We didn't change: Prabhat

Funny thing.

A lot of my friends and me included, always concluded that my batch-mates would change when they grew up. We came to such conclusions whenever we observed any kind of eccentric behaviour, action, gesture, habit, and judgemental that we are and always have been, we quickly took temporary solace in the fact that it would all be better someday. We used to worry about their future years. If they would be too naughty we would enact future scenes of them always standing outside classes and getting beaten all the time. If they were too easy, them being easy pushovers. If too simple, we used to wonder all the fun they would miss during their college years.

Some of my friends proved me wrong, and I stand corrected today.

Prabhat is the first who comes to my mind.  A simple, intelligent, hard-working, non-swearing, non violent, jolly fellow. Bespectacled, studious and honest was how he could be described in the simplest of words. Someone who when provoked came up with “Pashu” as the most dirty slang. I thought his years in IIT would have polluted him, made him “cool”, someone who would swear at the drop of the hat, someone who would throw up often because of too much alcohol. But, he is still the same guy. I mean a Hindi expletive here and there is not considered disgusting for a college going student. I am sure the Japanese people he is sharing his time with now, know more about Hindu philosophy and Moksha then we do, just because Prabhat might have passed on his immense knowledge on the particular subject, which he was pretty fond of in Vidyapith, to his research colleagues. I respect all of this and much more. It is so easy to lose track, to have a wrong sense of adventure.  Being same, and good, can be cool as well.

This observation of mine is a process. I wish to write about each and everyone of my batch-mates.  Just give me reasons aplenty.  

I don't know.

It hardly comes to me a surprise that I had discontinued blogging. My ambition of writing once a month was not difficult by any stretch of imagination. People who set out to blog everyday are also doing better than me. But I knew that this would come sooner or later, that I would not be able to post as frequently. The stories got over, the enthusiasm calmed down, the josh gone thanda.

And it’s not like some great semi reunion happened over beer yesterday or Swamiji himself came into my dreams and suggested “My child the purpose of your life is to preach others the good time that you had in RKMV; to impress upon others to devote one’s young mind to devotion and spirituality while having a heck of a time in Vidyapith.” I write this today because I miss Vidyapith very much. Much more today for reasons I don’t know.

Maybe because I haven’t picked up a bat or scored a 40 feet goal (oh yeah, I scored like hundreds of them, mostly in the A-team) for quite some time, that makes me realize how much time we spent playing in Vidyapith and how many fun memories we have of that time. Maybe it is because mangoes or guava never tasted as good as they did back in Vidyapith. Whether it was stolen from the Aam-bagan or whether they were distributed in the dining hall, those fruits were the best I ever had. And more so when by some divine coincidence we managed to get a second one. Or maybe I feel so because breaking rules were an everyday affair for which I don’t need to explain the pride it brought to our chests.

Time has made us more human-like. More mature, more sensible, more correct. But I wish to question the wisdom that is achieved at the cost of fun, laughter and happiness?

I, personally, speaking would trade my life for my Vidyapith days at the blink of an eye. And it’s not like I am not doing ok. I have a good job, good name and things have turned out pretty okay. But I crave the madness we had back then. It is normal, I presume that we all want our school life handed back to us, or we wish that we could have another crack at it. But today I wonder why this sudden urge to wind back 15 years? I don’t have any answer. Maybe it’s just isn’t fun anymore to grow up. Maybe learning about life and its lessons back in Vidyapith was more fun than living life itself.

I don’t know and maybe I will never know.

It still echoes in our ears:

The most famous and well-versed lyrics, we came across.

Khandana Bhava Bandhana.

Have a listen whenever you want to go back to it.

Re-union in 2045.

Things that will come up during “Re-union of the RKMV batch of 2002” in 2045:

• Sune hai Murmu ne Raj yog teesri baar complete kar liya?
• Ankit ka panchwa beta hua hai. Naam phool-kumar hai. Bade wala ka naam chhota genda hai.
• Shajib hindi bolna abhi bhi nahi seekh paya.. . Shajib interrupts, ”Hum sun liye hai. Sobka Gordon tud denge”.
• Abhishek’s mind functions semi-normally now. He was heard saying, “This wonderful evening got it to me very late”.
• Nishant was seen pursuing the hot girl in the party and then got sentimental when someone mentioned that she was her “to be bhabhi”. He instantaneously developed a grudge against the whole batch.
• “Arre yaar, I am sure it was Tamal. How can anybody of us ever forget his face? So sad that we have not heard from him since we left Vidyapith.”
• “Pritam Pal is a girl. Surely.”
• Anupam finally made it to the Muzaffarpur Under 55 cricket team. And Abhipreet to the Best team.
• The innocent people have released a Fatwa against Atul’s head. Atul still makes them cry in public.
• SG ran out of soyabeans to eat at the “World Soyabean Convention.”
• Arijit finally had an eye-to-eye argument with his wife.
• Pranav is the Director of the World Council of Scince. Guess what is the punch line of the WCS now, “Science Science and still more Science.”
• Debayanism is the only religion followed everywhere. RKMV ka bhi naam badalne wala hai.
• ”Angry young man Snehil english bol leta hai. Ha ha.”
• ”Rohit da ka grandson politics join karne wala hai.”
• ”Vibhor abhi bhi cheap cheap blogs likhta hai jo koi nahi padhne wala. J”

You have to comment and add on here.

This is how it went down that night

This one is as demanded. Excuse the delay in getting this one done, and all the gayism that you will encounter along the read.

Translated in English, for your convenience only.

