beep..beep..beep..( alarm tone )
7:55 am...snooze button pressed.
9:45 am : phone rang, didn't pick up.
again call, call picked up.
"Where the hell are you?", Shreya shouted.
"hmm..umm...", I said rubbing my eyes, "what happ....happened..why are y....you shouting."
"results are out", finally my eyes opened in shock.
"but how it this poss..possible, I mean...", I uttered.
"just come fast, am waiting for you", she put the phone down as she said this. I looked at the time in my cell, it was 9:50 am.
"Damn, I'm late again", I mumbled.
I got up from the bed, went to the stinking bathroom, emptied my bladder, brushed my teeth, washed face, dressed up and finally locked the room and went towards the college campus.
"sorry dear", I said, "yesterday night I slept late, I was watching movie."
"which movie", she asked.
"umm..DDLJ.."I responded with some hesitation.
"DDLJ ? seriously ?"
"what makes you think I'll lie", I placed my hand over her left shoulder.
"listen", she pushed away my hand," don't try to be over smart, I know you very well", she shouted again, "just tell, what was the last scene of the movie."
"In the end, the movie was finished and 'The End' came on the screen", I said with a little smile on my face, with a hope that she will stop all this drama. But, it didn't work.
My bad joke was even worst for her. She didn't even move her lips. I had no other option to put my head down.
She turned her back towards me, didn't utter anything, and started to walk. I ran after her and grabbed her from behind. I wrapped her within my arms and said,"Baby, am sorry. Promise, I won't lie again."
"It's not that am sad because of your lie", she said, "but I don't like when you waste your time watching porn."
"Now, how can I make you understand how much interesting it...", I uttered.
"what?" she intruded.
"I meant, how can I make you understand that how much difficult it is to leave the habit of porn", I uttered.
"It's damn easy", she replied quickly, "just delete all the crap from your laptop".
"You can make that crap remove from my laptop, but you can't delete that from my imagination", I said in my head. "It's not that easy", I said, "you watch it once, and then give this advice to me."
"Just shut up", she said," and get off of me."
I planted a kiss on her head though her braid gave an awesome fragrance, but to tease her I said, "Eeww, baby, didn't you bath today?"
She hit in my stomach with her left elbow, and reflexively I had to leave her. she moved two steps ahead and uttered, "my love, this time you are safe, next time I will hit you two inches down, and after that I won't resist you from watching porn too".
I had nothing to say at that moment. I preferred to be quiet.
"Now, stop giving me strange looks", she said, "and let's check out our semester one result."
we both moved towards the notice board of our block. very few students were there, as results were out in the morning and almost everyone had seen theirs. " this time only the lazy ones will be seen here, and am here because of you ", she uttered.
"yeah, there are just two boys and much more girls", I replied back, "and you girls are concerned for your dress up and makeup that it becomes difficult to decide what to wear today."
"not everyone is like that", she said.
"it would be better if girls stop thinking a lot about what to wear."
"yeah, I agree with you baby."
"they must come without any dress", I said.
"what ??" she shouted with frustration.
As I heard this shout, I ran away from her. "I won't leave you this time, no respect for girls, where the hell will you run?", she screamed from behind.
I was just few steps away from her and gave her a flying kiss. she went to the notice board to check out the result. I went towards the canteen to fill my empty stomach. I took a soft drink can and a packet of chips and made myself comfortable on the sofas over there. I saw another guy, he was Sunil, my batchmate.
it's been one semester, and being a batchmate and even my hostel mate, I didn't know anything about him except his name. I never got time to talk to him. so, I didn't have anything to do that time and also was bored so decided to catch him up. he was sitting alone, with his head down and eyes almost close. I thought he might had seen his result.
"hey Sunil", I said, "it's me Ashu, your batchmate."
he opened up his close eyes, moved his head up, turned his face towards me simply nodded. I felt it was rude.
"so, bro what's up? why sitting alone? I hope you checked the results? It happens, you will clear them next time, no need to take tension", I uttered everything that came to my mind.
from his left side jeans pocket, he took out a paper and gave it to me. I kept the chips packet and soft drink can on the table in front of the sofas. it was so weird, but still I opened it up. on the left side of the paper were written subject name parallelly on the right side were written the grade points. he got 9 pointer in four and 8 pointer in three subjects. I was shocked to see that. I again looked at him and then his marks, again at his face and then marks. looking at his personality, it was difficult to make out that he was so intelligent to score like that. I wanted to ask, if he had got such a great score, then why the hell he was sitting like a zombie, if I had scored even an 8 in any subject, then I would have thrown a party. but, this guy was just, abnormal.
