My noise

If a professor, doctor or a policeman were to hear that name, they would all invariably shake their heads with a quiet "Tch,Tch". Nakul Gupta is that specimen.

The room is easily the most popular and the most talked about room in the history of our college. There are precious few who gain entry there and feel at home. For once you have decided to let A-117 dawn upon you, there is no way you can turn back to sanity. I would be much mistaken if the sight and the sound of the room doesn't make the director go "Oh God!" and Prof. Shiv say , "Ah, now that is a hostel room." I must confess, I was not a regular member of the A-117 club, although I did make a few guest appearances every now and then. The freshest one in my memory is the night before our CNS exam.

Anyways, my first impression of Mr. Gupta was very vivid. I was very convinced that if provoked, he could speak in a dialect of Swahii. He was first sighted by me roaming with Nigam and he came up to me and said, "Hello" in a deep-throated Kanpuri voice with a grin wide enough to make me uncomfortable. I must add, it was the same grin with which he came to me to ask for a contribution to the "Booze Gang Relief Fund".

We were seated at the Galla. Sardar lounged languidly in a broken plastic chair and gazed at a CD he held in his hand. Pandey was feeling upbeat after submitting his SEn CD. On my other side, Chidiya was complaining to anyone who would listen about his SEn group. Baba was his usual hyperactive self, a rather static grin on his face and his eyeballs moving around in their sockets, spying on each person's activities. He nodded every now and then, pretending to listen to Chidiya. Randi moved around the circle of chairs like a hawk, ready to swoop in on any unoccupied chair he could lay his talons on.

"Where are you doing your internship?" asked Pandey. I looked up to see that the question had been aimed at Naks. Nakul crunched noisily on an ice cube before he answered. "Oh don't worry", he said "I'll be approaching a professor at college". Sardar nearly choked on his lemon soda. Even Chidiya ceased his constant complaining to listen. But it was Baba who laughed the loudest. "What happened to the industrial you were about to do in New Zealand?"

"Oh, that did not materialize", Nakul answered rather casually, as if he had seen it coming. At the other end, Sardar was laughing so hard Axn got scared he might puke his lemon soda out on all of us. Baba watched Sardar for a while, grinning away, then decided to join him in his humongous laughter. Their laughter stopped at about the same time that Randi ordered for his fourth glass of Soda. Sardar choked and laughed at the same time before coming to a stop and wiped tears from his eyes. Baba watched him do so and reluctantly came to a stop as well.

"But isn't it too late to approach a professor?" inquired a worried Pandey, although he was smiling away himself. I fail to understand this behaviour of Kanpuris. They seem to derive almost ecstatic pleasure from seeing each others asses getting kicked.

"Arey, what are you saying yaar" said Nakul as he gulped down the last sip of his soda and nearly swallowed an ice cube in the process. "There will be some or the other place for me to do my internship." I stared in awe at his confidence. I was hoping some of that would wear out on me. He placed a leg on his chair in his traditional fashion and licked the insides of the soda glass.

Here was a man destined for great things.