Prof. Dr. Harish Chandra, PhD in Economics, gushed out hot air onto
his fist as he reclined on the sofa. A poignant look on his face epitomized his
grief.
“ You people dishonored our college.”- Professor Harish spoke in a
rusty voice and rolled down the sports section on the “ Kathmandu Post” daily to
display an article entitled “ A Bloody Basketball Clash”
The troubled looking guys who were totally lost on the unfathomable
miseries inhabited the sofa, on the opposite. Chetan, Sulav, Rakesh, Solace,
Jagdish, Mahesh and Abhinav made a good basketball team but they were supposedly
outside their arena confronting the interrogation of the Principal.
Abhinav could feel his palpitation right on the carotid beneath his jaw. A sense of guilt was fueling up inside. He wanted
that meeting to end as soon as possible.
“ I do not singlehandedly believe Abhinav as the culprit. There
would be a thorough investigation on this. Basketball is the rich culture of
this college. A winning spirit is essence of every games, every competitions
or..or.. “ Dr. Haris stuttered “every tests of your life.”
“You see those trophies “- Dr. Harish pointed at the shelf with five
sports shield behind his study desk- “ they hold different stories.” He inclined
forward to grab the paper, then tore the paper to four pieces through the
center plane and tossed on the table between him and the boys.
“You are the wriggling worms in a broth who flourish to defame the very
place that nurtures you. Now I am afraid that this scandal can have a malign
influence on the people around, in the college and outside.”
An utter silence in the meeting accentuated the heavy breath of the
boys. The pompous speech from the principle was so unpalatable that they apparently
swore under their heavy breath.
“Abhinav, so basketball seems to be a kid play. Right? You want to
upgrade your game to a ring. Is Tyson your favorite?” Dr. said facetiously. “ You were accused of
felony for that act. I protected you. You could have been jailed for years for
an attempted murder.”
Abhinav’s face was scarlet with shame. He was steaming internally by
such an ignominy. Deep inside, he was apologetic for his deed. He wished
everything that happened in last 24 hours was just a nightmare and everything would
start over in a blink.
“ I am really sorrowful for everything that happened. I do love
every student; equally I can’t stand anything that would smear a stature of
this college. Now, go to your class! Take home a big lesson. Grow up!”
Kasthamandup Basketball Team left without a squeal of a sound.
×××
There was the knock at the door. Lecturer Binod stopped the topic in
between to open the door. Office assistant stood there with a courteous face.
“Excuse me sir, Harish sir wants to see the Class Representative and
the assistant for a while.”- Office assistant mumbled on the ear of Lecturer
Binod.
“CR and the assistant CR”- He glance around the class “ to the
Principal’s office.” Rashmi and Ases left behind the creak of the chairs and
went out of the class.
Abhinav gave a prognostic
glare at office assistant. As the door slammed back, he got a bit of a
thumbnail between his incisors in a sheer anxiety. He could discern everything
happening on the periphery of the basketball clash.
“Principal probably wants the clear picture of the showdown.”
Abhinav soliloquized.
×××
In the lunch break, Abhinav and Binay sat in the canteen, and waited
for their chow mein.
“ Principal probably wants to know your character in the class or
may be he wants to know everything about yesterday’s incident. That is why he
called CR. If you are lucky Rashmi will cover you ass. What actually happened
this morning in the principal’s office?” Binay asked inquisitively.
“ I thought I would be under fire. But he did not particularly
regard me the sole culprit. That, at least, consoled my heart. I am grateful
that he sealed every way possible that could have put me behind the bars. Obviously,
he was angry but he was rhetorical rest of the time.”
“Didn’t he scold you?” Binay said bemusedly.
“ Nope, I don’t think the meeting was set to scold me or our basketball
team. None of us spoke a word. All the time Principal was busy with the
persuasive speech. Tearing apart today’s Kathmandu Post was rather unusual.”- Abhinav
bragged as if everything went to easy in the morning meeting.
“Whatever, I do not believe your words. Your heart should have
nearly stopped with fear. You are just trying pretend as if nothing happened.”
– Binay said sarcastically.
“If you don’t believe, then why do you want to talk about this at
first place?” Abhinav retorted annoyingly. “I am simply overdone dealing with
things due to that incident.” Abhinav looked frustrated.
“ Why are you so ill-tempered? If you are not going to change this
particular demeanor of yours, you will regret your whole life. Life always
gives chances to prove ourselves but we should not take it for granted. You
will probably never learn decision-making. The day you learn to take right decision
at the right time, you’d be the wisest person on the earth. My words do not
make any sense to you, do they? Binay vociferated loudly and calmed down at
once. “Come on let’s go to library. I want to check this month’s Wave.”
Abhinav could not open up his mouth to continue the argument and
followed him to the Library on the first floor of the college building.
