“Let me read you suckers” Himanshu shouted.(Though he said these words in Hindi along with his Hindi absurds which goes with him wherever he goes but I think its not suitable to include those B and C words of him in my story).
You guys should also read and especially you Sanjay, Himanshu yelled at me, this time even louder.
‘ its okay’, I said.
‘No its not Okayyyyyyy’, Himanshu said (his okay lasted around 5 seconds). ‘Both of you now please be quiet, it’s our exam and you can resume your stupid talks post exam’.
We kept quiet or I should say we tried to be quiet as nobody takes himanshu seriously.
(well it was our second last exam of MBA 3rd sem and it was TQM( Total Quality Management). As usual we all were going to our college in our cab. We used to be six persons but now the number has reduced to four because of our rift with two female cab mates. ( hey readers don’t get excited with the female word, there was nothing feminine in them. In fact they were girls only on biological terms). Anyways , now the persons left in our cab are Himanshu . two brothers (Chetanya and Ekansh) and me (Sanjay).
We reached college at 9:35 AM and exam was scheduled to take place at 10:00 AM. We saw a group of students standing outside the college and protesting against the college. We ignored them and deboarded the cab just outside the college. We escaped them as we were in car otherwise if we would have been walking , they would have stopped us.
‘What happened guard saab’, Chetanya asked one of the guards.
‘Nothing serious you guys go on and study’, Guard replied. He was looking worried
‘its none of our business, we have only 20 minutes left in exam. Its useless to spare time on this stuff and I guess we should study without wasting much time’, Ekansh said. He is a mugger. He doesn’t stop reading until the last second before exam. I don’t like this habit.But no doubt he is intelligent.
‘Yes he is right’, himanshu said.
We went to library and took our places to study. Library ambience was as usual silent. A few students were already there trying to cram the book. I could see tension on their faces.
We started studying like if we won’t study, the college will take out all our body parts and we will be bankrupted in terms of body parts.
After a period of long 5 minutes, as expected I lost my patience and I lifted my head upwards to see what others were doing. Not surprisingly, all of them were studying except me. Ekansh and Himanshu were as usual mugging hard. Chetanya was trying to make a balance between books and boobs. He is fucking fond of boobs. He wants to squeeze them, press them, outline them etc.
‘What’s going around in the college today? Do you know anything?’, I asked Chetanya.
‘I don’t know ,may be Himanshu knows about it. He said.
‘how the fuck I would know about this’, himanshu retorted.
‘Oh! You don’t know, then may be your dad knows about it. Call him to find out’, chetanya said and smirked at me.
‘Fuck you’, Himanshu said.
‘I think we should go and find out the matter. It seems it has something to do with our exam’, I suggested.
‘No, we are studying. Both Ekansh and Himanshu echoed together.
‘As if it was unexpected to hear no from you muggers’, I replied.
‘you wanna come chetanya’, I asked.
‘Nah yaar you carry on I don’t feel like going outside and I think you should not go also’, He said.
‘Thanks for the suggestion but I can go alone also’, I said and left the library.
Several thoughts came to my mind while leaving the library. “what is with this protest?” “Will today’s exam take place or not?” “ Will our college visit will be wasted as we pay heavily to cab for each college visit?”. I looked at my watch, it was 09:50 AM. I saw some familiar faces outside the canteen. I rushed to them.
‘hey wassup guys. What’s happening in the college? Do you know?’, I asked them.
‘Arrey this was expected dude. Its because of the 2nd sem result and 80% of the students have flunked in one or two subjects’, He replied.
‘This is insane yaar, can’t they do lenient marking?’, I said
‘That’s why protest seems rational, and today’s exam is postponed’, He said.
‘That’s great news and thanks for the information’, I said and left for the library.
‘hey guys got to tell you something very interesting’, I said. I was back in library.
‘what happened?’, Chetanya asked.
‘Well I have a good news and a bad news. Which should I tell you first’, I said
‘Don’t act childish and make it fast yaar’, Himanshu said.
‘Relax boy, relax’, I gave himanshu a pat and continued.
‘ Well good news is that exam is postponed for some hours and bad news is that our 2nd Sem result is out and 80% of the students have failed in one or two subjects’. I said
‘You better be serious’, Himanshu said. He was looking scared.
‘ Results are at the notice board. So we can confirm the news also’, I suggested.
‘I don’t want to check my result before exam’, ekansh said. He thinks it can affect his exam performance.
‘Cmon! Exam is postponed yaar’, I said loudly. It was loud enough to attract some of the studious faces. Even the librarian stared at me like I have done an unforgivable sin.
I acted like if it wasn’t me who was talking and simulated to study.
After 2 minutes I again asked my friends to check out the result. I whispered this time to ensure not to grab the librarian’s attention.
