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| From Left to Right: Sabyasachi,Saswata,Tanay,Arnab, Sugato,Sayak,Santanu & me (Subhro) |
ABOUT ‘THE IMPERFECT DAY’: I wrote this one more than 5 years back-just after leaving the college and joining L&T. All the characters depicted here are the ‘05 alumni of Bengal Engg. And Science University, Shibpore, Howrah. We used to stay in 2nd Floor Oval Wing, Wolfenden Hall.
I tried to capture some of our memorable incidents in a different kind of situation and circumstances. Where we are not engineering student living in a hostel named Wolfenden hall but a bunch of losers living in their home. Not all the incidents really took place in our hostel life, some of the incidents are completely created in a sarcastic way, specially the affairs of my friends with girls. None of the character mentioned here had (some even still don’t have) any kind of affair.Off course some of us tried but all failed ;).
I think what I wrote is actually a (very long & some times very boring) compilation of incidents, not a story. So plz do not expect any happy ending, coz the story never ended. Its still going on..... may be not within the college but outside.. in the real world or may be within our minds and hearts.
One more thing- I am very weak in grammar so readers (if any) plz dont mind;).
THE IMPERFECT DAY
MORNING:
“The damn alarm........ Who put it on??” I screamed. My mom answered from the kitchen "I did...the LPG gas cylinder is empty, u have to go to the distributor’s office and register for a new cylinder as early as possible or else u’ll have to face a long queue, besides now its 7a.m and u should not sleep after 7'o clock in summer."
After having breakfast when I was getting ready, I asked my mom for Rs.50.She queried, "why?" I said, "if i meet with an accident on the road while going for registering then I need them to repair my cycle and to buy band-aids for my injury." After this reply she somehow gave me the money. And I set out for my first destination of the day-LPG distributor’s office.
From there I went to the Kalitala Boys Club where I knew Ill find at least 2-3 of my college friends. And I wasn’t betrayed. I saw Santanu and Sugato, very busy in the game of carom. And the situation of the game was really nail biting. Every one in the club was watching their game except one guy.
And that is Arnab, he was very busy playing carom with himself!!!!! I asked one of the guys –“Why is he playing alone?” He said that “Arnab lost the last 5 matches that he played against Sugato so he is trying to improve his form.” I understood his trauma. So I didn’t disturb him. Arnab is a very good poet .He writes contemporary poem .He is a graduate in Bengali literature. After graduation he tried for SSC (School Service Commission).But failed. I think, the person who checked his answer sheet was unable to understand his talent (just like us –we never understood his poetry).Once when we were in college he recited one of his poems. (I can recall some words of it –some thing like ‘pakhi ure jay…….gacher pata jhore jay’…etc.).Unfortunately not a single listener could make out what he wanted to say. Now, he is trying for the forthcoming game of carom.
Finally the game between Sugato and Santanu ended and Sugato won, I told them- “Let’s go to our old ‘thek’, Sayak and Saswata are waiting for us there.” Though I think both of them wanted to play another game, I insisted them to come with me .Sugato told me that he won’t be coming with us since he had to go to his uncle’s home in the after noon today. He also said that his uncle knows a guy in a company and that guy told his uncle that he can easily manage a job of Rs.15000-16000 for Sugato in his company .After listening Sugato I smiled silently .I have heard this kind of words from my cousins since I graduated with History honours.
I wished Sugato best of luck for the job that he was supposed to get and subsequently left the club room with Santanu. This guy Santanu is really a brilliant student. He graduated with geography honours and got first class in that and is doing his Masters Degree .I hope he will surely get a job through SSC next year.
We reached our ‘thek’ more than half an hour earlier than usual. But I saw that Sayak, Saswata were already present. After seeing me Sayak shouted “today is your turn”. I said “I know that …I am giving the money but someone will have to bring the cigarettes as my dad is standing in front of the shop.” At last Saswata decided to go to the shop. Saswata was the only one who managed to get a job after graduation. But after a month he resigned. The reason?? He thought he should study more. So now he is doing M.Sc. in Physics.
The time we spend in our thek is the best time of our every day life. At this place we forget all of our tensions about our future, about job. Just like every day, today we started our discussion on the worthless news paper for unemployed persons like us “Employment news” and after some time I said “do u know I saw Rituparna (the most beautiful girl of our college) was talking to Santosh” and our topic of discussion turned to Rituparna .Minutes later we paid a visit to the share market (with empty pocket) under the guidance of Saswata.
Approximately after an hour we saw Tanay and his friend Tarapada coming towards us, hurriedly. Tanay is teaching in a primary school, and Tarapada is an actor, he acts in Bengali TV serials. They are the only members of our group (we named our group –wolf. I don’t know why but everyone liked that name) who earn. Tarapada (the richest guy of our group) has got a mobile phone. He always carries it in his hand. Tarapada, when came nearer, started saying …... ”Friends we should do something about it……we should teach him a lesson….we should not tolerate this any more”. Then we all screamed together “what the hell has happened???”
Tanay started to narrate the whole incident that made Tarapada so excited-“Guys I think u all know Diptanshu”. We said “yes…we all know that a## h###” .In our college we had a clash with this psycho Diptanshu.
Now again he has done something. Tanay went on …”that f##### proposed Ananya .And when she refused, Diptanshu threatened her.” Damn…..again…..Ananya Banerjee is the girlfriend of our very close friend Sabyasachi. Saby was in the hospital .He broke his leg in an accident. And so Diptanshu is eyeing on Ananya. I shouted “we have to teach him a lesson again, like the last time we did.” Last time we thrashed him badly. Sayak cried-“come on guys lets kick that f#####’s ass” So without any hesitation we unlocked our cycle and started for Diptanshu’s house.
