The Unforgettable......

by Gopikrishna Erabati

“Congratulations to would be topper of E&I” I said to Manasvi.

  “Topper...!!! Me ..???!!! No Krishhh I won’t be the topper” She said.

  “What is the percentage you are expecting?” I asked.

  “Basically ......I don’t expect Krishhh....As it would be sad if we don’t reach that ....” She said.

  “Oh!!! It’s ok.....But I think you would get something around 80’s” i said.

  “Hope so” She said and left for hostel.

  We all made our way towards the hostel 10, the only den of ours...!!!

  As we finished with our main activity of attending the workshop, so now it’s our turn to fully explore the city whatever the way we would like to.....

  We all got refreshed in the hostel and went to hostel 7 to have some snacks and hired a bus to reach the main gate.

  Three of our mates Vamshi, Sandeep, Sravan diverted from us to reach Vamshi’s cousin house which was situated in Bombay.

  And remaining ten of us hired three autos to reach R-City mall which was located five kilometres away from IITB.

  We reached the mall and fully explored the mall which was filled with all the different kinds of shops related to garments, jewellery, fun, amusement, theatres and even food courts on the top floor.

  As I seldom visit the malls I was just confused of the way of life with these malls. How the central AC used would maintain adequate temperature in this large open spaced area with quite more cool absorbers like metals??

  What’s the efficiency of that AC? And what might be the power consumption for the whole mall for the day? And whether it was really an AC required here?

  So an outbreak of all these questions just screwed my mind for quite some time and I was later made conscious by the price of various objects in the mall.....!!!!!!!!!!!

  We all surrounded the mall three to four times, as it was easy for us, as the escalators were available to get down and to climb up easily without any mechanical force of our body except at getting on to the escalator.

  At last we entered the food court to have some food and we had got the rich south Indian food to eat in that area.

  And when it was time to close the mall we got down and hired autos to reach the main gate of IITB.

  And in that night, the autowalla were demanding two times the actual fare as the clock had hit 10 O’ clock.

  After reaching the main gate, we again made our legs to do the work for us, to reach our hostel 10.

  And as we were walking we saw an ice cream parlour in the way.

  “Sandy....we would eat tooti-frooti over there?” Ash asked.

  “Ya...we all would go there to meet the coldness to our mouth....” He said.

  “Ya for sure Sandy” I said supporting them, as when it comes to ice-cream, resistance is otiose.

  We all ten members went to eat ice-cream, in which different zests were chosen by us but the majority was with butterscotch.

  We all walked from the place we had taken the ice-creams to our hostel as the down pour is getting heavy.

  But that delight of having ice-cream in one hand and friend’s hand on the other and walking on the pavement with trivial down pour was simply phenomenal and exciting.

  As we were walking, my ice-cream had completed and when I turned to see the shop, it was exciting for me to see that shop was just 100metres away from us, as we walked just that distance in the mean time.....here you can estimate how slow we were walking and enjoying the minor drizzle.

  Our dresses were half wetted as we reached the hostel and we made the lift wetted with us in our journey to our floor.

  As we opened the locks of our rooms, the clock hit 11 O’ clock and in just half an hour or so we were about to sleep we all met in a room to have a last chitchat of the day.

  Tringgg.....Tringgg....a phone rang as we were talking and that phone was of Revanth.

  “Hello sis...” he said in the phone.

  And we expect the same hello as reply from the other side.

  And after that a small conversation did hold between them and as I looked his face, his face was turned red.....!!!!

  He said his sis to hold on the phone and said to us “Our marks are out mates”.

  Then immediately, within no point of time our faces turned red and red.......and even as some of us were yawning, that news had made their yawns go out of their way....!!!!

  “Guys....I secured 70% odd..” Rev said to us.

  The only question which was in my mind was that of how much I would score.......

  “Our Krishhh is the topper of the class with 83%.......Congrats Krishhh” Rev said and firstly congratulated me.

  “Wow ....is it sooo...??!!! Don’t make fun of that dude.....” I said to him as I can’t believe what he said.

