Tough Luck

“Do you know Rohit? The gregarious and the most insincere guy I’ve ever seen. He seldom attends lectures and is always loafing around in a big gang. I wonder how he passed the first two years.” I said to my senior Ravi with exasperation.

Ravi exhaled the smoke and added, “Rohit, gregarious? You got to be kidding me.”

Inhaling the cigarette once more, Ravi began the narration:

The last lecture of the semester got over as Rohit picking up his belongings sauntered towards the clerical office to collect his hall ticket. Study holidays were beginning the next day and there were barely two weeks to swallow an entire semester worth of portions. Rohit was a second year student in Electronics and Communication Engineering and a loner by all standards. Although he was well acquainted with the inmates in hostel, he preferred seclusion and solitude, especially during exam times. Once during the first semester, five minutes before his Mechanics paper, his encounter with Zutshi left him sleepless nights. Zutshi attacked Rohit mercilessly with appalling questions.

“Did you study this? What you did not? Are you out of your mind, this will be asked today for 15 points. I hope you are thorough with the last part of the 4^th chapter as per our university pattern, predictably, this is sure shot and a trump card for us to clear safely.”

A lofty aim of topping the university on the first day of the semester dwindles to mere passing minutes before the exam. Rohit was aghast, his face turned green and he became ill, it took him 30 minutes to recover and begin answering the questions in the exam. The only good thing from that episode was it turned out Zutshi was a bad clairvoyant.

Rohit attended lectures ceremoniously for failure to do so was a transgression of moral living that would displease Hanumanji, at least that was what he thought. Not that he was brilliant and found the lectures enthralling, always putting his hands up or sitting in the front row. Sincerity being the key to success was how he was raised but yet, he was a little slow in learning and concentration didn’t always stay with him and thus he had to undergo the tribulations of listening to the harangue given by his lecturers during his 100% attendance without understanding them wholly, barely to be realistic.

Reaching his room, Rohit pulled out his suitcase and started packing as he hummed unto himself. He generally quit hostel and left home during study holidays, feeling that it was unwholesome to hang around at the hostel where inmates started celebrations by playing cards or fooling around creating a racket. His suitcase was ready and flagging an auto rickshaw, he got in, sadly not having any one to wave a good bye at.

Rohit believed that the cool trees near his house, adjoined by a quiet neighborhood, would enhance his biorhythms and help him concentrate better. He headed straight to the station and he took the overnight train home.

At home, after pleasantries were exchanged, his mom spoiled his initial days with an infinite supply of eatables so much so that he slept for 14 hours barely accomplishing any reading. Rohit squandered the first day visiting his old friends but convinced himself that the day was good because of his short visit to the local Hanuman temple before dinner. On the second day he flung open his suitcase, dusted his books that had fossilized over the semester, and picking them up stacked them on the bookshelf and then tried to undo the dog-ear his senior had made on a couple books last year before selling them second hand.

Contrary to his mom’s opinion that last exam must be studied first and first exam last, Rohit liked to begin serially and toasted to “Math 3” - his first subject for that semester. Thinking a quick appetizer after dinner would trigger his cognitive skills, Rohit arranged five jilebis like a star on his silver plate to his right. Onto his left, he placed the sev and whistling, he opened his math book and peered onto the contents. He picked up a random problem, an example on the 1^st chapter in case he needed the solved answers, and tried working towards the solution. Soon, his rough sheet was intricately decorated with modern art full of mathematical algebraic solutions, running horizontal, vertical, and sideways offering no further degrees of freedom in the XY axis. He smiled to satisfaction as he arrived at the solution not catching that it took him 45 minutes for what is asked in the exam for barely 7 marks. Exulting, he picked up his remote and turned on his favorite channel, Discovery, hoping to get back to Math 3 quickly after the short break. His eyes deceived him and Rohit found a program on eating disorder so riveting that he shut his book and concentrated on the speaker who educated Rohit with the fact that an average American eats five times more than what they did in the sixties and Rohit even managed to chuckle when the reporter concluded projecting that it won’t be long before they start weighing themselves on Richter’s scale. At 1.00 a.m. he yawned failing to understand that the third of the 14 day valuable preparation time was devoured.

With the excuse that he stayed up late all nights, Rohit overslept never seeing his father leave for work or his servant complete her morning chores and, as always, was late for brunch – it was almost lunchtime to be precise. On afternoons he experimented with pulling his desk beneath the tall trees next to the kitchen, believing his concentration would improve. However, his extroverted mind was docile in satisfying every demand placed by his eyes, which was running here and there, even to something as insignificant as a squirrel attacking a coconut shell. Alas! Days four, and five were over and he preferred not working on weekends mistaking that he needed a quality vacation.

