Episode - 2
On Monday, My father and I started from my home.
"Hmm ok, bye-mma, bye-da."
"Bye. Take care, Call me once you reached." - My mother was almost crying. This is the first time I am going to stay out from my home and she could not accept it easily.
"Bye da, call us." - Even my brother was not happy for me leaving. He is surely missing something.
My father dropped me at the bus stand. Bus stand is 15 kms away from my home.
"Ok appa, I am leaving, bye."
"Ok, study well. Don’t think about us. Call us once you reached."
"Ok ppa."
"Hmmm, ok get in, bus is going to start."
I got into the bus with heavy luggage. Bus slowly started, he was showing hand and I was also showing my hand. I started feeling very homesick, started missing something. Because this is the first time I am going to stay away from my brother, mother and my father. I am going to miss my brother, my mother, my father, my home, my green village, a big well where we swim, my lots of close friends, my cricket team, the play ground, those village girls, half saris, school vans which we follow in bikes, coconut trees and mango trees. In my village, everyone respects my father so I am kind of a hero there but I had to leave everything and I am going to Trichy now.
I reached my college, entered into the hostel and I kept all my things in the room. Hostel has two floors and my room is in ground floor. Hostel has three wings left side and three wings at right side. Every wing has 16 rooms. My room has two beds, two cupboards, a table, a chair and lots posters on wall. These posters might have pasted by the previous students. There was a poster where a mother feeding milk to a kid. It was so cute not hot. I have to remove all the posters in the evening except this one, I thought in my mind and left from the room. I walked towards to my friend’s room and saw them coming.
"How are you?"
"Fine"
"When did you come?"
"Just now, so what did you guys do these 2 days?"
"Intro"
"Intro!? What is that?"
"We need to give our introduction to our seniors."
My friends were talking to me in English and I was answering back in Tamil. Since these are very simple sentences I could understand what they are asking me.
"Speak in English."
"Why?"
"Seniors asked us to talk in English." - He told me in Tamil since I did not understand the English version.
" !?. "- I kept quiet.
We went to the class room. The class room was very big. It has three 10 rows and 3 columns of benches. I was sitting quiet in the 3rd row and first left column bench. There were five girls entered into our class room and occupied first two benches right side to me which in middle column. I could hear little bit that my class mates talking something about these girls. Those girls did not bother to look anywhere else and there were talking themselves. Since REC is reserved 50% for Tamilnadu and 50% for other stats. My class was occupied with lots of other states guys. It was so nice to see the class room.
Some guys came instead of lecturer and asked us to give the intro. So they might be second year or third year students.
Every one started introducing them and my turn also came. "I sankarlal, I am from Salem, I have done my B.Sc Computer Science from Govt Arts College, Salem."
They were talking for some times. I did not get anything but acted as I understood. Because I was scared of these guys, if they ask me to get up and ask me something then I am gone. I never ever scared of anybody and anything in my life. But I am very much scared of speaking in English.
These girls went up to the stage and started singing a song "Pachai nirame Pachai nirame" from "Alai payuthe". It was so horrible to hear. But I clapped at the end of the song since everyone did. I understood seniors might have asked them to sing. After some time those seniors left from our class room.
One professor came to our class room and started teaching “Numerical Methods”. He was totally talking in English. Since its Maths I could understand something and for remaining things my friend helped me to understand by translating in Tamil.
I did not talk to any girls and left from the class room after the class got over. We went to the canteen and had tea and went back to the class room for next classes.
All the classes got over. I hardly understood and hardly talked to my friends. I reached hostel in the evening and lay down on my bed.
“Lal” - At around 7.30 my UG classmate called me.
“Gowri”
“Come let us go for dinner.”
“Ok”
Then we went to the mess and had our dinner. We started walking back to the hostel.
“Hi” – All my friends said to some stranger.
“Why are you saying Hi to someone?”
“He is our senior and we need to say Hi whenever you see our seniors.”
“Oh! Ok.”
“Hi”
“Hi”
“Hi”
“!?”
I had to say “Hi” many times whenever I see seniors while coming back to our hostel. Most of them said back “Hi” and few of them not. That’s the rule in REC that we need to say “Hi” to your seniors.
At 8.30pm we assembled at 1st floor in the hostel. Lots of seniors came and started talking to us.
“You people should not talk in any regional languages and should talk only in English. You people should know each other. So first you have to remember everyone’s roll number and name. We will ask you tomorrow and you should not fail to remember.” – Someone said.
