and they had to get on to bus. They did not get Tum-Tum. Next they got down at Cultural center of city, there was one big garden with a tank in it next to river. Followed by a Drama theater. They walked the street, looking at various restaurants they were all very attractive, but it was only 10:00 in morning and only had softy. All the time they walked, they attracted attraction towards them for there choice of song. Which was kind of bizarre, and they were singing rather shouting at the top there voice! It went something like this

                                                       Deko Deko yeh Hai jalwa

                                                                Deko Deko

                                                         V are going to Deko

                                                         U are going to Deko

              Well it went on that way! After that they took another bus, it dropped them near Fashion street, and they decided to walk there. On reaching there, Rack bought two T-shirts, Monc and Hera nothing, until on way out they saw a vendor selling  locates. All of them got a sword and Dragon one. Then had a monster burger, which turned out to be beef burger and all the three lost there religion there. Well Hera had some issues about religion after his prayers about Ruby were unheard so he did not tell others and they all enjoyed it. 

              After that, Hera pulled everyone to a music shop, where he bought about 10 audio tapes.  From there they started back for home, and to there amazement they had about 40 bucks left with them. They had to get back and also have dinner out in those 4o bucks, that was highly impossible. So they decided to just get back home, by hoping on and of bus they reached home and were now as hungry as if had eaten nothing since morning. They decided to buy bread, with all the coins they had about 18 bucks left. So they went to a shop, asked for bread, Hera held it in his hand and waited for Rack or Monc to make payment and was very tired at first to notice that they both had slipped out of shop while shopkeeper dealt with hordes of customers. Hera had no other option, he had no money, he was tired to bone, but most importantly he was hungry as hell, he made a run for it, no one followed.

             Thus with the saved money they got 6 eggs and were very happy to have made kill! However, the happiness was short lived and vanished as soon as they reached room. Hight of shortsightedness boys can display when it comes to cooking. They had 6 eggs and a bread pack, a electric coil stove but not a single utensil. After 15 minutes of cursing there heads cooled and then Rack had a great idea. 

            Rack: "I have an idea."

            Monc: "Do not even think of eating raw eggs.'                                        

            Rack: "We do have a water heating electric rod."

            Monc: "Even if we get water to boil in a bucket as big as that one, (pointing to one for bath) the amount of water wasted will be too much (20 liters) and it will take at least an hour."

            Hera: "We do not need to use that one, we can use the one in toilet, its only 4 liters and water will boil in about 15 minutes." 

            Oh! by then Crack had also shown up, he too was broke and hungry! So he too joined in, his contribution was some mirch masala and salt that he borrowed from STD auntie.

            Before anyone can take an objection Hera had moved swiftly, even before completing the sentence he was saying and dropped all eggs into the toilet bucket! By then Rack had got the rod out and he planted it in the bucket and as soon as it was filled enough started switch.  They enjoyed the dinner and claim it was one of the most delicious one they had.

               It was a nice day, and Hera was interested in lazing around, after all it was an off day of college and no writeup was there to write about. Hence, no one was going to wakeup or wake others up. However, something was making Hera uneasy about just sleeping. At first he thought it was sun, and ignored it as sun shifts with day, rays will move away from his bed. Of course, he could have just closed the door or curtains, but who would get up! But it did not stop even after an hour. 

               Hence, at last Hera got up, looked around to see Rack, Crack and Suun still sleeping on there beds without any problem in world. Checked around his bed, for source of discomfort, did not find any and so decided to go out. Cleaned up, in sense washed his face, brushed teeth and was out to have coffee. At the coffee shop, which was just next door, Uncle and Auntie, the owners and somehow still felt uneasy. Saw girls call home and say hi hello, on a hunch decided to do so too. Checked his purse and there was not much in there, had not remembered to get money out of the account. After much debating over use of money, went ahead and decided to call home for sure, so stepped in to booth and dialed number. 

              Tring........ Tring........Tring...........13 times no answer! Dialed again, Tring........Tring..........picked up, 

                Hera : "Hello" 

                From there : "yes"

                it was mom, 

                Hera: "How are you mummy?"

                Mom: "I am fine, tell me how are you? Are you eating properly? study hard son, i have sent some ladoos with your Papa, you should call more often...."

