Roomies

Shivani and Dinesh Kumar Mehta were having a heated discussion with their daughter Devika.

"I don't want to stay in a hostel again Mummy. Why can't I do my M.Sc. from DU itself? This way I'll get to be at home." cried Devika. "I am tired of small rooms, prying room mates, lack of privacy, horrible mess food, discipline...! "

"I understand that. But how many times will I have to tell you that even if you do your M.Sc. from DU you'd still have to go to hostel." retorted said her mother irritatedly.

"At least I will get to come home on the weekends."

"Do not act like a baby Devika! And I just can't believe that you are willing to give up the opportunity of studying at an IIT? The ratio of number of girls to boys who get into IIT is really small. You are one of those select few girls and you want to give it all away!! There are millions out there who would do anything to be in your place." Shivani Mehta was boiling now.

"But I am not one of them!" lamented Devika.

"That's enough.” said Mr. D. K. Mehta angrily, “In a fortnight Mummy will take you to Mumbai to get you admitted at IIT Bombay. Start preparing for it. And you dare not leave any important shopping for the last minute. I am not going to hear any excuses. Okay?"

Devika knew that was the end of the discussion. She would have to do her parent's bidding. Over the next two weeks she reluctantly forced herself to collect things that she would need for her stay in the hostel. With every item that she packed she developed resentment against Mr. and Mrs. Mehta. Her anger didn’t subside even as the day to leave arrived. She barely said a word to her father before boarding the plane and wasn’t very communicative with her mother during the flight from Delhi to Mumbai.

On reaching the campus mother and daughter had their hands full. There were a lot of formalities to be completed which had them shuttling between the Department, Administrative Section, Bank and Hostel. It was nearing evening when they sat face to face with Shobha ji, the Hostel Manager. After going through the office registers she informed Devika:

“I have allotted you room number 156. Your roommate is going to be a Vaishali Kapoor. You’ll be happy to know she is from Delhi too. She has already taken possession of the room. Since you have paid the hostel fees you can join her right away.”

“Thank you, Madam.”

On stepping out of the Manager’s office Devika asked her mother,

“Mamma… you’ll be coming insi- ?”

“I am afraid not. I can’t come inside with you. A little more delay and I won’t be able to reach the airport on time to catch my flight.”

“FINE. LET ME NOT KEEP YOU ANY LONGER.” With that Devika instantly picked her suitcases and turned away without even saying a goodbye.

Her anger however cooled somewhat as she came across a familiar atmosphere in Hostel-10. Shrieks of excitement could be heard from some parts. “Must be girls meeting after the summer break.” Someone was playing music loudly. She passed through a corridor where three girls were talking softly. “Freshies… getting to know each other.” Finally she saw the number 156 written over one door. “Okay… let’s do it.” Taking a deep breath she knocked and the door opened.

“Hello! My name is Devika Mehta. I have also been allotted this room.”

A woman in her later forties greeted her excitedly, “Come in. Come in. I am Mrs. Veena Kapoor, Vaishali’s mother. Vaishali look you have a roommate!”

As Devika entered the room she saw that it was filled with half a dozen suitcases. There were ten plastic bags of eatables that could feed a family of four for a month which were lying on her bed. Vaishali realized that there was practically no space for the new girl to keep her belongings. She somehow cleared out a little bit of the mess which allowed Devika to put her suitcases in one corner and sit on her bed. Devika was shocked to find that it was Mrs. Veena Kapoor who was taking things out from the suitcases and putting them in the cupboard. Her disapproving looks didn’t go unnoticed by Vaishali who then cried saying,

“Maa… I’ll do all this myself later on. Leave it now. Hadn’t I told you that we’ve brought too much food? See there is not enough place to keep all the goodies. You know they have a fully functioning mess here. I am not going to starve, don’t worry!”

“But beta… what if you feel hungry at some odd time? Anyway now nothing can be done. And why leave all this unpacking for later? Waise bhi you are not used to doing all this. Since I still have hours to kill so let me do it for you.”

“How will I learn to do things on my own until you let me? Aren’t you tired? Shouldn’t you go to the guest house and relax? Daddy must be getting bored without you.”

“Why are you trying to push me off like this? I am not going be seeing you now before December. I am staying her for another 60 minutes. I’ll miss you so much baccha!” declared Mrs. Veena Kapoor with eyes filling with drops of water.

Vaishali hugged her. “Oh Maa!! Don’t worry. You’ll be fine and so will I.”

“Urgggh. CAN’T BELIEVE THIS GIRL IS 20 YEARS OLD!! OH GOD!! I HATE MY ROOMIE ALREADY.”, thought Devika and gave a snort.

Vaishali heard the snort clearly and said to herself, “WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS!! MISS HIGH AND MIGHTY!! HUH! I HATE MY ROOMIE ALREADY.”

This was the starting point of Vaishali and Devika’s mutual dislike. Much against their wishes they found themselves not only roommates but classmates as well. They maintained a stony silence in their common abode and sat as far apart as possible during lectures. Their friend circle was also different such that they did not have to hang around in the same group in the evenings. To make matters worse the two were competitive when it cames to studies. Professors too invariably pitted one against the other.

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Time had flown since Devika and Vaishali’s first encounter in H-10. They were now just two weeks away from the commencement of the mid-semester exams when Head of the Department, Prof. K. Shastri announced one morning,

“We have started a new collaboration with Princeton University’s Chemistry Department under which the topper of the upcoming exams will be sent to work there for a month under a professor of their choice. Those interested its time to pull up your socks.”

This provided a newfound gusto to Devika and Vaishali and they plunged into their books. The exam schedule that had been set up was a grueling one with no gaps between consecutive papers. On 17^th September, 2001 they gave their fifth exam and now had only one more paper of Analytical Chemistry to go. This exam was to take place the next day. It was going to be a tough end since there was a lot of study material to go through. At about 10 p.m. Devika walked into her room feeling tired and exhausted when she found Vaishali crying. The sight worried her and she asked her,

“What happened? Is everything alright?”

Between sobs Vaishali narrated the whole story. “I gave my Analytical Chemistry notes to Sanjay. He said he’ll get them photocopied and return them to me in an hour’s time. That was at 4 o’clock and there is no sign of him yet. I’ve tried contacting him but to no avail. I called his friends Amit and Karan but they are also saying they haven't seen Sanjay in the hostel. The thing is that since I had made such detailed notes I hadn’t issued certain books from the library for tomorrow’s exam. So I went to the library sometime back but those books are issued. And now I don’t know what to do??”

“I didn’t know Sanjay could be such a jerk. But we’ll see about that later. For now why don’t you use my notes? I also have two books with me. You can choose one of them and start studying. After two hours we can switch and then again switch later if we are still awake. What do you say?”

Vaishali was stunned at this unexpected generosity.

“Do I take your silence as a yes? Hurry up then. Dry your tears and get going.” Devika said sweetly.

The mid-semester exam results were displayed on the Notice Board a week later from this incident. Vaishali had topped while Devika came a near second. They had been neck to neck in all courses except one. In the last paper of Ananlytical Chemistry Vaishali had actually managed to score much better marks than Devika. She was informed by the Prof. K. Shastri that she should start preparing for her trip to Princeton. IIT Bombay would be providing all the required financial support and her stay will be arranged by Princeton University. But she would have to get a visa on her own. Vaishali wondered that even if she got the visa would she still be able to make the trip. How was she ever going to convince her parents?

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Story to be continued in next post.
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