Tuku The Funda, Part-1

My dear friend Tuku, used to be quite a famous personality at hostel. He’s from one of the most famous town in Assam named Jorhat. People from Jorhat usually are very decent and they speak very sweet as well. The place can be kind of compared with Lucknow with it's sweet and Sudh Hindi, along with the traditional “Pehle Aap, Pehle Aap" decent kind of attitude of the people out there. It seemed Tuku was popular with the name Shiva in his home town before he joined the engineering college. But unfortunately Shiva name couldn’t become that popular in our college and he became famous with the name Tuku. There’s an interesting story behind the name Shiva. Actually Shiva is the name of one of the most famous Ram Gopal Varma  action movie, which was released when we were kids. The movie is based on college politics and is one of the best Indian action movies I’ve ever watched. In the movie the hero Shiva, use to ride his bicycle and in one of the scene, the goons wait for him with their hockey sticks and all. For all those who watched the movie might remember the famous cycle chain scene, where Siva use to pull his cycle chain in the very first attempt and roll it within his arm to take on the goons. Well, our Tuku was very much influenced with the movie and particularly with the chain scene. It seemed, once they had a fight at school and Tuku tried to pull the chain of his bicycle. He tried several times, but he just couldn’t pull the chain out of it completely. Well, from that day onward his school friends started to call him Shiva.

We were fortunate enough to have witnessed several interesting Tuku incidents at hostel. One day I was inside his room and was discussing about one of our batch mates and his extreme form of smoking habit. I commented about that guy and said "He’s such a chain smoker and how could he smoke two cigarettes consecutively, one after another?"

Tuku started to laugh with his typical and little weird kind of expression and replied "Hmm Hmm… Did you ever tried yourself or watched anyone in the hostel to have 5 cigarettes consecutively one after another?"

I replied "My goodness! No, never and I don’t know anyone who do like that. I mean, why the hell anyone would do that?"

Tuku started to smile with his trademark expression, with a little bit of proud self-esteem.

Well, guys usually enjoy to take pride about their consumption of heavenly spirits and the proud factor is directly proportional to the intake capacity. In one similar kind of incident, as some friends were inside a room and gossiped about the previous night party. One of the friends commented on a different friend "He's a damn tanky man and can consume hell lot of fluids"

It seemed Tuku didn't like those words much and asked everyone "What's the maximum number of pegs you guys ever had?"

Everyone got little confused and some replied as 5,6,8 etc. Few of them replied that they never counted as such. 

Then Tuku asked "Did anyone ever tried 20 pegs?"

Everyone was surprised and said "20 pegs? How could anyone have 20 pegs?"

Tuku started to smile with his trademark expression, along with those similar kind  of proud self-esteem.

In yet another incident that occurred during our first semester, some of our friends along with few of the seniors were enjoying their usual kind of spirit session in one of the rooms. I didn't have the opportunity to have experienced the delightful incident live and only got to know about that the next day. Tuku was narrating some of his heroic performances during his school days. The other guys listened to his stories with full concentration and enjoyed every bits of it. Tuku said that they used to have quite an infamous and notorious gang in his home town. Not only the common people, but even some of the policemen and local media as well, were disturbed with their activities. He continued to narrate his interesting stories and then he told about one of his best friends. It seemed his friend’s father was very much annoyed with him because of his daring activities and one day his father simply asked him to leave the house. So his friend went to Mumbai and had to struggle for a few months out there. But true talent never gets waste and one day his friend came in touch with the great D company. Within a few days after he joined the company, it seemed the D was very much impressed with him. Well, D used to be a decent guy those days and almost lived like the king of Mumbai. 

Tuku continued his thrilling story and said that one evening his friend was enjoying his drink with the D. 

D said to his friend "You are doing a wonderful job and I’m really impressed with your work. I really need more talented guys like you"

It was such a proud moment for his friend, but he was also very shy and replied "Aree Sir, Who am I? I’ve one very close friend from my home town and if you meet him and see his performance, you would simply go crazy"

D was very impressed and said "Aree Wah! Please bring your friend out here and I would love to meet such an individual"

Everyone in the room was pretty much excited and also sounded little curious. Some of them asked "Actually your friend was mentioning about whom?"