"so, here are you", Shreya said as she came after seeing the results," I scored 7.5 and you just made it to 6."
"what ?? am I passed ??"
"unfortunately"
I smiled and jumped out of excitement in that excitement of just being pass, I forgot that I was hopping beside Sunil. I wanted to introduce Shreya with Sunil, but Shreya made that everything in vain.
"and you know, there's a guy, i think his name is su..sa..sun...yaa, Sunil, he is in our batch, he is the topper from our ECE branch."
as i heard this, all my excitement just fell like an apple fell on newton's head. i looked at Sunil, but again he was back in his pose, head down and eyes closed. i gave a dirty look to Shreya to shut her mouth without speaking anything but in respond she shouted, " what ?? can we move from here? "
"yes, lets move". i kept that paper infront of him and moved from there without saying him anything.
"who was that guy, he was so weird", Shreya asked," what were you doing with him ?"
"my dear, he was the topper Sunil", i said.
"ohh..he was Sunil, never saw him in class."
"for that, you need to go to class only."
"as you say, now lets move to class", she said.
"listen, i was saying you should go, i didn't take my name", i winked at her.
"without you, am not going anywhere", she said, 'you are my everything."
"ok..ok..now lets move out and have a party as we both are pass," i said.
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2 am.. "no baby, i wasn't talking to her", i said to Shreya on phone.
"but i just checked your fb inbox", she said.
"like you have my password, same way one of my friend also has it, so i think he used it and chatted with her", i said.
"no..it was you only", she said, "i know your writing style and your way of talking."
"no baby, am saying, i didn't talk to her", i repeated those words again. i was sitting in the balcony of my room, it was a dark night, no moon, black black everywhere. i just went up from the chair to throw the wrapper of the chocolate i just ate. as i looked down, i saw a guy, carrying a bag on his back moving out of the hostel. i was on fifth floor, so it was bit difficult to make out who it was, but after looking at him continuously i found out that he was Sunil. it was my second interaction with him in one day, and both times he gave me a shock.
a studious guy like him, going out in night, with a bag, there must be something. my head said, i need to find it out. "baby listen, i need to go to toilet, i will call you back in 10 minutes", i said and cut the call. i ran out of my room. from fifth to ground floor, i ran in the stairs too, just to find out where has Sunil gone. it took me 3 minutes to reach there, where i saw him from my balcony, but i missed him. it was difficult to track him down, mainly becasue of night. i still looked out across the hostel building but didn't find anything. in disappointment i went back and slept.
why didn't you call me back, Shreya said, and why didn't you pick up my call. these were her first words when i met Shreya next day." i slept that's why", i said.
"ok, lets move to class", she said. without any argument i agreed to her."what happened, are you alright ?" she asked.
"yeah, what will happen to me?"
"i don't know", she said, "because you didn't resist for the class today, that's why."
"what ? when i said that?"
"just now my love, now we are going, no arguments or else you will get a tight one."
"ok, as you say", i said, "but this please give a tight kiss on my lips."
"just shutup mister", she said with a smile on her face, and she pulled me with her to the classroom. as we entered the class, i looked for Sunil, but he was not there.
I sat down to attend the lecture, but his absence in class made me to run my mind and made it clear that there's something and i will find it out.
at 1:30 only, i glued my eyes at Sunil's room. his room was on third floor and it was directly visible from my room. at 1:55 am, his door opened and he came out, locked the door and went towards the stairs. i too ran after him. this time i caught him at the ground floor. very silently i followed him and without going much close, i tracked him down.
there was a small room, on the back side of our hostel. that room was alloted to the person who runs the college canteen. as he eneterd the room, i also wanted to check out, for what purpose has he gone there? there was a window beside the gate of the room but it was also closed, if i even tried to open it, then it may put me also in danger.
i went back to my room and tried to sleep but the thought that why Sunil went there, didn't put my eyes and mind at rest. it was like a train was running in my mind and thousand of thoughts were comming and hitting me. i dialled up Shreya to tell her about this.