  “Hey Krishhh am not kidding ......You are the topper” He once again confirmed me.

  That confirmation had made me so happy that night.

  “Congrats Krishhh” This word was said by all who were present beside me that night and I also survived as they didn’t ask party that late night....!!!!!

  “Sandy...come on lets switch on the net on mobile to see our marks in each subject and others too..” I said.

  “Ya Krishhh.....I had already opened it....come here we would see” he said.

  “Oh...You are very fast dude.....” I said and went to him.

  We checked the results of some of our class mates to check the positions in the class.

  It was very amazing to note that we, the boys stood in first and second positions and the third was engaged by a gal who is none other than Manasvitha....

  It was conceit to note that the two of toppers were included in our team which lead to Bombay.

  And another interesting result to note was that of Sravan. When we were in workshop, we got the information that he got flunked but when we saw his result in net, he was successfully passed in all the subjects and did not get flunked in any.

  Another interesting reality to note that the whole team of sixteen, who lead to Bombay were all passed and the result was 100%.

  It had become 2:00am, as we were examining the results and at last we had prepared a list comprising of marks of all and also with the positions.

  In order to get up early in the morning I decided to sleep and went to my room to do the required.

  I thanked all my professors and of course the almighty for giving me such a position, which I would never expect.

  We all got up early in the morning of next day and completed all our activities, which were indeed required.......

  And as that is the last day of bathing in the bathrooms of IITB hostel 10 we all ten, once again had fun in the bathrooms with one of the famous songs at that time, as our music....!!!!

  After all the enjoyment, we started our photo session on the top floor of our hostel with different scenery behind as the background and by giving different stills. And of all the stills, the still of Telangana IITB JAC was simply super.

  Later the day we packed our baggage, as we had to relinquish the rooms to the hospitality section of IITB as our time for hang about got expired.

  “Rev...Some of us would go to handover the rooms and the rest to the canteen...” I said.

  “Ya..We would do so....Ash, you and I would go to handover and the rest all would lead to canteen” He said.

  “Ya...we would go...” I said and we all hired a bus and we got down near SOM and the rest forwarded in the bus to canteen.

  “We need to call to our gals dude..” I said to Rev.

  “Ya..make a call and ask their status…..” He said.

  I took my phone and rang a call to Manasvi…

  “Hello Manasvi…I am Krishhh” I said.

  “Ya…Krishhh…I got you…..” She said.

  “What’s the status of you….now I think it’s time to give up our rooms to the hospitality section” I said.

  “Ya Krishhh….I too remember of that and we got bathed just now as there was rush and we were getting ready and
will be there within ten minutes” She said.

  “Oh….It’s okay Manasvi …..But be on toes we were already getting late for the further trip for the day” I said.

  “Ya Krishhh we would come as soon as possible” She said.

  “It’s ok Manasvi….then bye for now …be fast” I said.

  “Ya bye….” She said.

  “Rev….they were getting ready it seems and they would come here within ten minutes or so” I said.

  “It’s ok…then we would hand over our things to the organizers” he said.

  “Ya….” I said.

  And we handed over the keys, buckets and all other related stuff to them and sat on the bench awaiting our gals.

  After long fifteen minutes, our gals had arrived and we handed over their stuff to the organizers and left for canteen as our rest of team was waiting for us.

  “Congratulations to our topper” Our three gals wished me in unison.

  “Thank you very much” I said.

  “Congratulation to another topper among us” I said.

  “Who’s that …...?” Bhavya asked as if she was not familiar of that.

  “Manasvi” I answered.

  “I am in third position and you calling me as topper, Krishhh???” she said.

  “It’s not all about the position yar……It’s just about the percentage with which we scored” I said.

  “Ya that’s also important Krishhh” She said.

  “See if we consider any sport or any event we consider the top three…..so here too with the same idea I wished you Manasvi……” I said.

  “Oh…It’s ok….Thank you very much Krishhh” she said.

  And as were in the conversation, we reached the canteen and our mates had already eaten the breakfast and were ready with the luggage to leave IITB.