When we reached Diptanshu’s house, we saw his brother standing near the door. Tanay said ”Call your brother”. He told us that Dip won’t be able to meet us because he is studying. Saswata -“if he is not coming out then we are going in”. Then suddenly Diptanshu came out and shouted “What the hell has happened?” None of us was in a mood to answer him. Tanay told very politely “come outside, we want to have a few words with u.” He said whatever u have to say, say here. ”Then Sayak told him ”We can say here but I think your parents wont like to listen to them.” Without wasting a single word he came outside and walked with us to the roadside.
Within 5 minutes our verbal conversation was over. We started punching & kicking him. That guy is stronger than any one of us but with all of us united he crumbled completely into a pulp. We kicked him and punched him until we got tired of punching & kicking. Suddenly a bike stopped in front of us. It was the stupid Anindya .He is the most irritating person we have ever seen in our life. He started yelling “you f#####’s, don’t you have any work other than fighting on the road and teasing girls? Try to do something good in your life. ” We were in a very energetic mood after beating the shit out of Dip’s a## and Saswata did the job this time. He stepped forward, and punched him straight in his face. He was not ready for that reward. He lost his balance and fell in the road. And the worst thing was that his bike also fell over him. That crash was also unexpected for him. For few seconds there was not a single sound from Anindya’s mouth and then all of a sudden he started to cry. Now that was unexpected to us. All of us were feeling very uncomfortable. We forgot Diptanshu and all stepped, to pull him out from that mess and stand in his own leg. By that time Diptanshu realized that we were not paying much attention to him and started running towards his house. We saw that but we didn’t care. We were busy with Anindya. He was unable to stand . Santanu said, ”you see, he is badly injured, we should take him to the hospital. If we leave him in this condition it will be too bad for him and also he can create problem for us in future.” Though nobody was in a mood to take him to hospital we considered Santanu’s suggestion as it was extremely logical. So we decided to take him to the hospital in our cycle, where Sabyasachi was admitted .Tarapada locked his own cycle, left it in front of a stationary shop and took Anindya’s bike .Saswata carried Anindya in front of his cycle. That stupid was still weeping when we were taking him to the hospital. Saswata ordered “stop weeping or I will be forced to punch you again”. After hearing Saswata’s threat, he became completely silent on the whole journeyto the hospital.
We admitted him to the hospital. Tarapada put the keys of his bike in his pocket and told him “don’t try to give advice to others when you’re in a bike (at least your bike) as you can see at times it can become very harmful for you.”
After primary diagnosis the doctor told us that not a single bone of his body was broken And gave him some pain killers. He also told us that they will release him today at evening only. We thought that Anindya’s bike broke at least 3-4 bones of his body, but after listening to the doctor, we became very unhappy. Then Santanu said “let’s go.” I said “yes, but before that we should see Sabyasachi, how he is doing.” Everyone seemed to agree with me. We went to the 2nd floor to see him. But we were surprised to found that his bed was empty. Then we asked a nurse about him. She said “that guy with the broken ankle? He was released today in the morning, he is ok now.” That news made our day.
While returning from the hospital we started discussing about our success in ‘beating up’ Diptanshu. Suddenly I noticed the time in my wristwatch and screamed-“ohhh……no its 1 P.M. I’ll have to go back to home before my dad reaches.…friends, I am going…I am already late….” Sayak interrupted-” we all will have to go but before that we should smoke a cigarette. ” I didn’t agree with his idea, coz I know what will happen in my home if I reach there after my dad, he will start interrogating me about where I was & what I was doing during the whole 3 - 4 hours .And will start with his same boring lecture about what I should do & what I shouldn’t. So I departed from my friends and headed towards home.
AFTERNOON:
“Thank God” I said when I saw my dad wasn’t home. But it was my mom who started screaming this time -”where have u been from the morning after your work was over?” I replied “I went to see my friend in the hospital.” She shouted again-“U mean u r trying to say that u spent 4 hours in the hospital. Don’t lie to me. Let your father come. I am going to tell him all these.” I replied “do whatever u like but don’t bother me.” Once I read in a book that –‘Child shows the man as morning shows the day’. But I realized that guy who wrote it, was completely wrong. May be he tried to say that-‘his morning shows his day’, but not others. So I started taking mental preparation for the forthcoming “kurukshetra”.
Dad returned home after 15 mins. When we were having our lunch together, mom told him -“your jobless son went out from the house before 9 A.M in the morning and came back after 1 P.M. “ I shouted “it was 9-15 when I went out…not before 9,first u should know the actual figures then complain.” Then my dad started” I really don’t care when u go out or come. The only figure I know that u got 59% in history honours and since then you have been without a job, doing absolutely nothing. Look at your friends- Avijeet, Niladri, they all have started earning, and you…you are wasting time by fooling around with some crap guys. When you’ll be hungry they won’t feed u……..” and “bla bla bla……”.This was my daddy’s weekly routine (rather daily)……the same damn old lecture.
After finishing the lunch I silently went to my bed. Sometimes I really think that my dad is right. I should do some thing. Even sometimes I do think of taking preparations for PSC and other Gov. Services. But after a few days I forget about everything. But this time I am damn serious…I am going to start preparing for Gov. Services from tomorrow itself.
EVENING:
It was when I woke up. The first thing I heard from my mom was-“I gave u Rs.20 in the morning, what have you done with that.” My reply was very quick-“I brought a 500 ml. bottle of thumps up and drank it.” After this reply there were no further queries from my mom’s side. I saw dad was getting ready for his dispensary. After he went out I also started getting ready for our evening thek. When I was going out Mom told me-“come back quickly please.” I said “I will.”
When I reached there I saw only Arnab, no one else had arrived. Arnab asked me-“hey I have heard from someone that u guys had beat up Diptanshu today? Tell me the whole story.” That time I was more interested to know his story-the whole story of “How Arnab lost five consecutive games against Sugato.” But I knew if I dared to say that, my condition would be like what we did to Diptanshu today. So I started telling him about today’s incident very briefly.