                Hera: "Papa is coming?"( When?)

                Mom: "Oh, i thought you have called from his cell phone. Well, then he will reach in an hour or so."

                Hera: (An Hour. got to run.)" I have to go mummy, I will call from papa's cell phone that will cost less. Okay bye! "

                And phone was cut.

                 Hera sprinted at full speed from booth to his room, shouted, kicked, punched, threw water all in a matter of 5 minutes, to wake up all of them, cursing him as they did wake up. But were surprised to see, what Hera was doing. 

                 In one hand Hera had a Jhadu, and with another was trying to unfold a new bed sheet and cover the bed. Without asking any questions, Rack got up and started cleaning his own bed, while crack ran for ashtray, a few buds lying in room and pack of cigarette. Suun , was still dumb founded and asked, 

                "Why are you ruining a perfect holiday by starting clean up mission! For gods sake its not deepawali!"

                 Rack: "Hera's father is coming." 

                 Suun: Thinking"Then why are you both cleaning up."

                 Crack:"Cause, if his father sees this room as it is, they will tell our parents."

                 Suun:"Oh God! By when will he reach here."

                 he also started cleaning up.

                 Hera:"Most probably, we have between 30 to 60 minutes."

                 All of them looked at Hera, and as they saw, he was not slowing down, they sped up. After all every ones parents knew there was a bai for the job of cleaning up! Which was obviously not true. 

                 Rack had started with Cracks' bed, while Crack had taken up the Jhadu and was sweeping as quickly as possible, while Hera had started to heat water for washing clothes, Suun went out and got washing powder, also had to pay for Hera's phone call. Suun started washing clothes, Hera got a bucket of water and poured it in room as soon as Crack had sweep-ed floor, wall and ceiling. And then let it flow out, using mop the two of them, Crack and Hera cleaned the floor. Rack went in to balcony and cleaned most of it, then when it was clear that all the leaves that are there outside can not be racked out of house and burned in time, he made a mountain of it, and hoped someone could do something of it.  

                  Everything else was done, except hanging clothes for drying and the leaves lying in balcony. What to do, what to do? Then Hera got an idea. he ran in, lifted Racks' bed and removed the cover of his mattress.  Looking at Hera, Rack to joined in and soon both were filling the leaves in to the cover, which looked like a big gunny bag.  Still no idea, what to do, meanwhile, Crack and Suun were hand drying the clothes, one was holding the jeans tight with all his might, while the other twisted it around to drain water from it and hanging them on balcony wall. Mean while Monc came in and seeing the cleanness of the room was surprised. Seeing, the make shift gunny bag, he said "So you are making an extra bed in balcony! great, I will help you flatten it out."

                   And thats what they did, got an extra bed sheet and spread it over the new mattress and finally relaxed. Absent in there mission, all 5 of them did not realized the interest they generated among girls of the two hostel that was straight opposite to there balcony. Who watched there ordeal with much interest. Then Hera's father arrived, and all got complements for keeping the room clean. And scolding for not having bathed even though it was 15:00 in afternoon!

                    That evening, they had a short party, after having bathed and worn clean clothes, ate the homemade food brought by Hera's father, Hera called his mother and everyone saddled for the night. Next day, Hera's father left for home town while all roommates decided to have a run around city, after all, it was another off day.......

                  Hera used to attend college sparingly before result, in mental sense. What i mean to say is that, he used to attend college physically, sit or rather slump in the last seat, sleepily and draw some doodle, which would have been his dream bike. Had not noticed anyone, so had no idea, who was part of class and more importantly who was not. But now, there was altogether a new Hera in class, who used to sit next to most sincere student Anth, in first two rows and directly in front of board. Taking down notes and paying attention to faculty.

                  Fellow pupil had to give proxy on behalf of Hera but, now for the first time in his life he had got the opportunity to pay back some of his friends. Hence, Hera learned how to give proxy attendance, in fact he did it quite well, it came naturally to him. He took to it like fish to water. So one day it was time for him to give proxy for two of his friends, and his own, all the roll calls were were well paced, in fact formed a series, including Anth's roll number too. But something else was in store for Hera.

