Now three middle aged woman, or might be Ma’ms with a group of 8-10 girls were staring at me. Girls were trying to hide behind them, yet were curious to look at me. I was wondering if any of these girls tipped the Ma’m about me.
“Yes?”, I tried smiling.
“This is a girls‘ college and you are not supposed to be standing here. Who are you?”, one of the Ma’m enquired.
I was scared to death. I could see couple of girls trying to hide their smile with their hands.
“Ma’m, my name is Tarun and I’m with Neha of second year. I am here to play an Object for Desai Ma’m’s Psychology practical class”
I pronounced Desai Ma’m,with such an emphasis as if I am attending her class since my birth !!!.
I was also glad for the fact that I got to hear Desai Ma’m’s name a couple of minutes back. That name eased some of the tension. All three of them were thinking what to ask next when Neha came out of the canteen. She looked at Mams and then at me. Then she passed the sandwich that she got from the canteen over to me and told the three teachers’ again about the Psychology thesis story.
That satisfied them, and the group separated in peace.
“What took you so long?”, I asked Neha. “Are baba, there was lot of rush and the girls’ also wanted to know why you are here? And then Ganesh bhaiya got a call from the principal office for some order.”, Neha tried to calm me down.
“Ganesh Bhaiya? Who is this Ganesh Bhaiya?”, I asked “He is the canteen servant. His name is Ganesh, we call him Ganesh Bhaiya”, Neha winked. “You mean, is he a BOY?”, a stupid question, I realized the moment I asked it. “What yaar!... of-course he IS a BOY”, Neha said.
“Wow, I want to meet him”, I couldn’t hold my curiosity. “What for?”, Neha tried to push me aside. “Don’t laugh, but I really want to see a man’s face now, even if he is a servant from the canteen”,
Although Neha laughed at it, I felt that I really meant it. It was no joke. I was terribly upset in this girls’ college and I swore that this will be my first and last visit to any girls’ college (Unless of course I’m the dad of a daughter who have to rush to school / college for her admissions !!!!)
3
Second Year Psychology class was overflowed by girls of different type, different attitudes and different personalities.
I was cursing Neha for what she has gotten me into.
We went into the class, and the class became quiet in no-time. It was like in school-days when the kids were shouting, fighting, jumping and then the Inspection auditor would break into the class with the headmaster.
All eyes on me. It might be exciting and heavenly for them to see a guy in the girls’ college, but for me to be in a girls’ college was like being in hell.
Neha introduced me to some of her class mates.
“This is Tarun…!”
“Hieee Tarunnn..”, girls yelled at me. Echoing the ending ‘n’ a bit long.
I thought of saying the ending ‘n’ in Tarun is not sooooooo long.
“… and this is Sheena...this is Radha, this is Rachita, this is Sonam…” the list was endlessNeha continued to introduce and I kept forgetting the names-faces matching in no time.
Neha pointed me to a bench which was located at the corner of the class.
I quietly went there and sat. Some girls engaged themselves in usual talks, whereas some still continued to stare at me. Cell phones, those days were still a big-deal. Thanks to my highly paid I.T. job, that I was able to afford one, but it was too bulky to be showed-off. Hence I preferred to keep it, where it was.
I kept staring at the top of the bench as if some Hibru secret code was written on it, and if I don’t solve it in next 10 minutes, I will be shot to death.
The sudden lowered noise forced me to look straight to the door to find out another middle aged lady coming inside the class with an authoritative look. I guessed she was Desai Ma’m.
I politely stood up, but to my surprise none of the girls did.
Well, that is what we do, right? We all stand up to respect the teacher in class. Don’t we? Be it a boy’s college or a mixed college. Not sure if this custom is followed in girls’ college.
Whatever be the reason, I made fool of myself. Desai ma’m was also not used to this and she just stopped for a second, not knowing what am I going to do.
There was a sudden hushhh hush…in the class..
I sat down.
“Quiet!!”, Desai mam said.
“Neha, can you introduce the object to us?” Desai Ma’m asked Neha.
“Object??, what yaar…I am a normal human being, doing a favor on you and all these girls around, just for the sake of my girl-friend…” I thought
“Yes Ma’m”, Neha said, as she stood up.
“Ma’m, this is Tarun.. my friend…”
“Just a friend or…??”, somebody said from behind…followed by… a “wooohhoooo…” by some backbenchers.
Neha was smiling…clearly she was enjoying this, showing off her boy-friend in her own class, and in a girls’ college when nobody else could. ”He is a software engineer”, the ‘wooohooooo’ began again and slowed down..
“.. and he is working in a MNC as a team lead…”, this time the ‘wooohooo...’ was much louder and it sustained for quite a long time
“Ok girls, let’s get started with our session”, Desai Ma’m said looking at the girls. “and Tarun, just to inform you, there will be two sections of this session. In first section, you will be shown different diagrams, different figures, different shapes on screen and you have to tell us what you make out of it. What do you see in that picture…okay?”
Obediently, I nodded.
I looked at Neha, while Desai ma’m proceeded to explain the second section. I had an eye-contact with Neha. She smiled and winked again. I was about to do the same, when I saw couple of girls staring at me.
I turned around, and looked at Desai Ma’m.
“The second section is a question and answer round. These girls will ask you questions about day-today life and you just have to answer back sincerely. Okay?”
I nodded.
“Alright then, please put in the first slide.”, Desai Ma’m ordered.
And then a series of presentation continued. The white board was filled with different shapes, different pictures. The duration of each slide on the board was not more than 15 seconds. I was having hard time to make something out of it. On few occasions I could answer, but sometimes, I couldn’t.
I was assaulted for 15 mins or so and finally the slideshow was over.
I had a very thirsty throat and thought if I could gulp gallons of water. But one, there was no water around and two, even if there was any, I would not have had any, as it would have meant I was scared and tired of the session. So after a lot of will power, finally I decided not to ask for it.
There was a 10 mins break when the girls were noting down their observations in their journals. I wished, I could peep into everyone’s journal to find out what they had made out from my answers.