Tuku started to smile with his trademark expression and his self-respect was clearly visible on his face that moment.

Immediately the room jolted with all those applauds and someone asked Tuku "So did get any offer from the D company?"

Tuku replied "Yeah, last time I went home during Durga Pooja vacation, my friend was in town and he conveyed me with their offer. He tried to convince me a lot so that I could have worked with him"

Other guys replied "Wow! That’s really great. So did you accept the offer?"

With his usual smile Tuku replied “Are you guys mad? How could I join D company just like that? I mean its fine (little shy) Come on! I don’t want to join them”

A Sweet Barber

I was born and brought up in Bongaigaon, a quite well known town in Assam. Oh! It’s such a fascinating place and I’ve hell lot of memories about that place, stored in my brain’s hard disk drive. My parents stayed there for almost two decades and only when I was in my 4th semester of engineering, my father got transferred to Guwahati. Once they shifted to Guwahati, I always looked for some opportunity to visit Bongaigaon, but unfortunately I didn’t have much of them though. Once my parents left our home town, somehow their visit to Bongaigaon was also became kind of limited. My father already sold our nostalgic old house long time back and after his retirement about a couple of years ago, my parents preferred to settle out in Guwahati itself.

Life in Bongaigaon was quite different as compared to our present life. That was the time when there was no internet and perhaps, wireless mobile communication was a hot research topic those days. For us, our social networking was limited to schools, Sunday cricket matches and those regular kinds of evening sports at any damn playground. Our entire neighborhood was like a big family and every evening our house was blessed with one guest or the other. Quite often, even guests were also fortunate enough, as they had the opportunity to meet other guests as well, at the same time. Well, not only for our house, but it was the same story for almost every house out there. Being a house wife, it wasn't easy for my mother to have managed the house and the frequent guests. But like us, even our parents also enjoyed a lot those days.  Life was simple without much desires and people felt so much united within the neighborhood, despite those minor disputes among some of the mommies. I still remember how we used to wait for the evening load shedding. Well, the power cut gave us the opportunity for hell lot of fun, specially during summer, as everyone in the locality used to come outside their houses and strolled on that narrow road and used to gossip. Wow! That was such a wonderful moment. 

When I was in my 7th standard, my mom started to involve herself with an Woman Organization, popularly known as Mahila Samiti in town. Actually they worked mainly for the welfare and development of the children by organizing all sorts of competitions and cultural programs. That time my mom had the opportunity to interact with different sorts of people and one day, she interacted with one gorgeous looking and quite a fascinating lady. Well we used to call her Mazumdar aunty and she was gem of a person. Her husband was also quite friendly and they were blessed with two cute daughters. Maunder aunty was a very smart and modern kind of lady and she owned a famous beauty Parlor in Bongaigaon. Pretty soon, my mom got quite close to her. Well, they were kind of best friends that time and gradually both the families started to interact more frequently.  Once we left for our school, my mom regularly used to visit her parlor and stayed there for hours. she’s very much impressed, as well as inspired with the awesome art of making someone look much prettier. 

Mazumdar aunty always encouraged my mom and even used to teach her and kind of, prepared her as a beautician. It went on like that for almost a year and my mom already started to experiment with her haircuts and facials, whenever any authentic guest used to visit us. Well, some of my cousin sisters were extremely happy with that. Mazumdar aunty asked her to do a course, so that she could have become a certified beautician. She even promised her to help with the certification, but then one day, Mazumdar uncle got transferred to a different town and their entire family was about to have moved there. It was a well established parlor and Mazumdar aunty requested my mom if she could have taken the responsibility of the parlor? My mom was pretty much interested and also was kind of confident. But the only problem was that she wasn't certified for the job yet. But then, aunty said that she would take care of that and within next 6 months my mom could have done with her certification. Mom was so happy that time, but the real problem was something different. 

Quite opposite to me, my father was always a very religious person. Even though, he use to pray 5 times a day, but he always had a much broader outlook and he didn't have any problem with my mom's decision. But many of our well wishers, both within the locality and far across, were not very comfortable with that. They tried to influence my mom, as well as my father, so that they could have backed off from the idea. It was too much pressure for my mom and I could remember one evening, when many people, including men and women, visited our house and tried hard to have had convinced my mom. I asked them "What is the problem? What’s big deal if she runs a beauty parlor?"

