The Awkward Fresher's Party

April 2009, Hyderabad

Finally, I was back at the campus, after spending almost 2 months at home with my internship. I had the submission of the internship report to my corporate guide which got delayed by a couple of days. That delayed my arrival to the campus by two to three days from the schedule shared with us by the institute. All the other guys had already arrived and I was the only one missing, for the initial three days. This had created a lot of anxiety, among the juniors, since they had already got introduced to me through the email communication I had sent earlier.

I arrived at the campus facing a lot of newness. To start with, ‘dhoklas’ instead of ‘theplas’ – me returning from home meant I would carry ample homemade ‘theplas’ on my way back for all the gang members. This time, the menu had changed and Mom had packed ‘dhoklas’ instead of ‘theplas’. Secondly, we were the seniors now, so there were a lot of new faces on the campus. Last year, anyone who didn’t belong to our batch didn’t gel much well with us. Now, since we were the senior batch, we had a new feeling towards anyone who didn’t belong to our batch – the juniors. Thirdly, as the senior year batch, we were moved to a new hostel block, which was occupied obviously by our then-seniors. So we had a new place to stay. This also meant we would have a new warden for the new hostel. Next new thing, I was informed by my gang that the institute has recruited a few new faculty members, so we will learn from a few new teachers as well. Another new thing, the campus was partially revamped to accommodate a few more students, which included a new building for mess, so the novelty in the campus continued.

While we were still doing our internship, the last semester's results were out and all of us had maintained the legacy of the gang. We all had passed but made sure we didn’t appear in the top 10 by any means. There are a few of us, including me, who had topped one or two subjects, but we made sure that we stayed aloof from the ‘rankers’ groups. The success of this effort and a couple of more reasons called for a party – we had to celebrate the completion of the first year of MBA successfully, plus we had a new hostel ‘house warming’ occasion. The first Saturday after my arrival was to be celebrated.

The curries were brought from ‘Raju Dhaba’ and rotis were smuggled from the mess. This is where our cost-cutting skills came in handy. With the number of rotis we required together, the budget for such a celebration would have gone up if we ordered rotis from ‘Raju Dhaba’. Our mess made decent rotis and they were always unlimited. The only hurdle was to take care of the mess clause which said you could have as much food as you wanted until you were in the mess. Everyone from our gang was assigned to smuggle the rotis they would have. Toshi could save a half bottle of Old Monk on his way back from Kolkata, which was the icing on the cake. For the non-drinking members of the gang, it was a large bottle of Coca-Cola. And the add-ons to the celebration were ‘Gudangaram’ cigarettes. Coca-Cola and Gudamgaram had become an integral part of any celebration for the gang.

We had to make sure that the protocols for a booze party were followed in the hostel since getting caught with alcohol and tobacco in the hostel premises would get us suspended. The institute had a very strict ‘no booze, no cigarette’ policy and we had witnessed enough cases where the management of the institute has not compromised even an inch on this policy. We had seen a case where a group of our seniors was celebrating their placements by boozing in their hostel rooms. The institute wasn’t reluctant to take back their offer letters when they were caught.

We had tried doing these things on several occasions in the old hostel. Every time we used to booze in the hostel, we used to have everything planned even to the extent of disposing of the bottle. The only thing new was the place and a new warden. These things were taken into account and with a few modifications to the plan, we were all set for our first booze party in the new hostel.

The classes started in full swing from the subsequent week. We had less number of papers to be attempted as compared to the previous year. By the time we hit the last trimester, the placement would have already started and it made sense for the institute to design the curriculum in such a way that the students could concentrate more on the preparations for placements rather than giving presentations on topics that had no bearing with corporate life and the work we will perform in the companies where we will get placed.

We were the first group to give a fresher’s party to our juniors, and it was as overwhelming as the welcoming email that they had received from me. Every junior, regardless of whether they belonged to the Marketing junior batch or not, was talking about this fresher’s party for the next ten days.

As the CC for the senior Marketing Batch, I was invited to the fresher’s party of other courses, including the HR batch, and that is where I had my first confrontation with Priti Bhatacharya. The last time I had texted her was before the others were about to arrive at the campus. By now, she would have known who the real Rahul Reddy was, and he wasn’t nicknamed Sam. I had not heard from her all these days. Hence my assumption was a fair one, I was busted.

