The Loo Lunatic

Not again! I mean, we have already had enough of this psychopath who went around dirtying the loos on the floor causing the maids to (rightly) wash their hands off cleaning our floor for at least a week leaving all of us to do the honours.
It had already happened once in the second semester. Freshly washed clothes were stuffed in the loos among other things, the gory details of which I do not want to get into. I cannot forget the clothes incident since two of my t-shirts (new ones at that) had gone down the drain (literally). And since then I haven't forgiven her.
Anyway its happened again. Whether it is the same person no one knows but it really doesn't make any difference as long as we end up cleaning the appallingly dirty loos and bathrooms ourselves especially when exams are hardly a week away.
Its worse this time since the maid who went to clean the loo puked and has fallen ill. And justifiably so. Imagine!
I am extremely pissed with the recent developments on my floor more so since we are all extremely helpless. The story happens every month reaching gory proportions (like this time) at regular intervals.
It is really not a pleasant thing to see... well.. disturbing stuff (I don't want to elaborate for obvious reasons) first thing in the morning. And it is also insulting to the people who clean the loos. We should never take such indispensable people (or anybody for that matter) for granted.
People dread to enter the loos on the third floor for fear of seeing something ghastly inside and ruining their day as a result. All of us in the hostel are educated and come from backgrounds which have instilled a basic sense of hygiene in us. Why would anybody do something as disgusting as this? If she derives any fun out of all this I must say she has an extremely perverted sense of humour.
And why? Why would anybody do stuff like this? Why have people stooped to a level so low that they resort to base methods like this to entertain themselves?
I would give her- whoever she is- a piece of my mind (among other things that is). There are so many things to do out here if you want to kill time or have fun. Listen to music, read a good book, watch a movie, indulge in idle talk or even gossip or just get your ass out in the sun and take a walk. Or eat something. Or sit idly thinking of anything under the sun. Dance. Sing loudly. Scream your lungs out to vent out your frustrations. Sleep. There are SO many things to do. Dont dirty loos for god's sake. Or just get out of this place if you don't like it or don't know why you are here or dont have things to do. Or get yourself admitted to an asylum for lunatics like you don't deserve anything more (or less). We could really do without you. In fact we cannot do WITH you.
All this only if I get to know who she is. If only I could lay my hands on her...

