Teacher

Many people from all over India had come to Pune to attend the funeral of Mr. Vikas Shinde. Vikas was a much loved professor of a reputed Engineering College in Pune. He had taught the subject of Integrated Circuits (IC) in the E&TC Department for almost 30 years.

His students were not only spread all over India, but in fact, they were all over the world. After he passed away, one of his students posted it on Facebook and the news spread like wildfire.

And today all of them were here.

To say one final goodbye.

After the funeral, all of them had gathered together on the college ground for a little ceremony. Later everyone sat down and started telling their best experiences with their dear professor. Soon it turned into a competition. One story after another.

Ashutosh Kumar had been sitting quietly listening to all the stories. After listening to many interesting ones, he raised his hand, got up and announced, “I have the best Vikas Sir story. I am sure of it.”

The crowd was silent and also interested.

“Please tell us”, said one of them.

“This story took place when I was in my final year. Final exams were going on. It was the night before my IC paper.”

***

After having a nice dinner, I returned to my room to start studying for the IC paper which was scheduled the next day. It was 9 pm and the paper was at 8 am the next day so I had around 11 hours and I was sure I would be able to study enough to pass.

I opened the text book for the first time that semester. I had attended hardly 3 or 4 of his lectures in the entire semester. So basically I didn’t know anything about IC.

Twenty minutes later, I knew this was going to be impossible. There was no way I would be able to do one unit, let alone all 6! My room-mate Anurag, doing mechanical engineering, had an easy paper the next day so he was pouring himself a drink. Rum and coke.

“Have one and then start again”, he told me.

I sat and drank with him and together we abused our teachers.

After that drink, I got back to studying. 15 minutes later, I lost it.

“Do you still have the PDF document that contains the information of all the teachers?” I asked Anurag.

Anurag had found it on one of the PCs in a lab and had taken it on his pen-drive in case we ever need it someday.

Like today.

“Yup. I do”, he said.

“Give me Vikas Sir’s number. Now!” I said.

All that alcohol and frustration and tension had got to me. I dialled his number at 11 at night, woke him up from his sleep and abused him a lot. Almost every slang word that I knew. And then I cut the phone before he could say anything. I regret that incident till today. I was an idiot.

Anurag meanwhile had admiration in his eyes for me. He got up and started clapping.

“Feeling better? Now get back to your studies” he smiled. “Damn! I should have recorded it!”

We laughed and I got back to my book trying to understand a derivation. However most of my mind was thinking about what I had just done.

Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. I figured it must be one of the guys from the neighbouring flat to borrow my roomie’s notes or a smoke or something.

I opened the door. Vikas Sir!

I almost had a heart attack.

He came in and took off his jacket.

“Are you really that dumb? I have the entire database of all the students. And yes, that does include your mobile number and local address”, said Vikas Sir.

“I am so…so sorry Sir”, I just about managed to say.

“Forget that. Tell me what’s the problem and what are you drinking.” He smiled.

“Sir, I am unable to understand even one bit of IC!”

“I am not surprised because I saw you for only one bit of the semester”, he said. Even Anurag started laughing at this comment.

“Sir, I am really sorry for everything! Not attending, phone call and everything! If I fail tomorrow, it will be because I deserve it!”

“Save all this drama for the scenario where you do actually fail. I am here to guide you to different scenario. I am here to help you study.”

“What?!”

“Yes. I am going to sit with you and we’ll do IC for the next 4-5 hours. Worst case scenario, if you still don’t understand the concepts, I’ll mail you the question paper because I have only set it. Just pass and get out of here!”

“Thank you so much Sir!”

“Don’t thank me yet!”

Vikas Sir took the IC book in his hand.

“Okay, here’s what we will do. I will mail you the paper right now itself, because I might forget later, while you pour me a drink.”

“What Sir?!”

“Yes and pour one for yourself too!”

I poured one for each of us while Vikas Sir sent the email via his phone. Anurag had completely stopped studying by this point. He was just watching us.

“Done. Mailed it. Now I will teach you most of the concepts and numericals that have been asked again and again. If you understand those, you should not only pass, but get around 70-75 marks.”

“Okay Sir.”

“Now to motivate you to study and make this interesting. Once I am done teaching one concept, I will ask you to repeat the whole thing. If you do it properly, we will move on to the next concept. Every time you don’t understand it, I will finish my entire drink and you pour me another one.”

“Okay, but shouldn’t I get to drink every time I am correct?” I asked. I was surprised I asked this. But Vikas Sir was like that. You would always end up thinking of him like he is your friend.

“No. Because you will keep getting more and more drunk and it will be harder for me to teach you. You will just be having that one drink through the night. Maybe not even that. And you have to concentrate and ensure I don’t drink too much!”

