A series of shocks

Having parked the bike he took out a file of printed papers and a pen drive. I looked at him questioningly; he giggled and said, ”you are supposed to give a presentation here”. This was a shock for me, this was no where mentioned till now, I thought It was a randezvous for him and a long drive for me. Apparantly, it was a randezvous for him alright, but work for me. I punched him on his abdomen which he very well reciprocated and added, “Just tell ‘my girl’ that you came for a presentation and I came to drop you.”

“What kind of presentation is it?” I protested.

“Ohh! do not worry. It is a topic from biotechnology, you would be able to present it. It is on Artificial Silicon Retina’.” He smiled.

Life is extremely difficult when you have good friends who know you in and out, but grows much more difficult when they give such rude shocks.

“I have not prepared a presentation.” I persisted, reluctant to spoil my day in an unknown college.

He waved his pen drive and said “I prepared one. The print out of the Presentation is in the file along with another printout of the entire original document.”

My mouth was agape, he continued, “I am sure you will find it easy and would be able to memorise and understand most of it. Don’t worry! ”, he patted my back and whispered “Just do it for me.”

We found our way to the registration counter, and patiently stood in the long queue. All of a sudden his face beamed. A girl with a glowing, wheatish complexion and flowing, dark hair in a pale yellow georgette Salwar-Kameez  came our way. She came straight to Tejasvi and said “Hi” in a sweet, cute, sing-song voice; her excitement was evident from her restless features.

Tejasvi introduced us to one another.  She sang out another “Hi” in the same sweet, cute way but this time to me.

He began, “He would be giving a presentation and I came along …..”

“Tejasvi would be managing the slides.” I interrupted.

He was aghast; with great difficulty I controlled my laughter.

“ooooohh!” , She sang again.

“Ey! Come I will get your registration done“ she pulled us out.

We followed her along the long serpentine queue, Tejasvi glanced  furiously at me. We reached a small table on the other side of which a stout curly haired boy, a beautiful girl in a violet T Shirt, and a rather skinny boy were filling forms.

“Rohit !” our girl called out.

The stout boy looked up,” He is Sarath, she is Vydehi and he is Rohit. “ She introduced them to us.

”Rohit! They are my friends and they are here for a presentation, could you please complete their registration.”

The stout, curly haired boy did not speak much, he pulled out a book from under the drawer and tersely asked:

“Names and college?”

I shot out our names and college name

“Topic of presentation?”

Tejasvi gave the topic.

“do you have any slot preference?” he asked again.

“mor… “ Tejasvi began.

“Evening 4 ‘o’ clock slot would be perfect.” I ended.

Rohit looked up at us questioningly.

“Evening Rohit! we are sure.” I said.

“Okay then, your Presentation would be at 4:30, and 200 Rupees for registration.”He tore a pass and handed it over to us, I made the payment.

Puri then lead us to an isolated corner in a groove of Cashew trees, behind the generator room.

“This is a perfect spot for you guys to rehearse. “ She said. “I would not like to disturb you while you rehearse“; she had this girlish attitude of be-sure-to-get-a-prize when she said that.

“I will come back at 4:00, and escort you to the auditorium.” She said and then turned to Tejasvi, “Akka is also there, just do not annoy her.” Tejasvi’s already gloomy face turned gloomier at this. 

She left.

I innocently asked for the file, he instead handed over a fist, followed by a string of expletives. I laughed and defended myself. He was annoyed at me for having ruined his otherwise perfectly planned randezvous. It did not convince him when I gave the fib that her akka was the bigger spoilsort.

“Counld’nt you have atleast allowed me to opt the morning slot. “ He shouted.

I laughed, and hit upon his abdomen. “Do it for her” I whispered, Trying to imitate the way he had said in the morning.

* The words from Indian languages with the exception of proper nouns are spelled according to the Harvard Kyoto convention for romanisation.