                   Bell rang, Hera was noticing things, watched everyone take there seat and then she walked in. Hera asked Anth who was she? She is beautiful. Anth was answering, she is Miss Meteorite. but Hera was not listening. He was already in a trance. He was just staring at her when roll call started. 1 2 3 4.....no change in Hera's trance, 9 10 11 12.............still staring.........19 18 20........not a mussel moved, 23 24 25............ mouth open in aw .... 29 29....Anth looks at Hera, shuts his mouth 29 yes ma'am, says Hera. Ma'am looks at him and continues to take roll call 30 31 32......... Trance broken, ....39, yes ma'am. Ma'am does not look up and she continues roll call.....40 41 42.... that was close call, Hera thought, now only his attendance remains. 49 and yes ma'am goes Hera. Ma'am looks up and Hera is caught.  

                    Hera, is back in trance, nearly, she is standing so close, so beautiful, she is scolding me why? Out of trance, oh! she is Ma'am!

                      To her: Sorry ma'am, no ma'am, the 1st two were proxies,.

                    Oh shit, she did not know about 29, she did not need to know about 29.

                      To her: Sorry ma'am, I am really sorry.

                    Oh, i should stop smiling, it is not convincing, but she is standing so close, so beautiful! How can i let her know? No, this is not the right time, no she is this close.

                      To her: Sorry ma'am.

                     Oh she is so close to sun, so heated up, so angry, she is clearly showing all her red colors. At top of her voice, so beautiful, so sweet! 

                     Oh she is so close to me, lets see should i kiss her. All i have do is stoop a bit, i am on higher ground and I can reach her. No, that would be wrong, no girl would like it, but that would shut her up. No, it might get me rusticated. So what else can i do? Oh! yes i can whistle, she would understand by it right away! Heck, i do not know how too. What can i do? yes i can wink at her.

                     To her, he winked and said sorry ma'am, she continued her scolding, and he winked again. This time she was visibly embarrassed and other than her and Hera, only Anth knew what happened and so he nudged him. But, Hera winked at her again and said sorry ma'am, this time she cooled down a bit and decided to drop the subject. However, Hera tried to continue with it, and got a big nudge from Anth, this time it hurt and he stopped.

                      Well, she continued with attendance and on 59, she heard voice from same corner, looked up and this time it was and Anth in all defensive way, thats my first roll call and thats my real number too! Hera is all smiles.

                      From that day, Hera did not miss her single lecture, not even the one where she scheduled one at 7:30 in morning.  Where much to embarrassment of miss meteorite and amazement of Hera, he was the only one to turn up. She taught Cathode ray tube and swear-ed, she would not teach others. But she did, Hera was disappointed.

                      Later, at end of the semester, sadly for Hera, Miss Meteorite resigned and went on to get a permanent position in another college. However, when all this was going on, Hera got a surprise......

          Since last day of exam, Hera with most impatience, waited for result. Even if there was no announcement, he would end up in student section, demanding one, for most of the time. Most people thought they would score 60%, easily, and Hera thought distinction was no where to go. And why not, he had not missed any temple, nor missed a single day's prayer. But seniors warned them of how hearts are shattered, and people do not pass a single subject. Its the real initiation into graduation race. 

          But Hera was confident, he would get his CBZ for sure and if he stood first his father might become generous, as much as he may get a car too. He had done all the homework, how to declare result to his father. He was going to give all the stats, how the lesser mortals had performed and perished in the first battle, preparing his father for worst and then out of blue, he would say i got distinction! His father would pop the question, "what do you want my son?" and he would say a vehicle. And he would get a car! Easy!

           Hera was so much engrossed in his dreams that he had not noticed anything around him, how some of his friends been bunking classes, were out in pairs or assignments were to be submitted. Rack and Monc would update him about ongoings and Hera would submits write ups for experiments that were performed by either of them. His roll number was always answered by some one else, though he was still sitting in class, for he would be dreaming. 

             Then the D-day arrived, results were out! All 1st year pupils had to make five lines outside each of the two gates, of student section, a student would go in collect mark-sheet and go out from the back door, so at a time 10 student entered and invariably 10 left. Still for a student capacity of about 500 odd students it was going to be a slow process and people like Hera were going to break some lines or bones. Well Hera managed to do 1st thing and got ahead.

