MEETING ANI

For the first week, I commuted to college from home mainly because my mother was having a hard time letting go and did not wish for me to leave home. So, for whatever reason she could think of, she kept delaying my departure. In the one week before I entered the hostel, I had already created quite a stir among the hostelites by getting into an argument with the rector and reminding him of his responsibilities. To be more specific, as I said, I was a little late in moving into the hostel though my belongings had already made their way to my room. The rooms were triplicate sharing and I having been an early bird, had booked the bed near the window in the corner-most room.
My room-mate though did not seem to appreciate the fact that my stuff cozily occupied the bed while I was at large and so made a consistent attempt to move my belongings onto one of the other beds. I kept a check on the status of my belongings and for a few days kept moving my stuff back. A few days later, I informed the rector about the misgivings and asked him to kindly issue a warning to the offending party. When the practice did not stop, one fine day when I seemingly had gotten off the wrong side of the bed, I talked to the rector and reminded him of the situation. He politely told me that he was not a policeman to keep a check on my belongings. Ticked off, I took the matter up with the vice-principal and had a huge argument with the rector in his cabin. The verdict did come in my favour but I knew, life was going to get difficult once I moved into the hostel.
News or rather gossip, spreads like wild fire and it was not too long before the whole college knew what had happened. Obviously enough, people were eager to know what kind of weirdo would take up such a step. Soon the day dawned when I had to make the shift into the hostel and even before I had entered the gates, I had the whole hostel talking about me. to make matters worse, I had heard from a few class-mates, that ragging was prevalent in the hostel. My first evening was jittery because I really am not a very fiery character and would rather negotiate tacky situations with guile and tact rather than brute aggressiveness. This one incident was perhaps the only exception and at that point I really wished would rather have not been!
Expecting a rather feisty welcome from my seniors, I decided it would be best if I spent the evening unpacking in my room. In fact, it would be a good ploy to lay down low for a few days and clearly send out the message that I am a timid character and let things calm down. My plans were shattered when there was a knock on my door and a rather well built, stocky young man stepped into the room. He was dressed in a pair of track pants and a tight shirt which did well not to rip of its seams under the bulge of his arms. I am a two dimensional figure in comparison and was really intimidated by his presence. I was now getting myself mentally prepared for a session of good old fashioned ragging from my seniors.
He asked me my name and I meekly obliged. He asked me where I was from and I offered him my explanation of being a localite and shifting to the hostel so as to be able to study better and save on traveling time. Then when he said that he had heard about the incident with me and the rector I thought I was going to be up for a good wallop.i think he sensed I was trying to avoid a conversation with him and so he said he thought it was quite brave of me to stand up for myself.
I was perplexed. Here was a senior who I assumed was here only to kick my sorry butt and yet was trying to strike up a conversation. Something was definitely amiss. I took a gamble then, I asked him which year he was in and had he been a senior, I would have had it. It would be travesty to disrespect a senior and I might get myself more punishment than I already elicited. I prayed for my sake.
Boy was I relieved to hear him say that he too was a fresher and came from Jaipur. I told him I thought he was a senior and so was avoiding a conversation for fear of an intense ragging session. He broke into a bout of rolling laughter. He said that I was in no danger of being ragged simply because the seniors did not wish to rake me up. Who would want to mess with a person who did not hesitate to bust open his rector in front of the vice-principal. There could be no telling what this lunatic would do to his seniors for ragging him; after all, they were mere students! We talked for the rest of the evening and at the end of it, he really could not believe I was capable of taking such drastic steps. I made a good friend that day.
Anirudh, is a very jovial, light hearted and fun loving individual. He is one of those rare people who are the heart of every party. Conversations with him are laced with rounds of such rollicking laughter that by the time you are done talking, your stomach invariably cramps in all the right places. His I-don’t-care attitude switches to the damn-I-do-care mode the instant he recognizes a situation related to his academics. He loves getting into trouble with his teachers though and has utter disdain for authority. These facets of his personality though will be clearer as the tale makes further headway.