Five More Minutes...FOR MY SAKE

I was just about to fall sleep on my bed when suddenly I realized the clothes lying on me was moving… I was like what the hell is happening and then suddenly one by one the clothes started disappearing … That’s when I saw Jatin… Why the hell is he taking my clothes I wondered… I got up shocked and I was like “Dude what you doing?!?!?!?” Jatin replied “Packing… next two days no one is going to be in the hostel so you are coming to stay with me and Aditya.

It was the first semester… Back than i was staying in a hostel... Looking back I wonder how I managed to stay there at all … Dark and dingy room… Cobwebs all over the place… Newspapers stuck to the wall dating back to God Knows when.. Had to get your Fan and Bulb… Creaking furniture again with cobwebs.. I guess they were there before independence… Pardeshi’s (my roommate) early morning bed tea was the only plus point apart for the obvious one that I got meet Moinak and Neel. Yup the early morning used to be fun… Moinak running to the loo so that he gets there before anyone else does… the first of his many trips during the day… and Neel running around with his one mug to bathe, shave and freshen up… ONE MUG that’s it… and I used to stand outside with my cup of tea… watching all the commotion!!! And BTW my roomy used to sleep on an iron cot with Just a thin thin towel between him and the cot... No bedding no nothing.

Well during the first semester Aditya and Jatin used to come down to college every evening and play a lot of TT along with Mr. Bagchi and Ameya Gokhale… Mr. Prabhav Sharda would be busy playing Badminton… I used to drop in once in a while …

Getting back to my ishtory… So that particular evening I was sleeping … Adi and Jatin had come to play TT and there they found out Moinak was going back home… So Jatin comes to my room and sees a pile of clothes on my bed… He removes the clothes one by one… after a few minutes of excavation he found me lying beneath the heap of clothes … Then he started packing them into one of my bags and that’s when I woke up… If Jatin wouldn’t have come that day, I honestly don’t think if those three years would have been the same for me … So JP cheers mate!!!

So I packed up… I was supposed to go to Gokhalenagar (Where Adi and JP used to stay) for two days… But I stayed there for at least 6 to 8 months.. I mean I was there until we shifted to 8 Shree… It was awesome awesome fun… Prabhav, Nikhil and Shankar used to stay nearby at Shivaji Apartments… We used to go over to their place in the evening… Somehow bear Prabhav’s singing… Actually he was decent... In fact Prabhav had a c.d. recording of him singing Hotel California in a studio… The hotel California’s, Love is all around, Pink Floyd Pulse (Originals not Prabhav specials) … Nikhil with his dance bar stories and his dance to the chamiya numbers... (Dude JP what his favorite number… I forgot!!) Shankar too was good fun… we used to chill out a lot and off course the impromptu WWF’s usually all of us against Prabhav…Late night food trips to Kazi… Calling up the cable and playing Tears in Heaven and some Bryan Adams number every night… Calling the girls over and then cooking… while watching When Harry met Sally (Adi, Bagchi remember how excited all of us were the day before hehehe!!!) Evenings at Apache our seat was right next to the speakers… DD dancing to Sweet Child Of Mine and checking himself out in the mirror… And one day when the lights went Prabhav broke out singing “knocking on heaven’s door” in a fully crowded Apache… There are much more man (if u guys remember put it on comments) …. The only scar in this joy ride was the cricket incident when 11 of us were playing in the ground next to Aditya’s flat and we weren’t allowed to play by some old uncles as we were not Maharashtrians

But those were also brilliant days man… Bloody brilliant

So this story dates back to our exams in first semester … Some exams were on and we had statistics the next day… So we were all at JP’s and Aditya’s place… And Shankar Nikhil and Prabhav comes over to “STUDY”
So that means ABHIK, MOINAK, ADITYA, JATIN, SHANKAR, NIKHIL, and PRABAHV… (Although Shankar was from ILS and didn’t have the paper he came over to chill) were planning to STUDY together.. heheheheh

They came over at 10:30 and we decided one hour of masti and replenish food stock… So we started off with our masti… music, magi, discussing girls, fighting, laughing our hearts out… Then our phone rings… The following conversation that happened is historical … has been talked over and over for those three years and yet survives…
Jatin answers the call and yells out Dittu it’s for you… Aditya comes running and then pauses for a bit and picks up the call
Aditya Grave Voice at his best “HELLOOOO… YEESSSSS…………………………….. (and then shrill girly sissy as hell voice) Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Deeeeeeedeeeeeeee”
We all were rolling on the ground couldn’t stop laughing what voice modulation… From HE MAN to WONDER WOMAN… awesome hahhahahahah!!!!

