AA AB LAUT CHALE…Excerpt from my upcoming Book-YOU Can't Complete EngineeriNG..?
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The Diwali vacations had started
and lovers like Manoj were again disheartened by the thought of separation from
their sweetheart. My Filmy mind imagined Maneesha getting emotional for Manoj
and singing…
‘Kal College band ho
jayega,
Tum apne ghar ko jaaoge,
Phir ek lakda ek ladki se
juda ho jayega
Wo mil nahi payega.’
‘We are not so Filmy
like you, Rajesh. But definitely we will miss each other. So I have decided to
take only two days break for Diwali,’ Manoj informed.
‘And what are you gonna
do here for rest of the days?’ Suhas asked him.
‘Of course, Pyaar,
Ishq aur Mohabbat,’ Manoj replied.
‘Now who’s getting Filmy?’
I asked and we burst in laughter.
It showed 11 pm in my
watch when my mobile rang. Mayank was on the line.
‘Is Vishal there with
you?’ he asked.
‘Vishal, you mean Vishal
Raut? No yaar, he is not here. Why? Is there anything urgent?’ I asked.
‘No, nothing urgent as
such. But his mom was asking about him. I think he has gone missing,’ Mayank’s
reply left me astounded.
Looking at my facial
expressions Rakesh asked, ‘What happened, Rajesh? Anything serious?’
‘It seems our classmate
Vikas Raut is missing.’
‘Vikas Raut? You mean
that guy who made a futile attempt to give friendship band to Suhas’s Vaidehi,’
Rakesh asked.
‘Yes, the same guy,’ I
replied.
‘How can you expect me to accept this friendship band? I don’t even know
you.’ This was Vaidehi’s response to Vishal. And our Suhas sir is still hopeful
about wooing her,’ Rahul quipped.
‘Vishal is a different
person and I’m different. Therefore, the outcome of our encounters with Vaidehi
will also be different. But here the topic is not Vaidehi, it’s Vishal. Why has
he gone missing?’ Suhas asked.
‘Actually, Vishal wanted
a new bike, but his Don refused to get him one due to his poor performance in
academics. I think this may be the reason,’ Manoj informed.
‘Oh! I think before you
leave from here, we should call Mayank and find out if Vishal is back or not?’ I
suggested.
So Manoj called Mayank on
his mobile,
‘Till now there is no
news about Vishal, Manoj. He was supposed to be here at Sandy’s party tonight.
But he is neither here nor at his home’ Mayank informed.
‘This is really serious.
By the way, where are you now, and who all are there?’ Manoj asked.
‘I am with Sandy, Balu, Ravi,
Prashant and Sakthi, at Pehlwan da dhaba,’ Mayank replied and
disconnected the call.
‘I think we should go to
Vishal’s home tomorrow morning. May be until then he might come back. What say,
Rakesh?’ Manoj asked.
‘Yes definitely, we
must,’ Rakesh answered.
‘I’ll also come there,’ I
expressed my interest.
‘Me too,’ Rahul told.
So next morning we all
went to Vishal’s residence, near Medical College Square. There were many
vehicles parked in front of his apartment. The premonition of something wrong
happened touched my mind, but I controlled it and went upstairs. As we entered
Vishal’s flat at the second floor, I saw Bipin and John sitting on the sofa
with Vishal standing by their side.
‘Namaskar Aunty,’ Mayank greeted Vishal’s mother with a smile.’ Good
to see Vishal here. Where were you since last night, Vishal?’ he asked.
‘Vishal was at my room.’
the Samosa shaped plump Bipin said,’ Actually he was very upset last
night and didn’t wanna go home, so I asked him to stay at my place.’
‘We were about to report
at police station today, but soon these two boys brought him home.’ Vishal’s mother
informed, with her tearful eyes.
Vishal’s dad was sitting
quiet on chair opposite to the sofa.
‘He was asking us to get him a bike since last
two years, but his dad denied due to his failure in exams.’ Vishal’s mother
said,
‘But, is this the way to
retaliate for that? And my old LUNA is there for going to college, and then
what was the reason to leave home, at night? I just don’t understand.’ His father
expressed.
‘Now, don’t start off
again. Due to the same attitude of yours, Vishal left home.’ Vishal’s mother
rebuked and looked at me.
‘Don’t be tense aunty. In
fact, you should be happy that Vishal is back,’ I tried to lighten the
environment.
‘Rajesh is right. John
and I have counseled Vishal. He had the inferiority complex, as everyone of us
has got a bike and he had to ask for a lift every day. But now he is ok.’ Bipin
commented.
‘I really don’t understand
how you boys feel inferiority complex, if you don’t have some commodity that majority
of students have. After all, you go to college for studying and not for
flaunting bikes. I went to college on cycle till my M.Com. But nowadays boys
like him want a bike while studying.’ Vishal’s father shared his own experience
and Rahul jumped in the discussion.
‘Uncle, your point is
absolutely valid, but your era was different. Nowadays if a child enters High
school, he gets a two-wheeler and as he enters the college, parents gift him
the keys of bike. So, engineering students having a bike is very common thing.’
‘And it’s so common uncle,
that if someone is not having a bike, he may get an inferiority complex. I
understand every parent may not afford to buy their son a bike but peer
pressure is so much that unknowingly boys get this inferiority complex, which
indirectly affects their academic performance,’ I added.
‘Already students like
Vishal, Suhas or I, who comes from vernacular medium schools, find it difficult
to cope with the English-to-English engineering studies. And such complex adds
fuel to it, due to which students get depressed,’ Rakesh joined our series of
lecture. But the good thing was that Vishal’s father started pondering over it.
After some time, Bipin
asked Vishal’s parents for leave and we got up to leave Vishal’s home.
‘Take care Vishal,’ Manoj
said, as Vishal broke down, with tears in his eyes.
‘Thanks a lot, guys. I am
very lucky to have friends like you.’ He said wiping his tears and turned
towards his Mother and father.
‘I’m sorry Mom, sorry Dad.
I troubled you a lot. But I promise, hereafter I’ll never trouble you for
anything.’
‘It’s OK, Vishal. We are
your parents. We also want to see you happy, but we didn’t realize about the
small things, that your friends told about. Had I known that, the bike is
bothering you so much, I would have bought it long back. Nevertheless, you are
safely back home, that’s the best thing for us.’ Vishal’s father expressed his
feelings with tearful eyes, ‘And all you boys, thanks a lot. Please do continue
your friendship with Vishal, forever.’
After biding a bye to
Vishal and his parents, we left his place with mixed feelings. But the
happiness on the faces of Vishal’s parents made us realize parents’ love for
their children.
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