Chapter 31

It was a Wednesday afternoon in the second month in to the final trimester. Arjun was sitting his room and trying to read a book. He could not concentrate. In the morning he had his placement interview with this English Consulting firm called “Development International” He did not want to be rejected. Not that he was excessively keen about a consulting career. But he did not the idea of a failure. He was really tensed.

“Arjun get out of the room. Let us go and get drunk.” It was Udhi outside his room.

“No I am not in a mood to go out today” Arjun shouted back

“Anyway you open the door” Udhi was knocking at his door

Arjun got up and opened the door

“I know you are tensed about your DI interview” Udhi commented

“I know you are not tensed about interviews as you have already managed your Harvard admission. So you can afford to be indifferent. I remember your tension when you were waiting for your admission results” Arjun replied

“Ok then you can stop worrying. You have been selected by DI. Congratulations” Udhi extended his hand

“Thanks” Arjun smiled. He felt the a weight has been removed from his head. The anxiety in his eyes vanished.

He got up and said “ Yes let us get drunk. I want to unwind”

The background he came from left a mark of insecurity in the back of the mind. Though he knew his self-worth often the nagging feeling of insecurity showed deep in his heart, especially in situations like this. Now that he got accepted by a Multinational firm like DI, he felt more confident.

Both of them walked out of the hostel towards the bar that was outside their campus.

“I am going to have a rum and coke. What are you having “ Udhi asked

“I will have the same” Arjun replied

“Beta get us two rum and cokes and a plate of peanut masala. After sometime get a plate of chilli chicken too” Udhi shouted his instruction to the waiter as he turned towards them. He appeared to be in a hurry to down some spirit.

“Two years have just went by as in in a jiffy. It is time to go back to the real world” Arjun commented

“I vividly remember the first day we met when we came to join IMI.” Udhi replied.

“We used to be shit scared how we would sustain in this place. Especially me as this was the first experience of relative grading and the rule that if we didn’t get an average CGPA of 3 in the first year, we would be chucked out without a second chance. You were not that bothered as you came from IIT which had similar concept of CGPA”

“But coming from engineering background the diverse courses like economics to finance to Indraprasta Society intimidated me too” Udhi replied

The drinks came.

“Cheers to DI” Udhi raised his glass

“Cheers to Harvard” Arjun raised his glass too.

Udhi took two large gulps and then lit a cigarette. Arjun looked a bit quizzically

“What is your plan after the final exam.? Are you flying to Jakarta?” Arjun asked

“Of course I will. But before that we should plan our visit to Tridevpur your home town as we planned. I have asked Raghav, Neel and Joshi. They are all excited about. Naturally Anita will join too.” Udhi replied

“Good. We should plan. As you predicted Raghav and Anita now seemed to have set on each other. Ruchika is out of the window. In fact she called me up one day from US and asked me about this. She appeared fully aware and wanted my confirmation. I did not know what to say. She was quite distressed.”

“I can understand her feelings” Udhi replied

“Get me a refill” Udhi shouted at the waiter as he gulped his drink down

“Udhi what is bothering you? You are behaving a bit strange.” Arjun asked

“Oh I am a bit perturbed” Udhi replied

“About what.?”

“I am in a quagmire. I love Salomi so much. I can’t live without her”

“Ok that is fine. What has happened now to feel so despondent? I remember that you were very happy after your last trip to Jakarta and you have been writing to each other so often and also having telephone calls”

“Ya that is true. The last trip to S E Asia was really great. We had a great trip across many cities of Indonesia. We visited Medan in east, Bali in the centre and then Manado in North West. We had some of the best dives in the earth in Manado.  We were into each other. We had adventure by the day and night. Exploring the Mother Nature in the day and exploring each other by night. There is truly a connect between us. I know she cares for me and I love her too much.” Udhi was opening up his heart

“I can’t understand why you are so despondent. To me everything appears fine. You love her and she loves you. You got admission to Harvard and you are sure the get a job with the bank and you can be with her”

“Last week I send her a letter in which I had broached the idea of marriage. I have not got any response on this”

“May be she has not got the letter.” Arjun was trying to help

“No she has got the letter. I got a reply after that. He has responded to many things in that letter except about the marriage” Udhi was sounding really upset

“Son you won’t get an answer so fast from a girl. Give her time. Anyway she respects you and knows that you are doing everything possible to make her comfortable in the relationship including your plan to get a job in the bank with a posting in Jakarta”

“I have a strange feeling that though she loves me she is not comfortable about the idea of marriage. May be because deep down in her she is not sure about inter-cultural marriage”

“Has she said no to you?” Arjun asked

“No”

“That is a good sign. You go as per the plan. After our Tridevpur trip go to Jakarta once again as planned. It will give a chance to cement your relation once again. Then go to Harvard, get into the bank, get a posting in Jakarta. Take life one step at a time”

“Hope it us smooth as this. But there is a strange feeling of doom in my heart”

“This is called falling head over heels! The mighty Udhi has fallen” Arjun laughed

“You laugh bloody asshole” udhi retorted in mock anger.

“Get me one more drink” Udhi ordered

“I thought we were celebrating my DI and your Harvard. But looks like we are mourning” Arjun tried to change the subject.

“No man. We are celebrating. Just that yours truly has lost his balance a bit. Forget it. Tell me when are you joining DI?”

“I will take break for couple of months. Then I will join  DI. Want to see the world around a bit. Eventually I would want to be part of something that really tries to make a difference to the world we live in” Arjun declared

“The idealism of the temple priest is lurking somewhere still” udhi commented

“May be. But I am not ashamed of it” Arjun responded with a little irritation

“Boss don’t get upset. I did not mean to insult you. I am proud of your sense of purpose” Udhi clarified immediately

“Come on brother, we have had too much let us go back to the hostel.” Arjun got up.

