TKM Diaries

Prologue

"I am Ajmal. Your name? ". He asked me as he possessed the seat inverse to me. I answered with a grin and a "distracted" look. He was by all accounts an attractive fellow, around 6 ft tall, slim and fair enough. He wore a Blue shirt on which a written work says "1889" at the right midsection. I was thinking about the the opportunity I had recently missed. 'Hard Luckiness! ', I thought as I raise my hand to shake with his.

It was a Friday night of June. 13-June 2014. I cleared out my office around 1 o check in the noon despite the fact that my office time was till 8 in the night. "Boss, I have to leave at 1 PM. Train is at 3.15. I came early today " I informed my manager. Everything was fine there in the workplace. I finished my work and left the ODC at 1 PM. Considering the Chennai traffic ,it will take almost 2 hours to achieve central station. I waited in the bus stop.No buses. 'I could have leave the office at 12.30', I thought. My waiting lasts around 5 minutes and finally it comes to an end as I saw a distant image of a bus at the far end. First bus came in the bus stop was an AC bus. Usually, an Ac bus can never ever make any temptation in me. But now, the situation is different. I have to reach the station within 2 hours and Chennai is burning. I felt as Chennai is more closer to Sun than any other place in the globe.

“One Central “. I said as I gave cash for the bus ticket. With God's grace, I reached the station around 2.30. I approached the Help desk to know the status of my ticket which was in waiting list when I booked it two months ago. “RAC. S3-39” The lady sitting in the help desk told me. “Still RAC!“ I whispered. Since I didn't Have any other option I walked towards the platform 5. I stepped into the train and occupied my seat. I gazed around. I wondered whether this ticket will get confirmed or not. A group of people entered with their huge Bags and baskets. I adjusted myself in order to make them easy to carry their bags.

I looked around , A family is perched on the seat beside me. Inverse to that seat possessed by a man in his initial forties, a lady in her late twenties and another lady around 23-24 years . I opened my book and took one book from it, however I couldn't turn any single page. My thoughts were stuck on the call I received last night. “ Ashish, you need to be there. You need to see it with your eyes. You will be fine after that.” Said my friend Shahal over the phone

" Is this your seat ?" .One consistent firm male voice brought back me to this present reality.

" Definitely" I answered. A young person in his mid twenties is remaining before me. I provided for him a 'what you need' look.

" 'You in RAC. Right ? '

'Yes. 39'

'I have a reservation in S7. Do you mind to exchange the seats once the checking from the TTR is over .' He asked as showed me his ticket.

A boy asking me to swap my RAC ticket with his confirmed ticket. 'Was it really this he needed to ask or I heard it wrong' I thought as I provided for him a confounded look.

" My friend is in this compartment. She needs me to be with her." He said, pointing to the girl sitting next to my seat.

The statement 'She " in his answer was sufficient for me to comprehend his choice totally.

" Hmm. I am al right. I will move once TTR checked my Ticket." I said.

" al right .Much appreciated." he said. He remained there as a symbol of a huge number of young men who will give up anything for young ladies.

3.25 PM: It’s moving now. The train. Trivandrum mail began its 15 hour venture from Chennai central station. People inside the car were busy placing their bags under the seats. Some individuals waving their hands towards individuals remaining on the platform."

I will come once TTR completes his errand " He said and left. My satisfaction didn't last much. Here comes the second young lady, with whom I expected to share my RAC seat. At the first minute itself,my solid choice to trade the seat turned into tentative.

4:10 PM TTR came and asked me my ID card. I gave my Id card. He looked at my name against his list. I began in a delicate voice,

" Sir, really I am wanting to change my seat with him" indicating him " He is a friend of mine. Will that be an alright for you?,Mine is RAC and he will get down ahead of me .Is that a problem ? ”.I said the last two sentences little louder with a specific end goal to remind him that my seat is RAC.

" Rules won't permit that. Your seat is RAC and his reservation is just till Ernakulam. Your destination is Thiruvalla, right?. It will be an issue. Swapping possible only with same destinations"

He said as he rubbed his cheek. I provided the boy a self-reproachful look. He acted rapidly.

" Sir . I needed to be in this compartment. My companions are here." He said.

