First few pages of my book Sunrise to Sunrise.

NOTE 1: This story is part of my imagination. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental

NOTE 2: Please ignore the grammatical errors. This is just a draft and not the final copy. Please send me your criticism or your suggestions to robval890@gmail.com. You can also post scraps on my Orkut profile. Hope you enjoy reading

Sunrise to Sunrise

Chapter 1: My first day

“Alpha college of Engineering” said the sculpted granite board. I was not excited to be here neither was I sad or depressed. I felt empty, alone like I was being transported to a new planet. I got 17000 in CET for engineering and my mom wanted me to do my Bachelor degree in Christ College. Little did she know that I did not want to go to Christ because I hated to be there and not because I wanted to be software engineer in Alpha. With my rankings I did not have much of a choice but to choose Alpha. As I reached the college gate, I had to stop my bike because of all the future engineers who were rushing towards an unfinished building like it was some kind of a race. Each excited than the other to be “Software Engineers”.

I sat in the classroom with no window panes or doors promising myself that I would focus on my academics and this would be a new beginning. I was sitting next to a guy who looked a little fat with pimple dents on his face and a gold chain around his neck. He looked around smiling at everyone like he knew everyone and looked super excited to be in Alpha College like it was Disney Land. He looked at me with his smiling face and was about to say something to me. I quickly turned my face towards the board as I heard him say “hi”. I did not ignore him because I was arrogant. It’s just that I was really scared to socialize with someone as I was out of contact from the outside world after my CET. I chose to spend the last few months healing my heart and trying to solve the mystery of who were my real friends and who were pretending to be friends in Christ. It’s been months now that I have spoken to someone apart from Sowmya, the only one I trust.

He tapped me with his finger and said “Hi, I am Randeep”. I could not do much but to respond.

“I am Robby Varghese” I said, having no idea of why I added my surname.

“Where are you from” he asked me with his mother tongue influenced English.

“I am from Kerala” I said, again having no idea of why I told him I am from Kerala when I was brought up in Bangalore.

“Oh you are a MALLU-KUTTY” he said with a big fake laughter.

“No, I am a Bangalorean” I said with a strict tone, just to make it clear to him that I had taken enough of this shit from people who made fun of where I was born like it was my mistake

“Ok…Ok…. I am from Christ College and you are from?” he asked.

I looked at him like a 70’s bollywood hero who just found his lost brother after 30 years.

“Even I am from Christ!!!" I said as my tongue grew big in my mouth out of my emotions making my voice squeaky.

“Great!!! It must be suffocating for you to be in such a college after studying in Christ” he said.

“Yes” I answered with my mind forcing me to go into a flash back mode as I heard he was from Christ College.

“Me too” he said.

As I was beginning to go into flashback mode, a man entered the class carrying a bag with a chalk and a duster in his hand. Everyone stood up and was looking at this overgrown adult who said “Good Morning everyone”.

“Good Morning” said in a chorus the class standing up.

“I am Mr. Roy Bhattacharjee, your lecturer for Physics” he said asking everyone to sit. I looked at him and wondered what must be so precious in the bag that he had to carry it all the way to the class.

“You” he said pointing his duster at someone behind me. I turned back to see who he was trying to point to.

“You in black shirt” I heard him shout again. No one got up as I was still trying to find out the guy in black shirt.

“You…you….robby” whispered randeep.

I turned my face toward the board as I saw a piece of chalk hurling towards my face. It hit my forehead and a loud noise of laughter broke up like it was some funny scene from an English comedy series.

“Are you dumb not to notice that you are the one I am pointing to” he said dusting his hands of chalk powder.

“I am wearing a white shirt with black stripes” I said rubbing my forehead. Everyone in the class started to laugh again loudly.

“You think you are very smart, don’t wag your tail here, I will cut it off” he said in an accent which made the class laugh again. I looked down to escape from the odd situation I got into, which actually made me look good and made him look like a fat idiot with a duster. It always works if you are in some other world and gave a deaf ear, when someone who is angry and old starts to chunk out advice, irrespective of whether you are dreaming of a girl or in my case punishing Roy Bhatacharjee with a cane and teaching him colors.