“Good point Sir”. I laughed.

“Okay let’s start with the first concept.”

Vikas Sir raced through it in around 8 minutes. When I tried to explain it to him, I just went blank. Frankly I hadn’t understood anything. I just kept nodding the entire time he spoke.

Vikas Sir gulped down the drink.

I am guessing at this point, he realised my basics were really weak and this was going to be much harder than he thought.

He started the first concept again. This time explaining all the basic terms along the way. 15 minutes later, he asked me to explain. I did it perfectly. Anurag clapped his hands and smiled.

Vikas Sir raised his hand and said, “This is just the opening scene. Picture abhi baaki hai, mere dost!”

Soon we were doing concepts after concepts. I was starting to enjoy it.

At one point when I made a mistake, Anurag shouted, “You idiot! It’s because the source and drain of a MOSFET are equally doped!” Both Vikas Sir and I looked at Anurag and all three of us started laughing.

In the next few hours till around 5 am, we were done with most of the frequently asked University questions and I don’t think Vikas Sir had more than three glasses.

“I think I will leave now. We have covered up almost everything. I have to freshen up too before coming to college. Just revise everything once or twice”, said Vikas Sir.

“Yes Sir.”

“Best of luck Ashutosh. I am sure you are going to do great”

“Thank you Sir.” I smiled.

I don’t know what happened in my head but I went and hugged Vikas Sir. I guess I felt really thankful at that point and bad for the phone call and I started crying and apologising again.

“It’s okay Ashutosh. You are a good kid. You were just not thinking straight. Forget it now and study. Okay?” said Vikas Sir.

“Yes Sir.”

“Bye Anurag. All the best! And thanks for the rum!” said Sir.

Anurag smiled and waved.

“Bye”, he said one last time. The wave turned into a thumbs-up and he was gone.

***

“I went and wrote one of the best papers of my life that day. When the results came out and I had scored the highest marks in IC, I wasn’t surprised”, Ashutosh said.

“Obviously. You still had three hours and the question paper. You were definitely going to top”, said a teacher from the current batch.

“That’s the best part. There was no attachment in the email. It just said ‘I hope these next 4-5 hours do help you pass the paper. You didn’t really think I’ll give you the paper, did you? All the best!’”

Forever

Mr. Kulkarni : Hey ! How are you?
Mrs. Kulkarni : Hey dear :-)

Mr. Kulkarni smiled. His wife always used all these interesting smileys while chatting. He had somehow never got a hang of them. She had always been a quick learner.

Since College.

Mr. Kulkarni : How was your day?
Mrs. Kulkarni : Busy as usual. But that’s what keeps me going!

Mrs. Kulkarni was a very famous author. She had written a very successful children’s book series. So she had fans all over India. She always travelled all around. Their grandchildren had luckily taught them all about Facebook so they kept in touch all the time. Earlier, Mr. Kulkarni used to travel with her but as he grew older, it grew more and more difficult. Mrs. Kulkarni had no problem. The love of her fans kept her going. She used to go from city to city meeting her readers, conducting reading and autograph-signing sessions and even visiting schools.

Mr. Kulkarni : Did you take your medicines?

Mrs. Kulkarni : I did.
                          Don’t worry :-)

Mr. Kulkarni looked up at the photo of his wife on the wall behind the computer. When she had been diagnosed with cancer, it felt like the world below him had disappeared.

Still they got through it.
Like always.
Even in college, they had always been there for each other.
The cancer inspired her to work even harder. She started an NGO for orphans and worked towards that. Mr. Kulkarni stood by her as always.

Mr. Kulkarni : Come back soon !

Mrs. Kulkarni : I will :-)
Mr. Kulkarni : I doubt. You are too far!
Mrs. Kulkarni : I will. Soon :-)
Mr. Kulkarni : I don’t even remember when I last saw you !
Mrs. Kulkarni : Probably once in the last ten minutes. You must have taken a look at my photo.
Mr. Kulkarni : Right as always, Mrs. Kulkarni !
Mrs. Kulkarni : Just a second. A fan has come up to my hotel room.
                            Be right back !
Mr. Kulkarni : Okay.

Mr. Kulkarni looked to the right of his computer. All her books were there. He had probably read each one of them almost 15 times. She had even got the first few books turned into movies. Unfortunately they had turned out really horrible. Mr. Kulkarni had still seen all of them at least five times.

Mrs. Kulkarni : Hey !

                           I am back!
Mr. Kulkarni : Signing done ?
Mrs. Kulkarni : Yes. This one even loved the movie :-P 
Mr. Kulkarni : I don’t believe this !
Mrs. Kulkarni : I am not surprised.
Mr. Kulkarni : Why?
Mrs. Kulkarni : Well, you still haven’t accepted the fact that I am gone.

