“Can you come quickly by this afternoon?”, the Inox dog store uncle called me. It was the first period and my professor, Sahoo sir, was droning on at the front of the classroom. The scent of chalk dust and boredom hung thick in the air. I was sitting in the back row, doing disaster mitigation of my assignment-solving startup on the back bench.
Despite never being able to complete my assignments on time, I somehow managed to run a successful startup that does homework for Australian kids. Well, You get paid in dollars here. And, I have a workforce of the most elite minds in India because I study in NISER.
All college students are always in dire need of money. Being a student at NISER certainly had its perks –
We were considered “billionaires” in the student-infested Bhubaneswar because we got a 5,000 INR scholarship. But despite this “wealth”, many students still struggled.
The money often went wasted on various indulgences like drinking and smoking marijuana. Just outside the XIMB campus, opposite Domino’s pizza shop, there was a tea shop openly selling marijuana with a police car parked nearby. It seemed like nobody cared about it.
Things were different at KIIT though.
My best friend Sumit was from there and he used to say there were kilograms of marijuana in their hostel corridor. I had met many students from KIIT who were constantly high, making us joke that they would get high just by drinking water.
Some students wasted their money traveling during weekends, some spent it maintaining their girlfriends, and others splurged on expensive dates at places like Dominoes where a single meal could cost around 500 INR minimum. Then, if you add auto, and some here and some there, it will be near 1000 INR.
The girls at NISER were simple though in this pretense. The majority used to visit Unit I the next day scholarship is credited an auto together. Many students used to open the horrible net banking site of the Indian Overseas Bank before the pre-UPI era and refresh it the whole night on the alleged day when it was supposed to be credited. Anyways, if you saw 10 girls cramming into an auto instead of 5 coming out of college, you knew it was scholarship day.
Then there were the nerds who spent their money on premium-dollar courses or electronics after saving up for years. And finally, there were those rare individuals who didn’t need money at all – they had transcended humanity and entered the 5th dimension.
Arkada was my senior. He always urged me to save money instead of joining group travels.
“Bhai, You can buy 32 packets of maggy for 320 INR. Why waste”. He was always in a rush. He was general isimo in tankionline. He always used to have a big smile on his face unless he have died horribly in the game. But I couldn’t help but wonder what other vices he may have been hiding behind that smile.
It is said that if you cared about anyone, You should work extra work to keep in touch with them. Although I have been in touch with Sumit, I lost Arkada. He is not in Facebook or in twitter. I am still sure he is playing some game in his basement. He had a very happy ambition in life. As long as Lan cable god is working fine and working, He won’t need anything else.
Well, that is valid for most of the nerds like us. Right?
Anyways.
I quickly excused myself from the class under the pretense of going to the restroom. As I made my way to the Inox dog store, my mind raced with possibilities. Why did Uncle need me to come urgently? Or perhaps there was some sort of dog show happening nearby and he needed my help setting up.
When I arrived at the store, I was surprised to see Uncle looking quite distressed. “Ah, there you are,” he exclaimed as soon as he saw me. “I need your help with something very important.” Without waiting for me to respond, he ushered me towards a back room that I had never been in before.
As he opened the door, a wave of white furballs rushed towards me.
“I told you to wait for some days. Although I know, it has been a month and a half now. He will look like a prince.” He said.
I had indeed taken a flat recently at the start of February as my relationship with Kavita had stepped forward. I had introduced her to my parents. I had taken a flat near Dakhin 9. She used to love the Crispy Chilly baby corn there. I thought of taking a flat nearby there. It used to get pretty lonely at night. So I thought to get a puppy and once told inox uncle about it.
I asked, “Why are you tensed?”
“Who is tensed”, He replied in an utter inquisitive tone.
Some people look like they are about to have a serious tension problem all the time. He was one of them. I called Kavita.
We used to meet after the classes were over. Our college was very tense that day. The Net Neutrality rules were created. Internet Service providers were classified as Public Utilities. I do not know the gravity of the impact but the college was so festive that some seniors got the Nobel Prize today.
Usually, I have seen very weird stuff in my college. Girls generally torture puppies by making them bathe with lots of ingredients satisfying their estrogen. Terrified puppy crying is normal stuff. Also, You can see a 6-foot 2-inch guy running away and a puppy is chasing him.
I was standing on the cycle stand in front of NISER. Kavita arrived, her eyes widening in curiosity as she took in the scene before her. I gave the furball to her hand.
I had employed a group of 4 dogs with a packet of biscuits. Although half of the month I had forgotten to give them anything they were fat and thick because they used to feast on the thrown-out food of 500 people in the mess. They all had names. Apart from Persian, all the other ones used to come near me. Persian was hit badly by some stuff of mess. So, he never used to come near any homo sapiens in his lifetime. The boss dog was an old one. He had seen the times change and the students come and go. He was wise beyond his years, with a grizzled face that bore the marks of countless battles fought and won in the canine hierarchy. He smelled and approved of the white puppy.
“I will name him cute-u”, Kavita said.
I added, “That’s a weird name. You sure he will not get angry when he grows up and learns that his mother gave him this name”.
“He is so cute!!”, Kavita took him and disappeared into the hostel.
I stood outside the hostel. It often happened to me. Kavita is a hyper-energetic person. Sometimes her electrons jump from one ring to the other in happiness and She used to forget my existence for some time. I can not enter the girl’s hostel. I called her. She is not a phone person either. After the phone rang to its death, She picked up and said, “I am going to make him bathe. Will call you..”
She never cuts the phone. My mother also does the same thing. I get a good comfort at that. I like to hear both of them for hours in the background. Anyway, I left for the library. In the earphones, I heard “awww..”, and “so cute…” from countless voices who are possibly violating the personal space of my furball.
Oh, Estrogen!
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