One  of the uncles out there, started to laugh loudly and replied "Aree Baba, people will start to call your mom as BARBER. Would you like that?" Even though, I was in my 7th standard that time, but was matured enough to understand that was actually a big piece of shit.

Ultimately my mom had to back off and she couldn’t fulfill her dream. Well, after all, society also have it's own importance and Mazumdar aunty had to sell her parlor to someone else. Without her support, somehow my mom’s ambition gradually died out. But it seemed the aspiration was always there, somewhere deep within some corner of her soul. Time passed by and after almost 2 decades, my mom’s aspiration came out alive once again and that time it was much stronger. 3 years ago, when my father was about to have retired, my mom completed all the damn courses which was required for her certification. About two years back, she started her own parlor in Guwahati. Even though, it’s not a very big parlor, but my mom is happy and she also hired a beautician to assist her. 

From our childhood, we've noticed our mom to be extremely hard working and energetic. Even now days, she manage her parlor and also the house, almost single-handedly. Well, there’s not much age difference between my mom and dad, but comparatively dad looks much older. Mom is perfectly fit and quite healthy and all thanks to her activeness. Well, to have started a parlor of her own was indeed a very bold decision for her at such an older age. But as people say "Better late than never" Even though, my mom usually have a tiring day, but she keeps herself occupied and the pleasant feeling of financial independence, boosted her confidence a lot. She is actually quite happy now and I'm really proud of my BARBER mom. 

A Stranger On A Train

6th semester exams was over and everyone was pretty much prepared for their Industrial training. Well, the training was mandatory for all the traditional branches, but for some new ones it wasn't. As far as Computer Science was concerned, the training was not compulsory for us. One reason could be because there wasn't any software company in Assam those days and the authorities didn’t want to put too much pressure on the students. Most of the students usually used to do their Industrial training in one of the refineries and Oil companies out there. Some fortunate ones used to have their own kind of jugaar(source) and they could manage to do their training in big companies, in different other cities. Some of our hostel mates, most of them were from mechanical branch, could manage to do their training in a reputed company in Chhattisgarh. The guys were so much excited for their adventure. Few of us preferred to remain at the hostel itself. Well, anything related to study and education was always my last priority, and on top of that the training wasn't mandatory for us. But to be honest, we were little jealous of those guys and we knew that they would have a hell lot of fun for the next couple of months.

A gang of 10 to 12 mechanical goons boarded a train to Chhattisgarh and they had some great fun out there. Our friend Jeet was also part of the company. Jeet’s elder brother recently cleared his IAS that time and was posted out there in Raipur. Well, he only did all the jugaars for those guys and they stayed there for almost 3 weeks and then they had a short Delhi visit. Well, the visit was part of their training program and after a week they again returned to Raipur. On their way back, they couldn’t manage to get all their railway tickets on the same compartment. In fact, their berths were scattered in two to three different compartments. Now our friend Sab was always a Rangeela(fun loving) kind of guy. He's blessed with his sensational talents, that could impress the girls so well. His performance was not only limited to our college boundaries, but was extremely magical quite far and wide as well. He's tall, slightly dark and extremely handsome. He's just the perfect kind of dream boy for most of the girls. Sab’s greatest advantage was his flattering tongue. How could he managed to be so over sweet and also remained quite dignified at the same time?  It’s such an art and with time he mastered it to such a great extent. 

Fortunately for Sab, one cute and extremely smart looking girl seated just next to him. Sab noticed the guy who came to see off her at the railway platform. From their conversation and their touchy kind of activities, Sab was almost sure that the guy was her boy friend. As the train started to move, passengers were quite busy to adjust their luggages. After sometime, few of our friends came to Sab’s compartment and were pretty much delighted to enjoy some kind of an eye candy. As usual, everyone started to pull Sab’s leg a bit for the enchanting train journey he’s about to enjoy. Gradually everyone opened up a bit and had an informal  kind of introductions. The pretty lady was also an engineering student and went to Delhi for her Industrial training. Everyone was having a wonderful time and at lunch, guys went back to their respective compartments.

