It isn't BLANK(y)ET..

Its half past THREE in the morning. In an hour or so, sun rays will come splitting the darkness. In this eastern part of the country, it becomes brighter early at 4 a.m.The Noisy Streets OF CALCUTTA will come to life sooner or later. Fighting all night long I am so tired, yet I have not defeated them! Who are they? Bastards .How do I get rid of them? Atleast let me Sleep now" I begged for mercy and shrunk into my wrinkled bed sheet and closed my eyes! Complete darkness now!

Not even the moonlight.” Thank God, they are gone".

"Wait...wait! Did u say moonlight?” I heard silent whispers.

The whispers continued “Those moonlit nights D-block terrace when you guys gazed at the sky and located pattern in the stars? The fun, the fights..."one by one they came and took over Me.” memories" memories

THE notorious five! Distinct tastes! Distinct Cgpa s! We had nothing in common, except that we belonged to PSG ECE, A dream come true college for everyone of us. Yet another thing in common! We were ready to pay any price to fulfill the dreams of a "College going GUY”. Bottom sip beer, Hearts in cigarette smoke, Movie before semester exams, Mass bunk, and of course a girlfriend to discuss novels, music, moon, rain etc.

If you need good things in life u should be ready to accept the bad things that come along. In my case it was the other way round. I went to borrow a cigarette and ended up finding a friend, A FRIEND FOR lifetime. I had my egos, we were in different sections, and he studied well. I have wondered how one can study well and smoke.Either I should give up the thought of smoking or lose my dignity. Both weighed the same for me and i stood hesitatingly. I pretended not to look at him. Suddenly someone's hand reached my shoulders. I turned back; it was the Resident tutor asking me to go back to my room. We say a bad word very fast that it sounds like the usual good evening to them, and they would reply "I know I know, now go to your room”. I greeted him few of those and walked back to my room. There sat the "smoke lender”. It s a thrill to smoke inside the hostel premises, what is more thrilling is doing it, sitting next to the resident tutors room. The first time he came slamming the door to find none, we disappeared, next a peep outside and after that he couldn’t sleep without our cigarette smoke. Addictive isn’t it?

The gorkha's whistle brought me back to a dark room; it was me and me alone. I had once experienced the same situation during college days. Semester exams keep every one busy with Library books, Xeroxes, and notes. I would seclude myself from the rest and go to inert mode to escape lectures from class jambavans asking me to study. Memorizing formulas or micro xeroxes? Hardwork or smart work. It jus takes 10 minutes to Xerox, but we were given 2x24x60 minutes to prepare.” An idle mind is a devil’s paradise”. Before i could fall prey to the Devil, The savior came in the form of "the chatterbox”. He started speaking that day and i started listening to him, he has not stopped yet. We were the first two ranks in our class from the last. We were on the Wanted list. Attendance lack chased us every single semester. Arrears began to tumble. It was not that easy to study for arrear exams, ESP when all your friends have gone for a jolly tour alias "Industrial Visit”. We studied all Greek and Japanese sitting and fighting it together.” A Friend in need is the friend indeed".

Yawn!!Yawn!!Dawn!!Dawn!!I could here footsteps, Bunch of morning walkers and joggers were into their business. They were no close to the "Athlete" I knew. He can run ten miles and still go to class. He is the one who cares about everybody, every insect. He is the one who brings us back to the hostel after the booze nights. The painting of the girl that he drew and never disclosed! She never knew, someone could draw her so accurately! Call it love or admiration. Everything was good about him, but something was imperfect, unacceptable, we sorted it out sitting in one of our rooms. From then, we had to carry him back to the hostel after drinking.” How can he be so sweet?"

Babies, I love them, only until they start crying. The shrill cry of the baby next door added to the miseries of my long Insomnious night. There was a "little man" among us. I had noticed him during my first year, just after a week, the college has begun. He had a "pattai" on his forehead, study material on one hand, book on the other. He walked four steps front, turned back, and turned the page, again four steps. He completed the Xerox before i could read the title of the chapter. If he can do it why can’t I? By morning, I successfully managed to get only the first Para mugged up. It took us a year and a half to meet again. I heard that the new representative of our rival class had sowed the seed for Interactions between guys and girls by introducing Dare and pair. I was curious to know who the fucker was. Their interaction would mean "doors shut" "no entry" for us to the girls next class. The rep was none other than our "Mr.studious".The journey to our friendship began with exchanging chicks' phone numbers. By the time we finished a U.G in our course, we also finished a P.G in "knowing girls’ mind" and I had arrears there too.