"Rules are not to change as you like.What if a person reserved your seat from Ernakulam to Trivanrum. Where will he sit“. The TTR seems genuine. After a few minutes of silence he said “ Any way, Let me see “.

He next moved towards my RAC accomplice and asked for the same, She provided for him her ID card and said " Sir ,mine is RAC. Might you be able to arrange me an alternate seat ? ". Her request wasn’t a surprise at all " Its preferable to find an alternate seat than sharing RAC with a boy. particularly when the journey is around 15 hours.

" There is one seat accessible in S2. At the same time three individuals asked me as of now." He answered as he marked on her ticket. After a couple of seconds of stop, he turned towards us, smiling but serious face, first looked at me and then to our boy. He asked him.

" This woman require one seat. Would you be able to trade with hers. You both boys can sit together, right ". He said. Our boy gave me a confused look. I understood the meaning of the look.

“ But we already agreed to...” he tried to explain himself and failed to complete his sentence.

“ You both are boys. Its a lady here. If you are OK with that, I can arrange her that seat.” TTR said.

The boy looked at me, TTR looking at him. Our girl looking at three of us. Then all three of them started looking at me. I nodded with a confused face which they interpreted as the green signal. I smiled. So does our boy ,TTR and the girl. Like a series of bulbs glows in sequential order.She gathered her bags  and got prepared to move from the compartment.

"I am Ajmal. Your name? ". He asked me as he possessed the seat inverse to me. I answered with a grin and a "distracted" look. He was by all accounts an attractive fellow, around 6 ft tall, slim and far enough. He wore a Blue shirt on which a written work says "1889" at the right midsection. I was contemplating the opportunity I had recently missed. 'Hard Luckiness! ', I thought as I raise my hand to shake with his. And that was how I met Ajmal.

The train achieved its best speed. Visuals from outside got to be obscured green in color. Everyone inside the car was occupied with their own particular works. No one talking or listening to or appreciating the perspectives. They wouldn't fret the surroundings. Ajmal’s friend is listening to music through her earphones, eyes shut, supporting her head on the wall of the cabin. She seems sad about what simply had happened. Her face says as much. My eyes meandered around the cabin.

“Are you going home?” He asked me

“ Nope” I replied with a smile.

“ Ok. I thought you are from thiruvalla” He commented.

“No. I’m not”. I replied “ I have a marriage to attend tomorrow”

That was the beginning of the conversation and we talked a lot after that, we talked like long lost friends do at their reunions.We talked about our jobs, natives, college we studied, almost all the topics two strangers could talk in a boring train journey.

So, at point, he asked me that question

"So, Is he your classmate?"

"Who?"

"The one getting married tomorrow?"

"It's not 'he', it's 'she'"

"Ok. so you both are from same college?"

"Yes.classmates actually" I said I tilted my head to the right, resting it on the window rail.

" So, you are from same college?" I repeated the question again in my mind. A number of times. I positioned myself to see the visuals from outside. My thoughts wandered to the past, to four years back and it presented a tiny smile on my face and I tried to hid it from Ajmal.

I saw myself before four years in my brain. Ashish with no whiskers and mustaches. Doesn't make a difference what number of seasons cruised by, there are something you generally need to recollect even after years. There are something you can't rub from your brain, something you can't reproduce once more.

Staying there in Trivandrum express, I was flying out to my past,  travelling faster than the train's speed.

Chapter 1

2009 Aug

It was the second ever surprise I gave to my parents. Obviously the first one was my birth. My sister and I are twins and I can bet on my life that I was not planned.

When I said I got admission in TKM College of engineering, well.. that was the second surprise for them since my birth. You don’t simply get into this college unless you get a very good rank in entrance exam. And writing such a good rank under my name was completely an unexpected incident for them.

As I look back, those days are still playing in front of my eyes. On the first day,I stood there in front of the huge building of the college. It appears to me as if I’m standing in front of a Mugal palace. The college was built based on Mughal architecture and  I moved towards my classroom. Atmosphere was calm and I felt many souls welcoming me from the other corner of the building.

I was sitting in the second to the last bench, little nervous about the first day at college I felt myself as a donkey get ready for the race against a cluster of stallions.