Meanwhile every body arrived including Sabyasachi and Sugato. I saw Tarapada came with a side bag. I asked him-“why r u carrying that bag? What’s there?” He replied –“it’s empty. And this is my friend Dipayan’s bag. I borrowed it from him last week. I have to return it tonight coz he have an interview tomorrow. So he needs the bag.” Then again we started discussing about today’s incident. Sayak blasted “that f##### Anindya ruined half of our fun today.” Sabyasachi shouted -if that Diptanshu proposes her again then I will kill him.” Santanu said “cool down friend, you don’t have to do anything alone, we are always beside you.” Sabyasachi said”I know that Santanu, but how can he do that again?? He knows every thing about me and Ananya.” I said-“that’s why we call him psycho.” Then I asked Sugato-“did you get the job?” Sugato replied angrily –“did I look like that I have got a job?” I said calmly–“I don’t know.” Then he said-“that damn a###### ruined my day, he told my uncle if I can pay him Rs.50000/- then only I’ll get the job.” Arnab told him ” wake up from your dream, man this is real life…” Sugato said-“I know that”
Then I shouted-“look” and pointed my finger towards the road. I said- “I think its Santosh & Rituparna.” Every body looked at the direction I pointed to. It was Santosh & Rituparna. Tanay said-“guys I can’t believe my own eyes, Rituparna!!! with Santosh Bhakat!!!!!!!????? “ But could see- it was true. Rituparna and Santosh were walking side by side talking & laughing. Santosh was a very serious guy. He got very good marks in honours. After graduation he tried very hard to get a job. But he was unable to get one.
We never saw him talking to a girl while we were in college and that guy got Rituparna. It was unbelievable. Sayak said-“you see guys we have got an excellent opportunity to regain our loss of today’s fun.” Tanay said –“no, that’s not a good idea. Santosh is a very serious type of guy, he doesn’t understand fun. Our fun could hurt him.” Sugato also supported Tanay. Then Sayak said –“So give me an idea of having fun without hurting him much, we can’t let this opportunity go.” I suggested an idea.
We went to the road and started following them. None of them noticed us. Suddenly we shouted together-“hey Bhoooookkkaaaaaaaa………….what the hell r u doing?” and I think as soon as the first sound wave entered their ear it made a terrible effect on their brain and body. They turned back and saw us. Expectedly their speed were increased by twice. We all blasted out laughing.
We returned to our thek, laughing at their facial expression after they saw us. Saswata said-“but still I am unable to guess how he managed to take her on a date.” Sabyasachi said- “none of us can guess.” Then we started our usual discussion on movies, movie actresses. After some time I said –“friends I have a plan for tonight.” Sayak said” tell us.”
I said –“what about a movie, in Tarapada’s comp.?” Arnab said-“which one?” I replied –“any one…let’s go to our friend Samar ’s CD parlor and check it out.” Saswata said “I can’t watch movie today coz I ll have to go back to home early today.” Sayak said ”Subhro, I also don’t have mood for a movie. Lets do some thing else.” I said –“ok, then I have another plan.” Sabyasachi said-“what’s that?” I started telling-“I think we are missing something in our life.And I know what we all are missing.” Arnab said –“I also know what we are missing in our life. It’s a job, isn’t it?”. “No…..” I said loudly, and started again-“I know we all need a job, but it’s not a job, I was talking about some thing else. I think we are missing true love in our life.” Then Saswata stopped me and said-“I think you are out of your mind.” I said –“no…. I am not. I have thought about it many times. And today after seeing Santosh and Rituparna I became 100% sure of it. We need a girl in our life.” Sugato supported me-“yes I also feel that.” Then Sayak told me- “I think we were living our life in our own way. We were enjoying our life even if we don’t have a job. So why do we need girls?” I said-“Sayak try to understand. Excepting only a few of our group most of us really need a job-as early as possible. So I think all of us are a bit frustrated. But don’t you think that we also need a support in our life, some one who will be there to console us in our pain, feel happy in our pleasure and will stand by our side all the time and all through till the end of time?” And I think true love is that support.” Sugato said-“I also agree with him. We need a girl in our life.” Sayak asked-“so what’s your point? What do we have to do to find the support, sorry……. girl?” I said –“guys I have a full proof plan.” Sayak -“go on.” So I started telling them about my full proof plan-“look friends we should look for our support in the girl’s hostel of our EX-college.” Sugato-“How? We don’t know any one there.” I said –“I know a guy named Rajdeep. His girlfriend Aditi stays there. She could help us .So we have to go to our friend Samar ’s cd parlor, we’ll get Rajdeep there. From there we would go to the hostel. So, friends what’s your opinion?” Sugato said-“ok. Let’s do it.” Sabyasachi said-“sorry friends, I can’t join you in your mission. I have to meet Ananya.” Saswata Said “ok, then you should go, but what about the rest of us? Are we going to the girl’s hostel to find support?” Sugato shouted-“yes……we are.” Santanu said –“then let us go to Samar ’s CD parlor first.” And then our mission started.
When we reachedSamar ’s CD parlor we found that his brother was sitting there. Sayak asked him about Samar . He replied –“Dada and Rajdeepda went upstairs 10 minutes ago.” After we heard him we understood that why they went upstairs. There was a room for storage in the top of Samar ’s shop. Samar and Rajdeep generally uses that room as a secured place for drinking and smoking up grass. We all went upstairs and knocked the closed door. Rajeep opened it and after he saw all of us together he asked-“hey guys …what happened? Is there any thing wrong? Come inside first.” I saw that they had already emptied two bottles of whisky. I explained Rajdeep about our idea. He said –“though the idea was good but I cannot call Aditi coz u see I am drunk. She will be angry if she realises that.” Then Samar said” hang on with ur Samar and Rajdeep requested…. we agreed. I had the fear that my mom would come to know that I was drinking from the smell,when I would go back home. So I decided to take 2-3 center fresh before going home.
Every one took 3-4 pegs of whisky.Samar always keeps a good stock of whisky .Even in our college days he was the supplier of alcohol in emergency situations. We started talking about our college days. It was really a golden period of our life. Each one of us enjoyed that time in his own way.