               As Hera reached last step, he played the same trick and just got ahead to get caught by a pair of professors, trying to set rule on unruly students. Prof. Jall & Prof. Goan took him aside, gave him some very nasty sound bites as Hera lost all the gained ground. But through corner of his eyes, Hera saw only few students go by, and most were smiling. So on release, he eagerly went to counter and to get his result.

               And then and there he was devastated, he nearly fell to ground, but slowly steadily moved out of room, astonished, see his dream washed away in tears. There was not going to be a bicycle, let alone car/CBZ, his father may cut his allowance, was what mattered to Hera. He did not care to even ask his friends how they had done. 

               After, all results had been distributed and most pupil had left, Navcap, Monc and Tih found Hera sitting very sad and lonely in garden at his bench. They joined in with Hera, and started consoling each other. Tih had 4 backlogs, while Monc had 2 and Navcap had 1 each. All were talkig about how to improve there knowledge and how soon we should start studying, when Crack, Rack and Suun also joined. Crack had been bowled out on all 5 count while Rack had 3. But Suun had cleared all papers. But on borders, all 40/100, all 5 of them. There were rumors that university is going to present him a loona if he manages to get all 40's again. But Hera had not heard a word nor had spoken one.

                 Looking at Hera's expression less, dream less face, Monc started consoling him, talked about how he should have concentrated on studies and how he should forget all about Ruby, and make passing all 10 subject in next semester as ones aim. Thats when Rack just lifted the crumpled mark-sheet from ground and said Hera has cleared all subjects with 54% marks! He was highest among them all. Though far behind university topper(nearly 70%).

                 The only thing Hera said was, no girl is going to go out with me, as my father is not going to get me a CBZ. No one said anything after this emotional out burst.

                  From next day onwards Hera became most punctual, regular and observant student. He would ware only formals, not speak in class and took down notes. This continued till third day, forth lecture since results.In that lecture, charm of bad results was broken, as Miss Meteorite had walked in to the class, not for the first time, but Hera was noticing her for first time!

                   And as she came in and sat down, Hera's eyes followed her.............................  

               After returning from Laxmi, Hera had not said a word. Monc knew something had snapped, for it was not Hera's nature to held his thoughts back from friends. And now here was Hera not saying a word and studying like there is no tomorrow, and then Monc had realized something! There is no tomorrow! 10 hours to completely read the subject and appear for the first paper of bachelors in morning. Heck Hera was serious of studies, at last, but there was not enough time. next five days, five subjects to tackle.

               From  that day onwards, a bizarre timetable ensued, after the days exam paper, have lunch, sleep for an hour or two and then wakeup, have breakfast, study in garden, have dinner, study in passage, have cold coffee at Laxmi, study in girls college veranda. As sun came up go to room, cleanup and come sit in exam. yes they both slept for only an hour or so, as both had lot to catch up. 

                While Hera was the one leading on Monc in this ungodly ways of life. He was not going unnoticed. After all, he did not seemed to be a normal person in garden. He would lay down on bench while reading, would lay down on ground, would put his leg up on bench and head down on ground and replace the sky with book. No one had seen Hera study like that, half of the friends were happy for him, that he has finally come to senses, while others were just plain embarrassed. On one occasion he shared the bench with a filthy, smelly black dog, while other three sat around him and he did not look up from book. 

                Well before the last exam paper, which was by far said to be easiest, and so neglected by Hera and Monc till last moment, decided to study without taking there afternoon nap, but did not make any other change to their timetable. Hence did not sleep for 48hrs straight. And went to exam without even caring to brush there teeth. But instead of studying in passage which was mysteriously more chilly, they sat studying in class rooms and pulled down curtains to use as shawls. 

                 After paper, a conversation took place between Monc, Hera and his room partners, Rack, Crack and Suun. It went like this-

           Rack: Where have you been for last 6 days? It was like we were the only ones living here.

           Crack: Hows Ruby; got to talk with her or what?

           Monc: Shhhh.

           Crack: huhh

           Suun: Nah, he must have stayed at Monc's room.

           Monc: No yaar, he was studying like a book worm, he is going to clear all his papers. If you do not believe me, most know him as "The one who will top!"

           Hera: (Breaking silence after a long time) Rack, how much does a CBZ cost? 

           Rack: Why do you need a bike for?

           Hera: Well thats what i plan to ask dad, if i clear all my papers. a Metallic Blue CBZ!

