29!

extension lobby of S.J. Hall !! one dark alley rather with doors and walls on both sides. there lived a man nicknamed kacchua. during my first few days of stay with this man in room no. 80 of extension lobby i realized that we are going to enjoy each other's company. so lazyman he was that he never ever started any conversation. after ten days of stay together he told me that he was going to Ahmadabad for his office training. and after three months when he came back we were on drinking spree. insolent ideas for model making was his plus point as a student of architecture. once he used cigarette stubs instead of trees in his model of an art gallery. it was a part of his fundamental rights to keep everything in total mess and dirty inside the room as a senior to me and more as a student of architecture. i never revolted because i also loved the way our room was. drinking country wine and then playing 29! with my useless friends was a real fun. Hiren never ever mastered the game like us but he was reliable as a partner. during his final year thesis less time we consumed in creating something new or giving shape to our strange ideas and improving design, and more time we gave to the philosophy of making 'joints' more easily. he had a big 'bong' but we preferred 'joints' more than bongs. Kandisa was our favourite album and we had played a lot of music on his barbarian tape recorder. at the end of the dark age CD players were still a luxury. as nobody in extension lobby was interested in any kind of study keeping volume low was out of the the question. out of fifty only five students in extension lobby were allowed to keep term with one or two subjects and everybody else never cared for their results.

Typical day in our life during those golden days...

7 in the morning

hiren, after rubbing his eye lids for 2 minutes, 'where are the cigis?'

pointing my index finger towards his drawing board, 'they are there', and again leaving my body for next 9hours.

4 in the evening

kamal and kharchoo shouting their lungs out, sabooo.......... let's go to kalubhai.

4:30 in the evening

enjoying tea and sucking four squares with umesh and gang at kalubhai's.

5 in the evening

umesh, busy bathing for next two hours. me, kharchoo and kamal pretending playing cricket.

7 in the evening

again gang up at kalubhai's, nonsense chattering and uninterrupted supply of tea.

8 in the evening

free food at mess, sometimes we pay.

9 at night

umesh and bhatia playing Table Tennis. kharchoo ragging first year kids. kamal shouting as if he was appointed by the university to attend all the incoming calls. me playing chess with kids who don't know how to move their knights and bishops.

10 at night

first round of 29! begins.

12 at night

first visit to the railway station.

1 at night

second round of 29! begins.

2 at night

second visit to the railway station.

3 at night

third round of 29! begins.

4 in the morning

gang visits laari under the bridge and enjoys sadali khaari-biscuits.

5 in the morning

fourth round of 29! begins.

6 in the morning

we leave our body for the first time.

7 in the morning

hiren, after rubbing his eye lids for 2 minutes, 'where are the cigis?'

pointing my index finger towards his drawing board, 'they are there', and again leaving my body for next 9hours.