…life in engineering was like the episodes of ‘Tom and Jerry’. In every episode something different was at stake, sometime the cheese sometime a duckling and at the end of each episode there was no permanent victory and no permanent loss, just the bliss of being there. For example in one such episode, a guy from electronics knocked at Tazzy’s door one late night, he looked distressed.
“I have heard that you can help people with some good advice” he said.
“Well, I can” replied Tazzy.
The guy told him that he was in love with this girl in his class and did not know how to start out things since there was no common platform for him and her to start talking. Tazzy went about thinking and then said,“Do you have any female friend in your class, other than this girl?”
“No” he said and Tazzy thought even deeper now, the need was to give the boy a beginning.“Any male friends?”
“Yes”
“Can you trust him?”
“Absolutely”“Hmmm… then you start sitting right behind your girl in the class. Ask your friend to throw chalks on her, from right behind you. When she looks back to find out who it is, you are suppose to look back at her. She will think it’s you. As this continues one day she will lose her cool and fire you or maybe slap you. Now, you have to be ready for this. Later your friend should go up to her and tell her it was he who was throwing chalks on her all this while and not you. This should make the girl feel guilty that she fired you for no reason, she will surely walk up to you to make an apology; that will be your opportunity” Tazzy explained.
The boy went happy and excited, and implemented the plan in connivance with his friend. Then one day Tazzy gave me a hurried call asking me to come and see him. When I reached him I saw him sharing a beer with this lover boy.“Come join us, take a beer and cheers… buurraaah!” that was the lover boy having his first drink. I joined them and soon found out that Tazzy’s plan for the lover boy had capsized. When his friend went up to tell the girl that it was him who was throwing chalks at her all this time and not the lover boy, she liked him for his honesty and instead fell for him.
“Ha ha ha… ha ha ha…” that was me, laughing holding my stomach after one down.“I envy my friend; I wish I had sent him to take your brilliant advice that night”, “I am doomed…” said the lover boy knocking the beer bottle on his forehead gently. We went on to share his sad moments together and laugh over it into the midnight. The whole episode didn’t get him the girl he wanted but it gave the lover boy a good friend in Tazzy babaji.
That is how life was, on IIT Bypass, a bit sweet, a bit sour and tangy...
