190 * Five Point Someone The guard picked up our intentions or something maybe he was just scared and stupid. He backed off. and Us inside the office. We heard him bolt the door and tell fellow guard to eall the prof and the chief security officer tried calling the guard again, but it was to no avail, There were, three of us locked in Cherian’s office on the sixth fl at midnight. ‘We didn’t say a word, we just looked at each others fa We could do nothing but wait and wait and wait, The lon day of my life wouldn't get over... 1 The Longest Day of My Life IV | KIND OF WENT INSIDE MYSELF IN THAT SHORT SPAN OF time before Cherian's office door opened again and sealed our fate, just sat quietly and ignored what Ryan and Alok said, that isifthey did say anything, Future scenes erupted in my mind. By tomorrow morning, all profs, all students at Kumaon and other hostels would know about us. Caught stealing the major Paper from Prof Cherian’s office, no less! Probably the insti Alrector would also come on this special occasion, Cherian Would get us all shot if he could, but either way he would Alefintely not go easy on us. What did they cal i? Disciplinary Committee or Disco, for deciding the fate of the students who © discipline. Suddenly, my five-point GPA seemed Monderful to me. If only T could pass out of this place with192 © Five Point Someone a simple job and this could all be over. But even keepi GPA and passing out was not going to be easy now: Wall soften if we grovelled? Should we just deny that we here to cheat? Should we just admit everthing and Can wwe just rewind a few minutes and stop Alok from that call? Could I just re-live this one day? “These stupid questions darted about like rabbits ing head. 1 took a deep breath; we just had toslive thro moments, “Someone's come,” Ryan said and we stood up. was opened and around ten people swarmed in. I recg the two security guards and the chief security officer by uniforms. The other guy with them was the telep exchange operator, I knew since he wore an insti The morone with dull jobs were the heroes of the And then it was a couple of profs from the Mecha Engineering department. Even Prof Veera was there. course, there was the man whose office we had ter occupied ~ Cherian. He stood there shocked, wonderi his office was broken into so cleanly. It was the Who! of ITT, most of them in their pajamas. People get more off if they are disturbed in their pajamas. “The guard told everyone to come inside the room, ke an eye on us as if we'd try to make a dash again, “You?” Cherian said, looking straight at me. He must been wondering: his daughter in the morning and his the evening, I'd be pissed if someone screwed all over in one day, “What are you doing here?" Prof Veera said, pro aware of what we had been up to. The guard had told shat hs inajor Pl ‘esbalize ® athe 5 ‘The Longest Day of My lle #199 seal and the had seen a million times; the candle the al and \e pers. Maybe Prof Veer ‘7 1 f this. ood lie to get out o| ‘J nothing, hoping silence would evaporate fe. mig major paper: My boys caught them oud as it they had broken @ CIA ring paper from my office? How did you ¢ just giving us a chance to We sa \ “Cheating, sir steall curity chief said, p you were stealing th K directly. jn” Cherian asked me ro ie jou know him?” one of the profs ee ee iy | | have just seen him in class, 2 ; pe tea ny viva, you know Dean Shastri. 4 Kumar, time 1 remember him from, Hari Kum: “student. He was even: drunk Yes, that is the only jgn’t it?” 1 guess Cherian did not to the rest of the profs. stand the others? What a “AJok Gupta, sir, Kumaon Alok ssid. . “Ryan Oberoi, same, i ing tryst st want to mention our morning &) re your names?” the Dean said hostel, Mechanical Engineering,” » Ryan said. sind you think you are too smart!” the Dean et ine No sir, That is why we wanted the popes a ai Slap! ‘The Dean slapped Ryap right across the et blame him, Ryan could have chosen @ better time wisecrack. Slap! Slap! Before 1 real Geposited a slap on Alok a eae God, | tell you, it was : and Cherian al cag at us while our faces turned by 2 2 left. But we kept quiet. I secretly hoped they vo ae us and get it out of their system. Heck, they 60 ized what was happening, the Dean ind me as well. humiliating. Profs,194 + Five Point Gomeone Senseless as long as that was the only punishment. Please do a Disco and screw with our career } “You are criminals, You realize? You are ctiminals, police,” Cherian said, his whole being trembling, as if h the one being slapped around. 3 He was walking to the phone when Prof Vera “Cherian sir, one minute before You call the police sir, this become a big deal,” “It is a big deal,” Cherian screamed out loud. Just slay Cherian, I thought. | know he wanted to, “Dean Shastri, you explain to him, Pol case will hit the papers. 