Once Upon a University Campus

Miss and Mr Sunshine

 Annika woke up to cries of a peacock perched on the men's wing terrace. She opened the door of her balcony, under the hazy autumn sky, a lazy peacock was strutting across the terrace. It was far away from being cold yet, just pleasant and refreshing as she stood there facing the gentle breeze.She wished for a relaxing cup of hot chai in the balcony but that would be a luxury. The hostel bathrooms would run out of water by 9 AM, so she had to take a shower, get dressed and get set to tackle a couple of things that morning. A junior at her Center had requested a rare article Annika happened to have a copy of. She had to search and keep it ready for the girl. Then she had to catch hold of the hostel manager, the greatest shirk there ever was. And course get some breakfast and chai. Ever since the encounter with that rude outsider, she had come to believe that a chai-less start does not really end the day well..

Finishing her ablutions, Annika followed her Chai calling. She noticed the bunch of girls already sitting at the table with poha in their plates as she pour out Chai into her big yellow cup.. She spotted Shilpa the long haired beautiful Malayalee law student.

'Arre wah! Look at our pretty future Supreme Court lawyer..' Annika made Shilpa blush. 'You know Om, the fresher with long hair ? ' The other girls stopped talking the minute Annika mentioned Om, 'he might be in need of a lawyer. I told him about you, if he gets back to me, I will introduce him to you. You got to help him. O.K?'

A collective sigh came from the group of girls. 'Annika Di, if he ever needs a Sociologist, keep me in mind.. please. He is soooo cute' said one of them. The 'so' sounded like it was made of pizza dough that could stretch all the way to Agra. The other girls giggled.

Shilpa excused herself, she had to rush. The girls were gushing at Shilpa's chance. It was then that Om himself walked in from the men's wing. The girls continued to whispering amongst themselves. Annika continued with her Chai, banter till she spotted Om.

She waved at Om enthusiastically and called him to join them at the girl's table. Om stood there for a few minutes awkwardly but did not join the girls despite Annika insistence. Annika mentioned Shilpa again and there was a collective sigh at the table. Om smiled uncomfortably and excused himself. He looked worried and walked over to the most distant table with his plate. Annika could not help herself and joined him.

'It is a property dispute right?' She exclaimed confidently 'your cousin, has the looks- you know the look of Prem Chopra, Gulshan Grover, Amrish Puri..don't worry, we might be poor students but we have talent around us. We take care of each other!''

Om stopped eating. He was exasperated 'Well actually it is not what you think it is. There is no property dispute here. But yes I do have an irresponsible roommate, who left his wet towel on my commissioned painting. It was a water colour and there remains nothing to it now, for the third time in a row'.

'You sure no property dispute? That man was ready to eat us alive.'

Om nodded.

'I told Shilpa that you might be in need of help, and these girls.. Never mind. By the way, I am not sure how water color works but I know a thing or two about changing roommates

Om cheered up a bit, ' Really? Can that be done?'

"Yes that can be done, provided, we manage to meet the hostel damager err hostel manager".

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Annika and Om had been waiting a while for the notorious shirk of a hostel manager. Annika inquired if Om was able to solve all the exercises from their previous session and if he had any questions he had get back to her that very evening. The rest of week days she would be off to help a bunch of Hindi medium first year grad students transition to English medium. Om expressed his surprise at Annika's ability to juggle so many things. He was unable to handle his bare minimum course work.