The Freaky Bong Bhoot

Yesterday night's experience was one of the strangest I have ever had and I still don't know how it does not send a chill down my spine. In my mind, it borders between the natural and the supernatural. Though my head is sure it is the handiwork of some hostelite I still don't rule out the possibility of a supernatural element. Without any more beating around the bush let me come straight to the point. Here's what happened yesterday night at around 0030hrs-0100hrs. Technically speaking, today early morning.
I was in a friend's room- three of us were studying together when there was a power cut only in our alcove. The rest of the hostel had power. This is not unusual since there have been numerous instances in which the fuse of only some rooms blows off. We were cursing our fate since we didn't get to finish what we had planned to for the night. It was quite dark in the room with only a dim light streaming through the window from a lamp post far-off. We gave up the idea of studying in candlelight since we had been studying for quite some time.
We decided to take a break till the fuse was repaired from the main circuit box downstairs and started chatting about arbit stuff when we suddenly heard a knock.
Since we were too lazy to get out of the bed, we asked the 'person' on the other side of the door what she wanted but got no answer. So Maddy finally got up and opened the door to find nothing but pitch darkness. We dismissed it as a prank of a bored hostelite. At the same time, we noticed the doors of the rooms of the other two (that is, my room and Monisha's room) open. Since it was dark and there was every possibility of a theft (yes, it is not unusual in the hostel) occuring, I locked my room and Maddy latched Monisha's room right which was next to her room.We went back to Maddy's room and closed the door since we did not want our talking to disturb the others in the alcove who were fast asleep.
A minute or two later there was another knock. This time too there was no answer. Nobody opened the door for some seconds and I (only I) heard a door unlatched. Finally, Maddy mustered courage and opened the door to find nothing but pitch darkness. And Monisha's door was wide open. (we had latched it just a minute ago.)
By this time Maddy was quite scared but Monisha and I still believed it was some jobless perosn in the hostel who chose the inmates of the only dark alcove in the hostel to play a prank on. For sometime after that there was nothing spooky or unusual and our fears were dispelled. However, Monisha said this was the best time to talk of ghosts and narrate ghost stories and suggested we talk of ghosts.
Though I was quite against the idea Maddy lapped it up readily and started telling us about a prevalent Bong(short for bengali) belief about spirits.
Apparently, it is believed by Bengalis that spirits sometimes choose to make contact humans. This they do by knocking at people's doors in the dead of the night. This spirit usually knocks thrice. If the bloke of the house founds nobody outside the door after the first two knocks he can be sure it is a spirit knocking. Then he is not supposed to answer the third knock. In case the bloke chose to answer the third knock, there are two possibilities:
(a) It could be a 'good' spirit the bloke apparently gets an answer to any question unanswered or usually hears his name called out by the 'good' spirit.
(b) It could be a bad spirit the bloke finds a lighted candle outside his door.
For the ignorant, a lighted candle outside the door is an extremely bad omen. So basically, there is something bad awaiting the bloke.
Maddy said it had been told to her in her childhood and that the belief had been prevalent since ages. She had just finished narrating this when I inadvertently turned towards the closed door to find, for the shock of my life, a yellow/golden light (in short, candlelight) through the slit between the door and the wall. I was really more surprised than shocked because the alcove had been pitch dark and the power wasn't yet back. I drew the attention of the other two towards the light. Maddy wouldn't believe it at first since she thought I was pulling her leg as she had just then talked of a spirit and a candle light. But she had to believe it when she saw the candle glow through the ventilator. Before we could realise what was happening there was the omenous third knock.
I was sure it was a prank and proceeded to open the door but Maddy stopped me. She was just too shocked. Finally, she mustered courage and opened the door to find, yes you guessed it, a lighted candle. It was really freaky. I went out and found nobody in sight. I started wavering from my belief about a prank because it was a huge coincidence to find a lighted candle outside your door just when you are talking about it.
Yes, the Bong Bhoot (as I would like to call it) had struck!
Maddy wouldn't get out of her room. I was, I must admit quite shocked and decided to kick the candle away rather than hold it in my hand and put it off. I really didn't know what Monisha was thinking because she doesn't say anything. But I am sure she wasn't as scared as Maddy was. Neither was she she ready to brush away the whole thing as a prank as easily as I did.
We decided to keep the door open but were yelled at by a sleepy inmate of the alcove who was woken up by our babble. So we had to close the door. Maddy was very scared and all my efforts at convincing her it was a prank were in vain. She had decided that an evil spirit was out there keeping candles outside her door and this surely wasn't a very pleasant thing.
Suddenly, we heard Monisha's windchimes in the next room. This is really very strange because Monisha's windchimes are very heavy and produce sound only when there is a strong wind. In any case, if Monisha's windchimes made noise Maddy's windchimes had to necessarily chime which did not happen in this case. This was very strange.
I had decided it was somebody in the hostel doing all this and was just waiting for another knock. Apparently, the spirit knocks only thrice and I had just given up the idea of catching the 'prankster' red-handed at the next knock when there was another knock! Without waiting for the others' reaction, I let out a yell and opened the door suddenly to find nobody outdside. But I distinctly heard a girl's laughter and somebody running away. I chased the voice and the footsteps but everytime I ran forward the girl turned around a corner. And when I too went to the corner there was nobody. I was sure it was somebody in the hostel laughing at us and running but then, wouldn't I find her? The corridors are really long so she couldn't run down all the way disappear round the corner before I could reach even the beginning of it.
Yes, there was a flight of stairs next to the corridor which I didn't check because I suspected a particular person of playing this 'prank' (she is notorious for playing pranks esp. on gullible people like me) and like a fool, ran towards her room. Yet, the stairs too were at quite a distance from the beginning of the corridor and she couldn't have turned there before I could even reach the corner.
Ultimately we confronted the person I suspected. She provided us explanations which we couldn't disprove to her disadvantage. Well, the details are not important. She was in fact instrumental in consoling Maddy and she got us to speak to another Bong in the hostel who confirmed Maddy's belief. (I did not belive the Bong Bhoot story.)
Well what followed is unimportant. The power was back by then and the rest of the studying planned was done in my room, door wide open. An hour later, we went to sleep after having made sure Maddy was alright. Unimportant stuff....
Anyway, I am still not able to accept that it was indeed the Bong Bhoot in action. I am inclined to believe it was somebody in the hostel- inclined being the operative word. There are moments when I am absolutely sure we fell for a silly prank but I must say I am not convinced. Sometimes reason gives way to the heart which says it was indeed the Bong Bhoot. In any case, why should I assume that believing in the Bong Bhoot necessarily means being unreasonable?
That there are spirits is not in question here. The question is whether it was a spirit in action yesterday. Whether we were indeed subject to a spirit's caprice yesterday.
That is was a prank is also not in question here. But that it was indeed some'body' who played it on us is in question...

