Once Upon a University Campus

The Prep Work

School reopening is so much akin to spring. What looked like lifeless expanse of desolation asserted its liveliness overnight. The campus had burst into hectic activity. Students trickled in, registration, elective courses, and professors with a reputation of being generous at grading became fashionable once more. A new batch of Hindi medium students signed up for Annika's remedial sessions. Shivaay was still stuck in Mumbai but he had set the expectation of a rather short notice before the much awaited formal meet-the-parents. A new course introduced at her center had occupied much of Annika's attention. On the previous Sunday she had met Saahil now that his JEE camp was done and had briefed him on the possibility of meeting Shivaay's parents sometime soon. Saahil did not appear too keen on the timing. He wanted everything with respect to his beloved Annika didi's marriage to unfold over his vacation. But he was prudent enough to accept that timing was beyond his or his sister's control.

Staying away from the hostel mess had unsurprisingly piled on a few more pounds on Sumo. Her stock of Undes and other goodies was only making it worse. It did not bother anyone but Rudy, who kept on insisting that Sumo go for a walk with him whenever he had an opportunity, so much so that he was ready to chaperon Sumo around the campus on foot personally sacrificing riding his fancy motorbike. Though they were in the same centre, their electives were not the same since it was Rudy's second semester and Sumo was already in her third semester. Rudy was trying hard to settle down to his new semester without Sumo as his constant companion. He did seem lost at times, but he did mention that he was only relieved to be back to his mom and away from his father.

Something about Om had changed. He had started carrying his cell phone with him sometimes, and had turned quieter. His unexplained trips out of campus had also increased. But he was very calm and happy, nothing that could potentially bother his loved ones. Annika suspected he had started seeing Gauri. But did not ask him about her. As usual she would only listen to him as and when he was ready to tell her. Who knew where he was with respect to Gauri. May be he was still in the no-strings zone, may be he had ventured into something more than that or maybe he had unknowingly turned very serious with his relationship. Annika by personal experience knew that these things had no set trajectory, or timeline. It just happens. It crept up on you when you were least prepared and least expected.

One evening Om was as usual missing in action and Rudy was home with Jhanvi that Annika received a quick word from Shivaay that he and his parents were flying back to Delhi the next morning and intended to meet her and her 'family' that very evening. Sumo squealed in delight when she overheard Shivaay. Annika immediately informed Saahil's warden and applied for a day off on his behalf. The ball was set rolling. It was very obvious that Saahil and Sumo were Annika's only family.

"Akka, what are we going to do tomorrow ? Is it like a ring ceremony tomorrow?" Sumo got inquisitive. Much to Sumo's disappointment, Annika had no idea what to expect. The only part of weddings she was familiar was dancing and eating. There had never been a need for her to know anything more than that. Now she realised she was utterly unprepared for the new developments. She called Shivaay in panic but he was busy entertaining his American partners. He sent her a text message saying he would call her back later but Annika, in a full blown panic could not calm her nerves. She was completely overwhelmed. How in the world was she to navigate the world of traditions, ceremonies, especially when she wanted to prove to Shivaay and his family that she was now a different person after everything she had done to him, That she was putting in her best effort and not give an iota of chance for either Pinky or any of Shivaay's other family members to find her inadequate. For now, she had agreed to meet his parents, to make their relationship public, all in theory but now was the time to execute it and she had no idea how these things worked. She had to do something but she did not have a clue. It did not help that Shivaay was too busy to be of any help. It was then that Sumo had an idea. She offered to talk to her mother and see what tradition demanded in such circumstances. Having no other options, Annika agreed and Sumo got on a call with her mother and spoke animatedly in Kannada and went on scribbling something on a piece of paper, perhaps on her mother's instructions.