When we had emptied each and every bottle we had grass.....grass according to me is the unique thing in the world.....we were really on a high by the time when Saswata said-“now let’s go to the girl’s hostel.” Sugato stood up and said to Rajdeep andSamar –“are u guys coming with us?” Rajdeep said- “I can’t stand properly, I can’t go there.” Saswata,a bit drunk,replied-“we don’t have to stand properly to go there because we will go by cycle.” Rajdeep said –“I am not going with u “.Then Samar said ”Ok I ‘m going with you. Let Rajdeep stay here.” Samar always behaves like a normal person even after drinking. No mater how much he drinks. For that reason in our college days we used to call him “alcohol tank.”
We started for the girl’s hotel with an extra member-Samar. I was feeling drowsy when I was cycling. My head was spinning a bit. But I was in full control. In the way to girl’s hostel Saswata said-“we have to make a new plan because Rajdeep is not with us. We can’t call Aditi. Sayak replied” We will make our plan after we reach there.” Then suddenly we heard a sound. It was Arnab and Santanu. They collided .Both of them fell on the road. Santanu yelled "Arnab…..u should not drink whisky in future if u can’t control.” We understood exactly what had happened. Arnab said-“I am in full control, may be u are blind.” Sayak said-“stop it guys, we are getting late. Let’s move.” And we started cycling again.
When we reached in front of the hostel we saw some couples were hanging out in the Boxing Ring. The boxing ring was beside the main entrance of the hostel. I don’t know who built that boxing ring and why. The only thing I know that- none of us had ever seen a boxing match there. The lovers utilize that place in a better way.
Saswata said “ok, now what?” I said-“Now we would call Aditi and tell her that we are the friends of Rajdeep and after that we will ask her to call some other girls.” Tanay said –“are you mad? She doesn’t even know us. Then why would she call other girls for us? She will definitely ask us why are we calling girls. And then what reason should we give her? “I said “I guess u r right. We need to think of some other plan.”Samar saved us. He said “you don’t have to worry friends I know a girl,her name is Moumita (a junior student) there. She is a good friend of mine. She will help us.” Then Samar went forward and told the guard at the gate to call Moumita. Moumita came outside within a few minutes. Samar introduced us to her. And after that he told Moumita the reason for which we were there. When Samar finished, Moumita laughed for 2 minutes. When she finished laughing I asked her "Why are u laughing.” She replied-“nothing. So what do I have to do for u guys? I have to call some girls so that u can propose?” I didn’t like her way of talking, but I didn’t said anything. Sayak said to her-“yes. That’s what we are expecting from you.” She asked Sayak-“ do u guys know any ones name.?” Sayak replied-“no.” I don’t know why he said that, we know one girls name –Aditi. Moumita again asked-“then what r u going to say when the girl comes in front of u.” We were all getting irritated by her interrogations. So I replied in a very serious voice-“Do u believe in love at first sight? I have fallen in love with you when I first saw you coming towards me. So plz accept me as your boy friend and be my support when I am frustrated.” As I finished, I saw a peculiar expression in her face. That was neither of surprise nor of any other which I have ever seen. She said-“ok, I am trying to call some girls for u.” She also said something after that but I failed to hear her because I was still feeling dizzy. I didn’t know the others’ condition. Saswata asked me “are you really going to say that?” I replied-“no sir. I have my own plan.”
We waited there for more than 10 minutes .But no one came outside. Then Tanay proposed –“we should sit in the boxing ring and wait.” We all agreed with him and moved forward to the boxing ring. We sat just beside a couple. They saw us they and got the smell of alcohol, so both of them stood up and moved towards the other side of the square shaped boxing ring. We didn’t care about them.
We waited there for another 10 min. but still no one came out side. Suddenly I saw a girl coming out from the hostel. I said “look……someone is coming.” Each one of us became very excited. But when she came nearer I saw it was Moumita. ”What happened?” I asked her. She replied-“I tried my best but no one wants to come out.” Sayak asked –“why? We are not road side romeo’s. we are good guys, then why don’t they want to meet us?” Then Santanu suddenly said loudly -“yyyeessss…..we are gggooodd boysssss.” He took 6 pegs. When Santanu finished Arnab Started- “We nnnneeeverr ttouched any girrrrl in our lllife.” He took 3 pegs. I understood that they were absolutely out of order. I had no idea about the condition of the rest of the guys but I was still feeling drowsy. I guessed that Moumita got the smell of alcohol when she was talking withSamar and understood that we were drunk. That,s why she didn’t call any girl. She just went in and came out after 20 minutes. It was our mistake to come here when we were drunk. ”Ok, my job is done and I am going in. I have a class test tomorrow.”-She said. And without giving us any scope to speak she moved towards her hostel.
“You have any of your full proof plans?”-Saswata asked me. I replied-“drinking whisky was not included in my plan. So you cannot blame me for this unsuccessful attempt.” Sayak said-“now what? back to thek?” Sugato replied –“no. I have a superb plan.” Arnab said “no more plans plz. I am not feeling well. I have to go home.” I said to him-“go home? What are you going to say to your mom at the door....MMMuuummmyyyyy ppplz oopen the dddoorrr I aaam bbback? You are not in a condition to go home. Friends let’s listen to Sugato.” Arnab said nothing after that.
Sugato started –“friends we have already waited here for approximately half an hour.So I think nothing will go wrong if we wait here for another half an hour.” Saswata stopped him and said-“what the hell r we going to do over here for another half an hour?” Sugato again started-“that’s what I was going to say but you stopped me. Now listen to me friends within last half an hour we saw atleast 5-7 girls coming out or going in. So my plan is that- we will sit here and watch. When we will see girls are coming out or going in we will stop them and ask them if spare 5 minutes for us. Then we will start talking.” Sayak said –‘now that’s a good plan.” “No girl will talk to us if they get the smell of alcohol from us.” Sugato “yes we’ll have to be cautious about that thing. We will talk to them from a distance so that they can’t get the smell and for Arnab and Santanu-they will sit here.” Santanu said –“well said sugato, we will sit here and watch you guys having fun with the girls.” Sugato said –“If we r successful, we will bring those girls here with us and then we all can have a conversation.”Samar said “He is right Arnab and Santanu will wait here until we come here with the girls.”