After lunch most of them went to sleep and my friend Sab asked the lady "Don’t you like to have some sleep?"

She had a cute smile on her face and replied "No, not really. By the way, you can sleep if you would like to"

Sab replied "No, I usually don’t sleep at day time"

She again smiled and said "That’s nice, that thing should be left for the night I guess"

So, gradually they opened up a bit and chatted for hours. In the evening again few friends came to Sab’s compartment and everyone enjoyed tea and some snacks together. Time simply flied that particular day and it was already 8 PM. It seemed, as if only a couple of hours had passed since they boarded the train in the morning. Group of friends and a lovely evening, along with cool train breezes. It was such a fascinating moment and Sab simply waited for some kind of a free space all around. It was dinner time and guys again went back to their respective compartments. Fortunately for Sab, he got the side lower berth that day and on top of that, the lady occupied the upper berth, just above his one. The train was supposed to have reached Raipur by early morning, but the girl was supposed to have reached her destination at midnight, by 2:30 AM. She was not in any mood to have slept that night and my friend Sab already started to get, kind of intoxicated and the effects was much more than those heavenly fluids, which he was so much used to that time. He was getting lost into her magnificent blue eyes. 

They continued to chat on their lower side berth and they kept both the windows open. The cool breezes and the deep blue eyes close by, just created some kind of a hypnotizing environment for my friend. They talked about hell lot of things, right from Engineering to Bollywood, from music to feminism and a little bit of atheism as well. All the passengers were sleeping and Sab was simply enjoying the moment. All of a sudden he asked her about the guy who came in the morning to see her off.  She didn’t hesitate and said that he was her boy friend.  Sab was little hurt with her response, but they continued to chat. From her conversation Sab assumed that her relationship with her boy friend was not very serious and felt a little good about that. It was already 1 AM and the girl said that her destination would arrive within an hour.  The train slowed down a little and she was quite excited and wanted to have a glimpse of a temple. She said that there’s a famous temple nearby and GOD fulfills everyone’s wishes, if they wish from their heart in that temple. Sab asked her whether GOD would fulfill his wish, if he would have wished from his heart right that time, from inside the train. She had a cute smile and replied "Yes of course, GOD would fulfill your wish"

All of a sudden she almost screamed "Here it is, the temple"

Sab couldn’t notice anything, but she's being a local girl, she might have recognized the place.  She asked "So, what did you wish?"

Sab was little shy, but in a mischievous way he replied "Well, I wished if I could have kissed you"

It seemed the girl didn’t like the joke at all and looked quite serious. She didn’t talk with him and simply looked outside the window. Sab felt very bad and thought he shouldn’t have said like that. He didn’t even asked sorry and might have waited for her response. After a while she collected her luggage and placed it nearby. Well, she already prepared herself to get down from that train. Sab asked "So, you will get down now?"

She replied "Yes, very soon"

Sab asked for her email id and she replied "What you would do with my email id?"

Sab preferred to remain silent that moment. After a while the train got little slower and Sab could see a hell lot of tiny lights far across, through the window. The lady struggled a bit with her heavy luggage, as she moved towards the door. Sab immediately went to help her and said “Please allow me”

They both went near the door and Sab opened it little wider. It seemed to be a small town outside and the platform didn’t arrive yet. They both were quite close and they had an eye contact and the intimate kind of stares continued for a while. All of a sudden the girl approached much closer and pressed her lips against his. There was complete silence all around, as if suddenly everything else stopped. Their breathing accelerated and it was quite louder as well. Slowly and passionately, as her tongue entered inside his mouth, it got filled with some kind of an ecstasy. Sab’s blood pressure increased exponentially like hell and his eyes busted with few teardrops as well. Some unusual kind of chemical reactions occurred inside his body, that produced some kind of exceptional emotions. That was the best moment of his life, but then all of a sudden the train stopped and she whispered her email id into his ears. She got down and Sab helped with her luggage. Within no time the train started to move all over again and they both kept looking at each others faces. Sab even continued to stare at her, even after she's completely lost to his view. Later, Sab couldn’t sleep the remaining night.

Well, that was for the first and last time, Sab had any sort of communication with that lady. Even though, after he came back to hostel, he emailed her on many occasions, but he never received any reply.