           Monc: He asked you why you need it?

           Hera: To ask out a girl; it would not look nice if I take her out in Bus! I need to at least have a bike.  

           Monc: And I thought you had to come to your senses! And become serious of your life. Guess I and whole lot of others were wrong!

           Hera's and others result is........

            Well, i could not continue any further without names, so i here introduce the names of characters so far, being the gems they are, the names are "Hera" is the central Boy, while "Ruby" is the girl. I have tried and would continue to keep names as anonymous as possible, any resemblance, will be coincidental. Now continuing with the AneStory.

            Everyday Hera use to wake up early, get ready do pooja holding essence stick, have breakfast and pray she would be there. While he did all this, he always imagined her doing same things. Wearing beautiful salwar suit, the ones she had worn in garden when she used to come, with her hair neatly tied in long tail reaching her waist. Enthusiastic, about seeing her again, worried she might be ill, all sort of thoughts crossed his mind. But used to be swapped out of all energy when she was not there. And dully stare at the empty bench in front or same page for quite a while. All his friends were getting worried about Hera.  

            One day Hera's best friend, Monc persuaded him to change first time table and then place of study so as to change settings around as exam approached. From early hours to late hours, transition could not have been smoother. Woke up late, late, for them sun rose at 12:00, instead of 5:00 as earlier. Quick lunch was replaced by lengthy and heavy brunch. And a pleasant walk to college with bag. Said hi hello and bye to friends at garden and head to hunt for a quite place to study. But they were not able to be comfortable at any place. On one such day, in there hunt for new place, they ended up in a passage linking coed college and girls college. Well the passage was as such not discovered by many and was an easy way in to girls college, after college hours as then there would not be many girls around.  

           Well, i know what you people might be thinking, but this time they were serious about studies. That place was so quite, the passage and was even perfect for night reading as the cold winter breeze was completely blocked. Yes night, the two Monc and Hera studied for long hours there without being disturbed even by the army of sepahies, well there were at least 10 of them at night time. With night studies came late night snacking, enter Laxmi. 

           No she is no aunt, rather a coffee house where if you reached at 23:30 hours for cold coffee and a plate of scrambled eggs, will be served till 12:00 or the police vehicle arrives. On one such occasion Hera saw Ruby again, her hair let down, flowing in breeze along with smoke from a white burning stick in hand! Yes she smoked. That was not all, around her waist, was the heart shattering truth of all, hand of a man, holding her as she giggled and smoked. Then Hera saw Ruby walk hand in hand, arm in arm with the college hunk, a senior walk into his car and drive away.

            That night Monc kept a special watch on Hera, who did seem to have lost it. was behaving very unusual..... 

        This is a small love story of two newly adult people discovering love for first few times. Well there are too many first look attractions, but then they are all true loves at first moment. This is a story of one such couple.

        In there starting days of college, students were busy studying for exams and were grabbing every available nook and corner to gets some silence so as to concentrate. But our characters choose to study in college garden. No nothing wrong in doing so, its cool in shade of trees and cool too, but it was far from quite. Hence, when ever something happened the boy had to watch whats happening. On one such occasion his eyes felt on girls having a laugh, on far side of the garden. And love struck!

        Next whole week went in staring at her from opposite side. She gave casual glances and used to continue studding. Had set cycle, come at 8:00, study till 10;00 and go to canteen, again study till lunch, each break lasted for half an hour, and each stretch of study for two hours. Boy modeled his time table as per her. Hence ended up following her, his friends supported him and they also adopted the same time table. However, also warned him about his loss of study. 

        Perplexed by undue attention from this guy on opposite bench, her friends got conscious, while the center of attention remained unaware. But they were curious to know whom was the boy interested in. So one by one each girl would bunk on a day and others would keep a discrete watch. his friends noticed this, as such boy already had some friends of other gender and were quick to make out the plan. 

        No it was this girls turn to stay home. Boy, after been informed by his friends was anticipating this move. But some thing else happened. That day, the girl and her friends decided not to study at college, and they did not turn up in college garden there after. 

        Boy continued to study in garden. But kept an eye open for a glimpse of her, soon needed counseling from friends, who pushed him on to study for fast approaching exams. But nothing worked until....