Back to work

Its back to work again. I came back to Cal on the morning of 20th September. I was really busy for the past few days. Busy at home with the festival and busy in college with exams.
Ganesh Chaturthi went off very well at home. I think I really did the right thing by bunking college to go home for the festival. It gave me a well deserved break and has also refilled the much-needed energy for the end-sem exams. That is the magic of home.
It is back to hectic work in the hostel. There are no classes in college anymore. We have holidays till 3rd october which is the first day of the exams.
Nothing much to write right now. I have decided to keep my posts short till exams are over simply because I cannot afford to think of anything else now.

Festive Season

The festive season is back! Its time for celebration, fun, get-togethers and most importantly, (yummy) FOOD!! The food is the best thing I like about festivals. Especially Ganesh Chaturthi when mom prepares forty two varieties of dishes... The preparation starts at least a week before the D-Day and the whole house is filled with the aroma of food.
The slew of new dresses which one gets to wear is a close second. For the three days for which the festival lasts we get to new dresses.
As expected yesterday too was a busy day. Mom and I went buying stuff for today- fruits, flowers, food stuff, stuff for decoration etc. It felt really good to be back on my good old kinetic honda. There was this crippled and helpless feeling back in Kolkata when I did not have my own vehicle to move around. It is really different in Kolkata where people do not have their own two wheeler. They start late and start with cars. Motorbikes are not in large numbers and guys start riding only at 19-20. It strikes me really dull since back home, we start riding when we are when we are 15-16 years old. I think it si really sad to depend on somebody else for your tarnsport. There are cabs but you need to shell out a lot of money. Autos in Kolkata are like buses in Bangalore- they follow only fixed routes. They are shared and are thus quite cheap (you need to pay only 3-4 rupees to traverse a distance which takes at least 15-20 rupees by auto in Bangalore.) Yet it is inconvenient since you can't go to the exact spot you want to reach. You need to walk if the auto sto is far off from your destination. Don't ask me about public bus transport where you have rusted, cramped and small matchboxes moving all around the city at snail's pace emitting jet-black smoke right on your face. It is more than I can tell you.The metro system is the only bright side of the story. It is extremely fast and efficient but unfortunately does not cover the entire city. It sticks to just one route through the middle of Kolkata and it is useless for people (like me) who don't come within that route. Thus, without a two-wheeler (esp when you are used to one back home) you feel literally crippled esp when you have to travel short distances. That way, Bangalore is any day better.
Breakfast is ready. Which means I am off for now...

