7. Girls Hostel

“Let me show you around the place” said Tazzy. We left the common room and he went on to show me around the hostel, the telephone attendant room, the water coolers, the lawns and from far away the other boys’ hostel, our seniors.
“And the girls hostel” I asked curiously. He smiled at me and replied,
“That’s on the other end of the campus, you wan’na see?”
“I promise, yes”
“Naughty boy, naughty boy, I know what your concern is”
“What”
“That will I get I girlfriend from computers, IT, electronics or not?”
“Okay”
“I assure you, you will find one. Toon handsome munda hain yaar”
“Okay, so you are pulling my leg”
“O nahin yaar, sachi, Tazzy babaji da promise hai”
So we rode about the campus on his brand new bike, with him murmuring this Punjabi number which was making me laugh aloud.
“O jis din mera viah hove ga, chaulan walla palao hove ga…” something, something. Cool breeze was hitting my face and there was this amazing unexplainable feeling in my stomach about seeing the girl’s hostel. I was so happy I tell you I don’t have the words to explain how I felt. It was this wonderful feeling, very light, ultra light. We went straight for some time, whizzing past an old train engine.
He turned the bike left and we sped a downhill road,
“Here these are the workshops” he pointed to a long stretch of buildings to the left.
“And this is the athletics ground,” this time he pointed to the right.
“This is the aeronautical department here” he pointed again to the left.
“You know about Kalpana Chawla?”
“Yes the astronaut, I’ve heard her name,” I replied.
“She was from our college, this was her department.”
“Okay, and the girls hostel” I asked teasingly.
“O thandd rakh yaar, woh aagya”, he pointed straight ahead to a building on the left we were approaching.

Tazzy slowed down the bike so that our observation of the hostel was good and long enough. It was an isolated two storied structure, the reasons for isolation you know, surrounded by ten feet high walls and open grounds beyond. The hostel had that typical Indian security system; broken glass planted all over the top of the four walls, then a four-feet barbed wire fencing and an old guard at the gate that opened on the road we were on. We rode past the hostel slowly and had a glance of the inside when we were right in front of the gate. It was quite inside, only few lights burning. I was feeling good, some kind of a warm feeling surrounded me. I felt as if the girl who would love me the most in this world was maybe within these four walls, like they say ‘love was in air’, I was feeling it. The security guard banged his AK 47 patrolling stick on the concrete floor to remind us that he was there, but we had already crossed him.
“Harry, are you there?”
“Yes absolutely”
“In days to come you will hear one name on everybody’s lips”
“And what is that name”
“Aneesh”
“Okay, who is she” I asked curiously.
“I have not seen her but my cousin told me that she is one of the prettiest girl god has ever sent to earth”
“Is that so” I enquired excitingly.
“Yeah”
“By the way she is two years senior to us”Frankly, this information was a bit disheartening but still it didn’t dampen much of what I was starting to feel already.