When we reached
Every one took 3-4 pegs of whisky.
When we had emptied each and every bottle we had grass.....grass according to me is the unique thing in the world.....we were really on a high by the time when Saswata said-“now let’s go to the girl’s hostel.” Sugato stood up and said to Rajdeep and
We started for the girl’s hotel with an extra member-Samar. I was feeling drowsy when I was cycling. My head was spinning a bit. But I was in full control. In the way to girl’s hostel Saswata said-“we have to make a new plan because Rajdeep is not with us. We can’t call Aditi. Sayak replied” We will make our plan after we reach there.” Then suddenly we heard a sound. It was Arnab and Santanu. They collided .Both of them fell on the road. Santanu yelled "Arnab…..u should not drink whisky in future if u can’t control.” We understood exactly what had happened. Arnab said-“I am in full control, may be u are blind.” Sayak said-“stop it guys, we are getting late. Let’s move.” And we started cycling again.
When we reached in front of the hostel we saw some couples were hanging out in the Boxing Ring. The boxing ring was beside the main entrance of the hostel. I don’t know who built that boxing ring and why. The only thing I know that- none of us had ever seen a boxing match there. The lovers utilize that place in a better way.
Saswata said “ok, now what?” I said-“Now we would call Aditi and tell her that we are the friends of Rajdeep and after that we will ask her to call some other girls.” Tanay said –“are you mad? She doesn’t even know us. Then why would she call other girls for us? She will definitely ask us why are we calling girls. And then what reason should we give her? “I said “I guess u r right. We need to think of some other plan.”
We waited there for more than 10 minutes .But no one came outside. Then Tanay proposed –“we should sit in the boxing ring and wait.” We all agreed with him and moved forward to the boxing ring. We sat just beside a couple. They saw us they and got the smell of alcohol, so both of them stood up and moved towards the other side of the square shaped boxing ring. We didn’t care about them.
We waited there for another 10 min. but still no one came out side. Suddenly I saw a girl coming out from the hostel. I said “look……someone is coming.” Each one of us became very excited. But when she came nearer I saw it was Moumita. ”What happened?” I asked her. She replied-“I tried my best but no one wants to come out.” Sayak asked –“why? We are not road side romeo’s. we are good guys, then why don’t they want to meet us?” Then Santanu suddenly said loudly -“yyyeessss…..we are gggooodd boysssss.” He took 6 pegs. When Santanu finished Arnab Started- “We nnnneeeverr ttouched any girrrrl in our lllife.” He took 3 pegs. I understood that they were absolutely out of order. I had no idea about the condition of the rest of the guys but I was still feeling drowsy. I guessed that Moumita got the smell of alcohol when she was talking with
“You have any of your full proof plans?”-Saswata asked me. I replied-“drinking whisky was not included in my plan. So you cannot blame me for this unsuccessful attempt.” Sayak said-“now what? back to thek?” Sugato replied –“no. I have a superb plan.” Arnab said “no more plans plz. I am not feeling well. I have to go home.” I said to him-“go home? What are you going to say to your mom at the door....MMMuuummmyyyyy ppplz oopen the dddoorrr I aaam bbback? You are not in a condition to go home. Friends let’s listen to Sugato.” Arnab said nothing after that.
Sugato started –“friends we have already waited here for approximately half an hour.So I think nothing will go wrong if we wait here for another half an hour.” Saswata stopped him and said-“what the hell r we going to do over here for another half an hour?” Sugato again started-“that’s what I was going to say but you stopped me. Now listen to me friends within last half an hour we saw atleast 5-7 girls coming out or going in. So my plan is that- we will sit here and watch. When we will see girls are coming out or going in we will stop them and ask them if spare 5 minutes for us. Then we will start talking.” Sayak said –‘now that’s a good plan.” “No girl will talk to us if they get the smell of alcohol from us.” Sugato “yes we’ll have to be cautious about that thing. We will talk to them from a distance so that they can’t get the smell and for Arnab and Santanu-they will sit here.” Santanu said –“well said sugato, we will sit here and watch you guys having fun with the girls.” Sugato said –“If we r successful, we will bring those girls here with us and then we all can have a conversation.”
We waited there according to Sugato’s plan and after 10 minutes we saw 3 girls are coming. I asked “the girls are coming. Who is going to talk to them?” –Saswata replied “its Sugato’s plan so he will go.” Every body turned their head towards Sugato. Sugato said “I never spoke to girls. I will.....I will get nervous. It’s better that some one like Tarapada takes this responsibility.” Then every one agreed with him. Tarapada said “ok. I will go but I will not go alone.” Then he turned to me and said “come with me.” “o.k.” I said.
