Judgement Day

Hey! Do you remember the times when you had this hollow feeling in your stomach, when your knees would go week, your palms and your face would become sweaty, and your heart would involuntarily start beating faster and faster in anticipation of something? Ya? Well...the most common scenario when this can happen to most of us is either when you are about to pop the question to your girlfriend, or when you are about to ask your dad for extra money. Or...isnt it exactly how you feel, just when you are about to throw up?

Well anyway, last week, I had the privilege of discovering a similar situation. Only this time my heart was literally in my mouth (okay, maybe not literally) and every nerve in my body had gone haywire and made a major mess inside!

If you happen to walk into the canteen on a typical day, you would be greeted with the sound of crunchy burgers, slurping colas and apart from people just lazing around you and usually having pointless conversations , you could see a huge line infront of the counter.
But it wasn't a typical day. No no.
My results were out! MY BLOODY RESULTS WERE OUT!!!

The air around was like a mixture of excitement, chaos, and lots and lots of talk! Every corner in the canteen was filled with people with all sorts of expressions on their faces. Some tiny guy with big glasses was particularly ecstatic! He got 97% and he had almost decided to give everyone in the canteen a treat! But alas! That never happened. Most were busy comforting their friends. Others, still had to get the news.

I sorta knew how my result would turn out this semester, but that still did not stop the sweaty hands and the shaky knees. I knew I had to go and collect my card. The universe wanted me to collect the card. There was no way I could avoid this!

With all the courage in me (and my best friend for moral support) I slowly moved towards the office. Now, I dont know if this happens in particular to me or to everyone in general, but some professors seem to get some worldly pleasure when they hand over the marksheet to students who are...well...you know...the kind that you and I would usually hang out with...not the other kind. Their faces seem to curl up with this "Ha-Ha-You-got-a-D-minus-and-ha-ha-you-are-grounded" sort of evil grin that makes me even more nervous.
As the number of poeple between my destiny (whether I would get dinner that night) and me decreased, the more I hoped for some miracle to happen and prayed that I pass in all my subjects!!

Finally. It was my turn. I stood in front of the professor.

"Whats your PRN number?"
"100", I replied.
"Hmmm..."

I am so sure I heard the devil laugh somewhere as he looked up at me once again...

"Mriganka Bhuyan?"
"Yeah"
"Here you go. Sign here please."

I signed wherever it was necessary and I grabbed the pink paper and just left the room.

Now, there are two ways to end this post. Either
1. You will find out how much I got

OR

2. You wont

Guess what happens?

One Tree. Not Two

" Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and an accident. Your Mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree, not two."

- Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Logic vs Instinct

I found out that the toughest thing for me to do is to really trust my instinct, and go with that instinct.

For instance -

One fine evening, after our jam session got over, I just felt like having an ice candy. I was just tired and a lil bit hungry. I took out my month's last 5 rupees from the pocket and handed it over to the guy at the shop and sat in the car all ready to go home. It was a nice ice candy. It was an orange ice candy.
Now, I am a very careful and good driver. I always obey the traffic rules and signals, I keep within the speed limit, and I let old grannies cross the road in peace. Although occasionally, I do decide to have a good race with a passing bullock cart. Blame it on the raging hormones.

Anyway, this evening seemed particulary different.

One. I seemed to get distracted by a lot of things, flashy signboards being one of those. I had "almost accidents" like a billion times on my way home.

And two. They were playing all my favourite songs on the radio.

At a distance, I could see the green light turn into amber. I knew, there was no way I was going to make it across the signal on time. So I just put my car on neutral and left the rest of it to momentum. As my car finally came to a halt, a girl on her scooter stopped right next to me but a little ahead of my seat, such that I couldn't see her face. It was dark and half the street lights were out. As far as I could make out, she was wearing a black top and blue jeans and her scooter was black in colour.
Now the funny thing is, my friend happened to be wearing the exact same thing that very same day. And she too had a black scooter! Why she even had the same length of hair, and her physique was really the same as this girl!! And even the initial two letters of the number plate were infact...did you guess it right? - the same!!

Now every bit of my instinct told me that she could NOT be the same friend.
But my great mind, seeing all the co-incidences, simply decides to logically deny the fact that there CAN be so many similarities and co-incidences, and instead, decides to give the "friend" a playful hit on the back, accompanied by the loudest "wassup??!!" ever said by me!!

What happened next....is anyone's guess.

I got the weirdest and the most intimidating look of my life. And that too coming from a girl who due to no fault of mine, seemed to resemble my friend a lot! It was so embarassing, I felt like squeezing myself with a lemon sqeezer and just slipping down the seat to hide my face. Dont ask me why lemon sqeezers.

I had to literally beg for her to forgive me! Somehow, I was able to convince her with my part of the story. And since the light was just a few seconds away from turning green, she decided to NOT go to the police station and file a complaint against me for trying to sexually harass her by tapping her on the back and instead, thankfully just took off!

Here's what a conversation between my instinct and my brain would have sounded like...

BRAIN: Do you think thats my friend?
INSTINCT: No. I really dont think thats her.
BRAIN: But look at the number of co-incidences. Chubby girl. Black top. Blue jeans. Black scooter. Same number plate even! I mean what are the chances?
INSTINCT: Look! There can be so many co-incidences. Somehow I feel its not her.
BRAIN: Shut up! You are just confused! That IS her!
INSTINCT: Im telling you its not her!
BRAIN: Instinct! Shut the fork up and sit quitely!
INSTINCT: But but...
BRAIN: I am far superior to you! I have logic and you dont! So shut up!!!
INSTINCT: But but...
BRAIN: Here...I'll prove it to you that she is my friend! I'll just tap her on the back and...
INSTINCT: Nooooooooo.....!!!
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BRAIN: ____________________________

(Brain just had a brainfreeze. I think it was the ice candy.)