-----------------xxx----------------------------

Amartya: But I love you dude.

Sankha: Dude, will you relax. For crying out loud.

Amartya: but why? I love you, in all its purity. If love is a crime, I am a prisoner for life.

Sankha: I love you too. But screaming about it in the middle of the night and explaining that to the rest of vidyapith is not going to be easy.

Amartya: I believe they will understand. It’s not as if everyone is straight over here. There is plenty of boy-on-boy action around here. Almost all the bathroom walls, warden rooms and maharaj cabins bear testimony to that fact.

Sankha: dude, you don’t get it. I am sure people do it, but should we come out in the open alone. Let the others in this closet get branded before I expose myself (literally).

Amartya: dude its ok. I have been feeling a few others too. They say that all of us will form one sweet group and call ourselves, “The special ones”.

Sankha: Waise can some of our teachers be a part of it too. Our warden wanted me to confirm before he is in. I would love him to wake us up with him blaring, “Mukhe chokhe jol de” from his beautiful tender lips.

Amartya: I have never been this hot for you ever.

Everyone is awake, stunned. Our minds were not processing useful information. We were looking each other, unable to understand what just happened. Puzzled and perplexed, murmuring, someone could guess what just happened and blurt out what was so clearly hanging in the air. “Abbe yeh dono gay hai be”.

This is what really transpired that night. Don’t ask me. I have my sources

Future Part 1

This one is purely speculative. It occurred to me when I was having my shower yesterday (not that I think of guys while having my shower, but because I found it hilarious), and realized that trying to pen a scene of the future involving my brothers can be a lot of fun. Again, it’s only speculative:

Debayan: Why have you come to me today, son? What have you done?

Prabhat: Forgive me God for I have sinned?

Debayan: What have you done my child?

Prabhat: I called my friend “Pashu” today?

Debayan: (Thinking what a loser this guy is) Its ok my child. I presume you did not do it intentionally. But tell me, what made you do it?

Prabhat: Atul aka chhota kamina

Enters Atul. Wearing a black pathan suit, surrounded by 6 beefed bodyguards, this kingpin of crime has menace and anger in his eyes. But he has managed to remain god fearing and so, controls himself from piercing his dagger across Prabhat’s chest.

Debayan: My other son, why did you disturb this pure creation of mine, Prabhat?

Atul: Isko bolo apni m…… na c………….. Saala humse aake puchta hai ki Niranjan maharaj jo hamesha bolte the ki ”This can only be explained if you know Quantum Mechanics”, woh tumko aa gaya ki nahi? Hum kya encyclopedia hai kya? Chu…… saala.

Debayan : (Trying hard to suppress his laughter) So Prabhat, what made you think that Atul had the answer to this question?

Prabhat: Atul does. Everyone knows that Atul has all the answers? Abhipreet and Pranav can vouch for it?

Debayan: Pranav, how did you conclude that?

Pranav: Science, science and still more science.

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

Guys, you know I love you.

I shall be writing some more of such “scenes” that pop into the invariably empty head of mine and expect you to think on similar lines and comment/blog. Till then, keep imagining.

Saala, kutta ki tarah rakhta tha…

The heading gives it away. I talk today about the treachery, shame, embarrassment associated with the way we have spent some of the trying-to-forget-but-cant moments from Vidyapith. Goes without saying, that it’s all humorous, to not to be taken seriously.

First of all the accommodation: I won’t say it was bad, rather for the money we were paying for it, it was great; but how can you stay in a dormitory with 50 other people without any fans. Cross-ventilation is a lame excuse. Big windows count for nothing when you have just come back from spending 4 hours in the relentless sun. Lucky that we were who joined in class 6, we did not have to face a big problem. I wonder how my senior brothers and those in my batch who joined in class 4 and 5 manage without a fan above them. Brave souls

A man can survive in a cell of 6x6, but a clean toilet should be added as the Fundamental Right for every human being. The loos of vidyapith was something we can never be proud of. Tunuram was one man army against all the shit dirt that awaited him every morning after we left for school. Poor guy.

The bathing and washing place was a bittersweet kind of a contradiction. During summer time it was the place to be to cool off, play “who dares last longest” during water fights kind of a place. We played Domes when it was not being used for ablution purposes. But during winters and autumn and rains it was nothing short of Alaska. How can someone have a bath in the open, in cold, with wind blowing? My bones and unmentionables would freeze up. People like Kebaran, Sushant, Abhipreet etc etc etc would hibernate, vowing not to come out of their sweaters till spring.

Second is the food: although I have talked about it during a previous post labeled “Khana”, I need to mention it here, because this is where also it fits perfectly into the context of the issue. And perfectly in sync is someone’s (I guess SG) comment that “Yeh khana to kutta bhi soongh ke chhod dega”. You people remember the cake that used to be served during evening snacks? Give it some kid today on his birthday and he will never celebrate his birthday again. You remember when someone (I guess Haldar) mentioned it to Balaram Da, that there was rusted nail in his food; he very casually replied that “yeh sab to girta rehta hai”? OMFG! How is that casual for anyone? Funny but serious.

And this led to us keeping our stocks when we came back from vacations or whenever our guardians used to visit us. That too was a cardinal sin. Like staring at a Muslim girl in the streets of Afghanistan. The chopping of ligaments, is the only exception. I mean, how can you bash up a small kid for having a packet of local mixture, or a box of sweets, or some home made marmalade (happened with me) that he doest want to share and enjoy it only himself. Beats me.

I trust that all of us have felt the same once almost everyday. You may share, inhibited.