  Meanwhile a bus had arrived and we suggested them to leave in that bus and wait for us near the gate and we would come.

  “Ash….what we would order..?” Bhavya asked.

  “Dosa…..” he replied.

  “Is that okay for all” Rev enquired.

  “Yesssss..” We all sounded in harmony.

  We had ordered six dosas, ate them and started to walk off to the main gate of IITB.

  We all met near the main gate and took four autos to reach Kanjurmarg railway station to get a local to CST.

  Now it’s time to climb the local with all the luggage and gals with us so again we divided into groups of four and climbed the local safely and reached CST.

  Whenever I ever reached CST, it would give me the glimpses of the videos that were recorded in the closed circuit cameras when Kasab was travelling with his AK47 around the station.

  That day was fully made to rejoice ourselves in the streets of Bombay and also to enjoy to the extreme with friends.

  The day’s plan in our itinerary was to visit, ‘Gate way of India’, Hotel Taj, Elephanta caves, Fashion street, Mahalakshmi temple and then return to CST as we had our train to Hyderabad at 9:00pm the same day.

  “Rev….could we keep our luggage in the cloak room available here…so that we can easily go round the city” I said.

  “Ya…good idea….we would keep them and what about lappys??” he asked.

  “Lappy would be safe if we keep them in cloak rooms with full security” I said.

  “Ok….we all would go to cloak room and it is there” He said to all pointing his hand towards the cloak room.

  As we reached the cloak room, the instructions written in front of it made us to do some hard work with our luggage.

  “Sir, you need to lock all the luggage of you and need to be scanned and stamped by the security before they were to be accepted into the cloak room” An officer near cloak room said to us.

  And then we bought the number of locks as our bags were and locked each of them and passed all of them into the baggage scanner near the security check, as they would do in case of flight travel and got stamped on the locks.

  According to the plan, first we need to reach Gate way of India but to reach all them with our luggage on our back would be an arduous job. So, we kept our luggage in the cloak room.

  Then we all reached the main exit of CST and a large number of taxis calling for the passengers appeared in front of us.

  “Rev…could we hire an taxi?” I asked.

  “NO Krishhh….we would go on foot…It’s very near from here” He said.

  “Ya dude…..It’s just 4km from here” I said.

  And we all started to walk on the streets of the Bombay to reach Gate of Bombay and we were restricted by the traffic to follow one by one in a line instead of going in a group….!!!!

  “Bhavya…..there is Cama hospital, in which terrorists attacked….” I said as I saw it from a distance.

  “Yes….Krishhh …..It’s Cama….” She said.

  As we moved further we had the glimpses of Hotel Taj’s top dome.

  “I think…Manasvi is thinking of the thing that our boys are making us to walk these long distances….” I said.

  “No no Krishhh…..not so….I was just listening to your words and just walking….” She said.

  “Oh…but your face shows so….” I said.

  “Is it so…??? But I don’t think so Krishhh” She said.

  “Ok…fine…” I said.

  As we were in our conversation, we had reached Hotel Taj and Gate way of India, which are just opposite to each other after making the security checks as they were top monuments of our country.

  We spent some time near Gate of India, as it is located just adjacent to Arabian Sea; the tides of water were intending to touch us, when we sat on the wall nearby.

  Later we decided to go to Elephanta caves, which is an island near to the coast of Bombay and we should go there in steamer, which was costing around 180 bucks.

  We all hired a steamer to Elephanta caves and got into that and paid extra 10 bucks to reach the top of steamer for sightseeing.

  We all enjoyed in the steamer with lot of chat in between and lots of pics to take with different stills and with different persons in the background……!!!!!!!!!!!

  But suddenly information from one of our mates had made some of us and mainly me to get dismayed.

  And that information was related to our responsibility in making this trip and I was just dumb struck with that question arising from one of the mouths which I would never expect to raise with which the care we took to each of our mate.

  But to say, I was simply uninterested in the Elephanta caves visit, with that information echoing in my ear.