1 mean, do you real news for all the wrong reasons." “Hmmm,” especially lice will meas lly want 107 in Prof Veera reasoned, Dean Shastri said, rubbing his hands, “Sir, we have mechanisms in the insti to deal with tf Fight? The police will not arrive without Feporters,” Prof said. ‘Nera might be right. I don’t want the IT name in i because of these miscreants.” in this situation, I felt the w cute and funny. 1 almost smiled, “Sig Tdon't want to spoil the TIT name either But T wa these boys to suffer: Who do they think they are?” Cherian. as he stopped cuddling the phone, 7 “T agree, this is quite outrageous. We cannot decide the fate so easily. We have a mechanism, not that we use it off vord ‘miscreant’ was iu Take them to Disco,” Iwas time for us to shiver as we heatd the last word. Our silence was not so golden after all. Da something oh l ‘The Longest Day of My life V+ 195 : i nted to say but he stood silent. Only Alok di n, 1 vat n to cry. thing, In his usual manner, he bega y something sir...” he said. lease sir. We are so sorry, - : fare discussion. Bloody standard of these = ee year. We'll talk in an urgent Disco — tomorrow! falling Dean, ce - ‘ou can test intelligence in entrance se s ‘i a ef ie for integrity?” the security chief said. He probably to ' a i credit for his achievement that night. > crowd gatheret Inc stel notice board the A crowd gathered around the Kumaon hostel notice boas next morning, On a small piece of paper, the size of a bank cheque, the short notice was enough to start long ‘conversations. ‘This is to inform that there will be a alee eh ight in Committee meeting starting at 10:00 pe oun ee Mechanical Engineering Department ie Ba! ie ing is to decide the cours ida of the meeting is to ‘ a slged disciplinary breaches by Hari Kumar oe) ies i ral 11. Gupta (Kumaon) and Ryan Oberoi (Kumaon) on Apt tic The three of us were too ashamed to come to Me no fs board. We cut through the crowd as quickly as possible, ever though we heard some questions. ae cela Sa happened?” said Anurag, “skipping too many class r what?” 3 a f oT Joesn’t lead to a Disco. Must be something else.196 ¢ Five Point Soncone: “I think this is big, They are holding the Disco in o another Kumaonite said. “Yes, at night too. Something to do with the Med Engineering department.” We let the smart inmates of Kumaon figure out going on. We simply looked down and headed out of Courtesy Neha, I knew a few places where no one wot us, The ice-cream parlour seemed perfect. Alok reached for the counter and came back with three strawberry “Ryan, you got cash? I don’t have any” Alok said, us our treats “Fatso, you can't resist food even at this time,” 1 “It is ice-cream man, Just trying to distract mys know I didn't sleep for two seconds last night.” “Me neither,” I said. “What do you think they'll do?” Alok said, “Maybe an F in Indem,” Ryan hazarded guess “An Fl [ have never got an F. And we'll have to r course,” Alok said. j “I know. But it is not the end of the world,” Ry “Are you guys dreaming? They will hold a ti Disco with all these profs and all to give just us a m I said, i Ryan and Alok looked at me as if I just stolen the off their ice-cream. “Sir, come to reality The Disco meets rarely they do, they have no mercy” “So what can they do?” Alok said. “They could expel you from college. Or more suspend you for a year or a semester ‘The Longeat Day of My life IV + 197 «spel2” Alok said, shivering as if the ice-cream had given a cold. 4 . They won't expel. That has never happened. Even to Je who have been caught stuffing coke bottles you know: ynere,” Ryan said. f Apis I icy could Aapend you tra mene or year That enough to fuck your future. You try getting a job after that, ‘or a whole semester? What will we do then?” Alok said. Looked like our man was just waking up. I kept silent. Ryan finished his strawberry cone and tossed the tissue straight into the bir “Say something guys. What will happen then?” “Tigre it out Fatso. Your grade shect will have no. grades {ora semester or two, It may actually have ‘suspended’ stamped all over it, Makes for a great conversation starter in a job Interview, eh?” Ryan said. “I think no one will give you a job, the bloody US types take this cheating stuff pretty seriously. No admission to Ma «elleges either — they will ask the same in an interview’ “In other words, our lives are screwed,” I said, noticing I had not touched my ice-cream, The cone was a gooey mess, T passed it to Ryan to chuck into the bin. “And you guys are calm about it? How can you be so calm bout it? What will my parents think? What will happen to Didi?” Alok said, putting his elbows on the table and pulling at His hair. Then he tucked his face in his arms, to hide his tears. “Who the hell says am calm about it?” Ryan said and “ood up, his voice loud enough to stir the sleepy cashier at the counter,