We had a tradition of awarding the badge of the CC of the new batch to the CC of the other senior batch. For the marketing fresher’s party, we called upon Rahul Reddy to hand over the badge to Ritesh Srivastava, CC for the new Marketing batch. Similarly, I was invited to the party for the sole purpose of handing the badge to the new CC. And the new CC was none other than Priti Bhatacharya!

I had no idea that we could meet face-to-face this way. We had an awkward handshake during the ceremony and exchanged embarrassing smiles. It was awkward for me as I had lied to her and I was thinking that it was awkward for her because she let out her problem to me without confirming if I was the right person. I was wondering what she might be thinking about me. She must be thinking of me as ‘chance pe dance’ type guy, who would continue to interact with a girl whose approval has been attained, even if it means under a false name. That also made me a desperate guy. The look on her face wasn’t of anger and disgust though. She was looking equally embarrassed as much as I felt embarrassed. But I was glad that at least the first confrontation was done with and I probably will not have to interact with her in the future since we not only belonged to different courses, but different batches too.

It was her turn to take the stage with her thank you speech.

“I would like to thank our esteemed seniors for giving such a warm welcome and making us feel at home. Right from day one, they have supported us with our problems”

Saying this, she looked out for me in the crowd and gave me a broad smile.

She continued, “On behalf of my class, I would also like to thank the faculties, the management, and the non-teaching staff of the institute for taking care of us, beyond the classroom. It is surely a privilege to be part of this illustrious institute which has been an eminent contributor in the management space by fine-tuning its students and making them ready for the corporate world. I was thrilled to learn about the academic concepts that the institute uses and I am particularly thrilled about one such concept, BRS. It allows all of us to develop a habit of reading and having views on the content we read, as a presenter; and as a listener, it allows us to learn about different management writing. Being physically and mentally present for all the sessions in the trimester would also expose me to nearly 60 different management books, and topics. So, in a year, if someone took these sessions seriously, they could get to know about as many as 180 books. For many of us, it also gives us the chance to start reading, since it is never too late to start. I have heard about concepts of book reports, but I never went to a school that had book reports. I feel that this is something to be attributed to the Indian Education system. Reading is always referred to as a hobby and hobbies are things that interest us and we love doing them in our spare time. But this particular hobby, I feel must be made compulsory to a certain extent by introducing a systematic pattern towards reading stuff apart from textbooks and it needs to be induced early in academic life. As they say, ‘books are our best friends’; the experience of reading a book always offers a lot of solace and it strengthens the brain and our vocabulary. With this, I would like to wish all my classmates the best of luck and once again thank everyone”

She got a huge round of applause from the crowd. This was a long speech, but everyone paid full attention to every word she spoke on the stage. Her poise was commendable, her choice of words was apt and her delivery of those words was impeccable. I was glad to find she had the same feeling that I had towards BRS. Reading was very close to my heart also.

Dinner was served and I rushed into the dining area the moment the announcement about the same was made. Probably, I wanted to eat and get away from confronting Priti since my real identity was out in front of her. I could afford to have early dinner since I was invited as a guest. I stood in the line with my empty plate and got a call on my cell phone. It was Sadia. Talking to her would be a nice break from the situation and I wanted that, so I took her call,

“Jaanu, are you busy?” she asked excitedly.

“Darling, sweetheart, love, baby – how could I be busy for you? Never busy when you are so excited!” I said and looked around to confirm if anyone was around me. There was no one and I moved towards the salad counter holding my phone in one hand and my empty plate in another hand.

“Waah waah…..Subhan Allah! You seem to be in a lovely mood right now. I will ask you the reason later, first things first, let me tell you about the dream that I saw last night. I am raring to share that with you……”

Even before I could ask her to start, she had already started, “I am with you…….on a hill, covered with clouds…..similar to the hills they show in movies…….and we are holding hands….walking…..slowly……”

Just when I was trying to place myself with her on the hill…..covered with clouds…..similar to the hills they show in movies…..walking…..holding her hand…..in my mind, I got a tap on my back.

I turn around, while still holding the phone in one hand and the empty plate in another hand. It was Priti.

She whispered, “Let me help you” and she got to the other side of the table, and started serving the salad to me. I was confused and continued advancing alongside the table which had rotis. Priti too advanced but on the other side. She served me rotis, palak paneer, dum aloo while I slowly advanced alongside the table. I reached the end of the table, where the rice was placed, and waited there. She had already reached there, from the other side of the table. As I waited, for her to continue serving, she giggled and looked at my plate. My plate was obviously full and there was no space for rice. Damn, I curse myself.

