My Journey - A Left Right Left Story

XXIV

19th October, 2006.

The past 2 months or so have been quiet. Ever since the showdown in the mess the Terrible Duo have been avoiding us. Thank God ! My mentor, the great Mogambo has started to teach me about the different weaponry used by not only the army but also by the navy and the airforce. And we were kinda building our rapport. So that was nice too. 

During Ramadan the mess was open at early morning and late night for the fasting cadets and faculty. We all tried our best to keep Ali company during this time but the only person to consistently do it was Pooja. In fact Eid waale din toh Pooja ne sab ke liye kheer bhi banayi. Which was honestly kinda cute.  

And now Diwali was around the corner. See the fact is that army academies are allotted only one day holiday for major festivals. So the cadets usually just go to the nearest town for the day and come back by evening where we are given crackers to burst. But lo and behold this time Diwali was on a Saturday so instead we all got permission to stay out for the weekend. Provided we were back on campus before lights out on Sunday morning.

Since this was a last minute decision taken by the administration, no one could make arrangements to go home on such a short notice. Kinda of a bummer. But no one wanted to stay in the academy later, which brought us to our current conversation,

Pooja : Arrey yeh muhe academy ko bhi yeh alert itna late bhejna tha kya. Phele pata hota toh mera handset aramse roaming mode se nikal kar 2 din aapne local tower aur signal ka maze le sakta tha. 

Ali : Hume bhi agar phele pata hota toh hum bhi Kanpur huye aate. Eid na sahi Diwali toh ghar par bana paate.

Huda : Main bhi aapni pyaari Rampyaari, Basanti aur Kamala se mill aata.

Ali : Ab yeh kaun hai ?

Huda : Arrey wo meri bacchpan ki sehali, meri bhene, meri pyaari bhainse hai.

Yudi : Guys seriously, tum teeno mere saath ghar kyun nahi chalte ? Saturday ko waise bhi Diwali party hai, woh toh tum logo ko attend karni hi karni hai. No excuses, okay ?

Main tum dono ko bhi offer karta par, agar tum aayi toh mom tum mai se ek mera rishta fix kar ke hi maanengi so.

Ali : Yudi bhai, thank you. Par hum aapki family par esse impose nahi kar sakte.

Aalekh : Aapun ko bhi tere ghar jaane mai koi dilchasbi nahi hai. Pichli baar ki tarah main teri bhen ko nahi jhel sakta.

Abhimanyu : Aap kisko nahi jhel sakte cadet ?

Shalini : Haan - haan cadet aap humse aapni female problems kyun nahi share karte ?

Naina : Female problems nahi, living problems ki baat ho rahi hai ma'am. Humse kissi ko yahaan nahi rukna par jay kahaan wo bhi decide nahi ho raha.

Gunny : Hmm, woh toh humari problem bhi hai.

Yudi : Par aap log Diwali party ke liye toh aa rahe hai na ?

Huda : Yudio tu party ko lekar itna tarap kyun raha hai ?

Yudi : Har saal wahi log hote hai. Do you have any idea har saal wahi log, wahi songs aur wahi conversations kitni boring hoti hai ? Aur......

Abhimanyu : Coming back to the point. Aap sab cha hai toh mere saath reh saakte hai. Honestly it is not a problem. Academy aur main town ke beech mai hi hai. So pretty accessible also.  

What say ?                          

We all agreed. Even Yudi decided to join us by the end of the day. Apparently his parents had given his room to some of his relatives that were visiting. No one even thought to mention this to Dr. Mishra. Something which tuned out to be both a good and bad thing.

20th October, 2006.

As soon as the classes had ended, the huge group started their journey.

Rajveer was driving a Jeep with the other seniors and Naina was driving one Jeep with the rest of the super six. Both groups were enjoying the short ride to their destination. Joking, singing, teasing and laughing they reached the haveli.

The minute they saw the haveli everyone was awestruck. The haveli was a beautiful white, two story building nestled in between a meadow type garden. It looked like a small fairytale palace. Especially with the setting sun bathing everything in a soft pink colour.  Huda and Aalekh whistled at the sight.

Naina and Rajveer parked their respective Jeeps in the driveway and everyone got out.

Shalini : It's a beautiful house Capt.

Abhimanyu : Thank you Doc. 

Everyone else also praised the house. Once inside, Abhimanyu led everyone to a tour of the place. The walls were covered in photos from Abhimanyu's childhood, from him holding a small baby boy. To them growing up. It stopped abruptly when the boy looked around 15-17. After that it was photos of his academy days with his friends and various other events and moments they shared. Everyone wisely kept their mouths shut when they saw Captain Ahluwalia's face in most of them. A fact that the other 3 Capts. greatly appreciated.   

The six of us had decided to share rooms like we did at the academy, so as to take up less space. Insisting that the four of them take up the bigger rooms. It was a fight we were determined to win. And eventually they did bow down, so we all settled down for the evening.

Dinner on the other hand was a totally another story. But after much fighting it was finally decided that Rajveer, Gunny, Aalekh, Ali and I would be incharge of the cooking for the duration of the stay. And wasn't that a pleasant experience ......