Once Upon a University Campus

Pani wali Coffee

Monday morning. Sumo woke up grumbling how short the weekends were. Annika had woken up as usual and was preparing for a meeting with Prof Phatak later in the day.

"Any messages or calls Akka?" Sumo started once her grumbling session was over.

Annika shook her head only briefly looking up.

It was soon breakfast time and the girls were enjoying a rarely well made paratha and aloo ki subzi. It was rush hour and a lot of other girls too joined them at the long table.

Annika's phone buzzed in the middle of an engaging gossip about the latest relationship status of residents, the latest being the breakup of the longest known couple in the hostel.

Sumo got excited and bent over Annika's shoulder to catch a glimpse of the message.

"It is only a message from Gauri..." Annika sounded a little disappointed.

"Does she message you often Akka?" Sumo sounded a little insecure.

"No. It has been a long time that we got in touch. Looks like a photo. Taking a while to load though." Annika waited for the photo to load while the other girls continued their gossip.

"Ah! Gauri looks pretty in this photo. Rather strange that she sends me her photo all of a sudden." Annika placed her phone back on the table and continued to eat.

Sumo grabbed the phone to investigate the photo.

"Akka, you got to get a better phone. This one is as old as dinosaurs and the screen is too small, poor resolution too" Sumo went on as she looked at the photo more closely. "Akka!" Sumo sounded shocked.. "See, Om bhaiyya is behind her...."

Sumo's announcement drew the attention of the other girls.

"Om?" Annika was also surprised. "What is he doing with Gauri?" Annika took the phone back to examine more closely.. "Yeah.. you are right Sumo, Om is with Gauri. What in the world are they up to?" Annika wondered.

The other girls took turns pouring over the photo. One of them commented how good looking he is. A few others shut her down. A few of them started whispering amongst themselves.

"Akka, this girl is not going to let such a chance go waste. I tell you she will be trying her luck with Om Bhaiyya. Do you remember the party? I don't like her" declared Sumo.

The other girls listened to Sumo with rapt attention as she narrated how this girl Gowri had tried to flirt with Om. Once the story session was over, the girls debated if Om too would succumb to the charms of this petite but pretty girl. When it was time for them to leave, one girl said "Di, Om bhaiyya is a very nice guy. He never showed any interest in any other girl in the hostel, not even the prettiest. You don't worry."

Why would she Annika worry in any case. She was happily eating her paratha barely managed to give her a paratha stuffed smile. It was only well after the girls had left that it occurred to her that the girls perhaps all the other residents, why the residents the whole world believed Om to be her boyfriend, thanks to the mischief of new channels. She felt like tearing her hair, "How the hell am I supposed to make it clear ?" But she was getting late and had to rush.

The day had gone by quickly. She had met Prof Phatak. They had a long discussion mostly about the conference and the questions she had to face there. They decided to work out solutions for the questions and most of the discussion was focused on seeking such solutions. She had briefly bumped into Daksh too. But he had to rush since he was late to a class. He had asked her to get in touch with him later regarding an interesting research project. The rest of the day had been unremarkable. Except for brief moments that evening when she wondered if she should call him. But what if he was busy and had meant to call her when he had time. She had dismissed the idea of calling him.. But she had carefully charged her phone, ensuring that the battery was 100% and stayed hypertuned to the faintest buzz on her phone. To her disappointment, nothing had happened. It helped that her discussion with Prof Phatak had meant a lot of work and she had submerged herself in it.