[continued from <<Post - 1]
The question was still foremost in his mind as he stepped off the bus at College Gate and walked the half-mile to his hostel.
“I am so eff'in undone, yaar”, lamented Deepak, the moment he spied Neel entering the lobby of McDonald Hall. Halls of Residence at Bengal Engineering College are named after the illustrious first Principals fearless enough to have believed they would one day build a national institution on the hallowed grounds of the erstwhile Bishop’s college. The Scottish-born McDonald had been one of the fearless’ finest.
Neel raised an inquiring eyebrow.
“SM lab’s due first thing tomorrow morning", wailed Deepak, "and I haven’t the foggiest idea what we did on that Rockwell machine!”
Which is no surprise, thought Neel to himself. Music and Cinema vied constantly as to who could lay larger claim to Deepak’s time. Deepak Chand Kapoor, or Deep-C as he was known to his friends, was not always expected to remember what went on with a Rockwell Hardness Tester in the Strength of Materials laboratory.
“I’ll walk you through it after dinner” he said to the much relieved Deep-C, “but I gotta go eat now. I’m hungry.” He started to run up the steps to his floor. “And don’t forget, it’s gonna cost you!” he called over his shoulder as he sprinted lightly upstairs.
Neel dumped the books on his bed, and slipped back down again, into the dining hall.
At seventeen, one harbors many romantic notions, and those include, apparently, chivalrous ones as well. Nowhere else, perhaps, is romance and chivalry deployed with greater creativity than within the teenage brain. Neel, chewing thoughtfully on a piece of meat that should have been cooked for at least another ten minutes, suddenly had an epiphany: he would mail Alyssa back her missing missive!
[continued in Post 3>> ]
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