It was an overcast sky, with the clouds threatening to open the floodgates any moment. But Saurab cared two hoots to what the rain Gods think. His MTP (MTech Project) is over and done and according to him, he has earned his break. But with rest of Mtech CSE students still breaking their heads and laptops to complete their MTPs, poor Saurab had no one to give him company to enjoy his break. But Saurab was determined to make the best use of his break. As usual he approached his all-weather friend Akshat.
"Oyee chal, Vihar lake chalte hei".
Akshat, as usual, put on his "too-tired-after-work" look on his face. You can never blame him. He just finished watching Ram Gopal Varma's ki Aag!!!He had enough torture for a day.
But Saurab was not the one to give in too easily. He threatened Akshat with dire consequences - singing in Akshat's room all day through- if Akshat didn't go with him. Poor Akshat had to give in. It was too much of a punishment for him. Thus Saurab succeeded in persuading his friend to go with him to Vihar lake. But Saurab was not satisfied since he wanted a bigger group. He decided he will drag with him the first few guys he sees on the way. Unfortunately I happened to be one of them, along with Rakesh, Vishal and Nazeem. Now what can these 4 poor souls do if someone comes and theatens to sing the whole day in your rooms. Nothing but give in to his demands. Thus the group was formed and the plan made.
Vihar lake is actually a restricted area for students. This is precisely why all students want to go there atleast once. Rule breaking runs deep in an IITian's blood. Since it is a restricted area, there is a fence which separates our hostel from the lake. Saurab enquired with his friends as to how to reach his destination. He came to know that some smartass had made a small hole in the fence through which students can crawl through to reach Vihar lake. With this ground breaking information in hand, Saurab led the group towards the fence through the hole and finally after 20 minutes or so into the journey we managed to reach our destination.
The scenic beauty, coupled with cool monsoon climate made our day. It was such a relaxing time. After spenting an hour or so, we made our way back to the hostel. Even though the time was around 6 pm in the evening, it had already become dark. We crawled back through the same hole and were almost back in the campus when we saw the H12 student head and some men, whom we had never seen before, standing near the hostel. As we approached the hostel, these guys stopped us. We looked at each other. Everyone had the same expression on their face - clueless. On top of that these guys looked real frightening. I got the feeling that each of them had one kilo of biceps and chest muscles for their evening snacks. Such was their body build.
Then one of them spoke
"Kaha se aa rehe ho tum log".
"We just went to Vihar lake", Saurab replied.
"Aisa kya". He turned to face his fellow-muscle mates. "Talashi lo inke".
We had no idea what was happening. They body searched us. But apparently, from their looks, they didn't find anything they were expecting. Then they confiscated our ID cards and told us to collect the cards from the Dean tomorrow. That is when we realised we were in serious trouble. Vishal, who somehow had a great talent to get on the wrong side of our professors, sighed
"Dean hi bacha tha milne ke liye. Ab ye tamanna bhi poori ho gayi"
No one knew what to do. Everyone looked at Saurab with a face which can be best described as "next-time-enjoy-your-damn-break-yourself-$@#$%%@#$%". Saurab somehow felt the sky was looking beautiful at that moment and kept admiring it till he was sure we were no longer looking at him.
Everyone started thinking about what to do next. Rakesh was the first to chip in.
"How about applying for new ID cards. We can tell them we lost our old ones".
"Dude, we had lost our brains when we listened to a great mind and went to some restricted area, but rest assured they still have theirs"
"Ok how about this. We forget the entire thing and do nothing about this. What can happen", Vishal opined.
"Looks like you don't want to stop with meeting just the Dean. With the kind of talent you have, you should aim for the Institute Director himself".
Thus the brainstorming session went on and on. Ultimately we all decided on the best route possible. Meet the Dean the next day and beg for mercy. Everyone agreed that we will meet up outside Dean's office and then go in together.
The next day me and Nazeem went together to the Dean's office. Throughout the entire journey Nazeem, as usual, was indulging in philosophy and religious thoughts.
"I think we got what we deserved. This is Allah's way of telling us we have wronged and need to repent for this. Rules are meant to be followed and not broken. We should never have gone to vihar lake.".