“Now you people can go to any senior’s room and start give your intros.” – Someone else said.
We left from there and I went into one room.
“Hi, Excuse me. May I give my intro?” - I learnt this sentence from my friends.
“Ok, come in. Start your intro.”
“I am Sankarlal. I am from Salem. I have done my B.Sc. computer science from Govt arts college, Salem”.
“Hmm ok, then?”
“!?”
“****** ***** hobbies, *****” – Again same fun, I did not get what is he asking.
“Cricket, Football, Chess, Songs.” – I assumed that he is asking about my hobbies.
“***** ***** ***** ********”
“!?”
“********* ******** ******”
“I don’t know English.”
“****** ******** ***********”
“!?”
“You should not say that you don’t know English, you should speak only in English.” – He told me in Tamil.
“OK.”
“Ok, Start then.”
“ “
“Hmmm, ok. What is famous in Salem? Yercaud and Salem Mangoes, rite?”
“Yes.”
“Talk about Yercaud” – He was talking in Tamil.
“Hmm ok, Yercaud is a beautiful hill station located in Salem. Its 20 km away from…”
“Stop!, Why are you speaking in Tamil?, Speak in English. I am talking to you in Tamil because you are not able to understand English. But you have to speak in English”.
“ ?? “- So I had to shut my mouth again.
He got bored of me so he sent me with another senior. He was a nice guy. He was talking to me in Tamil and allowed me to talk in Tamil. So I spent all my time there itself. I went to my bed at around 4.30 am and I need to wake up at 7.00am to go to class.
Next day somehow classes went. No one sang any songs today.
We finished our dinner and again at 8.30pm we had to assemble at 1st floor near to the steps where we have huge space. All of us were sitting on the floor. Some seniors came and gave us some speech and they were standing. They started asking someone about someone’s roll number and name from my class mates.
“Hey, you get up. What is your name?”
“Sankarlal”
“Sankarlal?”
“Sankarlal Krishnan”
“Hmm, good. You should always say your full name. What is your CCM (Class Committee Member)’s name and roll number?
“Nikanth, MAA0209” – Thank god he became my friend so I knew his name and Roll number. I met this guy in my admission itself.
“Ok, Fine, Sit down”
“Thanks”
“Hey you, get up”
“Hi”
“What is your name?”
“Manikandan Thirumal” – He mentioned his full name in first time itself.
“Good. What is your girl CCM’s name?”
“Sophi Kannu”
“Sophi Kannu?”
“Sorry, C K Sophi Kannu”
“Expand the C and K.”
“Chennai Kalivarthan Sophi Kannu”.
“Hmm good. Since she is a hot and good looking girl you remember her full name, ah?” - Everyone laughed. I don’t know how come these seniors saw all our class girls and they found as good looking and hot, hmm!.
“Not like that!”
“Ok, what is her roommate’s name?”
“Abitha Subburathinam” – I was wondering how come this guy knows who is her room mate.
“Good, you sit down”
“Thanks”
“Hey you, what is your name?”
“Kulandhaiswamy Thangavel”
“Ok, what is that guy’s name and roll number?” – He was pointing out one of my class mate.
“Thiruchirapalli Sitharaman Raja Yagna Narayanan and MAA0204”
Suddenly that Raja stood up told that he did not pronounce properly. “No, it’s wrong. It should be Raja Yagya Narayanan.”
Oh, what is this guy doing? Even if he did not pronounce properly he could have left it. Why is he pointing out like a child? He should drink lots of Complan and need to grow up fast. – I thought in my mind.
Somehow that session got over so we went to the seniors room to give our intros. This time I caught by a Singh. Nikanth, another friend Mohanraj, that Singh and I were there in the room. There were lots of posters on the wall. Only cine actresses were in all the posters and all of them were in two pieces. That Singh was holding a book and looking at the book. I thought how come he can study peacefully with these posters?
“Ok Start your Intro.”- He did not look at me but asked me to start and he was still looking at the book.
By this time, I by hearted the entire intro format and started giving my intro fast.
“****** ****** ******” – In the middle of my intro he asked me to stop and asked me something.
“ !? “
“***** ****** *******”
“ “ – I was just starring his face.
“******* ******* ****” – This time he asked me something else
“!?”
“******* ******* *****” – Again the above question but asked me very loudly.
“Y..e..s”
“Yes!?, hey Mohan, you translate it in Tamil and let him know what I asked him.”
“Lal, he is asking whether he is looking like a ghost.”
