August 1994
These days are good. Classes, dissection and practicals go on till 5 PM but the time after this is very usefully spent chasing the babies, creating ragging scenarios and catching up on the odd test here and there. This is a time to take a breather from heavy duty mugging though and such times come just once a year in the Jipmer Academic Calendar.
To make the most of this precious time, we gather in someone's room in the evenings for a pleasant 'discussion session', always accompanied by the odd bottle or two.
We have graduated from "Bagpiper' whisky to "Bagpiper Gold". This is a subtle but definite change in taste and a step-up in cost also. While the plain version was just fancy toddy, this resembles whisky a bit more. On occassion, when the wallets are full, we splurge an extra 15 Rs and get a bottle of Gilbey's Green Label which only shares the colour of the label with its more famous namesake Scotch. It tastes terrible but we pretend to love this more expensive, and therefore, better tasting broth of fermented cereal.
One evening in early August
I walk down the corridor to Shom's room to join Rahul, Vikrant, Mishra and a few others for a 'session'. Walking along past the room doors, I come across a tallish, medium-set guy who is from Fiji and is enrolled in a Lab. Tech. course. I know neither him nor his name so I just nod at him as he passes by. A normal, polite nod, like an acknowledgement of someone sharing your space and time. He seems pretty drunk though and is swaying a bit. It's about 7 PM.
Looking up and nodding heads is not a good thing apparently. Mr L stops me, grabs me by the shirt and threatens to 'kill me'. He asks "You want to fight"? I'm a bit confused. All I want to go drink in Shom's room. So he clarifies (while holding my shirt) that in Fiji culture looking into someone's eyes means an invitation to fight.
This is slightly scary. Even though I'm in my own hostel wing, this guy is drunk and fairly well built. It's safer to just pass by. So I mutter something, and spend the rest of the evening drinking, chatting and generally doing what people in hostels do when they have nothing to do. The small matter of a "kill you" threat is forgotten quickly and dismissed as a drunken weirdo rant.
Another evening in early August..soon after
A few days later, nothing much has changed in my routine. The time before and after dinner is spent chatting and planning what to do on LOHA day, Curie day and Spandan. Accompanied by liberal doses of fermented grain of course. And intersperesed with Chaurasia's Anatomy, Langman's Embryology, Halim's Surface Anatomy, Gray's for Osteology, Histology atlases and Ganong's Physiology. And tests. And Anatomy records.
On one of those days, about a week after the above incident, I meet 'PG', the South African who is normally either in a drunk stupor or otherwise zoned out. When we have chatted before, it's always been civil and he's even shared stories of his much wilder days in South Africa, so it's a bit of a surprise when he stops me on the way to Shom's room and with deadly seriousness, tells me to 'stay away from my friend, Mr L'. It's a serious warning. Rahul is there with me and he tries to cool things down. But PG tells him to keep out. I get the feeling that PG and Mr L are booze buddies and I am being strong-armed here.
The message is that I should just forget the whole incident from a few days back and move on. No going to authorities etc. As far as I am concerned, that was just another stupid drunken episode, so it's OK with me, but I'm left with a mildly threatened feeling from a seriously well built, often drunk guy living a few doors down from my room.
When I do bump into him in the next few days, he's back to normal as if nothing had ever happened. It's a bit strange.
In the meantime.....
Rahul is going home for Spandan. Which is just not done. But the thought of 1 week off spent at home is tempting. I am looking forward to Spandan as much as the next guy but...should I stay or should I go? Hmm..It's a mildly truanty kind of feeling which feels very cool.
I decide to go. I'll go home for Spandan just this one time. After all, I have many more Spandans to see here and one miss won't hurt. I'm not in any significant committee anyway. And so the mental justifications continue. The thing is that since the "holiday" is short, about 5 days or so, I'll have to fly, which can expensive. Being a student however, I'm entitled to a 50 % discount but the College won't approve it unless it's an official vacation or I have a good reason and I need to state the reason on the application form.
I decide to get my sister married. That's a good reason. (Although my sister is 15 years old, but who's to know).
I hop over to the travel agency at the end of JN Street, get a form, fill it up and submit it to the Registrar for his signature. Then I can buy my ticket home.
I haven't told anyone about my plans yet. Most Jipmerites are very keen on tradition like 'not going home for Spandan' and there will be hell to pay. I'll face the music later.
LOHA Day 1994 (2nd Saturday of August)
It's here. LOHA-the acronym for Liste Osler House Association celebrates the main reason for it's existence today. The program for the evening includes some singing and dancing followed by the Open House, a Grand Dinner and the JAM-an extended wild dancing session held in the mess that's been cleared of furniture for the night. A DJ is hired, strobe lights are installed and typical headbanging music plays. A must-go place. That will happen after I'm sufficiently tipsy because I can't move a leg sober.