Those girls were not very far from the gate of their hostel when we stopped them by saying-“excuse me do you mind if we take some time of yours?” I understood from the expression of their face that they didn’t expected two boys in front of girl’s hostel at Tarapada asked them “can u spare 5 minutes for us?” One of those 3 girls was really beautiful and other 2 were of the so-so kind. One of those ‘other 2’ said “what do want to sell?” “What!!!!!!!! We are not here to sell any thing.”- I said. Then the beautiful one said-“yes yes every sales man says that first and then they starts telling a story.” And she laughed. She looked like an angel when she laughed. She was very beautiful .I got very annoyed with Tarapada. It was because of his stupid side bag that he forgot to leave in the boxing ring. They thought we were salesman. We had never thought about that. I said to her “look we are not sales man. We want to do friendship with you. That’s why we are here.” She Replied –‘we don’t know you. We don’t do friendship with strangers.” “Each and each of your friends were strangers before you became friends.”- I said. Then another girl said “Hey don’t you understand??? We are not interested. ” “what’s the problem? We are asking only for friendship.”-Tarapada said. She replied rudely “how many times do we have to say you that we don’t do friendship with drunken roadside Romeos.” They had got that smell. I replied angrily –“none of us is a roadside Romeo. What do you think about your self?"Suddenly Sayak intercepted us and yelled at them " Who the ---- are you….you bloody bitch?.” Sayak was very infamous for his God gifted vile language. Then she suddenly started shouting _”guards…………. come here” Tarapada said “hey why are you calling guards?” I saw two guards of their hostel were approaching towards us. They thought the girls were in a problem. The three of us got up when we saw the guards coming, we left those bitches and started running towards the boxing ring at a speed of 20 Km per hour. I turned back and saw the guards were talking to those girls and one of them was pointing towards us. Our whole full proof plan to find girlfriends collapsed within 5 minutes.
“Let’s move on quickly.”- I shouted when we reached boxing ring. Santanu asked ”What’s the matter? Why did they call the guards?” I replied –“I will explain you later. First let’s move from this place.” Everybody under stood that they had to leave boxing ring when they saw guards. So without losing much time we unlocked our cycle and started moving. I saw the guards were not coming towards us. One of them was talking to the girls and the other one was looking for us.
When we were returning after that bitter experience I explained to my friends what had happed there. Santanu’s comment was-“all girls are b####.” Arnab-“if I went instead of subhro then I would have convinced them to do friendship with us.” I replied “why don’t you told me then. I also wanted you to go and talk to those girls” Sayak said “stop it. I think we already have had enough adventure, enough full proof plans, enough supports. Now we should go to our home. We have already wasted today’s evening in a marvellous manner.” Tanay andSamar agreed with Sayak.
So everybody departed from each other. None of us was in a good mood because of what had happened. We failed to explain properly to the girls that we only wanted friendship and nothing else. But it was hard for anyone of us to ask and convince 3 girls for friendship after having alcohol. Arnab and I were going home together. We both were chewing center fresh. Suddenly we heard a voice from back that said-“Arnab stop.”
We both stopped. I saw it was Ranaprio. Ranaprio was an average student like us in college. But he is very intelligent. After college he cracked SSC and became a high school teacher. “Haven’t you guys heard yet?” “What?” I said. Ranaprio said “it’s your friend Santosh.” Arnab asked “what happened to him?” “He tried to commit Suicide.” Ranaprio said. “What??” We both shouted. We were shocked. But today only in the evening we saw him with Rituparna. He looked very normal and happy. He tried to commit suicide. I asked Ranaprio- “where is he now?” “Hospital.”- He replied. I said to Arnab –“lets go.” We both turned our cycle. Arnab asked Ranaprio –“are you coming?” He replied “yes” Then we 3 moved towards the hospital hurriedly. On the way I asked Ranaprio “do you know why he tried to commit suicide?” He replied –“no. The only thing I know is today in the evening he tried to commit suicide by taking sleeping pills.” That means he took sleeping pills after his appointment with Rituparna. I tried to imagine the reason. May be he proposed her and she refused.
By the time we reached the hospital I saw all the guys from our gang were already present. Besides them I saw Santosh’s whole family in the room, his father, mother, sister, Uncles and aunts every one. Anindya and his beautiful cousin sister Susmita was also there. I asked his father “how is he?” He replied “Doctor said that he is o.k now and out of danger.” I again asked him “do you know why he tried to do that?” His reply was very short “no.” I saw Santosh was talking with one of his uncle in a very low voice. It seemed to me that he was very weak. The doctor must have washed his stomach. We moved beside his bed and asked “how are you?” He replied slowly in a low voice-“fine now.”
But curious as everyone, I was very eager to know why he took sleeping pills. But I could not ask him in front of his parents. So I asked Anindya about that .He replied that he was also not aware of the reason . I asked Susmita –“how was your exam?” She replied ”Which exam?” “H.S. off course.” I said. She replied “I will sit for H.S. next year. And the final Exam of class 11 was over in March. The result was declared 2 weeks ago." My little game was over. “Ohhh. I didnt know.” I said to her. She was looking very beautiful in black salwar. Then suddenly a nurse entered the room and said –“the visiting hour is over .Please leave the room. It’s dinner time for him". So we moved out side. And when we all were standing outside then suddenly I entered the room. The nurse shouted “hey I told…..”I said to her “Please. Its very important. I need only few seconds. She said “o.k. But not more than one minute. ” Then I moved towards Santosh. He looked very weak and exhausted. I asked him “Why did you do this? We saw you with Rituparna only this evening. What happened after that? Trust me I won’t tell any body.” He started very slowly “today in the evening I took her in Goodies (the restaurant) to propose her. And after I proposed her she told me that she won't be able to accept me as her fiance, we can only be friends. Then I asked why? She replied that her daddy wont accept an unemployed guy as her daughter’s husband.”
“And that’s why you thought that you should commit suicide?” I said. He replied “No yaar. I spent Rs. 200 in that restaurant. That money was given to me by my mom to buy my sister’s school bag. When I told her what I did with the money she shouted at me. After that I lost my temper and shouted back at her. That time a friend of mine called me and told me that I have not got the job for which I gave the interview last week. Friend I felt really frustrated. I saw only darkness in front of me. I thought there’s no way other than ending my life.” After he finished I could not speak a word. At first I thought it was the stupidest excuse for suicide I have ever heard. But after some times I understood that our ways of thinking are different. So I should not mock at him. I told him “look today we tried to propose 3 girls .They Called guards. At least Rituparna didn’t call guards when you proposed her. So you are luckier than us.” After that I left the room.
I said to Arnab “we should leave now.” He agreed. Saswata told me “o.k. we will meet tomorrow in the morning. Now let’s go to our home. Bye.”
