The Debut Match Continued2...

            We took our glasses, collided with each other and said in firm voice 'Cheers'. Rahul took a big sip and made his glass half with that. Shiva took a small one and I saw no reaction in his face. Then it was my turn. I took a sip slowly and kept it in my mouth for a minute or two. Then I made it to flow through my throat slowly and the bitter taste gave me goosebumps. I felt like vomiting but somehow I managed with just a small cough.

After the large sip, Rahul kept the glass on the table and lit a cigarette. With a big puff, he offered us. I shook my head and said "No, I couldn't". Shiva too denied. He smiled, didn't force us again and said "Guys, never ever love anybody. It gives pain. Woman is difficult to understand. You can't find out what there is in their heart. How deep their thought is!" Silence engulfed the room for next moment. Then Shiva made a comment "It looks like you loved her so much and you didn't forget her". 

"What made you break up and where is she now?" I added.

Rahul made a sarcastic smile and continued "I don't know whether I love her or I hate her. But, what I can say for sure is that I can never forgive her not forget her. Shrabs, the name, I can't get rid of. This name always remind me of my inabilities, my foolishness and my failures. It was four years back.  The time of August. It was my 12th board examination. I used to be a very good student at that time and a high ranker. I used to spend my whole day either in library and or in my room or in college. No play, no outing and no hanging around. I used to top in all the mock tests, quizzes and assignments. It was so obvious at that time that no one ever bothered to know who top-ed the test. It was always me. That day , 13th September 2000, had a quiz too, a physics quiz and I had topped it. After the test, I was busy in discussing something with the youngest lecture of my college, Vikash. But, I noticed, he is not even listening to me rather he is staring something else. I moved my eyeballs as per his ones, and they stopped at a girl. I rolled back and interrupted him. Then he got his consciousness and felt embarrassed. So, without any more discussion, he rescheduled our discussion. So, I left the classroom and went for library. As I was busy in reading, I felt someone standing nearby me. I turned towards that someone and to my surprise, I saw the same girl, the one the lecture was staring. 

"Hi, am I disturbing you ?" The girl asked.

"No, Not yet. But, you might." I replied.

She smiled and said "You are Rahul, the topper, right ?"

I nodded my head and she congratulated me.

"Thanks but no body congratulates me these days for these silly tests."

"Well, physics test may be silly for  genius like you but not for all."

"Excuse me, I am not a genius."

She smiled and gave her hand for shake and said " I am Sharbs. My friends call me sexy Shrabs".

I got astonished for a second with her wordings but didn't react. I shook the hand.

It was the first time ever, I touched a girl's hand and it gave a different kind of feeling.

"So, You are new, I guess" I continued asking.

"Yah, I got admitted in 11th and my dad wants me to top and get a good college after that."

"It seems, you don't want this."

"Ohh no, of course not. I too want this but not at the cost of my enjoyment."

With that, she wanted to talk more but I was not in a mood. I had to do a lot of things other than these silly things. So I excused myself by saying that I had some pending homework. She didn't force me to stay. I just said bye to her and returned hostel. But, she waved me a bye with a nice hand gesture adding a big sweet smile on her face.

With this our first meet was over.

The Debut Match Continued...

   As Rahul described the importance of alcohol in friendship, I agreed to him and took my chair. Rahul started arranging the stuffs in the table. He first picked three plates from the bunch, kept on the table and put them in the center. Then he picked some snack items from the plastic bag and kept on one of the plate. Then he put some salt, onion, mint and chilly on one side of second plate and peanuts on the other side. On the third plate, he kept chicken wings. All the side dishes got ready and we were eagerly waiting for the main course. Then Rahul took two bottles from his messenger bag. The bottles looked yellow with some yellowish-red colored liquid inside it. Rahul threw one of the bottle towards me and said "Feel it man". I caught the bottle. This was the first time, I was holding a whiskey bottle in my hand. I turned the bottle from one end to other, top to bottom, watched the label and then read it "Royal Stag". I handed it over to Shiva and made a long breath "Hmmmmm".

