11. Kurukshetrsa Hostel

About two months from the day I first set foot in the hostel, the place was bustling with activity; it seemed like a poultry farm. Guys were all settled in their rooms and bathrooms, mess and common room. Guys rushing to the bathrooms with a bucket and a towel around were common; the tussle to remove each others towel was contagious. The most borrow-able item was,
‘The Balti’
“O yaar balti de de” was like the wakeup call. The process of rechristening was over. Now one could hear new funny names of almost everyone, even the professors weren’t spared.

The hostel had two big lawns, well maintained through out the year, lush green surrounded by some trees and flower beds arrays. Anytime when the weather was apt it was the perfect place to sit down and chitchat. And at other times it was perfect for a game of cosco cricket. And if the players were too few, then they played indoor in the balcony. This was a small place for cricket, about twenty feet by twenty feet, so the rules here were more rigorous,
‘Direct hit on the windowpane is out’, ‘One-tip-one-hand is out’, ‘No fast balling allowed’. Hitting the ball on Depesh’s door was counted a six. And to no one’s surprise, he wrote on his door,
“Yahan chakka matt marna, varna mein maroon ga”
Even Tazzy’s door was counted for a six, but his instruction was benevolent,
“Please take only singles when I am asleep”

The rooms in the hostel were small and exactly how small they were I learnt in days to come. Sometimes I got up to make my bed early morning and my butt would pick up colour from the wall behind. So often, one could see many white butts around the campus. In all probability you’d hit your head on the table while looking under the bed for slippers. Depesh’s room was next to Tazzy’s and Bhupi’s thereafter. He covered one of his walls with posters of body builders and the other had a lone poster of Drew Barrymore, where she was spider-walking on a reflecting floor. Her lips were strawberry red, one always felt like kissing the poster right there. The only hurdle was the instruction Depesh had put next to the poster,
“Don’t kiss her, I have just smooched her barbarically”
So now you didn’t want to touch your mouth where he had ‘barbarically’. I think this was a good repellent, I mean it worked! He would introduce her as his girlfriend and one day he proudly said,
”Yaar no matter where in the room I stand, she is always looking at me…” and smiled. There was nothing more I could say than,
“She does the same to me as well! Maybe she’s fooling us.”
“Shut up yaar, don’t hurt the feeling yaar!”
Now that is love, I must say. He would sit in front of her and lift dumbbells for hours together. What attracted us most to his room was the variety of health drinks he always kept. We went like,“Yaar thoda sa bournvita de-de”