So by the time we were done with our masti it was around 12:30 and we decide its high time we should start studying… But dude how could we there is nothing to eat in the house… So Nikhil volunteers, and at 1:00 a.m. he leaves to get food from Kazi… After 20 minutes we get a call and its Nikhil… He was like

“Bastard I am being chased by three dogs man”
From our end don’t know who “ Kya bol raha hai… where are you”
Nikhil: -“Dude I am standing on top of a car… the three dogs are jumping up and down man trying to get up here man” and you could hear constant barking
Nikhil: - “bastards come and get me man!!!” (Background still those ferocious barking all over the place)
Prabhav takes the phone :- “Hello Nikhil… “
Nikhil : - “Fucker come and get me man .. these dogs are fucking mad.. “
Pabhav : -“abbe pagal ho gaya hai kya… marne ke liye jaaonga mein… Then with concern “yaar do you have those biscuits”
Nikhil: - “Ya why”
Prabhav: - “Don’t give them to the dogs”
Nikhil: - “Why???”
Prabhav: - “Because you will need it during the night” and he hangs up..

We were again as usual laughing at Nikhil’s plight… what bastard’s we were man… Not only did we not help but we were making fun of Nikhil and laughed for the next 30 minutes or so... Nikhil comes back after 45 minutes apparently some uncle came over and rescued him from the top of the car where he was perched for quite some time…

We shamelessly ate everything and finally got down to studying… And what studying we did … I was sitting with Prabhav and suddenly he goes full seriously...

“Abhik ek cheez bata … aasman neela kyon hai… duniya gol kyon hai.. hawa dekhai nehi deta kyon?? Yaroon ye mujhse na pucoh kyonki agar mujhe pata hota toh tere se thodi na poochta!!!!” and he started laughing… I had no reaction ... at bloody 4 in the morning such a sad sad one!!!

So we studied in a similar fashion till 5 a.m. then we decided something… Since the exam was internal… and the marks didn’t count we would leave a completely blank paper… Not a dot… and we will sit for 5 minutes and get up all of us together… And we had a pact… Let’s do it

So next morning we reached the exam hall and all of us sat… Our roll numbers were all together in the back of the class … We got the Question paper and our answer sheets… Mim didn’t get her paper till then so I gave her my paper and may I add Gladly…the after 5 minutes a soft countdown starts
3…2…1... And then all of us get up “SIR DONE !!”

The professor was scandalized … you should have seen his face… then he goes ... “No No by rule you have to sit for another 10 minutes” one of us questioned the rule but the we decided chal yaar lets sit for 10 more minutes and then we will go.. What waste of time…I swear…. So after 10 minutes another soft count down 3…2…1. Again all of us got up”SIR DONE!!” He was like 10 minutes not over. And we were like sir it’s over and we do not want to disturb the other students… The funniest thing follows the professor goes “Please sit for another 5 minutes... FOR MY SAKE.” I burst out “FOR MY SAKE” hahahahaha… We were like ok chalo sir for your sake we will sit for another 5 minutes. And then after 5 more minutes… countdown and we successfully left… I think he gave up on us… Not a mark on the paper!!!

Then we took a snap outside the main building… all of us… I had a very gay smile on me… We were full of pride… sense of accomplishments… covered with glory…!!!

If someone has the snap please send it across to me… will put it up…

Dedicated to GokhaleNagar, Kazi, MOINAK, ADITYA, JATIN, SHANKAR, NIKHIL, and PRABAHV, Shivaji apartments... TT Table at fergi… and the uncle who threw us out of the cricket ground.. MAY HE ROT IN HELL for all I care!!! Cheers!!!

Parsees... MG Road... And Dad I am In deficit !!! :D

I just love MG road… Not because of the planet Ms and shopping malls, Burger king (What I could give for one burger right now!!!) , our temple Thousand Oaks.. But because the road has this I don’t know a feel towards it… especially in the early mornings around 9:30 or 10:00… In fact one of the loveliest things you can do in Poona is to walk down MG road in the early mornings

I mean it’s just lovely and peaceful … The sun’s just up and quite pleasant its rays streaming finding its way through the leaves of the trees on to the road... nice breeze flowing… neighboring shop owners, who probably have been neighbors since God knows when greeting each other with their hellos and good mornings first, a quick two minute chat usually followed by a loud laugh and then the shutter goes up… what makes it better is that there are lots of Parsees with shops and their homes in that vicinity so early mornings you will fond parse auntie’s walking by that road to get to their shop and greeting mostly everyone on the way in their typical Hindi. Crowd slowly starts pouring in… It’s always a beautiful day and the road wakes up, it is in its most humane side and along with the preserved history and culture that is Poona.

As you walk down just before good old Marzorin you will find this old medical store of a Parse uncle who must be in his 80s barely able to walk, standing behind his counter as he must have been doing since I can only guess probably for the past 40 years, aided be a couple of young girls, it’s a large shop mostly coloured in black, and at least for the last 5 years I don’t think has much to offer, but yet the uncle is always there , bang opposite his the Poona Drug Store… another one of the vintage collection, next to it is The Bombay Store… opposite which is Marzorin… Then further ahead a very old parse shop called Royal Bakery (Thanks Moinak !! :) )with the most amazing plum cakes and the most arrogant guy running the shop… (I had a fight with him once)… The shop is again black and I am sure haven’t been renovated since inception… Ahead are a cutter of old shops and buildings… What I wonder is if you walked down MG road in the 80s or maybe 70s ... would it be any different?? Not much I am pretty sure.