"Dude, call it RS" Rahul said. We smiled.

Then Rahul took the bottle in his right hand and bashed it from the bottom with his left hand palm. He then slowly opened the upper lid and threw it to the dustbin. He took the bottle near to his nose and smelled it. He behaved in such a way that we thought like he smelled an eternal smell. But he didn't. He took the three glasses and put them in a line. He then took the glass one by one, lifted up to his eye level and poured the whiskey. Then he mixed the cold drink in all , passed the glasses to us and said in a firm voice "Lets start".

The Debut Match

    Finally the D-Day arrived. Friday, 16th August when we will come to know the most awaiting, thrilling love story of Rahul. Classes end and with that the first hectic week of B Tech. A long weekend was there to chill, enjoy and digest the story. Rahul was absent after the lunch itself. I and Shiva reached hostel at around 5 PM and to our surprise, Rahul's room was locked. We got anxious about the match and thought it got cancelled. But, when Shiva opened his room, he got a note and the note was from Rahul with a one liner "Get ready, I will be back soon". The note put life in us. We took shower, got refreshed and got ready for the debut match by 6 PM.

The clock started ticking and the hour hand ran first. 6.30, 6.45, 6.60, 7.10,7.20,7.30,8.10. We keep on checking our watch in a gap of 10 minutes and waiting in the corridor. Finally, by 9 PM we gave up. With our broken hearts and thirsty emotions, we set for the canteen. But, the destiny has some other plans. We were in the verge of entering into the canteen, Rahul called us from back and that call put life into our emotions for the second time in the day. 

"Hey guys, where are you going" Rahul asked.

"We thought, the match is cancelled" Shiva replied.

"Hey, No dude. the match is intact. lets go." Rahul said and went straight to his room. We followed him. We reached his room and to our surprise, the room was looking like a small bar. He has arranged two study tables and joined them to form a big L-shaped table and the whole structure is kept in the corner of the bed. Two chairs were there at the other side of the table. The room was illuminated by two zero powered bulbs to give it the exact atmosphere. There were three steel glasses, bunch of paper plates and two polythene bags on the table.

"Hey, no one else is joining?" Shiva asked as soon as he took his chair.

Rahul gave a sarcastic smile and said "No dude, you know these people are crap. They can never figure out what the friendship is."

"Hmm, what point you are trying to make? Does alcohol make the friendship? You want to say that?" I barged into the discussion.

"Not exactly. But, alcohol makes the bond strong. A bunch of smokers or alcoholics share a different wave between them. They make a good bond rather a better one than the non smokers/alcoholics" Rahul answered.

I didn't have any answer to that and Rahul was right . That night made our life a memorable one and laid a strong foundation to our friendship.

CFnL

      Third day of the 1st week has reached and the induction cum ragging was still continuing. We ,three, are the only ones who really enjoying that. May be its the assignment, or the punishment or the strange acts, we were made ourselves an active part of all. By third day, we also became favorite junior of our seniors. And, there is sufficient reason for that too. We have made the pretty assignments for the Net worth law, we described the law to other freshers, we  sang the songs "Yeh condom he, ish condom ka yahi he yahi he.....", "G**nd me danda de". In fact, we entertained the seniors more than they expected. So, we were told that from 3rd day onwards, we can move to the other side and enjoy the ragging rather than got ragged if we wish. 

The third day came and being the last day, we went to the room 205 in lunch break a little late. As soon as we made our entry, we were welcome by three magnificent slaps. 

"Why are you so late, fuckers" A senior asked.

We preferred to remain silent to avoid another big slap. Thanks to God, nobody asked any more questions. Another senior asked us to join our other friends and he went to the stage. The guy started:

"Today we will know the second law 'CFnL'. Sir Ankit Upadhya devised this law and we should consider ourselves fortunate to have this law from its own creator Sir Ankit." We all clapped to welcome him. Then, a 6.5 ft tall, handsome, fair, well built guy came on stage and started his theory

"CFnL, the name speaks for itself. It consists of just mere three words but combining them makes a life long learning." Then the guy turned back and wrote CFL on the blackboard from all the top to bottom. Then he put arrow marks on all the letters and turned towards us.

