I already know somebody with the same name !

I am 16, having failed to get admission in any good schools in the state despite breaking past the magical figure of 92 in 10th. Some due to the messed up plans who first wanted me to go to Kota, and prepare for the nightmare called engineering, along with half the million other kids who would barely get to see their cousin's wedding, family vacation, Kohli scoring scores of centuries, neighbors party, festivals at home for next two years at best, which might be three as well. 

Then it was somehow decided that Kota doesn't make much sense, to let him study in the city school itself. My fate for the next two years was decided. But the schools in the city decided before that, the list of students who they would like to pin their hopes on. 

Luckily, I managed to qualify through scholarship tests, which helped me take care of school, coaching, and everything else. But here was a catch, I was to stay with a bunch of a handful of other boys who had managed to crack the process as well. The pressure was high, and so was the panic. I could hardly see my self-confidence which was busy entering the burial ground it had dug for itself.

"what if everybody else is far smarter than I am".

There was news about even principal Jalraj Chaturvedi's daughter joining our batch.

This was the most prominent thought which troubled me more than all the security guards combined when I entered the gates for the first time.

Me, a small-town guy, who just discovered Maggi a couple of years ago, when the entire country was already eating ramen and white sauce pasta, how would I be able to stand these city kids who might be better than me in all the aspects?

I then did the obvious thing that most nervous, terrified, and underconfident kids would do. I stood staring at the gate of my hostel and then looked back, In the hope to run back to safety ...

My father disappeared after dropping me off around 15 minutes ago, so the chance to take a U-turn had already taken a U-turn.

Two giant bags, an Admission acceptance form, and an invisible backpack of self-doubt accompanied me when I first knocked on the gate. It was peace all around, probably the silence before the impending Strome that was going to come into my life, or the warning for me to turn around.

Probably everybody was preparing for the 1st day tomorrow.

"Knock knock knock!!!"

I knocked on the door of the three-seater room that was allotted to me. I didn't get any response for the first minute, and as just as I was about to knock for the second time somebody opened the door a bit, and peeped out. Once he was assured that I was the safe person he let me enter the room.

Five guys were sitting around in a circle surrounding something, while one was guarding the doors. 5+1+1 is never equal to 3.

"Did I enter the wrong room I doubted for a second".

How come six people are already in a room meant for three, of whom I am the one? 

"Something looks scandalous", my eyes frowned, my heart beat pumped and sweat made its way to my forehead...

"they could be making Maggi, which is in a kettle", In a hostel where none of the electrical appliances were allowed, looked like a plausible explanation...

"what if they are distributing weed !! ", doubted my second-order instincts.

A took a big leap of faith, and redirected my feet toward the circle, to have a closer look. The Sherlock in me wanted to solve the mystery, while Jerry in me wanted me to flee. As I reach closer I stop my feet and push my head forward towards the center of the circle, what I see next just blows up my mind. All the fears that were germinating inside me till a few moments ago suddenly turned into a forest of terror.

One of them was annotating a piece of printed paper, with four others looking intently at the same.

"Hi, I am Bhumik, I extended my hands to the person sitting closest to where I was standing"

"Abe Bunty, ek aur aa gya, Iska bhi naam add Kr list me, divide and rule".

Are they studying algorithms already, even before starting their engineering, Man! I should have taken the U(you) turn I sighed.

Seeing the nervousness on my face he held my hand, and signaled others to increase the diameter of the circle where there was some serious business going on, on pieces of printed sheet.

Five minutes, with thirty-one cuss words, served peeping hot with thirty-one dialogs, the entire drama unfolds. the whole campaign was to find out the names of the girls who joined our batch, and these forensic experts were holding onto the sheets which were the list of people who took admitted to our batch.

Something finally seemed normal for the first time in the entire day.

The outcome of the exercise was simple, each of us was supposed to ask out the girl whose name they have been assigned. 

Shruti was the lucky girl who would soon have the greatest pleasure of her life, of course being asked by the most charming person I ever know, myself😉. As soon as I got my first assignment, the best one I ever did, I got to speed. Within a week a detailed report about her was ready on my table. One thing that helped was her blog, where I got to know her email, the places she has traveled to, the things she liked, the places she hated, who her friends were, where she lived, her school, her email, and her dog. It also gave me a good idea about everything she could probably be impressed by.

So the guy who was supposedly panic-stricken before entering the gate of the hostel gave him the courage to ask out the girl on a date within the first month itself.

On the day I decided to come out of my undercover operation and ask her out directly.

"Hey, I am Bhumik, would you please come on a date with me", I said

"Hello, I am Shruti, Shruti Chaturvedi ......................." (wait do I already know somebody with the same name, yup my principal of course!!!).

This is the same story I recently told in one of our story-writing meetups.

Just another beautiful picture that reminds me of golden days