Mr. Kulkarni pushed the keyboard in and moved back in his chair.

Tears in his eyes.
He looked back up at the photo. This time his eyes fell on the garland of flowers around it.
Even after a few successful chemotherapy sessions, she had still lost a very tough battle with cancer. It had taken a toll on him too.

He switched tabs and replied from his account.

Mr. Kulkarni : I have.

Then he switched back to the tab where his wife’s account was open and typed.

Mrs. Kulkarni : No you haven’t.

She had been gone 10 years but he had such conversations every single day since then.

 

Marriage

“Congrats once again, little brother”, said Arjun, as he hugged his brother, Vijay.

“Thanks a lot”, Vijay replied. After Arjun finally released him, Vijay again looked at the expensive digital watch that his older brother had just gifted him.

“I knew you would love it. And don’t think about the price! It’s not every day that my brother is getting married”, said Arjun.

“Yeah right,” said Vijay.

Not every day.

Most definitely not today.

Finally after his brother left, Vijay sat down. He kept looking at the watch. His mind was lost in many things. He suddenly realised it was time.

Time to move.

He took off the watch that he was wearing and put on the new one. He placed the old one on his desk along with a letter addressed to his parents which he had written the same morning. He looked at the time.

7:30 pm.

Wedding rituals were to start at 9.15. He opened the cupboard, took the haversack in which he had packed a few clothes and important belongings. He took off the ‘sherwani’ and put on a simple t-shirt, jeans and a black sweat shirt. He walked over to the balcony. He looked down. He suddenly realised that he was going to miss this place. His father’s bungalow. He started climbing down. He had been climbing up and down that wall since he was ten years old and now he could do it even with his eyes closed so the darkness wasn’t a problem.

 8:05 pm.

She was late.

Suddenly he saw her coming. She was still wearing the ‘lehenga’ that had been finalised.

“You didn’t want to change?” asked Vijay.

“Couldn’t. Far too many people everywhere and no time either”, she replied.

He pushed her bag into the rickshaw he had called and they got in.

“Station”, Vijay said.

Both the bride and groom at this particular wedding were heading to the railway station just an hour before the ceremony was about to begin.

 

Vijay looked across at the girl he was supposed to marry.

Neha Kakkar.
Their parents were very good friends and they had decided to start a business together which was now really successful. Since quite some time, it had been decided that they would marry each other.
Neha was crying.

“Don’t cry. We’re doing the right thing”, said Vijay, even though he didn’t quite believe those words himself. He held her hand tightly. He remembered the evening two nights ago.

 “And so I can’t marry you”, Vijay had said, after telling her everything. He had wanted to tell her all this right at the beginning, but he just couldn’t. Neha just sat down.

“We’re not as different as I thought we were”, Neha said. She proceeded to tell her about her past and how she had wanted to tell him everything too. “What do we do now?” she asked.

“Let me just take this all in”, said Vijay. He sat on the bed with his head in his hands. Finally he said, “I had planned to run away on the night of our wedding. Would you like to join me?”

 And here they were.

On a cold night. In a rickshaw.
Leaving everyone they loved behind.
Well, not everyone.

 The rickshaw driver had been looking at them through the mirror for quite some time.

“She looks like the bride. And you look like the groom’s friend. Or are you his brother?” the driver asked, smiling a little.

“Bhaiya, just drive and mind your own business”, said Vijay.

The rest of the journey was in complete silence.

 Finally they reached. Vijay and Neha got out of the rickshaw. He gave the driver a Rs.100 note and told him to keep the change.

“Which platform?” asked Vijay.

“Four”, Neha replied.

Vijay held her hand and guided her through the crowd to platform number four. Neha scanned the crowd and finally she saw him.

He had come. She had feared he wouldn’t.

Anil Roy. Her boyfriend since the past three years. He came towards them, hugged Neha and smiled.

“Let’s go Neha. The train has arrived”, said Anil. He took her bag. Neha looked at Vijay. She hugged him. She was crying a little but at the same time smiling too.

“Thank you so much for everything. Keep in touch”, said Neha.

“I will”, said Vijay.

 After seeing off those two, Vijay then went over to platform number 2, located the coffee shop that had been decided and took a seat at the table in the corner.

A girl had already been sitting at that table. Without looking up from the book that she was reading, she said, “Shouldn’t you be at your home right now, going through some wedding rituals?”

“I don’t want to be anywhere else right now, except with you”, said Vijay.

Catherine d’Souza smiled back.

Being a Christian, his parents had never really accepted her. But Vijay’s mind and heart had been set on marrying her since the day he had seen her for the first time. They left the café and boarded the train that had just arrived. It left five minutes later. He looked at his watch and smiled.

9:13 pm.