NIGHT:
Mom shouted “look at the time. Where have you been? Don’t tell me again that you went to hospital to see your friend as you have said in the morning.” I didn’t reply. After dad came she told him that I was late again. Dad said-“I don’t care. Let him do what he wants to. It’s him who has to suffer in future.” He said something more but I was not listening to him. My mind was filled with feelings which I have had never cared about in my life. Even at the dinner table neither I nor my father spoke a single word. After dinner I didn’t watched the T.V. either.
Then my head was filled up with a plethora of thoughts. Rituparna refused Santosh because he didn’t have any job…for me it was a shock… I never viewed my life this way……this proves that Job can buy love. Is it true that every one will care for you if you have a job? Is it true that if you don’t have a job you are just a garbage of society? May be its true Today as I realized that were unwanted every where-in our home…..in our society…every where. We don’t have any value if we are not successful in our life...and how do people define success…getting a job.I had never perceived things this way……
Those girls refused to do friendship. They called us Roadside Romeos. And the only thing I understood that if some one calls you a Roadside Romeo then you should start running because at the very next moment she will call guards or police.
Analysing our situation I realized that it was worse than Santosh. At least he was trying to do something. We are not even trying. Especially me….. I am just doing nothing. May be in future more guys will choose his way. May be someday I also have to walk the way he choose if I don’t start looking for job from tomorrow.
Those thoughts were straining my brain. I tried to sleep but failed to. So I started writing this document about how we are wasting our times. I thought that will reduce some mental stress. Today I learned some very important facts of our lives; the most important one of them was our position in the society.
There was another thing that was also eating my brain. I was trying very hard to forget it but alas I couldn’t. So I called up Saswata. I had to tell some body about it. It was 11-15 pm. Hope he's not asleep.
So I thought that luck was on my side when I found him picking up the phone “Saswata? “-I asked. ”yes, what happened?” he said. Then I started-“Saswata I am in a big trouble. You have to tell me what do I do about it.” “What is the problem? You left your home?” he said. I replied “no bigger than that. I think that I have fallen in love with Anindya’s sister Susmita. Will you go with me tomorrow morning to her house? I have a plan.” Saswata shouted from the other side “what??? nooo…not again…….”
Those girls were not very far from the gate of their hostel when we stopped them by saying-“excuse me do you mind if we take some time of yours?” I understood from the expression of their face that they didn’t expected two boys in front of girl’s hostel at Tarapada asked them “can u spare 5 minutes for us?” One of those 3 girls was really beautiful and other 2 were of the so-so kind. One of those ‘other 2’ said “what do want to sell?” “What!!!!!!!! We are not here to sell any thing.”- I said. Then the beautiful one said-“yes yes every sales man says that first and then they starts telling a story.” And she laughed. She looked like an angel when she laughed. She was very beautiful .I got very annoyed with Tarapada. It was because of his stupid side bag that he forgot to leave in the boxing ring. They thought we were salesman. We had never thought about that. I said to her “look we are not sales man. We want to do friendship with you. That’s why we are here.” She Replied –‘we don’t know you. We don’t do friendship with strangers.” “Each and each of your friends were strangers before you became friends.”- I said. Then another girl said “Hey don’t you understand??? We are not interested. ” “what’s the problem? We are asking only for friendship.”-Tarapada said. She replied rudely “how many times do we have to say you that we don’t do friendship with drunken roadside Romeos.” They had got that smell. I replied angrily –“none of us is a roadside Romeo. What do you think about your self?"Suddenly Sayak intercepted us and yelled at them " Who the ---- are you….you bloody bitch?.” Sayak was very infamous for his God gifted vile language. Then she suddenly started shouting _”guards…………. come here” Tarapada said “hey why are you calling guards?” I saw two guards of their hostel were approaching towards us. They thought the girls were in a problem. The three of us got up when we saw the guards coming, we left those bitches and started running towards the boxing ring at a speed of 20 Km per hour. I turned back and saw the guards were talking to those girls and one of them was pointing towards us. Our whole full proof plan to find girlfriends collapsed within 5 minutes.
“Let’s move on quickly.”- I shouted when we reached boxing ring. Santanu asked ”What’s the matter? Why did they call the guards?” I replied –“I will explain you later. First let’s move from this place.” Everybody under stood that they had to leave boxing ring when they saw guards. So without losing much time we unlocked our cycle and started moving. I saw the guards were not coming towards us. One of them was talking to the girls and the other one was looking for us.
When we were returning after that bitter experience I explained to my friends what had happed there. Santanu’s comment was-“all girls are b####.” Arnab-“if I went instead of subhro then I would have convinced them to do friendship with us.” I replied “why don’t you told me then. I also wanted you to go and talk to those girls” Sayak said “stop it. I think we already have had enough adventure, enough full proof plans, enough supports. Now we should go to our home. We have already wasted today’s evening in a marvellous manner.” Tanay and
So everybody departed from each other. None of us was in a good mood because of what had happened. We failed to explain properly to the girls that we only wanted friendship and nothing else. But it was hard for anyone of us to ask and convince 3 girls for friendship after having alcohol. Arnab and I were going home together. We both were chewing center fresh. Suddenly we heard a voice from back that said-“Arnab stop.”
We both stopped. I saw it was Ranaprio. Ranaprio was an average student like us in college. But he is very intelligent. After college he cracked SSC and became a high school teacher. “Haven’t you guys heard yet?” “What?” I said. Ranaprio said “it’s your friend Santosh.” Arnab asked “what happened to him?” “He tried to commit Suicide.” Ranaprio said. “What??” We both shouted. We were shocked. But today only in the evening we saw him with Rituparna. He looked very normal and happy. He tried to commit suicide. I asked Ranaprio- “where is he now?” “Hospital.”- He replied. I said to Arnab –“lets go.” We both turned our cycle. Arnab asked Ranaprio –“are you coming?” He replied “yes” Then we 3 moved towards the hospital hurriedly. On the way I asked Ranaprio “do you know why he tried to commit suicide?” He replied –“no. The only thing I know is today in the evening he tried to commit suicide by taking sleeping pills.” That means he took sleeping pills after his appointment with Rituparna. I tried to imagine the reason. May be he proposed her and she refused.
