Ha ha ha

i was walking to our canteen. on my way i got a call from the placement coordinator asking me to be the volunteer for the company KLA tencor which was on the campus for recruitment. I agreed since i had not much work then. I went there. There were around 20 students appeared for the preliminary test. My job there was to help the HR and Technical heads in conducting the exams, arranging food for them or in short if anything was needed, make it happen.

The tests were of 1 hour duration. So in between i got bored and went out of the room n waited in the corridor. Meantime one of their HR guy also came out. We had a friendly chat. He liked our campus very very much and he started asking me abt various things

HR: "how many students are there ?"

I : "don know the exact number but around 3000"

HR: "how big is the campus?"

I : "around 450 acres"

the chat went on and finally he stood up to go. he took a few steps, then turned back and asked "how many students passes away each yr from iisc???" @#$#@$@#% "What!!!!" i couldnt open my mouth for a few seconds. seeing this he repeated the same question.

"you mean how many students complete their course each yr??" i asked

"yes"

Cost of a Passion

“Ring ring” My phone rang. I looked at the screen. It’s K. Perera (K stands for ‘kalla’). We call each other different names of which one is K.Perera. I also call him d man who got 23 times consecutively ‘the international fool of the yr’ award.

“what u idiot?” I asked

“match on Saturday. Will u come?” he asked

Cricket is my passion and I do everything to play. There are better players than me in the team. In fact I would rate Mr. K.P as the most talented all-rounder I have ever seen but he doesn’t work hard enough to build his stamina to set himself up for a long innings. Anyway I decided to go.

The bus ticket from Bangalore to Aluva cost me Rs 317. So on Friday at 2.30pm, I started my journey. I bought a bottle of water (Rs 15) and a mango slice for Rs 35(MRP Rs 27). Only after the shopkeeper returned a balance of Rs 15 for my Rs 50 note that I realized that the actual price of the drink. The journey wasn’t alright either. Sitting on the chair for long hrs made my back very stiff n also there was an accident on the way that took some time to clear the road. On the way, the driver stopped the bus in front of a hotel to have dinner. We( the passengers) also followed suit. The food was just ok but the cost would have been surprising even for shylock. Rs 55 for two parottas but I was so hungry that I had no other option but to have it. Came out of there as soon as possible, bought 2 bananas for Rs 5 to satisfy my stomach.

I couldn’t sleep properly. In fact it’s really hard for me to sit and sleep. I reached aluva by 4.45 am. At 5.03am I got a bus to my hometown n by around 6am I reached home. Our match was scheduled to start at 8.30 am so it’s more than 24 hrs since I slept properly. We went to the ground by a car n we had a splendid outing. Everything went right for our captain Mr. K.Perera.

I reached home n by dat time dad had made arrangements for my return journey on Sunday. He had to pay Rs550 to a travel agent to get my ticket ready in short notice. The timing of the train as printed in the ticket was ‘sch dep 06-03 17:00’. But both of us didn’t realize that the time was evening 5. Instead we took it as 06.03pm which was actually the date. Nothing more I missed the train. I had to go back so I took a 2^nd class ticket for Rs126 and boarded the sleeper coach of the next train. The malayali TTE was really harsh and even before I opened my mouth for asking something he said a big vociferous NO. But there was a pantry car worker who took pity on me n showed me a compartment to sit which will b boarded by passengers after 5 hrs frm the time I boarded the train. I sat there till 11pm and when the train reached Coimbatore I had to vacate the seat. I was standing by the side of the door on which there was a poster which read ‘Passengers travelling without proper ticket will b prosecuted. Such passengers are liable for fine of Rs 1000 or imprisonment upto 6 months or both’. I started imagining how jail would b n just then another TTE (a tamil guy around 40 yrs of age) came by. He asked me ticket. I started explaining him in English but he seemed not to understand properly

“Go to 5” (Come with me to S5) this was what the TTE meant when he said this which I understood later. I followed him. The train reached Salem (around 11.50pm). I was standing by the door of S5 compartment. The TTE came again

“hey, buy a cold drink” the TTE told me. This gave me the impression that he would give me a berth. So I obeyed him. Rs 30 gone.

Then he called me n said in broken English.

“actually ur fine is…..250+100=350-50=300” he continued “such things shud not b done….” Lots of advice…”ok, u can use this berth”. He showed me a side upper berth. Then he calculated again. Took out some ‘fine’ books from his pocket and finally gave me the bill. It said Rs 85. What happened to the rest of the money Rs 215?shooshhhhhhh…. the side upper berth was a little short for me to sleep. More over the TTE sat just beneath me. So passengers like me kept on coming asking for berths. Evrytime the TTE would switch the light (which was hardly a meter away from me) on n off which made my night horrendous.

Somehow I managed to reach my hostel room n I realized dat I lost my cycle key which will again cost me Rs 85. So finally a journey which started at Friday 2.30pm to Monday 7.45am cost me Rs 1521.5 + 85=1606.5 including the miscellaneous charges for bus tickets. I really feel stupid now when I calculated this