In fact I am reminded of the day when I was running in The Poona Marathon and when I was on MG road I remember this Parsi aunty in her 50s standing alone on the road in her Nurse outfit and cheering us on… I always felt Parsees preserve the heritage of a place, its utter comical when they fight at the drop of a hat in their Hindi, their neuroticism but there is always something pleasant about them … (Well not always… Jatin remember Just Baked)

And after you are tired walking get back to Marzorin order a zoom burger, don’t forget to order extra zoom sauce and a cold coffee sit upstairs on the balcony overlooking the road (the sun will still be out … the breeze will still be there) and see the crowd pouring in… See the Kashmiri shop with carpets (which by the way is always empty) stream of people entering Bombay Store, the lovely trees behind the stores and a couple on the pavement in front of the store... It’s very … very….very pleasant (ya and try carrying a book… u can read it there…at least I did) … (Do the above if you are alone and if you have company just talk and stop gaping outside:) )

OK now this story goes back to I guess my second year … I had my account with the sexiest bank in the whole of Poona... Central Bank of India, Fergusson College Branch... No core banking, no debit card, No nothing just a pass book. So all of a sudden one fine morning I realize not surprisingly I am broke… and I needed around 6k quite soon… So it was time for the embarrassing “DAD I AM IN DEFICIT” call… well no wait it was worse because I had to first tell him that… then I would pour in a few major expenses incurred (which he would never ask for but still guilty conscious me!!!) half of the expenses conjured faster out of thin air than harry potter spells… and I must have lost a cell phone during that semester so I will out that in as well… and still I could not justify my expenses… But this time I had to ask him to somehow arrange the money real quick … I needed it in a day or max 2 (I fail to remember why!!!) which was impossible because if he sent me a draft it would take me at least 5 days to reach…

So I made the call… and shamelessly put forth my demand… So dad being dad never said no to anything… So after an hour I get a call from him... that he spoke to some uncle who in turn spoke to his friend and I am supposed to go and collect the money from him and he gave me his number (Dad always rocked in contacts!!!) So I called up Uncle with no clue who he was … “Hi hello uncle … ya ya I remember you.. how is aunty … oh ok I hope she is better now… uncle is been so long since you came to Meghalaya… make a trip soon... ya ya I am fine… so then I got pakaooed and I came to the point very innocently and sweetly I asked “ Uncle Dad asked me to meet you” and he asked me to come over to his shop in MG road in the evening…
MG Road was good... coffee at Marzorin meet him take money… pack few burgers from Burger King for me, my roomies and few etc such as Aditi, Shonai, ever hungry Reema (LOL!!!) So alls good… Money, dinner …

I was about to leave when the Legend himself volunteered to come along with me… so me and Neel left for MG Road. I called up uncle and he said his shop was next to this hotel on MG road… Both of us never remembered seeing that hotel so I thought it will be in one of the lanes or towards the other end of MG Road. So I and Neel get down in front of The Bombay Store and we decided to walk… We walked to the other end of MG Road but we could not find the hotel and the shop… So I called up uncle again... he gave me a landmark and some direction … So we walked back to where we started… and went inside a by lane… Another 20 minutes of here and there and yet nothing… even the landmark was not there… someone suggested to go towards Pantaloons and it’s there… So I called up uncle again and by this time he got irritated and he concluded I am useless and wanted to talk to the auto wala… I said I was walking with my friend… so he asked are you on the main MG Road… I was like no I am In the Duplicate MG Road Idiot … I responded yes I am… then he is walk straight down and you will see this white building which is the hotel and next to it is my shop OK !!!! And he hung up.. So I and Neel walked straight down but no white building, no hotel, no nothing…. We searched again for 30 minutes and nothing!!!

So we got back to The Bombay Store and I called him again… Bastard had lost it by then… I was like ok uncle I am standing in front of THE BOMBAY STORE now tell me… He was like “What Bombay Store.. You are not on MG Road” I was like no uncle I am on MG Road… “No you are not!!! Give the phone to the auto driver” “ (For the nth time) But uncle I am NOT in a (fucking!!)Auto I am walking with a friend” He is practically yelling now “You and your friend do not know anything, get on an auto and tell him to get you to MG Road” and he hung up…

We were both standing there not knowing what to do… then it struck me… I called him back and I asked “Uncle you are in MG Road Poona right” He was like “What Poona I am in Hyderabad” SILENCE FROM MY END … well mentally gallis one after other but on the phone silence then I spoke “Uncle I am in Poona” Now silence in his end and then he goes “SO how do I give the money” I was like “How do you think you will ever give me the money here” and then we hung up.. Told Neel what happened… Neel started off with his silent laughter and then “yaar … yaar… hahahahhahahaha”… Then the entire incident sunk in and even I burst out don’t know where we got the energy to laugh … We were bloody tired ... thankfully Neel was there and he paid for the burgers and I took out my phone then “DAD I AM STILL IN DEFICIT”!!!