Meanwhile, I got my attention back to Sadia, since she stopped speaking a couple of seconds ago. I looked around, located a corner, and reached there taking giant steps. The last words coming from her that I could pay attention to were – “the lizard runs away, and I also wake up from my sleep…..the end. Wasn’t it interesting?”

I was quick to respond, “Oh, that’s so interesting jaan. How do you get such dreams, I always wonder how you get such wonderful dreams, sweetheart!” She is nodding her head, I could imagine, “Exactly jaanu! Now you tell me, how come you are in such a romantic mood? Mr. Merchant being in such a romantic mood makes ‘would be Mrs. Merchant’ wonder if Mr. Merchant is with her cowife….” Sadia started laughing naughtily and I don’t know if the Big Guy upstairs was playing some kind of game with me as Priti appeared in front of me all of a sudden.

Involuntarily, I disconnected the phone, not before adding – “I will have to call you back”

As soon as I put my phone in my pocket, Priti spoke, “I didn’t intend to cut short your telephonic conversation, but was worried about the food on your plate, since it was getting cold. The food is amazing, sotti! And I am sure it won’t taste the same way if it turns any colder!” she punctuates by taking a bite of roti and dum aloo.

I was completely dumbstruck and tried to eat from my plate. She was still standing there as I was about to finish the penultimate piece of roti with palak paneer. She looked at my plate and said, “Let me know if you need my assistance with your rice servings”

I took my eyes off her, back to my plate, and went for the rice serving.

Rahul Reddy was standing near the rice end of the food table and I was more than happy to see him there. For the rest of the dinner, thanks to Rahul Reddy and his stories about his new girlfriend, I avoided being around Priti. I was the first one to leave the seminar hall as I finished my dinner without the dessert and rushed to my hostel room at top speed. On my way, while I tried to analyze what just happened, I got reminded of ending Sadia’s call abruptly. There is a text message from her:

‘I am so sorry jaan. I would never mention crap about cowife and all again. I know I should stop watching daily soaps on the TV. I would stop it ASAP. Please don’t get mad at me, I know you love me a lot and you would never think of a cowife’

I replied to her

‘Sweetheart, I am glad that you have finally understood how crappy these daily soaps are for you. And you are right; I love you a lot and would never get you a cowife’

There is an instant reply from her

‘Love you lots and lots and lots Sameer. I know I can trust you, blindly. Muaaah <3 <3 <3’

And then suddenly, my phone rings. I guessed it was Sadia and received the call without confirming as I started talking, “I know you would call!”

There was no response from the other end for a few seconds and then someone spoke,

“keenno……so that’s why you left the seminar hall so quickly? I thought before leaving you would at least thank me for serving you your food today”

Oh crap, it was Priti! This wasn’t my day, for sure. I knew I had to speak, but unsure of what needed to be spoken. I almost stammered,

“Prrritiiii, please tell me…..”

“The reason why I have called, and why I wanted to approach you during dinner was to request you to help me with my BRS”

I was surprised by her request. To begin with, I had never been graded the highest marks in my three attempts at BRS in the first year. And secondly – and the most alarming thing was that I had heard her speak on the stage sometime back and she was excellent. Then why does she need help from my side?

My lack of response to her request made her speak, “If you are thinking I didn’t follow the proper protocol by not addressing you as Sir, then I apologize. I had seen the welcome email that you had sent to the junior marketing batch and I know the origin of the welcome email that was sent to us. But I shouldn’t assume things. I am sorry……”

I had to cut her short, “Hey I was not expecting your call, that’s why I was taking some time to respond. I can definitely help you with your BRS, in whatever way I can. If you are free in the evening tomorrow, can you meet me near the library, at 6?”

“6 doesn’t suit me, we have a guest lecture in the evening. How about 9:30, post dinner? Our hostel doors remain open till 10-30, so we will have a good more than 30 minutes time to discuss” she sounded tentative. “oh sure, that works for me. So 9:30, near the library! and you can avoid addressing me as Sir!”

“Oh, thanks a lot for clarifying this. It's such a relief since I am not at all convinced with the Sir culture. So, meet you tomorrow then, theek aacchhe!” she added, excitedly and disconnected to phone.

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