Fistfight between friends - Part II

Dear readers,

Writing something is like sweating after a hectic game of basketball.Emotions are same , you feel rejuvenated after putting same ball in same basket many times.Same is the case with writing,you write in same language with same 26 alphabets.You pour out your heart in the words,however here you can choose not to be repetitive like basketball.

I still vividly remember the days when I used to write occasional letters to some of my friends way back in 90's.Nowadays phones doesn't give that pleasure. Words come from mouth while you talk on phone, it comes out from the heart when you write a letter.This is the beauty of written words,which my generation is missing nowadays.

Boys of my generation strategically belongs to both worlds.......it means we boys whose age is in and around 30 yrs......have seen the change first hand...we can recall days before advent of Internet,Mobile phones,satellite TV......THESE ARE THE THREE COMPONENTS OF 21st Century which a boy of 15 years i.e. Z-generation can not even imagine. Once I was asked by a small boy......how people used to live without mobile phones in bygone era. It seems these young chaps put the mobile phone on same pedestal as oxygen in the air.How can you breathe ?

Same is the case with people over 40 or 50yrs of age....they have to learn the changes.
But we boys saw the change unfolding before our own eyes.....fortunate to see the call rate of 32 Rs. per minute as well as 01 paisa per minute.
Inflation going in opposite direction...my Economics(Hons.) friends will justify the equation.

These details highlight the significance of BHU-boys I am talking about.My last blog evoked some responses as usual. Happy to see that some of them recalled Ulan Bator instantly and some of you must be scratching your head till now.Some complained that I am not describing the actual event.......but dost you need to put some background before writing a story and I plan to write some snippets attached with BHU......so the event of fistfight is the culmination of the journey.
Some of you have even suggested that I need to be politically right while using names .....but that will put a spoke in the actual thrill of narrating events....so I will follow the pattern of Team Anna....using no-nonsense words....I just wish to convey a story in plain words.....you may like it or you don't.

One more fact, a story is like a girl's dress .....it should be long enough to cover every vital parts whereas short enough to keep you interested and guessing .

It is the act of breaking eggs on your face....you may wipe it or you can make an omelette using the ingradients supplied by me.

So the story begins now.........

A.N.D. hostel had a fun-loving character.Actually, every hostel in BHU wears its character on its sleeves. If you are talking about a resident of Birla hostel..the first image which comes to mind is that this boy is a no-hoper ...he is dada-sort of chap........bad in studies.Bhabha hostel evokes the memory of intelligent students. In fact, each hostel has a stoy to telll....

If you walk few 100 metres from AN.D. hostel towards perimeter wall of campus, Karaundi Gate epitomized the street food culture of Benaras.Few stalls of Jalebi,kachauri,samosa were strategically located near the gate.Tea was served in earthen pots(kulhars).Snacks were spicy and delicious to the core.
Indian Railways tried to emulate this kulhar culture but failed and returned back to insipid plastic cups.Earthen kulhars are full of micro-organisms...they have a life of their own.They add rustic sweetness to the tea. Smell of baked clay is inspiring. How can Railways do it if A.N.D. boys are not supporting the adventure.

Naveen was the declared miser of our group ,he never visited this area due to the fear of finding some acquaintance on the food stall.However,sometimes he paid the bill under the peer/Dilip pressure................Neta was a gracious host of this place,whenever any known person used to visit the area...he was duly invited and fed.
Budhau was another kanjoos in this category. He used to accompany us ...ate large quantities but never carried his wallet. So, the next one in the line has to pay. Though ,there were several makhichus in my batch.........but list will not be complete without mentioning a tribal fellow from Kiriburu.Most of us heard this wonderful name for the first time. But,he was the shining armour of kanjoos mahapanchayat in AN.D. HOSTEL

There was one very small grocery shop located at the Karaundi gate.I used to buy soaps/biscuits/jaggery/chana etc. from this shop.This shop occupied a very small area but its clientele was very elite..intellecually oriented.
The reason was was pretty beautiful. A very volptuous ..well endowed bhabhijee was running the shop intermittently.When her husband was alone at the shop,customers were few but as soon as she was in the charge ....boys and men crowded her shop.This was the time before shopping mall culture arrived in our country. Now , I understand wholeheartedly that why a shop selling men's shaving cream is having all women's staff at their disposal.These were first lessons of consumerism for our batch. My several batchmates have done MBA and doing good as managers in Indian as well foreign MNCs.Some credit must be given to that lady.