"How come your Allah never tell you these things on time. He waited till we got caught and then he gave you this advice?".
"Allah does everything for a purpose", he replied.
"Great. I hope his purpose doesn't include both of us getting kicked out from the institute"
We continued walking till we reached Dean's office. Saurab, Rakesh and Akshat were already waiting for us outside the Dean's office. After waiting outside the office for sometime, we were called in. All of us went in without knowing what to expect next. When we entered, the Dean was typing something on the computer, with his back to us.
"So you like to break rules is it", he asked without turning and continuing with his work
"No sir", Saurab replied almost immediately
"Oh you mean you didn't break any rules".
"No sir...err I mean yes sir...I mean not exactly sir...",Saurab started blabbering. He looked at us with a help-me-out-here expression.
Dean finally turned around to face us.
"So why did you go there", the Dean asked calmly
"Sir we went there to enjoy the scenis beauty", Saurab explained.
"Is it. You guys went to Dargarh to enjoy it's scenic beauty???".
"The what....". We started looking at each other's face. No one knew what the Dean was asking. I was even more confused. I slowly came close to Nazeem.
"Psst...what is this Dargah. Is it some restaurant or something".
Nazeem glared at me with a What-an-idiot look.
"It's a religious place, like a mosque. I guess he thinks we went there and attended the preachings, which maybe of extremist nature", he whispered.
Meanwhile Saurab continued wailing
"No sir, nothing like that sir, please sir, believe me sir, we haven't even heard of anything called Dargarh. We went there to just see the lake. That's all".
"No no this is very serious. I will take action"
"Sirrrrrrr...", Saurab let out a cry. Somehow his cry sounded somthing similar to how our bollywood heroines cry out nehiiiiiiiiiiiii when the hero dies.
"Sir sir please sir, don't take any action sir. I am the only son of my parents"
"O you mean if you had a brother, I could have taken action"
"Yes sir...I mean no sir...please sir don't take action"
This went on for sometime. Finally, and I am guessing he had enough of Saurab's wailing, he let us go with a warning and a petty fine. We were all relieved. We paid up the fine and came out of the office.
Once outside, Saurab was happiness personified.
"Tho bhai log mazaa aaya na. Ab kaha chalna hei".
What happened next is best kept a secret.
"Oyee chal, Vihar lake chalte hei".
Akshat, as usual, put on his "too-tired-after-work" look on his face. You can never blame him. He just finished watching Ram Gopal Varma's ki Aag!!!He had enough torture for a day.
But Saurab was not the one to give in too easily. He threatened Akshat with dire consequences - singing in Akshat's room all day through- if Akshat didn't go with him. Poor Akshat had to give in. It was too much of a punishment for him. Thus Saurab succeeded in persuading his friend to go with him to Vihar lake. But Saurab was not satisfied since he wanted a bigger group. He decided he will drag with him the first few guys he sees on the way. Unfortunately I happened to be one of them, along with Rakesh, Vishal and Nazeem. Now what can these 4 poor souls do if someone comes and theatens to sing the whole day in your rooms. Nothing but give in to his demands. Thus the group was formed and the plan made.
Vihar lake is actually a restricted area for students. This is precisely why all students want to go there atleast once. Rule breaking runs deep in an IITian's blood. Since it is a restricted area, there is a fence which separates our hostel from the lake. Saurab enquired with his friends as to how to reach his destination. He came to know that some smartass had made a small hole in the fence through which students can crawl through to reach Vihar lake. With this ground breaking information in hand, Saurab led the group towards the fence through the hole and finally after 20 minutes or so into the journey we managed to reach our destination.
The scenic beauty, coupled with cool monsoon climate made our day. It was such a relaxing time. After spenting an hour or so, we made our way back to the hostel. Even though the time was around 6 pm in the evening, it had already become dark. We crawled back through the same hole and were almost back in the campus when we saw the H12 student head and some men, whom we had never seen before, standing near the hostel. As we approached the hostel, these guys stopped us. We looked at each other. Everyone had the same expression on their face - clueless. On top of that these guys looked real frightening. I got the feeling that each of them had one kilo of biceps and chest muscles for their evening snacks. Such was their body build.