The evergreen days would never come back. I longed for something that is not going to repeat. There was not a drop left in my eye pool. The five was reduced down to one. I had to act as a fresher just stepping into the college, as if nothing has happened. I could feel the heat.

The whispers stopped "heat? The sun shone very bright now, I could feel the heat.Ding! Ding! Some one was at the door. I came out of the blanket, got up and opened the door. It was a whole new world, a world to explore, a world to conquer! ---RAJAN Dada AACHE???

"Gone are those days! When my heart was filled with gay

Gone are my friends, who will never come again

I heard the gentle voices singing, poor old Joe".

GORKHA LAND is what they call it!!!

"SMOKING IS BAD" definitely not true in such a place.Water would have turned to ice,had it been a couple of degrees lesser.we were dressed up like mummies from the egyptian myths,wrapped up with woollen clothes.We strolled weakly on the platforms of the jalpaiguri railway station,we were to board our train back to calcutta.The station was almost still,no one wanted to move needlessly."Chai coffee!!chai coffee"was the only sound to be heared along with the railway announcements that came now n then.Tea was like elixir,and chaiwalas were messengers of god in disguise!!!It was cold and the rescue team was immediately called for.Divine things are always available only in less quantities,this time it was a plastic cup with not more than three sips of Darjeeling tea.As i started to sip the tea,advertisements,where people collect tea leaves,powder it and the whole process of making the tea powder,were the first to come to my mind.Such was its taste,more importantly,i could feel it running down,warming the food pipe.Cigarette was the perfect complement for tea in that icy cold weather.We lit the cigarettes,no one questioned us,infact ppl who smoke had the license to kill themselves,if not the weather will do it.Suddenly came the announcement,and green,changed the signal and the squeeking noise of the rails confirmed that the train had already started to move...With a couple of quick drags,we got into the train and sat in our respective seats and the trip began to end...

It all started on the eve of christmas,we had to board the bus to siliguri at 6 in the evening.The office works had kept us busy all day.It would atleast take an hour to reach the destination from the place where we stayed.It was already 5'o clock by the time we left the office.We hired a taxi and hurried to esplanede.Traffic jam everywhere,reason being Dhoni's men were on a mission to seal the series against the lankans on the 4thODI at the Eden gardens here in kolkata. Esplanede was next to eden gardens.Had we not planned the trip,we would ve been sitting there watching thematch.After an hour we reached the busstand.It was an electrifying atmosphere both in and around the stadium.The bus waited for another 15 minutes and we all started to siluguri.It was jingle bells Jingle bells Jingle all the way,Festive mood everywhere.Churches with serial bulbs and christmas trees were a treat to watch.After a small prayer,through the window and few christmas greets,i went back to getting drowned in my all time favourite melodies.

The tedious journey ended at 8 in the morning,when we reached "siliguri" the gateway to north eastern india,it connects three international borders China,Bangladesh and Nepal.Once we stepped out te bus,the air was pure and it carried an aroma of the medicinal herbs,we were tired no more,we all felt fresh.The car was was already waiting for us,we owned it for the next three days.After a quick freshening up break,we sped towards the misty mountain terrains.As we crossed the border security force zone,i happened to notice a pluckard which read "Vetrivel Veravel" i thought how true was it when they said "ethisayum pugal manakka irundha perum tamil enagae!!!!"no sooner i felt at home.But there was another reason i felt ashamed of,As an Indian I could nt speak hindi as fluently as our Nepali driver did.All these thoughts vanished,only at the sight of the crystal clear river.No one knew which language it spoke,but it was simply beautiful.It followed us all the way to Kalimpong,a warm blue carpet welcome.Thank you Teesta!!

Kalimpong is on the way to gangtok in sikkim,a 60 km drive from siliguri.We had booked a room in advance at kalimpong.After a small enquiry about the where abouts,we reached the hotel.