Prashant Thakur alias Baba was the black sheep of A.N.D. family.He used to join each and every group, be it senior/junior and and eat to the heart's content and deliver lecture on esoteric topics.This man is truly bilingual....he has the command over Hindi & English languages. Truly intellectual...voracious reader of books/newspapers.This boy had a peculiar habit....he will never study the books of graduation subjects,except one night before actual examination. But he always secured very good marks. Though ,this boy was a born genius ,but he prefered the company of sadhu/sants of Benaras. He loved this great ancient city of believers and is the only one of our batch still bathing at Assi ghat regularly.
He had a habit of interacting with tea drinkers on the tea stalls of Lanka.

Do not get flustered,this Lanka is situated bang opposite the mighty gates of BHU.Only place in India without Ravans, this place must have been visited by few thousands Engineers/Doctors/bureaucrats/intellectuals etc. Actually ,you can smell the fragrance of BHU campus in and around Lanka.There was one Pahalwan ki dukan in the middle of this Lanka,say heart of Lanka.We used to drink piping hot milk and all other sweetmeats related to milk at this place.
Particularly in my case,some credit goes to Pahalwan.You drink the milk and sleep well in hostel,your memory will open up during exams.

I sincerely hope that Thakur Baba decides to write on the Benaras and all its pleasures......that will be a master piece.

We were fortunate to have a Mayank Mohan Mishra among our batch. He was the first multi-mouth talented boy I met.
Arre, Multi-mouth means bahumukhi pratibha ka dhani.This boy was self-proclaimed ultra-genius.According to his own verbal records,he joined in first year graduation as a 13-year old boy.So,he planned that by 18 yrs. of age,he will be a post graduate and then do the Phd. for next 03 years so that he can become an IAS BY 21. In between,he will do the MBA and several other academic courses for timepass.

One funny incident happened during my 2nd year, may be in the year 2ooo.It was indeed a great year from astrological point of view.People were expecting that computers and other devices will not work from midnight of 31st December 1999.
There was one Abhishek bhaiya... he was a very honest and hardworking student,intellectual to the core.But he used to have beer with batchmates. So many of us did so during those halcyon days.One night,he started vomitting after having snacks and beer/old monk.But,someone noticed that black hair was coming out from his mouth. Someone gave him pubic hair pakora as snack while they were having good time.It seems Hemant bhaiya and others were the main culprit.

No problem the life goes on. It happens. Sometimes I used to exaggarate few events, and I am still unable to fathom why people called it bakchodi.When you are chatting in a group round- the-clock, few exaggarated statements are bound to crop up. After all, how many times you can tell a truth, lies make a good story. Imagine if there were no lies in the world, how will we talk to each other.
For example, you are sitting on commode and get a call from your immediate boss.What you will tell, I am shitting.......no way man you will tell a lame excuse...tell a lie. This is biggest disadvantage of hand-phones(mobiles)..they will ring at such inappropriate moments.That's why I prefer a landline phone.

My hostel had a landline connection too.....309065 was the magical number .....It was mostly used by girls of MMV(Mahila Maha Vidyalaya) as they had got the intercom facility in their hostel. BHU administration was partial,they never provided this facility to us. So,the smart boys of my hostel were always ready to pick up the phone...no matter what unearthy hour of the day phone rang.In fact,if the phone rang during late night hours,they were sure that this is their chance to hook up with a beautiful girl.They will wear Axe deodrant and wait for ringing of the phone.Girls were very tolerant on the phone..you can talk any topic on the phone. This was the precursor of the phone sex era.Dial a number and talk with willing/accomodative friends.

But,this activity also gave birth to several long-lasting relationships too.Some of those night birds are happily married now.
I propse a toast to their love. Long live this holy association.Hats off to you.


However , in between all this small activity .....some major changes occured in demographic profile of BHU.
Boys who have entered as lambs in 1999 have turned into tigers by the year 2002. We became super senior for the first time in our life.It was fun,ragging the juniors in innovate ways.
One popular game was wiping your laughter by your own ass.
B union R was the another favorite formula for maths students. We had endured it during our ragging and doing the noble work of teaching it to our juniors.

With passage of time our stamina increased. Hostellers were the best revellers in town.Gambling...drinking...flesh trade......watching nili movies became the order of the day. Money was not a problem due to Mess/canteen culture. One 3rd year boy was supposed to run the hostel mess under his supervision...so the cost of all the above-mentioned activity was added to the diet of hostellers. Kaushal/Sharad were chief architect of this Mess corruption group.
In hindsight,I can not believe that why we tolerated this nonsense for so long. May be some of us were damn studious to think about such ventures.
Nevertheless,this was the primary source of increased level of vices and caste groupism in A.N.D. hostel. Yes, caste plays an important role in BHU hierarchy.


So...the forthcoming incident will describe the actual fistfight. But , have patience my dost........Ghats of Benaras were not built in a day. So. I intend to continue my story in next episode...........may be it is destined for a better day other than 24th Aug. 2011.



Till then....
Happy reading......