A man in his early thirties stepped into the classroom and introduced himself as the senior advisor of the class. He began to explain about the history of the colleges without forgetting to mention that many famous engineers in the country are from TKM. He was true. This college has a big hand in building the successfull engineers every year.

“But how many failed people might have been there” I thought in my mind.” No one mentions about the people who failed or people who couldn’t mark their word. Histories are written by winning people and there is no place for failed people in it. Just like what I read somewhere, “Unless and until Lion learns to write or talk in human language, hunters will be the heroes of every story”

After a while, he’s done with his speech and found himself a seat on the empty desk in the very front row. Time for self introduction!. It was much expected. Self-introduction would be the first thing to do in the first class, no matter which part of the world you are.

I just practiced the sentences for my introduction a couple of times and watched the other students introducing themselves to the class.

“My name is Susan Jose. I completed my plus two from Dubai. I’m a native of thiruvalla and now staying here in WWH hostel “.  A firm voice brought me back to the real world. I saw a girl standing from the bench right in front of me.

“ Thiruvalla!. From the Town?” Asked the advisor, seemed like he knows each corner of my town.

“Not proper thirualla. Its village. Thiruvandoor.” My mouth went wide open. That place was very recognizable to me since it's really my town. Be that as it may, there was a slip-up in what she said. Perhaps it was a mistake almost all the NRI students like her would make sometimes in their life. “Incorrectly pronouncing their native village or place”.

“It’s Thiruvanvandoor. Not Thiruvandoor.”. I said it from behind. My voice was loud enough to make the entire class look at me

“Yeah. Right. It’s Thiruvanvandoor.” She resounded as she swung back to me with a wonderful grin, a grin you would most likely to make when you did something stupid. I still remember that moment. That was the moment I saw her face for the very first time. Her face was beautiful enough to make me think about the various possible ways through which I can talk to her after that very first class.

“We are from same place. She will talk to me after this class. Pakka!. She will come and ask me how I know that place.” Someone told me from inside.

Yes. She came to me after that class and spoke with me for a good five minutes. All the questions were as expected. About my native, my house name, church I usually go etc.

She was probably the first person from the college I talked for such a long time. She was about 5.7 feet tall, with glossy skin and slender eyebrows. Her Ebony black-hair was tied  properly but intentionally skipped few strands of them, which frequently falls into her cheek and she had to place it behind her ears all the time. She always wore a shawl around her neck, in a ‘snake of Lord Shiva’ fashion.

I saw her coming days but couldn’t talk to her much, just few hi-byes. She seems more like a person who doesn't like to keep relations with boys. I slowly started making friends from our class. One big disadvantage I had was that My roommates were from Mechanical.( I’m a CS student by the way). All my classmates got CS boys as their roomies. But for me, there was not even a single person from our class in my hostel floor. So unsurprisingly, Most of my first year friends were from other classes and the only one I  had a little chat from our class was Shahal and he was my roommate later semesters.

So during the initial days of our first year, I had only two good friends from my class. One is Shahal and the other one is Aswini. Well, Aswini was my workshop lab partner and she was so impressed with the way I handles the shovels and chisels. She was a girl who know how and when to talk. A calm mature intelligent young girl. Dark skinned girl with curly hair which and I could bet my life that she spends thousands of rupees every three months to maintain that hair.

Days passed like the gentle fall of leaves from the tree. Susan was still there, always listening to the faculty and taking notes. She didn’t care what happens around her. Shahal and I became closer, so does Aswini and I. My hostel life was also improving step by step. I got a little loop of companions over yonder. The majority of the friends were from mechanical. We used our night times sitting together, talking delicate things, consuming together and so on. Vineeth, Rohit , Laxman, Nair.. .. list goes on.

Chapter 2

2009 Nov

“Ashish, How is Susan Jose? “. Rohith asked me suddenly. Rohith was one among my mechanical friend. It was a Monday evening, we as a whole assembled close to our hostel mess for our day by day dialogs. Vineeth, Nair, Sachin.. Everybody were available there and it was then he made this inquiry, out of nothing.

“She is there. I don't know her much. Much like a studious girl“. I replied after a couple of seconds of silence.