By the time we reached the hospital I saw all the guys from our gang were already present. Besides them I saw Santosh’s whole family in the room, his father, mother, sister, Uncles and aunts every one. Anindya and his beautiful cousin sister Susmita was also there. I asked his father “how is he?” He replied “Doctor said that he is o.k now and out of danger.” I again asked him “do you know why he tried to do that?” His reply was very short “no.” I saw Santosh was talking with one of his uncle in a very low voice. It seemed to me that he was very weak. The doctor must have washed his stomach. We moved beside his bed and asked “how are you?” He replied slowly in a low voice-“fine now.”
But curious as everyone, I was very eager to know why he took sleeping pills. But I could not ask him in front of his parents. So I asked Anindya about that .He replied that he was also not aware of the reason . I asked Susmita –“how was your exam?” She replied ”Which exam?” “H.S. off course.” I said. She replied “I will sit for H.S. next year. And the final Exam of class 11 was over in March. The result was declared 2 weeks ago." My little game was over. “Ohhh. I didnt know.” I said to her. She was looking very beautiful in black salwar. Then suddenly a nurse entered the room and said –“the visiting hour is over .Please leave the room. It’s dinner time for him". So we moved out side. And when we all were standing outside then suddenly I entered the room. The nurse shouted “hey I told…..”I said to her “Please. Its very important. I need only few seconds. She said “o.k. But not more than one minute. ” Then I moved towards Santosh. He looked very weak and exhausted. I asked him “Why did you do this? We saw you with Rituparna only this evening. What happened after that? Trust me I won’t tell any body.” He started very slowly “today in the evening I took her in Goodies (the restaurant) to propose her. And after I proposed her she told me that she won't be able to accept me as her fiance, we can only be friends. Then I asked why? She replied that her daddy wont accept an unemployed guy as her daughter’s husband.”
“And that’s why you thought that you should commit suicide?” I said. He replied “No yaar. I spent Rs. 200 in that restaurant. That money was given to me by my mom to buy my sister’s school bag. When I told her what I did with the money she shouted at me. After that I lost my temper and shouted back at her. That time a friend of mine called me and told me that I have not got the job for which I gave the interview last week. Friend I felt really frustrated. I saw only darkness in front of me. I thought there’s no way other than ending my life.” After he finished I could not speak a word. At first I thought it was the stupidest excuse for suicide I have ever heard. But after some times I understood that our ways of thinking are different. So I should not mock at him. I told him “look today we tried to propose 3 girls .They Called guards. At least Rituparna didn’t call guards when you proposed her. So you are luckier than us.” After that I left the room.
I said to Arnab “we should leave now.” He agreed. Saswata told me “o.k. we will meet tomorrow in the morning. Now let’s go to our home. Bye.”
NIGHT:
Mom shouted “look at the time. Where have you been? Don’t tell me again that you went to hospital to see your friend as you have said in the morning.” I didn’t reply. After dad came she told him that I was late again. Dad said-“I don’t care. Let him do what he wants to. It’s him who has to suffer in future.” He said something more but I was not listening to him. My mind was filled with feelings which I have had never cared about in my life. Even at the dinner table neither I nor my father spoke a single word. After dinner I didn’t watched the T.V. either.
Then my head was filled up with a plethora of thoughts. Rituparna refused Santosh because he didn’t have any job…for me it was a shock… I never viewed my life this way……this proves that Job can buy love. Is it true that every one will care for you if you have a job? Is it true that if you don’t have a job you are just a garbage of society? May be its true Today as I realized that were unwanted every where-in our home…..in our society…every where. We don’t have any value if we are not successful in our life...and how do people define success…getting a job.I had never perceived things this way……
Those girls refused to do friendship. They called us Roadside Romeos. And the only thing I understood that if some one calls you a Roadside Romeo then you should start running because at the very next moment she will call guards or police.
Analysing our situation I realized that it was worse than Santosh. At least he was trying to do something. We are not even trying. Especially me….. I am just doing nothing. May be in future more guys will choose his way. May be someday I also have to walk the way he choose if I don’t start looking for job from tomorrow.
Those thoughts were straining my brain. I tried to sleep but failed to. So I started writing this document about how we are wasting our times. I thought that will reduce some mental stress. Today I learned some very important facts of our lives; the most important one of them was our position in the society.
There was another thing that was also eating my brain. I was trying very hard to forget it but alas I couldn’t. So I called up Saswata. I had to tell some body about it. It was 11-15 pm. Hope he's not asleep.
So I thought that luck was on my side when I found him picking up the phone “Saswata? “-I asked. ”yes, what happened?” he said. Then I started-“Saswata I am in a big trouble. You have to tell me what do I do about it.” “What is the problem? You left your home?” he said. I replied “no bigger than that. I think that I have fallen in love with Anindya’s sister Susmita. Will you go with me tomorrow morning to her house? I have a plan.” Saswata shouted from the other side “what??? nooo…not again…….”
Current Status of main characters-
Ranaprio is married & based in New Delhi.
Arnab (Dasu) is also married & an employee of TCS, Kolkata. Saswata and Rajdeep(going to get married within few days) are working in CTS, Kolkata(currently in USA).
Samar and Tarapada are as evergreen as usual.
Sugato is based in ITC,Chennai.
Sabyasachi is in TCE, Mumbai.
Tanay(married and blessed with a kid) is in California-USA,working in a software company.
Sayak is making a living out of PWC Technologies, Kolkata.
Santanu is working in L&T-ECC, now posted in Jamnagar-Gujrat. Myself-Subhro (The ‘I’) is employed in L&T-Heavy Engineering Division, Vadodara.