"hi baby, how are you, missing me ??"
"am fine dear, yaa missing you a little", i said, "listen, there is one thing i need to discuss with you."
"yes baby, say, am always there for you."
"you remember Sunil?"
"that class topper ?"
"yeah, that only, just now i saw him entering into that room that is allocated to the owner of college canteen."
"so ? what's the problem?" she asked.
"Shreya, that room is of canteen owner and the owner of the canteen is
is a lady".
"yeah, at this time of night, why has he gone there"?
"this is bothering me. i think he had gone for that thing."
"which thing?" she asked as if she had no idea what i was talking about.
"now, don't act so dumb miss", i said," he had gone there for sex, it's simple."
"shut up Ashu, he is the topper of the class and how could you even think of all this, that's why i say you, not to watch porn, you mind is rotten", she shouted all that in one breath.
"it's logical baby, see, that lady is alone, have you seen anyone else except her at the canteen?"
"no", she replied.
"good, and the room is also very small that even one person would find it difficult to accomodate there", i said.
"yeah, but still, he is the topper and.."
"madam, before topper of the class, he is a boy and that too with a dashing personality, don't take him so lightly."
"i don't know anything, just stop discussing all this with me", she uttered.
"ok, then i will catch you later, love you."
"love you and you too sleep and stop thinking about all that please, good night", she hung the phone.
my mind was determined that he had gone there for that only. i woke up Rahul and Manish and told them about it. we three then gathered five people more and we all decided to catch Sunil red handed. we all moved down to the ground floor.
listen Ashu, Manish said with a little excitement," can i turn on my camera?"
"i will throw you from the top floor of our hostel building, if you again said that", i replied in anger. "please, be quiet", i requested everyone.
we all were standing outside the room. window was closed, door was also closed. i gathered some strength and kicked the door with full force. the door opened. everyone was just shocked to see what was going on. everyone's mouth was open, ours also and their's too.
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"so, what did you see there?" Shreya asked the next morning when i met her. she already knew that i won't settle down without knowing the truth, that's why she was mentally prepared for a bunk.
i didn't speak anything. i simply was sitting just next to her, with her left hand in my right hand, and my head over her shoulder.
"what happened baby? why are you so serious today?" she said by moving her hand over my cheek.
"i feel sorry", i finally spoke after five minutes.
"if you feel sorry, then you must express it to the right person", she said.
"but how can i ?"
"what do you mean ?"
"i mean, i said sorry to Sunil last night only but..."
"but what?"
"i feel sorry for myself."
"can you please tell, what exactly happened?" very softly she asked.
when the door was opened, i saw the unexpected. Sunil was there, standing and in his hand, there was a book, and infront of him a small girl of around 5 years was sitting and the canteen owner was also sitting with that girl, with notebooks and pencils in their hands. beside them, on a bed, a man was sleeping and crutches were kept along with that bed. when i saw all this, i was devastated. all were shocked and surprised too. we never expected that we would find all this. to control the situation Sunil said, " guys, you came till here. am so sorry that i forgot that i gave you time to teach you, but don't worry, am just comming in five minutes. thanks for reminding me."
we all nodded our heads and turned back to move and we wanted to leave that place as fast as possible.
"Ashu, you please wait, i need to talk to you", Sunil's voice came from behind," till then you carry this book, am just comming."
i waited outside the room for few minutes and during that time my mind didn't work. my head was down, i wanted to cry out loud, wanted to run away that what a blunder i had done. " let's move", Sunil said as he closed the door.
we both then went to the terrace of the hostel, as Ashu directed me. that time was 3:45 am. we were on the ninth floor. i never had been there and never imagined that i will, as it was difficult to even climb to the fifth floor.
cold breeze was flowing, the view was like i could see the sky and little bit of sunlight could be seen at the periphery of that endless sky. it was my fourth encounter with mister topper and this one was a super-duper shock.
"so, what you expected", Sunil said," what would i be doing there?"
i didn't say anything. i was that much embarrassed that i wasn't even able to look into his eyes. my eyes were constantly looking at the floor of the terrace.
"you thought that i was doing sex there. that's why you came along with all of them. " i didn't have anything to say. at that moment, jumping of that terrace seemed easier.