“Waiter, get us the bill.” Udhi shouted. While you are at it, get me one more small”

They settled the bill and walked out.

“Let us have one more smoke before we sleep” Udhi suggested

Chapter 30

                                                                                                                                                      

It was a Sunday evening. The first trimester exam of the second year had got over the previous Friday. The Saturday was celebration after the exams. The whole gang had gone for a late night show and came back at 1130 in the night. Then they were chatting till 2 am. Arjun had woken up at around 8 am in the morning had breakfast and came back to his room. In the previous evening he had picked up from the library “Moon and Six Pence” by Somerset Maugham who was his favourite author. He wanted to immerse himself in this book. He was waiting for his exam to get over. He was so engrossed in the book so much that he had even missed his lunch. Then sometime along he had fallen asleep with the book on his side.

“Hi Arjun Are you joining me for a coffee at Aunties?” Udhi knocked at Arjun’s room and shouted.

Arjun woke up with a start when he heard Udhi shouting.

“Ok. I heard you. I will come out in a minute. I just got up.”

“Open the door you idiot. Unless you slept with nothing on.” Udhi could not help make a naughty comment. He loved being blunt to shock his audience

“I am not like you. I don’t sleep naked” Arjun replied as he opened his door.

He brushed his hair slipped into a sandal and was out.

They walked together through the garden.

“What were you doing the whole day? Didn’t see you at all” Udhi asked

“Oh I was reading” Arjun replied

“I see. You had gone into one your reading binge!” Udhi replied

Arjun laughed

“Where was Raghav yesterday? He did not join us for the movie or dinner” Arjun asked

“Oh he was out the whole day with Anita. He was helping her with her shopping” Udhi replied

“Oh I see.” Arjun replied

“Son, the way it is going I am sure you can forget about the promise you made to Ruchika” Udhi  added

“I felt that way too. What you told us when we were back from our summer is true. When the context and environment change old relationships could wither away and new relations will build up. That is the nature of life” Arjun replied philosophically

“These days they are always together. Both in the day and in the night” Udhi added

“They are getting to know each other better” Arjun replied with a smile

“In all senses of the word” Udhi quipped

“By the way what is news about  Rohini?” Udhi asked

“I hope what happened to Raghav does not happen to you and Rohini. When Chandy your old pal visited us last month, he was very sure that this is not going anywhere”

“He was always sceptical about us. In fact he has made a bet with me that Rohini and I will not get married.”

“He has promised to shave his head to attend our wedding if we get married ever.” Arjun laughed

“I don’t rule out the possibility of the outcome Chandy has predicted.”

“Which prediction? That he would have to shave his head?”

“No, you will not go ahead with this relationship”

“Let us see. BTW she may visit us at IMI one of these days” Arjun replied

“That is interesting. So you are truly cementing the relationship.”

.“Let her come here. We can do a review of how we are going and how we feel about each other”

“I thought you wrote a letter to each other every day. That should tell you how you feel about each other”

“Not every day. But very often. When we see and talk to each other in a different setting, it may also help us assess if there is any change”

“Not a bad idea.” Udhi replied

“Auntie make us two strong coffees and give us two cigarettes” Udhi said loudly as they reached Aunties coffee joint.

They lit a cigarette and sat down. Auntie came with two coffees for them.

“How is your romance going on with Salomi? I see that you are getting letters from Singapore on and off” Arjun asked

"There appears to be s strong connect. Let us see how it works out. After the second trimester I plan to visit Singapore and together we are planning for a dive trip again. This time we may go the Manado. I have to find a way to get into the bank. It may give me an opportunity to be with her more often.”

“Oh man you have really fallen.”

“Fallen or not. I feel I plan to give a serious try in taking this relationship forward. I plan to go to Harvard for a one year course in International finance. Then it may be easy to get into the bank”

“Great Idea. Anyway Harvard is worth the investment” Arjun replied

They finished their coffee and walked back to their room.

“Man another two more trimesters and we are through with our sojourn in IMI” Arjun reflected

“Ya that is another six months. By the time we reach 6^th trimester, we will have our campus placements. And then the exams and graduation.” Udhi added

“We should all plan for a trip down south to my province. It is a beautiful place. I can take you to places where tourists would never reach”

“That is a great idea. We should pull in Raghav and whoever he is steady at that time, Neel and Joshi. Joshi will bring along his guitar and we will have good entertainment in the evenings.”

“How about your Finance tutorials going one.? I don’t see Chitra these days for the classes.”

“She is too busy with Kiran these days”

“I see that you have taken a liking for Organisational behaviour” Arjun asked Udhi when he noticed the journal that fell down from Udhi’s hand

“I always liked to learn about human mind. Therefore intent to audit all OB/ psychology related courses. Course I had taken with Dr Roy last Trimester has reinforced my liking for this topic”

“I thought he was a mad cap” Arjun commented

“Man, his insight to human minds is amazing. The “Hot Seat” session he conducted with us helped us in deep introspection and to have a better idea of ourselves. It was quite and intense session.”

“How does it work?” Arjun asked

“He spent quite a few sessions on Transactional Analysis. Then using this framework on a set of parameters all of us were asked to rate ourselves and our colleagues. Then one by one each of us had to take the hot seat. When you are in the hot seat you along with the whole team dissect you. It really threw up many of our on fears, helped us to understand how some of our actions were perceived by others, what the impression others had about us, and what impressions we carried about others and how they were formed and so on. Some of us in the group could not take it. Some even cried and ran out of the seat” Udhi explained briefly

“Interesting. I would love to participate in some of these experiments”

           

As they reached hostel they retired to their respective rooms.