“Hmm..She said you are always flirting with a girl. Is that so? “. He asked. This time, it was kind of stab on me. I really struggled for words.

“What! Did she say so?” I replied. He didn’t answer my question though. He just smiled and stood from his seat to move on.

“How do you know her? And what did she say about me?” I asked him again

“Don't worry man. We both are from same school, we know each other since 8th standard. Yesterday I saw her and your name came in between. She said you are too talkative. Said you are with a girl named Aswini most of the time“He explained.

“Oh” I just didn’t say anything back to him. He stepped away from me and almost reached his room.

“Tell her that Aswini is my friend and friend’s talks here in Kerala and no one calls it flirting” I called out.

“Leave it buddy.It’s same in Dubai as well” He said as he entered into the room, leaving no trace behind him.

I reached the class five minutes earlier next day as I had to collect my workshop coat from Aswini. First two hours are workshop sessions and my blue color workshop coat was with Aswini for the monthly wash. I collected the coat from her and wore it over the black T shirt.

“Ironed too” I commented as I buttoned the coat.

“Yes. For the first time, right?” She asked me back. I just smiled at her. We then rushed to the workshop block which was around 5 minutes’ walk from the classroom. We took the chisels and moved towards the carpentry table. Susan and her pair Micah was already near the table. They too are doing carpentry. I stood there keeping maximum distance from the other team. Aswini opened her workbook and explained the experiment. Experiment was to make a T-joint and she showed me the figure and explained me how to do it. Aswini was able to explain how to do it but she couldn’t actually make it with the metal tools. That was not a new thing to me as I was the one who really makes in workshop classes. Perhaps that was the only subject in the entire course where I was more comfortable than Aswini.

We finished our work by 12.30 and we had around 30 minutes in front of us till the lunch break. We were standing so far and we needed to find a chair each for us. Aswini pointed to the stools at the other side of the room and asked me drag two stools to our our place, one for her and one for me. We found ourself a seat on those chairs and she  unlocked her cell phone and showed me some pics she took while she was home two days ago. The other two girls moved closer to Aswini and commented on almost all the photos they saw in the screen.  I was not as energetic as I was tll then and just watched the photos just for name sake.

“What happened? Why you moody today?” Asked Aswini

“Nothing dude” I replied

“Trying to be intellectual?” She asked again.

“Doesn’t intellectual people comment on the pics they are seeing” I asked her back.

“Was that supposed to be joke?. If so, don’t worry. Almost all your jokes are failure just like this” Aswini replied and burst into a big laugh.

I just smiled at her and I saw the other two girls laughing at her ‘Successful’ joke. I moved closer to her and took my phone from my pocket and looked into it.

“Any problem today?” She asked again, clearly sensing the change in my body language today. I was a nonstop all the days and it was completely strange for her to see me silent for a while

I took a breath and said. One lengthy answer for all the three questions.

“ No yaar. People thinks I am flirting with you. And they don’t like talkative people. So it's better to be silent,Right ? “.

I said and left my chair. Aswini sat there as if she heard something Unwanted. Whereas Susan's face was same as I expected. Shocked. It was a pleasure to see Susan in that expression. I felt a joy inside me. Joy of scoring a goal against your bitter rival. I spent the remaining of the class with some of my hostel mates and at the end of the period, I raised my arm to say goodbye to Aswini and  prepared to leave.

I was sitting on the chair placed outside the lab, tying my shoes when I felt something on my shoulder. I turned to my right to see susan standing besides me.

“ Was that meant for me ?” She asked

“What do you think. “. I replied

She kept silent for a second, simply moving her eyes from one point to another.

“Who told you that? “ she asked with a smile hid in the corner of her lips.

“Ahh.. Do you really think I’m going to answer that?.” I replied.

“I don't know who told you that. But I need to know and you have to tell”. She argued.

“Oh. You can't even identify that person. That means you said those things to many people. Didn’t you ? “. I asked her back, looking more serious now

She kept silent  for a second or so, then opened her mouth.

“ How do you know Rohit ? “.

I was done with my shoes and I changed my sitting position, sitting straight now, giving her more face. She was looking at me. Even at that time, she looked brave and confident enough to ask all the questions popped up in her mind.