"Ashu", he said very softly and politely, "look at me once". i didn't move my head that time also. again he said that. then i moved my head up and then looked at him. i ran towards him and hugged him." sorry Sunil, sorry, am really sorry, am fool, am stupid, am duffer, please forgive me, please."
"i already forgave you", he said. i moved back and again my head went down.
"i had no idea, that why had you gone there, if i knew i would never have come there."
"it's totally ok." this was anothe shock i got. we both knew that i did a wrong thing and still he ignore that thing and forgive me very easily.
"but can you tell me one thing", i asked.
he nodded.
" why have you been there?"
"well, it's a long story", he said, "but now you have caught me, so i feel you have the right to know. my dad is a business man, not a small but one of the known one's in the city. from my childhood he always wanted me to be like him, just his dittoo, just his carbon copy. since, there was surplus money, i never had any lack of facilities, when i was small, it was all good for me. servents all around, everything on my one wish, new clothes every weekend, once in a month picnic and everything. but dad forgot, in nature, there's never a carbon copy, there's originality, just like the twins don't have the same finger prints.
in class 8, there was a subject of moral science, and in that there was a chapter on mother tereca, when i read that chapter i was totally in shock that what am i doing. it was very young age to understand all that but i feel i understood that because i never had shortage of anything, and before that i neither had seen shortage in my house and nor heard about it. it was like a inner trigger that came from my heart to help the poors and we need to realise this that we all are equal and everyone has the right to be treated equally and has the right to be happy.
i used to walk out of my house, and when i used to see the poor and needy helpless, a strong urge came from inside to help them. inspite of being rich, i was poor, because whenever i aksed dad to help the helplessness, he refused everytime, but whenever i needed anything, i could get it well on time. in short, i was like a man, who had the talent of making others laugh but he wasn't even allowed to open his mouth.
i had a keen interest in studying and i believe that education is the starting of change. if we will provide good education, then people themselves will come ahead and help the poors accordingly. that's the reason your girl friend called me a topper."
"ok", i nodded," but what were you doing there?" i asked.
when i gave class 12 boards, i wanted to go for humanities, but dad refused because he knew that if i took humanities, i would move on to a wrong track, it was his perspective. he wanted me to become a engineer, and forcefully he admitted here. i already had made out that i won't study during the first year, and then when i will fail, then college will throw me out and then i will go for humanties. when dad came here to drop me, i had tears in my eyes. then, Mahesh uncle, husband of the lady who runs the canteen, saw me with tears through his window. he then sent his wife to call me to him. i went there after dad left. he said, " i don't know you, but one thing i would like to tell you, i had been here from two years and in these two years i had seen many children comming and going but no one cried. i don't even know why you cried, but always remember, do that what makes you happy." as i heard this, i left the room. i realised he was right. when two hours later, i went inside his room to thank him, i saw her little daughter, i asked her age and what about her future. he said," i lost my legs in an accident and in all, me and my wife only have this canteen, which is also on rent, we are not certain of our future, then how can i say you about her future."
bang on, that was it, i got it, i knew what i had to do. i told him that till next four years, he need not worry about her studies, i will come and teach her. thus, i got one chance to help the needy, i grabbed it and from last six months, i go to their room after midnight and teach Neelima aunty and her daughter Sakshi."
"wow, that's cute", Shreya said as i told her the incident from last night.
"yeah, it's is", i said, "and you know what my love, from now i won't watch porn and would never lie to you and won't hide anything from you, it's a promise."
"really? i love you", she said.
"i love yo....but one thing i didn't get."
"what are you saying?" she questioned.
i moved my head from her shouler, stood up and ran towards the hostel building. " but where are you going? you just now promised you won't hide anything", she shouted from behind. i tunred back to her, kissed her on her forehead and said, " just comming in five minutes, love you too."
"be fast, am waiting, bye."
i ran inside the hostel, reached third floor at Sunil's room but it was locked, ran back to ground floor, went to the canteen and asked Neelima aunty about Sunil but she also had no idea, ran again to the classroom to check him, but didn't find him there also, at last, again ran into hostel building, and ran till terrace and ultimately found him there. he was standing there, with his arms open, eyes closed & face facing the sky with a wide smile.
i wasn't able to even breathe properly, words weren't comming out but somehow i made it. " but br..bro..yo..you didn't tell..what...insp...inspires you ?"
he said in that pose only," we all are humans, we all are connected and love itself is an inspiration."