"Guys, keep your breath. You are going to learn a marvelous relationship of three common words" He said and turned back again. Then he started writing C for Catch, F for F**K and L for Leave. 

He threw the chalk and turned towards us and said " Guys, it simply means Catch, F**k and Leave. Never trust a girl. Girls are not for friendship, they are just for sex. If you love, you will be destroyed. Never got emotional with a girl. These hot chicks are barrier to your growth, progress, career and future. Always remember, behind every unsuccessful man, there is always a successful woman.

Silent engulfed the room for next moment. Then another senior shouted "Have a big round of applaud for Sir Ankit". And we all clapped. The session ended and as we are getting ready to get out of the room, one of the senior called us and said " Hey, you three guys Rahul, Shiva and Vijay will make note of this law and you will be on the stage tomorrow". With no other choice, we nodded our head and get out of the room.

As soon as we figured ourselves in the safe distance of the room, we burst into laughter for the CFnL. The funny laws and how funny the guy is to describe the law. I and Shiva got busy in translating the same into different other versions, making joke on it but Rahul was upset again. The sadness on his face bothered us again. As we approached him, he tried to behave normal. But, he wasn't. The curiosity about his past errupted again in us. But, as decided, we thought that it is better to wait for the day when he will open his mouth. So, we remain silent.

The strange mail

   The next day morning, I woke up and opened my laptop. A message flashes "1 new mail in your mailbox". I got irritated and the sleepy brain asked itself "Who the hell sent a new assignment". I opened the mail and to my surprise  the 'From' column shows  Rahul and the subject shows "Who wanna play the debut match". I opened the mail and it goes like this.

Hey Fuckers/Freshers,

                                   We are planning for a match, this Friday. Anybody  who wanna part of it, please pass a Gandhi to me. The stumps, bat and the ball will be arranged by me. Dinner is complimentary. As this will be a debut match for most of you guys, I encourage participating and make it a success. I assure, it will ignite the spark in you that you need for your next four years.

Theme of the match is "My broken Love story".

Thanks,

Just another fucker, Rahul

I couldn't understand a single word from that mail or I would rather say that my sleepy brain didn't allow me to do that. I revised it again and this time I resolved the puzzle.

A Gandhi : 100/-

Stump : Alcohol

Bat and Ball : Snack

Debut match : Where people will booze for the first time.

I got excited as I solved a million dollar puzzle. I ran towards Rahul's room in my night dress, a striped blue vest and nude on top. Rahul opened the door and got surprised by seeing me like this. Before he could say anything, I handed over a 100/- and said proudly "I wanna play the debut match".

Rahul smiled and said  "You are the man, dude".

Day2 in Hall of Residence

Rahul remained silent for the rest of the day and preferred to keep in with himself. He even didn't talk to us. His strange behavior not only bothered us but erupted a different kind of curiosity among two of us. After class, he went straight to his room without saying anything. He skipped the dinner too. By the night, we couldn't control ourselves anymore. As per the say, "Sweet sixteen and curious eighteen", we couldn't wait anymore for Rahul to share his past life and the past where there is a girl friend. So, we two barged into Rahul's room at around 10 PM. Rahul with a cigarette in one hand, legs stretched and on the study table, other hand on the music player was sitting on the chair looking outside. He didn't notice our entry. So we went straight into his room and made ourselves comfortable on the cot. Rahul noticed us, turned his head with brows furrowed and smashed out his cigarette in the ash tray.

"Hey, Whats up" Rahul said.

"How are you?? Are you okay? What happened? I said.

"What will happen to me?" Rahul answered.

"Not to you. We want to know what happened between you and your girlfriend" Shiva said to Rahul.