“Rub the board you useless” he shouted with a loud voice which penetrated my imagination and re-activated the sensors of my mind.

I walked hesitantly and took the duster. Meanwhile Roy was busy asking the rest of the students about what their previous education background. I was showing all my anger on the duster, using all my energy to clean the dirty board and suddenly the duster flew out of my hand and landed on a bald mans head near the door.

“Sir” shouted Roy while the rest of the class looked shocked.

“What is going on here” the bald man shouted in pain looking at me with his hand on his head.

“He asked me to rub the board sir” I said, in a scared tone.

“What are you doing here and don’t you know ragging is banned in our college” said the bald man to Roy.

“I was only interacting with them sir and was not ragging” he said, looking at him confidently.

I was really embarrassed to realize that he was my senior who already knew that I was a dumb ass and also revealed it to my new world, so like always my dumb ass brain sent signals to my mouth to utter some words which I wish I had not said.

“No Sir!!! He was ragging everyone” I said, pointing my fingers at Roy like a school kid.

“Get out!!! I want you to meet the principal and tell him what happened and then attend my classes” he said to Roy.

Roy looked at me like an angry elephant that wanted to smash my wiry body under his big foot and left the class. I was about to take my seat as I heard the bald man say “who the hell asked you to sit”. I chose to ignore the voice and sat down. I could cut through the tension with a knife.

“You in the black shirt” he shouted again.

“Get out of my class” he said looking at me like a dragon that wanted to set me on fire.

“But Sir, I did not do anything”

“I don’t want any explanations. You can leave” he said turning his back to the board to write something.

I felt there was no point trying to justify my position as he was kicking me out of the class to prove everyone else that he is a no nonsense lecturer and I am just a scapegoat in this whole drama. I took my bag, my huge helmet and walked out of the class. As I walking through the deserted corridor, I saw a middle aged man walking towards me. He was neatly dressed in a red formal shirt tucked into his long white pants which covered most of his body. As he was nearing me, I started hearing sounds of bells and wondered if he was Santa Claus and came here for me with the time machine I asked last Christmas. I wanted the time machine, so that I can rewind in time and make my life happier and save my heart from getting shattered into pieces.

“Can you tell me where is 1^st semester information Science class???” he said in a feminine voice.

I was really confused and started staring at him wondering whether to laugh at the situation I was in or answer his question. He looked at me with disgust on his face. Actually you can’t blame him for that beautiful expression he had for me because I looked disgusting. My hair looked shabby, with a beard that was two weeks old. I was wearing a dirty white shirt unlike him was not tucked in neatly and a blue jeans which almost started from my thighs revealing my inner wear.

“Papa…chalo unse puchthe hain” I heard that voice again. I turned my head to realize it was a girl and the man I thought was Santa Claus was her father.

She was wearing a short blue salwar kameez with pink flowers painted on it and a pant that looked like it was borrowed from Aladdin. As she was moving away from me with her father, I heard the sound of bells again to realize this time that it was her anklets, which sparkled on her milky white legs. Her thick eyelashes kept moving furiously which sparingly revealed her beautiful eye that looked like a black pearl embedded on a large oyster. She had long silky hair with small strands of hair falling on her clear face.

“Is this 1^st semester information science class???” she asked to one of the students who came out of the class.

“Yes” he answered.

“Thanks” she said and blew a puff of air and used her lower lips to give the air a direction. The air then gently moved her small strands of silky hair from her forehead in slow motion. She went into the class waving her father goodbye. Her father waved back at her and started to walk. I quickly turned back and walked faster to avoid another encounter with him. As I reached near an empty classroom, a huge hand held my collar and pulled me into the room. It was Roy, the angry elephant that wanted to crush me. He pulled me so close to his face that I could see huge strands of nose hair that moved violently with his breathing.

“Who the hell do you think you are to put me in trouble” he said spitting at me.

“I am really sorry” I said.

He pushed me away from his face and for a moment I thought he must have accepted my apology till I realized his big fist was on my face. I fell down holding my face which I felt would fall apart.

“You tell this to anyone and you are dead” he whispered in my ear and walked out of the classroom. I got up with a swollen face and walked out of the classroom. My face felt numb for a few minutes and then the sweet sense of pain started to fill in.