We reached the notice board at 10:00 AM. Though there was no official announcement of the deferral of the exam but it was for sure postponed courtesy the protest. We saw some students glued to the notice board and checking their result. Their worried faces increased our tension. We slowly walked towards the notice board.
‘I flunked in statistics’, Himanshu said after checking his result. He was looking somewhat relieved. I guess he expected 2-3 back papers.
Unfortunately Ekansh and Chetanya also flunked in Statistics. I checked mine and I was clear in all subjects though I got very bad marks.
Now I hate this situation when you have cleared all subjects but your friends flunked in one or two. Its tough for you to decide whether to enjoy your result our be mournful at your friends’ failure. I really hate this situation.
Fortunately I didn’t need to be mournful or console my friends as they found that they were fail in internals which is not a big issue in NSB. In fact NSB itself is not a big issue.
So practically we all were pass. We went to lawn after checking our result
It wasn’t a usual sight during exam in the NSB lawn. Normally you could see some students mugging hard in the lawn before exam but it was completely opposite that day. Students were normally chatting around as if exam was not at all scheduled to happen. We even saw some of the faculty members in the lawn but they were looking worried. It was completely opposite as during exam students are worried and faculty is happy but that day was different.
We moved ahead and saw college dean standing near the college entrance along with some faculty members and guards. Even he was looking worried as he might not expected such an agitation from the college students. We moved further to find out the matter and what I saw was completely unexpected and I understood why dean and faculty members were looking shocked.
A large number of students of our college were at the college entrance. It was quite a weird site watching them and shouting like paid followers of a local politician. They walked up to gate but stopped barely inches away from the entrance gate as guards closed the doors.
‘This is the height yaar. Are they wannabe managers?’, I said sarcastically.
‘very true. I mean I can’t even imagine myself doing all this stuff. I can’t even think about being a part of any protest and shout like this’, Ekansh said.
Ekansh was right and he made a sense also. However protest was for our interest but I feel there are other ways also to solve problems like low marks. This was insane. I thought
‘Let’s go to canteen’, Chetanya said.
‘No! I feel we should go to library as tomorrow is our IBE exam and if exam is postponed for some hours today then we won’t be having time to read IBE at home’, Himanshu suggested.
Eureka! For the very first time in his life himanshu made sense but his logic lasted only 10 seconds as ekansh reminded us that we don’t have IBE syllabus. So we dropped the idea of studying IBE and moved to canteen.
Our canteen is even worse than our college. In fact it is just a place to eat while sitting. Being a student of Delhi University I have a different definition of canteen and NSB canteen is far away from my definition. It was like a Delhi University canteen is robbed. It has some plastic chairs and tables in tow rows which are in “anytime fall” condition. A part of one row is reserved for the college staff. The whitewashed walls are keep on making the attire of NSB students white by constantly shedding its white color. As far as roof is concerned, it is a concrete grey tin which allows tiny droplets of rain water during rain. However college authority have tried to ameliorate the condition of canteen by placing two LCDs but it always show some crap stuff. If I talk about food, its like the boring kitchen staff don’t care whether the food is served to prisoners or future managers.
We sat in canteen after finding a suitable place. It was already 10:20 AM and the exam time was still uncertain.
The situation outside the college was getting worst by time. Students were really looking very angry on college management.
My cell phone rang. It was Akhil, my friend. I picked up the call.
‘hello! Where are you bhai?’, he asked.
‘where I could be? I am in hell*’, I replied. (*hell=NSB)
‘come outside we are in Heaven’, he replied in same context.
‘I can’t come as the doors are closed. By the way what is happening outside’, I said.
‘we are protesting against the college management’ what else?’, he replied.
‘arrey that is visible but for what?’, I asked Irately.
‘Why you don’t know?’, he asked.
‘no yaar. tell me’, I said. I was losing patience.
‘nothing yaar. what the fuck NSB management thinks of itself? I mean they have already fucked us by giving us admission and they are not fucking satisfied with this, they have again fucked us by giving us fucking low marks’, He said angrily. Akhil has a habit of using fuck word even when it is unnecessary.
‘so what are the demands?’, I asked like as if I was NSB management.
‘our demands are very simple and rational too. The only thing we are asking is to give us good marks. Fellow college MBA students are getting better marks than us and if we will not be placed by college then at least we can try off campus on the basis of good marks’, he said. Akhil sounded rational. I mean the hope of getting placed with good package from our NSB is like hoping against hope. Good marks can at least allow us to apply for good companies off campus.
‘you guys have made a good move. College management should be taught a lesson. Enough with their autocracy’, I said and almost joined the protest though on phone.
‘you come outside bhai’, he requested.