It promises to be fun and will be my first LOHA Day. Preparations have been on for a while-the stage in Lister Square has been decorated, Lister Square itself has some bright chairs and strings of the round lights we call 'globes', and the mess kitchen is very busy. Many people have been cleaning out their rooms for the annual visits by the Curie House inhabitants, a task which does not appeal to me in the least ad which I do not participate in.
Our plan is to see the entertainment in Lister Square for a while, then come back up to booze, go down for dinner and conclude by headbanging the night away in the JAM. Sounds like a good plan. The venue for all this will be Shom's room who is taking a break from playing "Creep' and burning paper in earthen flowerpots.
The Open House is something I can do without. I don't like to advertise my lack of room maintenance skills and especially not to cleanliness obsessed Curie House Inhabitants. There is a competition, I hear, where people compete for the "Best Room". How anyone can make the effort to dress up their rooms for such an award is beyond me.
LOHA Day -about 9 PM:
The drinks have started and people are filing in. Shom's room is quite well done. He has soft lighting, good soft music playing, the floor is clean and there is a mat to sit on. A huge change from the decaying environment of my room.
There's me, Vinay and Rahul. Bong comes in his trademark dirty pink shorts. Shom is fiddling with the stereo. Vikrant will join us in a bit and Mishra has parked himself next to the door with plans to scoot off to the JAM soon. Also in the party are Manoj, now a 1st year Resident in Orthopedics and a few others from the hostel wing like Chinta Arun who drop in, get a drink and reappear a few minutes for a refill. I am near the balcony opposite the door and separated from it by 3 or 4 people. Most of the booze is next to me so being the juniormost in this gang, I am tasked with refills and handing out the fried chicken.
LOHA Day-about 11 PM:
I need to go to the bathroom. It happens when one boozes....
Jumping over bodies that are getting inebriated, I go to the loo a few feet down and a couple of minutes later, come out where I see Mr L (the same one) walking up the staircase. I know from past experience that it's best to just walk on and so I make my way back to Shom's room where I retake my place opposite the door, separated from it by the same inebriated bodies.
A few minutes later, the door of Shom's room is kicked open with a loud bang. It flies open and Mr L, with bloodshot eyes and a menacing expression is standing outside. He looks around, finds me sitting across the room, points one finger and says "You. I want to kill you".
There is a stunned silence.
My LOHA Day has come to an abrupt end.
These days are good. Classes, dissection and practicals go on till 5 PM but the time after this is very usefully spent chasing the babies, creating ragging scenarios and catching up on the odd test here and there. This is a time to take a breather from heavy duty mugging though and such times come just once a year in the Jipmer Academic Calendar.
To make the most of this precious time, we gather in someone's room in the evenings for a pleasant 'discussion session', always accompanied by the odd bottle or two.
We have graduated from "Bagpiper' whisky to "Bagpiper Gold". This is a subtle but definite change in taste and a step-up in cost also. While the plain version was just fancy toddy, this resembles whisky a bit more. On occassion, when the wallets are full, we splurge an extra 15 Rs and get a bottle of Gilbey's Green Label which only shares the colour of the label with its more famous namesake Scotch. It tastes terrible but we pretend to love this more expensive, and therefore, better tasting broth of fermented cereal.
One evening in early August
I walk down the corridor to Shom's room to join Rahul, Vikrant, Mishra and a few others for a 'session'. Walking along past the room doors, I come across a tallish, medium-set guy who is from Fiji and is enrolled in a Lab. Tech. course. I know neither him nor his name so I just nod at him as he passes by. A normal, polite nod, like an acknowledgement of someone sharing your space and time. He seems pretty drunk though and is swaying a bit. It's about 7 PM.
Looking up and nodding heads is not a good thing apparently. Mr L stops me, grabs me by the shirt and threatens to 'kill me'. He asks "You want to fight"? I'm a bit confused. All I want to go drink in Shom's room. So he clarifies (while holding my shirt) that in Fiji culture looking into someone's eyes means an invitation to fight.
This is slightly scary. Even though I'm in my own hostel wing, this guy is drunk and fairly well built. It's safer to just pass by. So I mutter something, and spend the rest of the evening drinking, chatting and generally doing what people in hostels do when they have nothing to do. The small matter of a "kill you" threat is forgotten quickly and dismissed as a drunken weirdo rant.
Another evening in early August..soon after
A few days later, nothing much has changed in my routine. The time before and after dinner is spent chatting and planning what to do on LOHA day, Curie day and Spandan. Accompanied by liberal doses of fermented grain of course. And intersperesed with Chaurasia's Anatomy, Langman's Embryology, Halim's Surface Anatomy, Gray's for Osteology, Histology atlases and Ganong's Physiology. And tests. And Anatomy records.