We want to listen the love story and of course we don't want you to be DEVDAS alone. Share the story and let us enjoy. And with that Shiva started making fun of him. Rahul didn't react and with that the atmosphere went little emotional when Rahul said "Please don't make me remember all those shit and that fucking bitch". We got surprised by his language and that add more curiosity in us.

"You can share with us. You will feel relaxed". I suggested Rahul.

Rahul is a stubborn guy. He does what he thinks right and what he thinks wrong, he does neither do it nor let others do it. But, with my suggestion he agreed to share but with a condition.

"Those shit will come out only when some bitter goes in" Rahul said.

We couldn't make out anything and stood dumb. "Bitter, What you mean by that" I asked.

"Whisky and you guys too give company. And, then I will share" Rahul said.

We stood with our mouths open. On the second day of our college, we are asked to booze. We got terrified and said "We never did that".

"That doesn't mean you will never do that" Rahul smiled.

We got in a dilemma. The curiosity and the conscience got in a fight and guess what who won?

It is obviously the curiosity. So we agreed. Rahul took the whole responsibility of arranging the things and he also suggested to include some other guys of our hostel. We agreed. The date is finalized as the 16th August, the first weekend of our BTech.

Induction Session 2

Everything happens with a reason. Thats why, we found Rahul's room in front of our rooms on the very first day of our hostel. That day we, three friends chat late night. We talked about our past, present and planned future. We also talked about college, hostel, girls, sex and a lot of stuff. And, we forgot about the assignment. On next day morning, at about 5, Rahul came to my room and handed over the assignment and said "Copy it dude and pass to Shiva". My sleepy brain couldn't make out anything till I opened the fist page. On the first page, it was written "Assignment on Net-Worth. Presented by Rahul Sharma to National Engineering Institute, Mumbai". "Shit" I shouted and said to myself how can I forget this. Without wasting any more time, I started copying it. To my surprise, I found that Rahul has made the assignment for 27 odd pages. The assignment was in no way less than any real one. He didn't forget to mention the subject line, the number of hours he spent on the test and with whom and described everything with proper pictures. Rahul was a perfectionist and he missed nothing in the report. I made a carbon copy of the whole assignment except the data points and rushed to Shiva's room to handover that. To my surprise, Shiva has already made for himself with actual data. I don't know how. We got ready and set for our classes at 7:30. In the lunch break, we headed towards room no 205 for Induction Session 2.

As per the rule, we asked for the permission in the unique way and made our entry. This time, the room was filled with some new faces. One of the senior took us to a different line and the session 2 started.

"Have you fuckers done with your assignment" A senior asked.

"Yes Sir" we replied and handed over the assignment.

The senior looked at the reports and started reading them loudly.

"Vijay: 1.4 million grams. Shiva: 2.5 million grams. And Rahul: 0.3 million grams".

"Rahul, your net worth is too disappointing. We have a lots of hope on you." Another senior made joke of him. Then he grabbed his assignment and surprised in the same way as I did.

"Oops, you really made a good job. The report looks pretty, man". The senior patted Rahul on the back and showed the report to the other freshers and told them to make something like that.

Shiva and I just entertained some other seniors for half an hour and then we are asked about our girlfriends. Some silly, unexpected questions are asked and we also answered unexpectedly. But, Rahul behaved odd when he was asked about his girlfriend.

"Do you have a girlfriend" A senior asked Rahul.

"No, Sir". Rahul answered and his cheerful and smiling face suddenly turned into a tensed one.

"Did you ever had a girlfriend"

"Yes Sir"

"What happened then? Where is she now?"

"I don't know, Sir. She dumped me"

"Gooood, what did you do to her. Have you tried to fuck her"?

"No sir"

"Ohhhhh, thats why she dumped you. Be a man, Rahul. Look, your net worth is too low. If it continues, everyone will dump you".

Then the seniors started making fun of him and Rahul just stared everybody without saying a word. He was a different Rahul standing in that room, at least different than we met the day before.