“Oh, no” – I said. But actually he was looking like a ghost only. It was a real fun for all other seniors. Even I was laughing inside.
That night got over and went to my bed. And that day, I decided that I will not give my intro anymore. So from then I started sleeping in nearby rooms without informing anyone. So I was escaping from many ghosts.
One week got over. I have visited all the days to the basket ball court. But never saw any girl playing there.
On Saturday morning, we left from our hostel to the city to buy book for Discrete Maths. The professor is very strict; we heard this from our seniors. We did not want to take any risk so we came to the city. We tried to get that book and searched almost all the book shops but did not get that one. But we were simply roaming in the city. I did not want to go back to the hostel and start speaks in English.
We saw a small book stall, went near to that and we saw lots of censored magazines were hanging over. After seeing them, our mind totally changed to these books from “Discrete Maths”. We thought of buying this book at least. We were shy, so did not ask anything to the shop keeper.
“Are you looking for that kind of book?” – The shop keeper asked us. He might have read our face and could have found our shyness.
“We have so much collections” – That shop keeper continued.
But we left from there without buying anything and reached our hostel without any books. We thought we should have bought some book to kill our weekend as it was boring.
After two weeks, there was another admission to fill the remaining seats.
“Srivegha, Pavithra, Suguna, Kaajal and Kayalvizhi”.
“What is that?” – I asked him back.
“These are the girls going to join our class by second admission. Come let us go and see how they look.”
I don’t know why but I liked the name “Kayalvizhi”. So, I started walking with him to see Kayal. We reached the admission hall but could not see any one. We heard that the admission is already got over and all of them left from there.
So we were walking back towards our hostel. We were thirsty so went near to the refrigerator to get the water. I saw some girl wearing a dark blue color Sari drinking water. She was so fair. She was so beautiful. She was slim; short hair; sharp eyes; pink lips even without lipstick. She was very structured in the Sari. Dark blue suits very well for her. You can imagine an angel in blue color. I could not pull my eyes back. I was starring at her pink lips constantly.
“Don’t eat her” - Nikanth told me
“She is so beautiful. The guy who is going to marry her would be the luckiest one in the world.”
“Hmm yeah, she is so beautiful. But why are you talking so loudly? She can very well hear you.”
“Hmm, but I guess she is not a Tamil girl. So she won’t understand”
She just looked at us and smiled and left from there with few more girls. We were standing there itself till she goes away from our site.
So I woke up very late next day morning, took bath and returned wearing towel. I got shocked seeing my room locked, my roommate locked the room and left to the class as it was getting late. I don’t have any cloth to wear now. Thank god, I used put my under wears out for drying. So I wore my under wears and started searching in front of my entire friend’s room to find any cloth. I found a pant and shirt of my friend. I wore that and left from there to my class room. The dress was so big and it was loose for me. So I was looking like a joker but still I went to the class room.
“Excuse me sir, May I come in?”
“Yes, come in.”
I could see all my friends were laughing at me for me wearing this dress. They came to know that my roommate locked the room and came to the class room. I sat down near to one of my friends.
I just turned right and saw the girls who were sitting in the same row but in another bench. I got shocked; the dark blue sari was sitting. Really I could not believe eyes. But, today she was wearing dark blue color jeans and light green t-shirt. She was looking so good. She is looking good in any costumes!
“Put down your hand”
“Put down your hand” – Mani, Nikanth and Kulandhai all of them said at the same time.
“!?”
“Lal, we are talking to you.”
“What?”
“Put down your hand, its hiding”
Now only I realized that I was blocking their view and I put down my hand. They were looking at side view of the other girls. But I totally forgot everything and I was looking at dark blue.
Somehow two hours got over and it was a break. So we were walking to juicy to have some juice. Juice shop is located at around 200 meters from our class room.
“Excuse me”
I turned back and saw and it was the Dark blue. I could not believe myself.
“Thanks”
“Thanks?”
“For saying me beautiful and also for that luckiest one!.”
“!?”
“Kayal” – One of the other new girls was calling her. I think she is Srivegha.
Wow! She is the Kayal. Kayalvizhi means the girl who has eyes like a fish. Yes, the name suits her. Her eyes are beautiful. Even though she talked to me in English I could understand what she was saying.
She left from there without saying anything to me. I was just standing there itself for some time and then returned back to the class room without Juice.
--Continues
From there we left to the place called Thalakkad and that's where the strange things happened. There was a Kavery river flowing in place called Thalakkad. There were lots people swimming. So we also thought of swimming.