At the start of the second week, Rohit figured that a more concerted effort was required now that the gap was closing, and spent the 8^th day afternoon wiring two electric lamps and accessories into his courtyard beneath the Neem tree, deriving power from the pumpset adjacent to the kitchen. Neem, he believed, offered him refuge from the spirits that dominated the town, which upon sighting even Hanumanji would flee for his life. That night concentration eluded him yet again and although he aimed at the sky and not the treetop, he was plainly staring at the constellation comprising 3 stars which he had no idea formed the belt of the Orion.

As his days were being numbered, tending towards decimal, it wasn’t long before panic found its way into him, slowly seeping from his stomach and spreading its way towards his heart and soon it was cancerous and beyond cure. His initial weakness of external distraction was replaced with remorse, fear, regret, and negativity. His nightlife culminated with his penultimate and final ones being sleepless and spirited in his own way, Rohit packed and headed back to college feeling accomplished.

Rohit had barely opened his lock and set foot into his room when a swarm of inmates rushed towards him from nowhere.

“Hey man, Wassup? How was your stay, your mom fine? How is preparation? We were waiting for you to get back,” said someone.

Rohit shot one disgusted look at them knowing well the purpose of their visit and threw at them the eclectic collection of different sweets, savories, and preparations his mom had packed for them.

“Shall we study Unit two together in the library?” said Vikram as they were warming themselves with hot tea at Super tea stall.

“Nope, I would rather do so myself,” he shot back.

The next two days flew and Rohit was already in his math exam chewing his pen looking shaken. Finishing his exam, Rohit ran back towards his mess and knew that he was well beyond passing and hoped to score 70 plus and only when he was away from his friends and beyond their earshot did he breathe a sigh of relief, being least interested in their active discussion on solutions to the question paper.

Rohit marked his calendar with an “S” (successful) that day after answering the math paper and pulled out the books for his next subject “Electrical Machines,” the third paper being “Electronic Devices and Circuits.” Shutting the door, he ensconced himself on the desk promising that he wouldn’t get disturbed and work unabatedly for the next six hours. Fortunately for Rohit, concentration found him and by next midday, he had finished the first section that covered 50 %. He would have stirred a pandemonium in the hostel had others found out that he was so well poised. Rohit raced through and practically finished just after dinner with a flourish as he delicately darkened the borders of an induction motor, a practice diagram, which he was sure they’d ask tomorrow. Shutting his book and smiling to himself Rohit decided to not settle for any score below 90.

He walked across the courtyard and drank three glasses of water and mentally recounted his efforts as he walked back. He rhythmically chanted, “I am scoring a 100 on Electrical Machines,” a form of self-taught autosuggestion, which he felt would bloom over the course of the night and enable him instant success the next day – “After all aren’t we the masters of our mind?” He thought, the reality in his life being ironic. Dark clouds that Rohit failed to observe were slowly enveloping the full moon. So preoccupied was Rohit with his thoughts that he only noticed the gleaming eyes of a cat behind the gulmoher tree adjacent to the mess, not the fact that it had just crossed him a couple minutes earlier. He very well knew that the next morning revision was the decider, as one tends to forget what he learns if they aren’t revisited. After all, his subconscious mind would have churned them overnight. Setting the alarm, an electronic one his uncle had gifted him that he often proudly flashed by setting it on the table aside the window, to 4.30 a.m., Rohit hit the bed and fell into deep sleep, so deep that he was undisturbed by the storm that broke out at midnight. At half past one there was a power failure and Rohit didn’t wake up even when a scream erupted in the lobby from distressed inmates as all lights went out – so do did the lights on the LED display in his alarm and there was nothing but darkness.

Rohit would have continued with his slumber but was shown mercy by his neighbor Ashok at 7.30 am.

“Dude, have you decided to give up and repeat the exam next semester?”

Rohit jumped and paused until his eyes adjusted. His head was swimming and dazed, he ran to brush his teeth.

His reasoning mind was dead and instinctively he got ready, being dressed shabbily, and ran to the cycle stand. He pushed his bicycle a push and as it gained momentum, he kicked off the stand, jumped over, and grabbed the handlebars. He heard the crunch of the rim hitting the road and as luck would have it, it was a flat tire on his back wheel. Cursing, he ran back towards the hostel but luck was with him. His senior Kripal didn’t have exams that day and Rohit ran asking for his key not having time to explain the situation.

