It was a night of lights and
music. I reached the place early; he wasn’t there yet. I knew he was busy, but
surely he wouldn’t miss his Hall Day. He hadn’t invited me tonight, I guess I
know the reason. But I had to meet him today, this might as well be the last
time. I waited for a while in his wingie’s room when I heard his door unlock.
Mikunj Nall was anything but
in a party-mood. This was undoubtedly the most gifted guy I’d come across in a
long time. Sure he was clever and slightly wicked, but you don’t get great
things done by playing innocent. I entered his room, or rather his jungle of
papers. One thing was for sure, he didn’t have time to clean his room. I can
say this because even in the dust and cobwebs, I could see an affinity for an
organised life. I could also see that he had not prepared anything for the
party, not because he didn’t want to mind you. Mikunj is one of the biggest
party-buffs I’ve come across ever. I guessed it’s because he didn’t have the
time to plan it. Not that it turned out to be a problem for him, his wingies
had him covered. They’d gotten everything ready for him. I could see that they
knew this was a guy who could intimidate you if he wanted to, yet this was a
guy more loved than feared. He’d accomplished more than any of them and was
still not resting. So what if he nicked in a few favors for himself and his
friends, after all the hard work he put in, he deserved it didn’t he? So what,
if he gave someone else opportunity to someone else just because he could, that’s
how life goes. That’s what life gives you. That’s how the world turns around.
Mikunj Nall was an extra-ordinary man with ordinary flaws. Flaws, one can
learn to live with.
It takes time for him to
realise that I’m sitting in his room. If he is affronted by it, he does not let
it show on his face. He greets me like he had always for the 6 years I’ve known
him. He’s quick to tear up a few papers he thinks I should not put my eyes on.
He notices me noticing that, and smiles in return. We know each other too well
to talk about it. He goes out to get booze and food from his wingies. I decline
the alcohol. He frowns as usual, and forces me to have a peg. I don’t decline this
time. This might be the last time he’s making me an offering. I take it.
It’s an emotional time for me.
Before me stands the man whom I’ve ridiculed and abused and criticised over the
last 3 months and he humbly smiles and chooses not to argue with me over such
petty nuisances. I’m grateful. I want to leave before the other PlaceComs come
to his room. I don’t think they’ll be as understanding as him. I take my leave
and come out. I’m glad to have made it before my time is up.
* * * * *
And this marks the end of my
journey. For those who were reading for Placement Fundas, you may stop here. I’ve
something to say to my readers.
For the last 4 years I’ve written about the 4 years of TTI KGN. How a person goes through a Nomadic
Existence, trying to find his place in the campus. Then he’s asked to choose an
option, where I chose the Second Option. He Pleads Not Guilty for the crimes he
didn’t commit and learns something very important, that life is neither easy
nor fair. But living is the only option life gives you. Then life gives him the
3rd Finger and finally, at the end your life is weighed. That, is
the final judgement day, the Final Frontier. It’s not measured in terms of
money, not in terms of the future, but in terms of how much love you’re leaving
behind. That’s how the campus life of KGN is, and that’s how life goes.
In the last 4 years, I feel I’ve
lived my entire life. I confess that 3 years ago, I started these series with
the sole intention of increasing my readership. And I realised something very
important. It’s not cheap writing which beckons wide readership and popularity,
but the value of what you give. That’s why this year I had the intention of
talking about a topic which’d create some much-needed awareness. In the process
if I’ve hurt anyone, I don’t regret it. I understand what they were doing was a
part of what they felt right. And what I did was what I felt right. I hope that
never again would I need to start another 8 chapter story. I intend Final
Frontiers to be the last story of this kind I ever write.
It is a strong temptation to
me to close the present tale with an earthquake which should engulf KGN and its
environs so deeply in the bowels of the Earth that no youthful Schliemann would
ever find a vestige of it. But as somewhat melodramatic conclusion might shock
my gentle readers, I will refrain, and forestall the usual question, ‘How did
it end?’ by briefly stating that all the placements (including mine) turned out
well.
And now, having endeavoured to
suit everyone by many stories, few puns, and as much exaggeration as the
eternal fitness of things will permit, let the music stop, the lights die out,
and the curtain fall forever on my story of KGN.