“ You know.. It’s hardly a minute since we started talking and you have already asked four-five questions so far.” I replied, pointing out the fact that I wasn’t pleased with the  question-answer session.

“You can simply answer those. How do you know rohit and why he told you the things I discussed with him”

“He is my hostel mate and you need to ask him why he said so” I stood from my seat and prepared to leave, joy of scoring the second goal against the bitter rival .

I still remember the day I walked away from Susan. I was the one who walked away from her. So naturally I felt an upper hand. Just like what I said, joy of scoring a goal against your rival.

Chapter 3

Hostel:

“Ashish boy.. What you guys are  planning to do on coming monday” Asked Vineeth. Our seniors scheduled a freshers day on next monday and my boys were discussing about how it would be. We have heard a number of horror stories about the freshers day. Seniors might catch you and ask you to propose a girl or kiss a boy or remove your pants or even  play a belly dance. And believe me when they say belly dance, it must be a belly dance, you can’t simply make movements with your legs and ask them to consider that as a belly dance. When they say belly dance, you must perform it as if you are a pro, with your uncovered belly. One of my hostel mate named Bibin  who is a chemical student  and he had played almost all the classical dances in front of the seniors. Bharatanatyam in front of second years, Kuchipudi in front of third years and most interestingly, he played a dance in front of some people, who he never seen after that in the college.

For me anything was fine except the slaps which I have already received quite a few times from third years. I’m fine with beating me on my backside, but can’t accept the slaps. Because , when someone slaps you, you would be in straight position , with your head upwards and eyes opened, looking at the other person. So getting a slap with your head upwards was not acceptable for me.

Shahal was planning to do a mono act and it sounds good to me when he shared me the idea.

“ It’s about an arabic man coming to kerala and the crazy situations he has to face here. I’m going to present that in a funny way” Shahal said.

Being a person who knows him for the past two months, I warned him to present it with no offence to any of the seniors, or college staffs or college itself. Shahal is a person who doesn't have any shame on doing the things he likes. If he decides to do something, he will do it. Last week he was punished for calling a faculty as ‘pazhasi raja’ because he has lengthy hair. And week before that, the punishment was for wearing sleeveless to the class.

Shahal explained me the things he is going to present and everything seems fine to me. We discussed something after that and I entered into my room around 10 in the night.

I searched for my phone as I entered into the room. My roommate was revising the topics taught today, laying on my bed with his book wide open and covering his entire face.

“Did you see my phone?” I asked

“Shaijal took it. He inserted his sim in your phone. I think he is using it”

“What?” Taking some time to digest the things I heared. “ Why did he take my phone without informing me. And I need to use it now”

“He said he he has some urgent calls to make”

“And what happened to his phone”

“It’s with someone. That phone contains 300 MB of porn vidoes and it been currently circulating in our floor.”

That was enough. I walked back to the corridor and reached Shaijal’s room.

“Where’s my phone” I asked as I saw him using my phone to call someone. He motioned me something with his hand and it was a request for me to wait. I sat there and it took around five minutes for him to hang up that call.

“My phone is with Arjun. that’s why I took your phone”. He said “ Do you need this now?”

“ Actually yes.” I replied and wait for him to remove his SIM out of my phone, “oh wait.. You can use this for the time being. Just give me your phone” We both burst into a laugh.

“It’s with Arjun”

“ Which Arjun”

“ Of 309” he replied

I stood from the seat and went to the room 309 and saw arjun’s roommate getting ready for a bath.

“Where is Arjun” I asked

“Taking bath” He replied

“With Shaijal phone?” I asked

“Yes” he replied

“Ok..I sat on his bed, thinking of waiting for him to arrive”

“Actually.. Next I’m going to take bath” Arjun’s rommie said

“ Ha… you carry on..” I replied

“No.. I will be taking that phone with me..” he said, bursting into laugh

“ Oh..ok” I left the room and went directly to shaijal room. He was ready to handover my phone back to me and I inserted my SIM back into it. My phone produced some beep sounds from my pocket and I saw a message from an unknown number

“ I am sorry if I hurt you, I didn’t say that in a negative way.- Susan”

I read it, twice, thrice and then press the lock button and put the phone back into my pocket.