The inn keeper greeted us with a bright smile,and helped us move our luggages to our rooms.Hospitality was at its best.Lava was first place in our itinerary.A sumptuous meal was cooked and served hot.Fish curry was spicy and delicious too.What would one like to do after a heavy meal? sleep.A 20 minute nap helped us recharge our batteries,and we were on the move,the next minute.The hot molten lava from volcanic mountains is dead opposite to this "Lava".It was freezing out there.Beautiful scenaries!!it was like all my desktop wallpapers came to life.We took pictures,not for memories,jus for showing off,uploading them in facebooks and orkuts.Not everyone gets a chance to visit such a beautiful place,either time constraint will be a problem or they maynot have friends like i do.I can boast about my friends bigtime!.Our gang then returned back to kalimpong.We shopped for a while and went back to the hotel.We had a drink,and then came the dinner.We had a quick discussion about the places to be visited the next day before going to the bed."its going to be a big day tomorrow"i convinced my wavering mind to sleep,and it obeyed.

I was woken up neither by an alarm clock,nor by a high pitched cock-a-doodle-doo,all my friend had to do was pull my blanket off.Until then it was very cozy and warm inside the smooth silky fur woven blanket.I started trembling and ran into the bathroom and drowned into the tub of hot boiling water.bread omlette was served,and we then set out to Hishop.It was yet another master piece of GOD,i envied his creativity.Next we went to see the God himself at the Buddhist Monastry.Buddhist monastry that they show in old tamil films is accompanied by a music that goes like"tan ta ta ,tan ta,tan ta ta tan,".I couldnt seperate both,and there was no music playing.so i kept humming it all along.Cricket could have been India's national game,they play it everywhere.There were two monks playing cricket.One batted and the othe bowled,not one ball went to the stumps.His bowling hit my friend's leg who was standing a 10 yards away from the

stumps trying to take a picture.We all laughed and he capture it on the camera.The tune never ceased to stop coming until we were at the exit of the monastry.We had chowmeen,a chinese dish with momo and a big bowl of soup.Tree top walking or canopy walk was next.It was not so exciting for me,it was the usual walking,it was boring only until imet that cute smiling face.i would nt say she was very beautiful,but she had that smile so addictive.I was looking at her,and she came towards me,I could hear my heart pounding loudly, and louder when she began to speak"could you please take a picture of me with my husband"and then it stopped.I got the camera and took a picture and we said bye.i wondered "Had all break ups been like this???".Next...rest.Back to room.drink,dinner and sleep,and before that a small prayer to those who lost their families in tsunami,the same day five years back.

The next day was bright and sunny.It was perfect for Rafting!!!We visited the Srikrishna temple,I had the role of a guide to play.I Know to read and write Hindi,only speaking was difficult.It came handy,when i had to explain the writings under every sculpture to my Japanese friend.At least he would think there are few good things in India.We went back packed,and started climbing down.We went to a nursery where they grew cactus.

These Cactuses flashed this metaphor into my mind"MEN ought to be like camels to drink water from female cactuses".The river rafting was the highlight of our trip.Except the japanese guy,none had experienced a raft ride.We wore life jackets and we yelled and screamed when the "rapid" came.The best part was the cold water splashing on us.Out of sheer enthusiasm few guys jumped into the water,It was so cold that some of them started breathing hard we had to pull them back on board!!It was for 45 minutes.we reached the other end.We walked to the road.There we had a news waiting for us.There was a strike and all vehicles were stationed for 2 hours.Our car was blocked somewhere.We couldn't even buy a cup of tea,we left everything back in the car before going to raft.I decided to walk all the way uphill to the place where our car was stationed.That was my walk to remember!!I blamed god for creating people blind deaf and dumb .If i were blind i would nt ve seen the river filled valleys and the sky kissing mountains,if i were deaf i would nt have heared the birds' chirping,the distant church bell or the music in air from the coniferous and bamboo trees,if i were dumb i could not have told my friends how happy i felt walking alone.

.By the time i reached the place the strike was called off,and i got into the car and started down hill.My friends were waiting,we picked them up and started off immediately.We reached siliguri at 7.Jalpaiguri was another 20 mins from siliguri from where we had booked our train tickets to calcutta.We had dinner at jalpaiguri and then bought some smoke."

"SMOKING IS BAD" definitely not true in such a place.Water would have turned to ice,had it been a couple of degrees lesser.we were dressed up like mummies from the egyptian ..............................

Moral of the story

You are what you eat..:-) :-)