PRELUDE

4th March 2006

I had been waiting for this day since eternity. I woke up to her sweet voice on the gtalk call. I had spent the last few months doing just that - talking to Tamanna on gtalk calls all night. I simply loved the idea. It helped me make up for the time she wasnt around me. Her hostel had set a restriction upto 8.30 p.m. for all the girls in the college. That meant, I could be with her only uptil 8.25 after which I talked to her on the phone on my dash back to my hostel so that the gtalk call could begin immediately. We studied together, dined together and slept together. I truly loved her and nothing mattered to me more.

I put aside my CREATIVE headfones gifted by Tamanna, and immediately lighted a Marlboro. Gtalk was a revolution for me, it saved me from spending extravagantly on my telephone bills and hence I could afford a pack of Marlboro now. Meanwhile, being with a gal was a status symbol in college so I realized I shouldnt smoke what 'any other MNNITian' was having - gold flake or a navy cut. It just added to my respect in college. Having a marlboro pack also helped me go one up on Andy. No longer I had to beg him from late night suttas and also, people preferred asking me for a Marlboro rather than asking andy for a classic (he never ran out of stock or money thanks to his filthy rich family) . I certainly obliged, which earned me more brownie points. Andy had been my antagonist ever since he once tried to hit on Tamanna and later, passed on some deregatory remarks about her when she refused to go out with him. Although we were part of the same group, I couldnt see eye to eye with him.

I set off from my hostel for college and joined Vikram, Harish and Parth on the way. Vikram and Parth were frantically discussing the quake match with the final years they had lost on the previous night. "Yaar tum sale q-zone pe cover dene aate nai ho.. jhande pe baithhe rehte ho.. Wo saala gajodhar flag kar jaata hai.. sirf cover ki wajah se.." pointed out Vikram aka Shaggy is his typical frustated tone. " Meh hamesha aata tha but tumhe chulli rehte hai jaldi bahar nikalne aane ki.." retaliated Parth aka DEAD_MAN, referred to DEAD by most. Quake was what we were in college for... to the extent that people in college knew us by our quake names. I used to play but i had almost quit playing because I found gtalk calls with Tamanna to be a better usage of time than fragging my friends for pleasure on a computer screen. Harish, meanwhile, didnt play quake then, because he regarded socializing in real life as more important. He could drop at anyone's room at the oddest of hours and bug them with his boring stories of Kuwait.
He kept quiet all this while and approached me for a conversation.
"Hey man, heard the latest single from Korn? They say its the most expensive video ever !" said Harish as he took another puff from the Classic, which clearly he had got from Andy.

Harish and I shared a lotta interests. For one, we belonged to the few in the college who believed English music wasnt just about Linkin Park or Backstreet Boys. We were the few who dared to listen to the Slipknots, the Megadths and the Metallicas in the sleepy town of Allahabad. Apart from that, I think booze and cigerettes are perhaps the best catalysts for friendship.

Meanwhile I was still day dreaming about Tamanna - her sweet giggles, her innocent talks and beautiful voice.
" Dude.. I think I m gonna marry her ! " I said in a totally lost tone.