×××
Last class of the day, and yet another knock at the door showed up a
face of acquaintance. This time office assistant came in the class with two
envelops. Lecturer Ashok took the spectacles from his pocket to read the
addressee of the letter.
“ Sulav Shrestha, 5th Semester ”- He read the name aloud.
He then shifted his eyes to the next envelope and read “Abhinav Bhandari” In a
couple of strides through the middle gangway of the class, he reached Abhinav
and Sulav, both, sitting on the last row, but in the opposite corners of the
class and handed them respective letter with their name.
“Seems like you guys have created a history. This might be a little
compliment to your commendable performance in the basketball tournament.” –
Lecturer Ashok ridiculed as if he already knew about the letter-thing. He
returned to the board and continued teaching.
Abhinav had no idea what that letters was all about He already had a
number of acrimonious confrontation with Lecturer Ashok so he could not tear
open the envelope in the middle of his class. He had never seen an envelope of
that kind except his assessment report card. If only to read the letter
content, he wished he had an x-ray probe in his eyes.
×××
Abhinav tore open the envelope as everyone gathered around him in
great eagerness. As he unfolded the letter the first thing that took his sight
was the subject that read:
‘Subject: About suspension for two weeks from the college activity ‘
He did not have to read rest of lines in the letter. So, he scrunched
up the letter at once and put it in his bag.
“Congratulations… Don’t worry… You’ll be fine…. That’s a bit
harsh….” He received the mixed reaction as he moved through mass of his
colleagues surrounding him.
×××
“ There is no meaning for repenting at this moment. You just can say
‘let it be’ and comfort yourself.” – Binay sympathized with Abhinav’s
predicament as they sat on the Table no. 5 on Karki Dai’s.
“ I have nothing to worry about except confronting my parents. You
know how they are. At least they could have called my parents first and then
handed me the suspension letter. If I tell the truth to my parents then I am
dead meat. I don’t know what should I do. They don’t know anything about the
basketball incident.’ Abhinav said without a genuine levity.
“Don’t worry I’ll come home with you this evening. You don’t have to
speak a word. I think I can handle it pretty good. I have always been your
savior. Let me do the favor this time again. But I want you do a thing. Not for
me though!” Binay stated cunningly.
“What?”- Abhinav shrugged his shoulder.
“Go and talk to Rashmi. Try to know what she chatted on the
principal’s office this afternoon.”
“Are you crazy? I know it’s her who added fuel to the fire.
Undoubtedly, she is a whistle-blower. Then why do you want me to talk to her? I
don’t wanna talk to her.” Abhinav argued.
“At least you have got a reason to talk to her. Let it be for good
or bad. Just be yourself and talk to her.”- Binay
“Nope. I can’t … I mean I don’t want. I have not talked to her till
date.”
“ So this is the right time.”- Binay cajoled.
“Ok, then I’ll. You know how I talk people whom I hate. Don’t ever
think that I would talk floridly. Off I go. Come home at 6 in the evening.”
Abhinav left for the Dhaulagiri Hostel located at Maitidevi.
×××
Abhinav leaned against the hostel boundary wall as he called Urmila
on her cellphone.
“Urmila, it’s me Abhi. Could you please tell Rashmi to come down to
the entrance. I want to talk to her.”- Abhinav
“Really. Ok ,I will send her.”- Urmila hanged up.
“Rashmi, Rashmi, Rashmi….”- Urmila shouted in excitement. “You know
who is here to see you. Come on guess.”
“ I don’t know. No one ever had come to see me. Who is this? Rashmi
replied in a calm tone as she closed the “The Lucky One”.
“It’s Abhinav”- Urmila shouted.
“What?” Rashmi responded in a startled vocal. “ You mean he is here
and waiting outside”
“Yup, he is. Come on do it fast.”
“No, no I can’t do this.”
“Oh yes, Sweetheart you can.” Urmila pushed Rashmi out of the room.
Abhinav’s was looking at his phone when the gate creaked open. In
blue t-shirt with a Tom and Jerry print and plain brown trousers, came Rashmi.
Neither Rashmi nor Abhinav was ready to break the silence.
Finally, Rashmi spoke “Hi”
“Thank you” Abhinav
“ For what? ” Rashmi replied in a low tone.
“For getting me suspended” Abhinav commented slyly.
“ I do not want to talk about this.”-Rashmi
“ Come on let’s go on a short walk and talk about this.” Abhinav
insisted.
“No, I can’t leave hostel at this time and I don’t want to either.”
Rashmi declined. “ I guess, this meeting is over. See you in the college.”
Rashmi shut the gate.
Abhinav could not utter a word to call her back. He had one hell of
a stressful day that ended in a turbulence of humiliation.
