NITT Diaries — Chapter 5
Going the Distance
It was weeks after Onam and everything was back normal. Normal and boring. The campus that seemed huge in the beginning now appeared small and monotonous. After all the tiring classes and CTs, we all needed a break.
“I’m so sick of college already. C’mon guys, let’s do something fun this weekend for once” Bruce said, furiously closing his Avadhanalu. “I know, let’s go on a trip!”
“A trip to where?” I asked.
“To Srirangam” Rajeev replied. “It’s a town not far from here”
“Well that sounds cool,” Bruce said.
“Wait let’s not get carried away. Is it a nice place? How’re we going to get there? None of us know Tamil, how’re we going to manage?” I asked rapid-fire.
“You two keep forgetting that I lived in Trichy for the past 2 years,” Rajeev said with a grin. “I know the language to some extent; enough for survival at any rate. We can borrow my parent’s car. And yeah, it’s a wonderful place. “
Just like that the planning began. We made all the preparations, which mainly involved packing enough snacks for the trip. Rajeev’s parents allowed him to take the car out after lots and lots of convincing. He constantly assured us about his driving skills, and when we asked him what’s special about the place, he’ll just said that it was a “surprise “.
The weekend finally came. Rajeev went home to get his car. Bruce called shotgun, so I was stuck in the back. Rajeev finally arrived with the car, and my mouth instantly dropped open. Not because of the model, but the interior. There were holy pictures stuck on the back of the seats and some stuck on the windows as well. The whole car smelled of incense and flowers. There was a hanuman charm having from the rear-view mirror and a Ganesha idol stuck next to the steering wheel. I guess I should’ve expected this, considering this was Rajeev’s family car.
“What are you two gaping at? Get in! We have a long way to go” Rajeev said. Rajeev had some very interesting car rules. He banned nonveg from the car, and made Bruce wash his hands and feet before entering the car, because he ate a chicken puff. Also, to nobody’s surprise, he played religious songs throughout the ride. After half an hour, Bruce couldn’t handle it anymore, and insisted on playing his songs instead. Rajeev clearly hated the heavy metal emerging from the speakers, and I could feel the tension between them. I couldn’t wait to get to Srirangam at that point.
“We’re here,” Rajeev said. “This is Srirangam.” I woke up from my slumber and looked out the window. It was different from what I had expected. I was entirely underwhelmed.
“I thought Srirangam is a town? This looks like a village. What’s so great about this place?” I asked him.
“The temples.” Rajeev replied smiling.
“You’re kidding right? Please tell me this is a joke. We drove all the way here to see temples?” Bruce said “I thought you said this would be fun!”
“But temples are nice,” Rajeev said with a confused look. We got down the car and Rajeev took us on a tour of the temples. I was fuming. I appreciate temples as much as the next guy, but I did not enjoy being dragged all the way to Srirangam to see them. But I kept quiet so I wouldn’t hurt Rajeev’s feelings. Bruce on the other hand, was much more vocal about his feelings. The tension between us grew, and so did the heat outside. So, we cut the trip short and decided to just head back. The arguments got more intense as we headed back in the car.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Bruce exclaimed, “Why are you even like this? I’ve met a lot of religious people, but nobody like you. Why do you trust everything so blindly? You aren’t normal! Normal people don’t spend their college life blindly worshipping. What’s the deal with you?”
Suddenly there was silence in the car. Bruce had gone too far just then. I wanted to say something to diffuse the situation, but I couldn’t think of anything to say.
Finally, Rajeev replied softly, “I didn’t always used to be like this. I was different two years ago, but not in a good way. I was never really talented at anything. I could never live up to the crazy expectations of my parents, or the world. I fell into depression. I didn’t see myself as anything of value. I didn’t see a reason for my existence. Life was bleak. Until, I started to have faith in God. I started to believe that everyone has a place in this world, and everyone has a value. I started to accept myself for who I was, and I found peace. I understand that people have different ways of dealing with their problems, but this was mine.”
There was an awkward silence in the air. I felt like I was punched in the gut. I instantly felt bad for all the things I had ever said to Rajeev or anything that I had thought about him.
“Hey, I’m really sorry about everything” Bruce said with his head down, breaking the spell. He continued, “That was insensitive of me. I should have known. And I should’ve respected your beliefs nonetheless”
“Yeah I’m sorry as well” I said. “I can’t even imagine what you would’ve had to go through”
“I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have taken you guys here without checking with you first” Rajeev said.
The rest of the car trip was peaceful and we returned to our normal selves. But now there was something different. We understood each other much better than before. I guess the trip wasn’t really a disaster; we ended up much closer now that we were when we started.
A few weeks after the trip, it was the last week of September, or in order words — Festember. The college was prepped up for the event with decorations and posters everywhere. Everyone was excited for the event. I was mostly excited for the food stalls. The first day went by in a whirl. The food stalls were extremely crowded. I navigated my way through trying to decide what to buy. Suddenly someone knocked into me, almost making me spill my milkshake. “Sorry!” A voice said.
I looked back, and it was Sneha. She was wearing simple jeans and top, but somehow still managed to take my breath away. She was holding a plate of pasta in her hand. With her, was a group of people that I did not really know.
“Hey! Nice choice” I said, nodding towards the pasta.
She laughed and said, “Well it’s one of the few days with good food in the campus. I’m taking full advantage of these stalls.” She introduced me to her friends, and after a bit of catching up, we decided to head to the barn hall to see the events going on.
Her friends then started leaving one by one, until finally, it was just the two of us. It felt so easy and natural to talk to her, as we had so much in common. We were fawning over the latest season of Brooklyn 99 and debating over who was the best doctor. She had a great sense of humour and it was fun to hang out with her.
Time seemed to go by much faster that day, and before we knew it, we had to part ways.
I went back to my hostel and realised that I had missed a lot of the events that day. But I didn’t care. The day was an absolute success in my eyes. I went to bed with a stupid grin on my face, looking forward to another day which I can spend with Sneha. I spent most of the next few days with her as well. We successfully reviewed every food stall in the court, and came to an agreement that if we happen to get food poisoning from this, it would be totally worth it. She dragged me to workshops and informals, and we had a great time together. With her right next to me, everything seemed much more fun than it was. Unfortunately, she left early on the last day, leaving me alone with my roommates. I mean, they’re really cool as well, but I’d much rather have spent all my time with her. I was feeling a bit dejected, and so was Bruce. He did not want Festember to end, as he’d have to get back to a normal routine after that.
After some time, he randomly started daring the both of us to do funny and weird stuff. Rajeev was a bit on the fence about it, but I decided to humour Bruce. It was mostly just some harmless shenanigans, and was actually quite fun. Suddenly, he pointed at a group of girls and said, “Okay, see that girl in blue? Go ask her out.”
“Are you insane? She’s going to be offended” Rajeev said.
“Come on. Don’t be a wimp. What’s the worst that could happen?” Bruce said.
After Bruce’s baiting and in the heat of the moment, I took up the challenge and went up to those girls. I cleared my throat. They all looked at me with a half-glare, and I realised that this may not be the best time for this. Before I could slowly back away, the girl in blue spoke,
“Yes? Is there something you wanted to say?”
I pulled all my courage and finally got some words out. I’m not exactly sure what I said, but I think it was something along the lines of “You look pretty, wanna get a cup of coffee?”
Considering what happened next, I evidently came off as a creep.
‘Thaak’
I felt a sharp pain on my left cheek and I saw spots. I heard ‘ooh’s in the background and the girls laughing.
It took me a minute to realise that I’d been slapped across the face. Well. That was a perfect ending to Festember.
