Redux (Discontinued)

Compromises

Thank you for reading, voting and commenting. I'm still slightly scared of this story, mostly because it could end up being massive.  Initially I had planned to stick to the way the show told the story,  making Sanykta the most important character. But I cannot. The story will be too bland for me. So here is Randhir's bit. He is equally important as Sanyukta is. And the Dream Team will have more importance because of its significance to them both.

-----

Randhir was done with his assigned reading in half an hour. After all, he had gone through all his coursework in the period before college had started out of sheer boredom. There was not much anyone could do by oneself except read or watch movies.

Movies to Randhir, were unnecessary and a waste of time. They did nothing but give unrealistic expectations about happy families, carefree college years and true love. Highly superfluous and rarely found in real life. Books were slightly better. At least the kind that did not cater to the general romance craving population. No. Randhir preferred books that were a challenge. Books that made him think. He read a lot of books on scientists and their theories. Scientific journals were his preferred alternative to newspapers. Theories were better than reading about riots and corruption. Not that he was unaware of the reality around him, he just did not think it did him any good to read it and upset himself. People changed so much that they stopped making sense after a while. People contradicted themselves and acted on whimsical desires. People were, to put it succinctly, a pain in the butt. Or to put it slightly less distastefully, a pain in the posterior.

There was a reason he had chosen engineering rather than to do what would have been considered a natural thing and go to this father's old college for business and take up an internship in Shekhawat and Saxena, his dad's company. It had to do with manufacturing machine parts and Randhir wanted to know the company from inside out. And since he did not think of himself as a people person, the best possible way to know how the company worked was to know the machines. Mechanical was one of the many options he had. FITE was one of the many options he had. But the true reason he had chosen this was for the Dream Team. Trained for international competitions in mechanics, strategy and (sigh) teamwork for four consecutive years would give Randhir an edge over simply assimilating the theory and using his hands for practicals and workshops designed to acquaint him with the basics. Randhir was hungry for more. More knowledge, more strategies and more challenges. But most of all, he was hungry for victory.

    "Randhir. Dinner ka time hogaya. Are you coming? Let's go before Ba calls." Jiggy sounded pissed off for some reason.

Randhir did not bother asking. It inevitably had something to do with Jiggy's over involved mother. Ba would ask him if he had dinner and Jiggy would have to lie. And then get scolded for lying. Jiggy's mother had the uncanny ability to figure out when the boys were lying. As a child, he had asked Rupa Ba why. The lady, a year or two older than his own mother, had smiled at Randhir and said that mothers always know what is in their children's hearts.

"That does prove that Miss Sanyal was no mother to me. She may have given birth to me but she is not my mother" Randhir muttered.

"Chalo. It's quite enough with her asking me how I am, but she asks about your health and eating habits. And getting lectured once for my own 'bad habits' is enough. I'm not going to be in the firing line for you as well. I won't listen to anything. Either you get up on my own or be dragged. That's the final warning." Jiggy's irritation had only intensified,  breathing audible and his teeth clenched.

Randhir decided that going to dinner was better. Or rather, the growl that his tummy gave decided it for him. "Alright." he sighed, getting off the bed and setting his book aside.

Though Randhir did not really like people much, he still respected Jiggy for his patience and perseverance. Just like he respected Vidushi for speaking her mind.

The people Randhir willingly associated with were few, but he still trusted them. He had to. He'd read somewhere that human beings were social animals. Animals with rationality and highly developed emotions.  There was no way to avoid those emotions. So Randhir made the smallest compromise. He minimized them. 

Vidushi had once joked that Randhir only felt a limited spectrum of emotions: Anger, Disgust, Hatred and Apathy. He had laughed at that, silently wishing it was true and that he did not feel sadness, loneliness or the need to be loved.

Right now, emotions were really the least of his worries. His only concern was getting into the Dream Team and showing the world there was more to him than tragedy.

Working with other people and sharing his inputs, letting himself be criticized and helped were a few things he was not really used to. Nor did he find it comfortable.

But if that was what it took , if that was the price to pay to bring Renuka Sanyal down and establish himself as better than her, the price of teamwork was one Randhir was willing to pay.

'But it depends on the people in the team. Five from mechanical. One has to be me ofcourse. Vidushi will want to try. That coffee clumsy Sanyukta looks like she wants to be in the team as badly as I do. And she might be as stubborn as me the way Vidushi talked of her. I don't know the others as well, but maybe Viren or Jay might be qualified enough. The others ? Jiggy definitely will give it a shot, he's from computers. One from electronic and one from civil. Though I doubt the civil person will be a permanent member. So maybe two form electronic or computers. But that will happen in the next week. Once Vardhan sir is sure we have our basics down.' Randhir ate his food almost mechanically, not caring about the rather bland taste.

"I miss Ba's cooking" Jiggy muttered.

"You'll be home for break before you know it. Now stop whining and finish your food. Tomorrow I have PKC's lecture and I am told he's..." Randhir sighed.

"You definitely need your sleep." Jiggy nodded.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope you liked this side of Randhir. He's brilliant, good with numbers and problems. Not so much with people. I wanted to get his perspective across. Especially because next chapter will have Dream Team Selection. Do you want Kaustuki and Yoyo to be in the team or would you prefer other characters that have skills? What about Parth? Would you like to see a less doormat- version of him?