Then one of them spoke
"Kaha se aa rehe ho tum log".
"We just went to Vihar lake", Saurab replied.
"Aisa kya". He turned to face his fellow-muscle mates. "Talashi lo inke".
We had no idea what was happening. They body searched us. But apparently, from their looks, they didn't find anything they were expecting. Then they confiscated our ID cards and told us to collect the cards from the Dean tomorrow. That is when we realised we were in serious trouble. Vishal, who somehow had a great talent to get on the wrong side of our professors, sighed
"Dean hi bacha tha milne ke liye. Ab ye tamanna bhi poori ho gayi"
No one knew what to do. Everyone looked at Saurab with a face which can be best described as "next-time-enjoy-your-damn-break-yourself-$@#$%%@#$%". Saurab somehow felt the sky was looking beautiful at that moment and kept admiring it till he was sure we were no longer looking at him.
Everyone started thinking about what to do next. Rakesh was the first to chip in.
"How about applying for new ID cards. We can tell them we lost our old ones".
"Dude, we had lost our brains when we listened to a great mind and went to some restricted area, but rest assured they still have theirs"
"Ok how about this. We forget the entire thing and do nothing about this. What can happen", Vishal opined.
"Looks like you don't want to stop with meeting just the Dean. With the kind of talent you have, you should aim for the Institute Director himself".
Thus the brainstorming session went on and on. Ultimately we all decided on the best route possible. Meet the Dean the next day and beg for mercy. Everyone agreed that we will meet up outside Dean's office and then go in together.
The next day me and Nazeem went together to the Dean's office. Throughout the entire journey Nazeem, as usual, was indulging in philosophy and religious thoughts.
"I think we got what we deserved. This is Allah's way of telling us we have wronged and need to repent for this. Rules are meant to be followed and not broken. We should never have gone to vihar lake.".
"How come your Allah never tell you these things on time. He waited till we got caught and then he gave you this advice?".
"Allah does everything for a purpose", he replied.
"Great. I hope his purpose doesn't include both of us getting kicked out from the institute"
We continued walking till we reached Dean's office. Saurab, Rakesh and Akshat were already waiting for us outside the Dean's office. After waiting outside the office for sometime, we were called in. All of us went in without knowing what to expect next. When we entered, the Dean was typing something on the computer, with his back to us.
"So you like to break rules is it", he asked without turning and continuing with his work
"No sir", Saurab replied almost immediately
"Oh you mean you didn't break any rules".
"No sir...err I mean yes sir...I mean not exactly sir...",Saurab started blabbering. He looked at us with a help-me-out-here expression.
Dean finally turned around to face us.
"So why did you go there", the Dean asked calmly
"Sir we went there to enjoy the scenis beauty", Saurab explained.
"Is it. You guys went to Dargarh to enjoy it's scenic beauty???".
"The what....". We started looking at each other's face. No one knew what the Dean was asking. I was even more confused. I slowly came close to Nazeem.
"Psst...what is this Dargah. Is it some restaurant or something".
Nazeem glared at me with a What-an-idiot look.
"It's a religious place, like a mosque. I guess he thinks we went there and attended the preachings, which maybe of extremist nature", he whispered.
Meanwhile Saurab continued wailing
"No sir, nothing like that sir, please sir, believe me sir, we haven't even heard of anything called Dargarh. We went there to just see the lake. That's all".
"No no this is very serious. I will take action"
"Sirrrrrrr...", Saurab let out a cry. Somehow his cry sounded somthing similar to how our bollywood heroines cry out nehiiiiiiiiiiiii when the hero dies.
"Sir sir please sir, don't take any action sir. I am the only son of my parents"
"O you mean if you had a brother, I could have taken action"
"Yes sir...I mean no sir...please sir don't take action"
This went on for sometime. Finally, and I am guessing he had enough of Saurab's wailing, he let us go with a warning and a petty fine. We were all relieved. We paid up the fine and came out of the office.
Once outside, Saurab was happiness personified.
"Tho bhai log mazaa aaya na. Ab kaha chalna hei".
What happened next is best kept a secret.