Have you lost your brains? Its not a fort having secret exits. It has only one entrance cum exit which is closed courtesy you guys and guards. I am trapped and can’t come outside’, I said sarcastically. I am very good in making sarcastic comments.
‘Oh! Anyways , I will hang up now. Bye’, akhil said.
‘ok if anything new happens, let me know about that’, I said and hung up.
‘What happened?’, chetanya asked.
I told him everything akhil told me about the protest.
‘but what about the exams of today and tomorrow? Any news about exams’, ekansh said.
He was looking worried. I wonder why he was thinking about exams. I mean its very rare to get exams postponed. We should enjoy it rather worrying about it.
‘sorry…. No news about exams but I will try to find out’, I said and smiled.
I stood up to leave the canteen. Chetanya joined me this time.
We passed through the corridors and we saw a few faculty members standing.
‘be careful, they are throwing stones’, usha mam warned us.
I sort of ignored her comment as I was looking at her ass. Its bigger than mine and chetanya’s combined.
We reached C-block. I looked around to find some familiar faces for some trivial talks like exams. Of course exam is a trivial talk.
‘that’s Kalindi na’, chetanya asked. I could see lust in his eyes when he looks at her.
‘yes…. So?’, I said.
Chetanya smirked at me and started ogling at Kalindi.
‘Sanjay, don’t go near the college entrance’, someone called me from the back. Voice seemed familiar to me.
I turned back and found the most pissed off faculty of NSB. It was Sridevi mam. She can irritate even a dead body.
‘don’t go near the college entrance and be inside the college’, she said again as if I missed her last time.
‘why?’, I asked.
I don’t know why I said “why” that time but I felt good when I argue with her. It gives me pleasure in annoying her.
‘It seems you have a habit of asking “why” every time’, she said derisively.
‘yes I have it since birth’, I replied and started walking away.
I saw her as I walked away. She was looking more pissed off. I felt good.
‘why do you have to talk like this to her? She is a faculty member’, Chetanya scolded me.
‘I don’t care whether she is a faculty or not. I don’t like her’, I said.
‘nobody likes her, but still you need not to be that much witty to irritate a faculty member’, chetanya said.
‘Got it sir. Now let’s go’, I said and placed my arms around his shoulders.
We reached canteen and joined Ekansh and Himanshu again. Soon we were instructed to go to library as the protesting students were getting more violent with the time. We had to rush to library.
It was the weirdest scene in the library at that moment. I mean libraries are known for their pin drop silence, but unlike its reputation library on that day seemed no less than a chaotic canteen. Even the bags were allowed inside the library. I even thought of stealing a book from library. We found a place and placed our butts there.
My phone rang again. Unlike the normal situation not even a single head turned to me. Even the librarian avoided the ring tone and kept himself busy in his computer. I wonder what he does on computer throughout his working hours. Perhaps he watches porn.
‘hi sameer’, I said after picking up call. It was rare to talk on phone in a library.
‘,where are you?’, he asked.
‘I am in library’, I replied.
‘arrey bhai, I came early in the morning. That’s why I am inside the college. Otherwise who the fuck wants to be inside the NSB confines’, I said sardonically. It was good to abuse in library. I was on a roll.
‘ohh! That’s true. Anyways now I will hang up. If you get any information about the reschedule of exams then let me know about that. Bye’, Sameer said.
‘For sure’, I replied and hung up.
Soon the library was locked as the protesting students were trying to enter the library. They had already broken the college entrance. Somebody said the students inside the college are not safe as the protesting students were threatening to beat them for not being a part of the protest.’
We spent another half an hour in library.
‘please pay attention here’, one of the students said after entering the library. Library was unlocked too.
‘listen to this, its very important’, he again said this time even louder.
‘exams of today and tomorrow have been postponed for an uncertain period and all of you students are supposed to stay inside the college for some time as its not safe to go outside the college. If anyone wants to go, then he or she will go on their own risk’, he said and repeated this three times.
‘We should go home now’, Ekansh said. He was relieved now as exams were postponed officially.
‘its 11:30 AM now’, I said after showing him my sonata watch.
‘I know the time dude. But what the hell we will do here now as even exams have also been postponed officially’, Ekansh said.
‘yeah that’s right. But somebody will explain me how the heck we will get out of here’, I said.
‘there must be a way. I mean there must be another way other than college entrance to get out of college. But for that we need to get out of the library’, Ekansh said.
‘ok’, I said and we all moved out.
We went to the parking area to find an exit. I felt like as if we all were incarcerated in an old fort and were looking to find a secret exit. We checked every place of the college to get rid of the NSB confines at that moment. In all this we literally explored new places in NSB where we were never been to. We also thought of climbing the fence but soon dropped the idea as the fence was high and had glasses laid over it.
