It was the first day of college in the second year. I entered the classroom filled with nearly half a hundread students. I dint know a single one of ’em. Quitely i took a seat at the back with some guys who seemed too busy with themselves. From their conversations, i could make out two of them as Amlaan and Tarun.

The amlaan guy was fair as an elf and kept throwing smooth and fluent english out of his mouth. First impression – never speak in english in front of this guy who may as well make u feel like u just passed nursery english with an E. The small conversation that i heard wasn’t so suggestive but what i made out was that this guy juat wanted to talk english, on and on, may be totally out of context but keep speaking… that’s seemed like him.

The other guy seemed like a sports person in full casula attire. He too seemed like he can keep GB Shaw silent in a conversation but then the other guy was too much for him. But this guy’s english was on the other extreme than the previous one. He spoke too many words but forgot to apply the rules of grammer. And this guy had a perpetual smile on his face. Tarun Chauhan…

The class was lively. And then it happened. This guy wearing a totally grave expression came in straight and sat next to me. Hey i knew this guy. He was introduced by a fren of mine back in 1st semester. Never really got to talk to him after that. This guy comes in and the first sentence he utters – ‘beep’ kya boring sa classroom hai ‘beep’. ‘beep’ kisi ‘beep’ ko tho jaan ta nahin main yahan. ‘beeeeeeeep’. Uff… i was just feeling lucky i didn’t seem too boring to him. But seriously this guy seemed like one who can take for a joy ride if he wishes and bring u down to earth before a blink if his mood flips. This was Siddharth Mitra from Delhi (u might have guessed that by now).

The class began and we two were sitting in the second last bench with the amlaan and tarun guy in front of us and some tamil guys behind us. From my place i could see a bit-of-plump guy in the most shocking attire one could wear to a class. He was talking incessantly since the time i entered the class laughing and making others around him laugh at the top of their voices. This guy seemed like some crazy rock artist with too many accessories on his body to go with the dressing. His hair was falling to his neck on both sides of his face almost suggesting the absence of ears. People around him kept calling him as Supreet.

The first teacher who came was a asst professor. He said he was our class coord. This was Jayshankar. He had this important task of choosing a class representative and an asst class rep. When he asked out for anyone who was interested, only blank sighs were heard. The reason was obvious. Then suddenly two guys raised their hands. One was a tamil and the other was almost as fair as the amlaan guy but half the width of chasis. This guy seemed the ultimate nerd type with a pair of glasses on and hair almost like that of dexter. But as soon as this guy raised his hand alomost every gal voted out for him including that good looking one in the front 🙂 Finally there was our class rep. Pracheer Gupta from Delhi.

Everyone was having fun in the class. After the crowning ceremony of pracheer the prof asked us for our intros which was customary. One by one everyone stood up and introed themselves. There was this guy lean and thin like a walking stick and with a pair of reading glasses. Dressed as if he was going to some kind of job interview. This guy looked like he and the pracheer fellow were twins. This guy talks proudly and smiles once almost after every word he utters. Though he dint look like a nerd as his brother but he definitely sounded like one. Anuggonj Ranjan – this guy was.

The guy sitting beside him was a tall and handsome fellow who seemed he was on top of the world just because he was in this class. The smile never ceased off his face. He seemed like one of those gym-carzy guys crazy about their physic. The teacher was being kept busy by this person who seemed like he knew the teacher from the time when he was a toddler. He talked as if he was chatting with a friend. I peeked at his notebook and his name was as long as he was tall….. BVMR Gopal Shastri.

Then there was this gal who was looking like a penguin who had further tucked her head into her neck. She along with all other gals had promptly taken the benches at the front. This gal talked as if she had come out straight from the toy story movie. I mean who talks like that !!! But she seemed friendly and carefree nonetheless. This was Aditi Sharma from rajasthan.

With her was another gal who seemed like someone had hit her too with a hammer on the head. This gal seemed like someone’s younger sister who had ventured into this engineering class thinking she will get to see some funny animals or get to ride a toy horse and obviously very dissapointed. But had reconciled and was now looking at the funny people around her speaking many things of which she apparently understood nothing. This gal was looking like a dumb tamil gal who had perhaps hoped for a fancy dress competition but had ended up here somehow and was now trying to make herself native to these intelligent and not-dumb-looking aliens 🙂 Maya was her name. Just then it happened…

“KYA HAI”…… Came a shrill voice out of the front benches. The teacher had gone out of the class and the class was in an uproar, till now. As soon as the voice boomed all over the class, everyone started seeking the source of the ‘warcry’. There in front of the class were two gals, conscious of the attention they had attracted now. The gal who was now hiding behind his fren seemed to be the one in question. This was a reed thin gal with hair flowing all over like… like… someone shampooed a pony tail, conditioned and ironed and may be dry cleaned them too in order to make sure they remain like they were. As it was revealed to the stunned audience later she was Shilpi Karn, from Jharkand. Siddharth who had now stopped lauguhing exclaimed ” ‘beep’ kya awaj hai ‘beep’… i just looked at him and smiled.

The class had somewhat settled now. The teacher was back in class and was now discussing how the semester would progress, about the assignments and projects that we will have to carry out. I noticed everyone staring at him as if bryan adams himself had apparated from the thin air. Then i saw this gal fervently taking notes of whatever the teacher was uttering. She looked smart but had somewhat been shaken by the shrill that came from the ” silk-for-hair gal ” sitting next to her. She seemed like someone had just warned her that it was a dark and wicked world out there inside the class full of blood-thirsty filthy criminals who were called “BOYS”. And she was not to speak a word ever to any of those creatures else she shall be doomed. Then i asked our newly made chief – the prcaheer guy – about this gal. God i could swear there was a moment when i could see all hell break loose in his eyes. Then as soon as it had appeared it passed and he answered silently – Roli Agarwal. I was too busy to notice any further changes of features on his face. 🙂

[ The Following Happened Some Days Later ]

As soon as the branches were sorted out the news of an interbranch cricket tournament broke out. I was in practice along with some other frenz when this guy comes in to the field. He was… well… not so tall, wearing a cap and in three-fourths. He comes straight to me and asks who is Surya. I said that would be me. ” Amlaan said you were taking team members for the tournament ? I can bowl leggies. Can I play ?” At first i couldnt understand what he was saying . Then i made it clear that i was just another player and another guy was the captain. He seemed like a teenage asking his dad – ” dad is it time for me to get a wife now ? ” For some unknown reason he probably thought i would burst into flames and burn him on asking that qns. This guy seemed to be the ultimate object of curiosity. The script he and his frenz talked was some greatly modified version of bengali with common exclaimations such as “Dhur Sala… ” and “Kitare Bhai…” appearing almost in every sentence. Then it was all clear. Before he left the field, he said to me “Hi, I am Rana from Silchar”. Siddharth could write “a brief history of assam” just by looking at him. 🙂

There goes a tale about the most dissimilar and incompatible lot who can be anything but friends. Yet as the cruel time [ 🙂 ] would have it , these were the members of the infamous gang that has troubled and made life hell for teachers all around – “The IT Backies”. Together they have conquered many unachieveable peaks of success, humbled many vile creatures of the dark ( like the gunaman ) and have shared so many moments of laughter and mirth. It’s an ode to those totally jobless lot who have wasted more time than anyone in totally useless works.

But what a grand wastage was that too !!!

🙂