On one of those days, about a week after the above incident, I meet 'PG', the South African who is normally either in a drunk stupor or otherwise zoned out. When we have chatted before, it's always been civil and he's even shared stories of his much wilder days in South Africa, so it's a bit of a surprise when he stops me on the way to Shom's room and with deadly seriousness, tells me to 'stay away from my friend, Mr L'. It's a serious warning. Rahul is there with me and he tries to cool things down. But PG tells him to keep out. I get the feeling that PG and Mr L are booze buddies and I am being strong-armed here.
The message is that I should just forget the whole incident from a few days back and move on. No going to authorities etc. As far as I am concerned, that was just another stupid drunken episode, so it's OK with me, but I'm left with a mildly threatened feeling from a seriously well built, often drunk guy living a few doors down from my room.
When I do bump into him in the next few days, he's back to normal as if nothing had ever happened. It's a bit strange.
In the meantime.....
Rahul is going home for Spandan. Which is just not done. But the thought of 1 week off spent at home is tempting. I am looking forward to Spandan as much as the next guy but...should I stay or should I go? Hmm..It's a mildly truanty kind of feeling which feels very cool.
I decide to go. I'll go home for Spandan just this one time. After all, I have many more Spandans to see here and one miss won't hurt. I'm not in any significant committee anyway. And so the mental justifications continue. The thing is that since the "holiday" is short, about 5 days or so, I'll have to fly, which can expensive. Being a student however, I'm entitled to a 50 % discount but the College won't approve it unless it's an official vacation or I have a good reason and I need to state the reason on the application form.
I decide to get my sister married. That's a good reason. (Although my sister is 15 years old, but who's to know).
I hop over to the travel agency at the end of JN Street, get a form, fill it up and submit it to the Registrar for his signature. Then I can buy my ticket home.
I haven't told anyone about my plans yet. Most Jipmerites are very keen on tradition like 'not going home for Spandan' and there will be hell to pay. I'll face the music later.
LOHA Day 1994 (2nd Saturday of August)
It's here. LOHA-the acronym for Liste Osler House Association celebrates the main reason for it's existence today. The program for the evening includes some singing and dancing followed by the Open House, a Grand Dinner and the JAM-an extended wild dancing session held in the mess that's been cleared of furniture for the night. A DJ is hired, strobe lights are installed and typical headbanging music plays. A must-go place. That will happen after I'm sufficiently tipsy because I can't move a leg sober.
Our plan is to see the entertainment in Lister Square for a while, then come back up to booze, go down for dinner and conclude by headbanging the night away in the JAM. Sounds like a good plan. The venue for all this will be Shom's room who is taking a break from playing "Creep' and burning paper in earthen flowerpots.
The Open House is something I can do without. I don't like to advertise my lack of room maintenance skills and especially not to cleanliness obsessed Curie House Inhabitants. There is a competition, I hear, where people compete for the "Best Room". How anyone can make the effort to dress up their rooms for such an award is beyond me.
LOHA Day -about 9 PM:
The drinks have started and people are filing in. Shom's room is quite well done. He has soft lighting, good soft music playing, the floor is clean and there is a mat to sit on. A huge change from the decaying environment of my room.
There's me, Vinay and Rahul. Bong comes in his trademark dirty pink shorts. Shom is fiddling with the stereo. Vikrant will join us in a bit and Mishra has parked himself next to the door with plans to scoot off to the JAM soon. Also in the party are Manoj, now a 1st year Resident in Orthopedics and a few others from the hostel wing like Chinta Arun who drop in, get a drink and reappear a few minutes for a refill. I am near the balcony opposite the door and separated from it by 3 or 4 people. Most of the booze is next to me so being the juniormost in this gang, I am tasked with refills and handing out the fried chicken.
LOHA Day-about 11 PM:
I need to go to the bathroom. It happens when one boozes....
Jumping over bodies that are getting inebriated, I go to the loo a few feet down and a couple of minutes later, come out where I see Mr L (the same one) walking up the staircase. I know from past experience that it's best to just walk on and so I make my way back to Shom's room where I retake my place opposite the door, separated from it by the same inebriated bodies.
A few minutes later, the door of Shom's room is kicked open with a loud bang. It flies open and Mr L, with bloodshot eyes and a menacing expression is standing outside. He looks around, finds me sitting across the room, points one finger and says "You. I want to kill you".
There is a stunned silence.
My LOHA Day has come to an abrupt end.
I REMEMBER...not possible to forget.
ReplyDeleteand..the excuse about sister's (all of 15 years old!!)marriage!!!