  We all got down near the island from the steamer and had to walk 2kms to reach the caves.

  But in the mean time, we had received information that on Monday caves would be closed and to our bad luck that day was also a Monday….!!!!

  While we were walking, I observed Bhavya showing her grief in walking.

  “I shall not come there…I am feeling tired” she said to us.

  “Ok…you sit here we would all go and come” Rev said.

  We visited the gate of Elephanta as it was close and csme back to board the steamer.

  Although the journey in steamer is interesting but the journey was for a span of 2hours on one way trip. So it took 4hours of our schedule for just the journey in the steamer.

  As we were on return trip, the information that was given to me in onward trip, echoed in my ears and I was unable to be happy at that time and I just sat in a corner, thinking about something as if I am a philosopher….!!!!

  But my silence had made all my mates to lose some enjoyment, which I ever feel about and I would never forgive myself in doing so……!!!

  At 4:00pm we had reached Gate of India and after reaching I just went and sat on the platform of ‘my God Swami Vivekananda’s statue’, so that I would get some peace of mind, to regain myself to the earlier state.

  “Krishhh...let us have a group photo” Rev said and called me.

  “Ya dude” I said and went to have a grou
p photo of the whole team of sixteen.

  After instantaneous printing of the photo we all walked to get out of the security post to hire a taxi to fashion street.

  We hired two taxis with eight members each in it and lead our way to fashion street which was one of the busiest textile markets of Bombay.

  At the fashion street, all of us made our wallets to do work, as we did our legs to do work in the streets of Bombay.

  I suspect the total invoice of all the sixteen members was around 25k bucks………..

  After all the shopping, we with huge covers, again made our legs to do work for us and reached CST.

  While we were coming from the streets near CST, all eyes were on us with our traditional gals as that area looks to be with ultimate fashion and we were looking as odd one out in that area…..!!!!

  As we reached around 8:00pm to CST, we went to cloak room to pick up our luggage.

  After picking our luggage, we went to a canteen in the station to have the famous Vadapav and this time, we had hotter ones than past.

  At 8:45pm, an announcement was made, that the Bombay express was on platform number 3, and would start in 15minutes from then.

  As we heard the announcement, we went to the platform stated and climbed the train and this time all our berths were reserved in the same compartment.

  We had a nice sleep in the train and later, on the next day we enjoyed in the train.

  As a part of jokes, some of us commented Bhavya and I thought, she got hurt with the comments, and I personally never agree the comments like that.

  After having fun in train we reached our destination Hyd.!

  We went to nearby hotel to have our lunch and hired three autos to MGBS to catch a bus to Warangal.

  As time passed, we slept as the gentle breeze was blowing through the window and onto our face.

  Later as the bus made some circus feats, some of us were made to get up.

  “How were the days Manasvi” I enquired.

  “Very good Krishhh” She said.

  “How was the workshop on the whole?…..was it a bit helpful?” I asked.

  “Yes ….the workshop was good” She said.

  “Then how was the trip on the whole?...satisfied..??”

  “Ya ...the trip is one of the memorable trips I ever had……fully satisfied …..Thank you very much Krishhh for including us into this” She said.

  “Hey…that not at all required Manasvi…..as you said you were satisfied with the workshop, that’s enough for me” I said.

  “Ok….are you looking forward for the Nexus completion Krishhh?” She asked.

  “Yes …I am looking forward for that completion” I said.

  “Will you make your hand in that?” I asked.

  “Will decide and tell you later Krishhh” She said.

  “Ya...it’s okay” I said.

  As we were in the conversation the bus had reached Kazipet junction and now it’s time for me to pick up my luggage and wait near the wicket of bus to get down at my point.

  “Bye Manasvi…..have a safe journey to your home” I wished.

  “Bye guys ….am leaving……” I said to all.

  “Ya bye Krishhh” all uttered in unison.

  At last, we all reached our home safely and we had made our first trip with friends a successful one.

  I have this hope on before hand and my hope came true as time progressed.

  I believe that Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies……………