At home, In paradise

I am typing this in the comfort of my home, next to my bed. It feels sooooo good to be back. Just paradise...I had been waiting for this day since ages. For the past two nights I haven't slept. I am so excited about coming home for the festival (Ganesh Chaturthi) notwithstanding the fact that I lose four days' attendance which is quite a lot for a person like me who rarely misses class.
So let me do some catching up. Viva went off really well (Whew!). It was much better than I expected it to be considering I had studied almost nothing for it. This was on 13th September. Soon after my viva I went straight to the city and had a nice haircut. Well, its too short for comfort actually. (I asked the hairdresser to make it a "bit" short but it ultimately ended up being too short.) Nevertheless, I am really kicked. Wonder why I get kicks out of even a bad haircut...
Soon after college the next day I went out for lunch with a close friend, D. My birthday treat for him was pending and we hadn't gone out in a long time. Had an awesome time. We went to a South Indian restaurant- one I had never been to earlier. Unfortunately, and very strangely too there was no rice. Anyway I enjoyed lunch. In fact, my friend told me that though he generally liked (but thought nothing really great about) South Indian food he always enjoyed it much more when he lunched with me thanks to my "knowledge about south indian food and the way I put it across" to him. It was quite a compliment.
The whole night was spent in lots of excitement (running around, taking snaps etc.) and packing. I slept really late (around 3 in the morning) and woke up today, by a stroke of sheer luck, just in time for my flight. My mother tried waking me up by calling me at least twenty times but it was of no avail. I really don't know what woke me up.
Back home, the whole day was dotted with outings. I ran around to cousins', aunts' and friends' places to say hello. The afternoon was spent with my cousin touring Vijaynagar and generally doing arbit stuff there. It started off with giving my cousin's photos for developing but we ended up walking into every arbit shop, looking around and generally killing time. In the bargain, I also got to see Vijayanagar, an area I am not very familiar with. In the evening I went out shopping at Shoppers' Stop and picked up some real cool stuff for the festival.
All the time I was travelling on Bangalore roads I kept looking out and feeling so good about being in paradise city. Its any day better than dirty, stinky and dilapidated Kolkata. It reminds me of a dialogue from the movie Yuva... " Main tumhare pyaar mein itna paagal ho gaya hoo ke mujhe kalkatta bhi saaph suthra lagne laga hai..."
How true!! I dont know about the "pyaar" part though. The intended pun is definitely true.
Oh yes, I finally got snaps of my hostel and college developed. This is the first time I have captured my college and my hostel on camera. A good part of the night was spent showing them to the whole family. Some of them are in very poor light (around 4 of them) and unfortunately, these were the very snaps I had been waiting to see. :-( However, there are some really good ones too and I am happy they came out well.
Tomorrow will be running around as well. In fact, so will be the next three days till I leave Bangalore on Monday morning. (oh.. let me not be reminded of that now....)
Looking forward to a great festival before I go back to studies... (sigh!!)
I am reaaaaaallllllly sleepy now. (Remember, I haven't slept for the last two days properly.)
And mom's calling too...
So bye.
PS: To my college friends: In case you want to conatct me please do so on my Kolkata cell. (Kolkata number is active.) For my Bangalore friends: You could call me either on my Kolkata cell (no, you won't be charged std rates for it)or on the landline. I should be at my aunts' (and not my mom's) place most of the time. If I am out, you could always leave a message.

To lose a friend...

It was a first time for me yesterday. Though it was not unexpected it was a bit hard to accept- it still is. I broke up with a close friend yesterday. For the first time I took such a decision and stood by it.
I dont have many people who I can call my close friends. It has always been very hard for me to make friends. And if I do they never get very close to me. In fact I dont allow them too close. I like it that way. It is always better to be safe than sorry.
But very few, without my knowledge get very close and dear to me. And these few friendships are the ones I really cherish. The person in question was one such friend. This person became my friend in the shortest time. I still wonder how we became so close in so short a period. And this is the first close friend I have lost.
I have heard people say (and also believed for sometime) that true friendship lasts forever and all that jazz. Perhaps. Perhaps I only thought ours was true friendship. Perhaps it never was. Perhaps I pre-empted a lot. And assumed a lot. And expected too much. At this point I am reminded of a friend's words:
"There are times when we, after walking together for a long time, suddenly realise we are complete strangers." I think this is one of those times in my life.
Anyway, what happened had to happen at some point. If not today then tomorrow. It was never unexpected. Things had reached such a deadlock that this was the only way to resolve it. And I believe whatever happened is for the best. I was always warned against going out of my way to hold on to grains of sand in my fist- the tighter I try to hold the grains the faster they slip between my fingers. I think I did exactly that- tried holding on to the friendship for too long a time for comfort.
I paid my price. So what? I did learn my lesson in the process. Thats what matters ultimately.

Thought of the Moment:

I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar, but I cherish the friend who for me does not consult his calendar. Robert Brault

