Time to payback

Posted on September 22, 2007. Filed under: Stories | Tags: friend, friendship, fun, hostel, life, love, school, story, teacher |

(The endurance of a spy)

N.B – For all those who haven’t read the last blog please follow the link: [Rasgulla Party]

This was one of the grandest parties ever in the history of the Class 5^th students; everybody had at least 6-7 Rasgullas in their share. It was the time of glory for me and Shakti Singh; everything had changed in one night. We had been transformed from unknown fearful nobodies to brave, fearless daredevils who would risk anything for the sake of out batch mates. Everybody was amazed, how the hell we managed to pull it off, and a little scared what if the warden comes to know about it. But I assured them (like a brave leader) that everything has been taken care of and “kisiko kaano kaan bhi khabar nahi lagegi”. But fate had something different planned for us.

Almost all of us had Rasgulla stuffed in our mouths and there at the entrance of bathroom was standing our warden!! At the sight of him everybody froze at their places and started cursing me and Shakti for our stupid mistake. Actually we had left the gate of the mess hall open and the mess manager had woken up due to the noise. He had called up our warden on the phone and told about the theft. I don’t know why but everybody started spitting out the Rasgullas as if they were forced to eat it and as if it wasn’t their fault. We were made to stand in a queue and the warden started interrogating about who was the mastermind of the plan. He had his stick with him and was generously giving a taste of it to everybody one by one. He asked every person just once “who did it?” and if he didn’t get the answer, “chat-chat” on the thighs. This was his style and I was confident that everybody except one person was brave enough to face it. It was “Mahendra Bishnoi” who, I was afraid would give in to the torture, as he was known to be the weakest boy in the batch. When the warden reached him, his legs were shaking but he didn’t utter a word and took the beating like a brave comrade, after that he actually smiled as if it was so easy. Soon the warden was done with me and Shakti. Shakti smiled at me and gave me the expression “see everything will be OK”. And just then i heard my name being called out “Sir mujhe Chourasia ne bulaya tha.” I couldn’t believe it, Anubhav Singh who was supposed to be the bravest of us all, the all time winner of our hostel wrestling tournament had sold us out. That was it; the end of the world had come in front of me.

The warden commanded everyone to get inside the dormitory. He told me to wash my hands and face and come to meet in his office immediately. Now i was alone in all this, as Shakti Singh left towards the dormitory he gave me this look, i can’t really explain the meaning of his expression but it was sort of “Hold on man, you will get through it.” Then i went to the wash-basin to wash my hand, but instead i licked my fingers and enjoyed the sweet taste of sugar syrup that was making my fingers sticky. I wished and prayed to god to somehow rewind the time or at least stop it.

When I entered the office of the warden, he was sitting in his big revolving chair and the stick was on the table. I had heard horrible stories about seniors getting a beating with the belt from him. He asked me if anyone else was also involved but i remained quiet, i remembered the words of Shakti, “Dekh aab phasenge, tho dono phasenge”. Then i remembered the face of “Vikram Rana” and of “Anubhav Singh” and replied “no sir i was in it alone”. He asked me “Are you sure” and i remained quite. He told me to take out both my hands and rained the stick 10-12 times on my palm. It was really painful but i was hardly feeling anything. All i was thinking was what if they sent complain to my parents. I just didn’t want them to know that their child had been caught stealing food. The warden sat down on his chair again and thought for a moment and then he said “you won’t get your allowance for 10 weeks”. Then i was dismissed, I was a little relieved that all was over and all the batch mates would praise me for my bravery.

But when i reached my dormitory, my expectations were shattered. Anubhav Singh had convinced all the boys that it was mine and Shakti Singh’s fault and there was no need for all of us getting a beating. He had even slapped Shakti once or twice and he was on the verge of crying. I went straight to my bed, but couldn’t sleep at all. Sometime during the night, Shakti came to my bed and said “Sorry yaar, galti ho gayi.”(Sorry friend, i have done a mistake.) And i remained quiet.

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