Unlocking the blue BSA SLR, Rohit took off hoping to set a university record on his exam. The weather was gloomy and the skies echoed giving ominous signs of an oncoming onslaught. He pedaled furiously towards college that was a good mile and a half from his hostel. The roads were slippery while he zipped through shallow pools of the slush and his mudguard protected him from accumulating murk on his t-shirt. Potholes filled with water and were as dangerous as landmines to an unwary bicyclist. Knowing the trail very well, Rohit could ride blindfolded and deftly avoided them picking up speed as he sliced through the icy winds. A huge thunder echoed and the rain unleashed itself on him with mad fury as Rohit cupped his palms to see through the blinding downpour.

At a corner, an auto rickshaw took a ridiculous turn and almost toppled as it lost balance, and headed straight for Rohit. Seeing the auto on a collision course, Rohit swerved hard to his left and ran his cycle through a ditch and a group of thorny bushes. Losing balance, Rohit almost fell when at the last moment he let go and jumped off the bike. Out flew his pad while his pencil box set free the assortment of compass, pencil, pens, and eraser in all directions.

His handler bars were bent and he spent the next five minutes straightening them and being able to get it into a manageable position, Rohit kicked off towards school. In order to take his mind off the situation, Rohit tried recounting all laws he had memorized in Electrical Machines last night, including Faraday’s, Biot Savart, and a few more. Nothing entered his brain but for Murphy’s Law – Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

Covered with slush, and his jeans torn, Rohit was a sight to his college mates as he screeched to halt and parked his bicycle. He had ten minutes and ran to the departmental stores near campus to get pencils, pens, and the associated paraphernalia. Damn!!! He screamed to see a long queue outside the shop as the last minute students were purchasing their tools for the examination.

“I need a Reynolds blue, 2 pencils, a ruler, an eraser, a sharpener and a compass please,” he pleaded with Pappu, the vendor, who yawned at him scratching his head unable to comprehend the time crunch.

“That will be 20 rupees and 60 paisa,” he said as he put the assortment into a brown bag.

Rohit nearly choked, as he felt no lump on his back pocket - the wallet had fallen off during his mini accident. He literally thumped the counter that was made of glass and coins, pins causing the screws lying there to vibrate and resonate producing an annoying tone as they came to a halt.

“Listen Pappu bhai, look at my predicament is,” Rohit wailed plaintively, pointing to his clothes and his deplorable condition. “I promise I’ll pay you after my exam,” he requested.

Pappu nodded his head and then gave him his purchase. Rohit clutched on to his possession and ran for his life as though he had withdrawn a lakh from his bank and sprinted towards the classroom. He closed his eyes and was about to thank Hanumanji when his inner intellect said “hall ticket” laconically. Of course, his hall ticket was in his wallet. Rohit stopped short, closed his eyes and prayed deeply. “Oh! Hanumanji! This is not fair, save me for the last time and I won’t bother you again, I promise.”

“Rohit, what the hell are you doing? I have been looking all over for you, you left your hall ticket at the lecture hall after the first exam and I was lucky to find it above your desk,” reprimanded his friend Vikram, his prayers being answered instantaneously.

Rohit couldn’t believe his eyes and clutching the hall-ticket, he ran for his life into the lecture hall showering praises into Hanumanji and said he would keep his promise and not bother him, at least for that day. He entered the lecture hall and the examiner who had already started handing out the answer sheets scowled at his appearance. Gripping the question paper in his hand, Rohit skimmed through the questions on the first and second section. “Hmm not bad, the pattern is indeed repetitive, and I must answer three out five questions in each section,” he thought. Taking a deep breath, he skimmed through the first question and nothing made sense. He paused, looked at his shoe and once again concentrated on the wordings more carefully. Rohit frowned as something was amiss. He flustered and his face turned scarlet red when he read the wordings on the first sentence of the question paper even as his ears couldn’t detect the high pitched voice of the proctor instructing, “Make sure you write your roll number and the subject name – Electronic Devices and Circuits on the top right corner of your answer sheet. That night he turned into an atheist.

“Oh my god, that must have given Rohit a heart attack,” I remarked excitedly.

“Not quite. Only half an attack”

“What do you mean?”

”On the contrary, he decided not to despair and answered six questions with two additional sheets in a totally different language; He answered what all he knew on Electronic Machines that had no coherence and relevance with the questions asked on Electronic Devices and Circuits.”

“Oh! Did that really happen?”

“Yep, but what blew us all was when he managed to clear the subject with 42. Anyhow the point is he made up with Hanumanji and now visits him every week without fail”