Lectures and more lectures

It was a day of "high-profile" lectures at college. It was high-profile because we had a slew of lectures from people who were stalwarts in their respective fields and who write our text books. For once, the whole class looked forward to the lectures. We had three lectures one after another.
The first one was by Mr. Mahendra P. Singh, an expert in Constituional Law. Our Constitutional Law textbook is edited by him. For the first time people fought to sit in the front rows. In all other classes people fight over the back benches so that they are left to themselves and can message, read novels, newspapers or just go to sleep during class. Today, it was refreshingly different.
Mr. Singh hadn't prepared any lecture since he had been to the University for some other purpose. So he asked us to choose a topic. We discussed at length on reservations in the private sector, viability and desirability of a uniform civil code to replace the personal laws and finally on confilict of fundamental rights. Though very interesting, I did not find his arguments especially regarding reservation very convincing. It was as if he did not question the efficacy of a policy as long it was passed by the Parliament and just because it did not violate any fundamental right per se. I am sure there are other considerations involved in analysing the efficacy of a policy. The stamp of the Parliament on a policy is definitely not one of the most important considerations especially when every single policy of the government is for some electoral or political gain. Issues are made non-issues simply for votes (read Veer Savarkar and Tiranga Yatra) or some policy is suddenly suggested without any rationale or real purpose behind it. (read 50% reservation for Muslims in employment in Andhra Pradesh) The Parliament and its policies is, most of the time, not reflective of the true needs of the electorate and the welfare of the nation.
The second lecture was by Mr. Pillai who is an expert in Criminal Law. This was an interesting lecture and funny too at times. We discussed topics like capital punishment, the Mallimath Committee Report and laws banning homosexual relationships. Though I strongly disagreed with him on certain matters I enjoyed it on the whole.
The third lecture was by Mr. Mani on International Law. Though it was restricted to the third year students I managed to sneak in and listen to it. I took the extra effort since I am personally very interested in the subject. We haven't yet had a course on International Law (we have a paper on International Law in the next semester) but the lecture was very commonsensical and did not require any strong background on International Law.
Though I had a thoroughly enjoyable day in class, I was quite pissed since I didn't get an important albeit simple job done from the University. I wsa made to run around all over the place for a routine and formal letter certifying that I was a bonafide student of the University. Very pissing off to see tables and offices empty for long hours. There is no sign of officials and I had to wait for long hours. Ultimately, I didn't even get my work done. So I must run around again tomorrow. I am fed up....
Viva preparation going too slow for comfort. Urgent attention required there...

After a long time...

The internet is back in the hostel after a long time. It had been almost twenty days since the net stopped working in the hostel. Apparently, the local VSNL office had caught fire and all connections were damaged. Nevertheless it had been set right at least a week ago. But there was still some problem with the hostel server and only the girls' hostel had no access to the internet. The cyber committee has been most nonchalant and careless in this regard. We were made to run around from one committee member to the other almost everyday. Finally, we approached the convenor only to realise, to our dismay, that he had resigned. How careless can the authorities get! Doesn't the student body have a right to know the activities of the Committees of the college? A matter such as resignation of a convenor ought to be made public at the earliest for the benefit of the students. And it is not as if we aren't paying for the internet. We are shelling out good money for it and obviously expect some service let alone good service.
The internet is needed the most now since the final round of the intra-university moots are on. The problem is on International Law for which substantial amount of research is from the internet. The mooting community has been on tenterhooks for the past week because of this. I am not mooting this time but I do understand their concern. Anyway, I am glad the net is back. However, I am really unsure as to how long it will remain this way. The server may konk anytime and it will be back to square one again... Anyway till then, I shall keep updating my blog.
I have my viva on 13th and i have studied nothing for it. I better get back to work before it is too late and I flunk my viva...
PS: nobody has ever flunked his/her viva till date. It is not possible since it is only out of five marks which forms a part of the semester paper. SO if at all you flunk, you flunk in your semester paper and not in the viva. Yet, at the rate at which I am going I think anything is possible....

Discover me

Lazy to the core. Thats what I am. Which is why it took me almost a month after I created my blog to have my first post on it. Well, its finally done. Thats what matters.
I started off typing this message intending to provide a brief introduction to myself. But I realised its not such a good idea. It is no fun unravelling a mystery all at once. I am sure you guys will like it better if you discovered me with every post. Its more exciting to slowly unwrap a gift than to tear it up all at once. It is important to preserve the charm of it all. However, for interim relief you could always go through my profile.
So come, be a part of this exciting journey and I assure you, you wont be disappointed....
PS: Btw, for starters, I am a second year student of law (Bachelors) in the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. I find classes boring. I love spending time in libraries. I find it much more fulflling than the boring lectures. I am forever in my library. When the lib's not open I am either surfing or reading books or eating (with my radio on all the while). I love talking endlessly (mostly about myself). I hate cockroaches. And hypocrites.