The Sleeper

I could not contain myself any longer. Just the thought that it was going to be my first time in Goa, that too for new year's, was enough for me to tell my father that he needs to fax the college authorities and ask them to excuse me for the new year outdoor catering as we had a family vacation planned that had been paid for months in advance and could not be cancelled. A complete lie, considering I was going to Goa with another friend.

December 26th, 1999, 6.30 a.m. - Mapusa, Goa. I had arrived and was brimming with excitement from head to toe. This is not a memoir of the trip as such but a recollection of a real comedic situation that left one of the most laughable memory for me in Goa. I had joined a friend, who had already set up the accommodation and transport for us before I got in. Two more were joining us on the morning of the 31st. One of them was called Sutta Singh and this is about Sutta, a rave and a chai waali.

The turn of the century and Goa was spilling over with hippies and other such. The energy of the place was enough to keep you awake all night and give you a high without any psychedelics.

We had to literally park our bikes like a mile away from bamboo forest on 31st night as there was a multi-lane traffic jam on the road leading to its entrance. If you have been to Goa, you know the size of the roads! The four of us managed to get to the forest and found ourselves a nice spot next to one of the chai waali's who had set up shop under the huge bamboo tree. We decided that this is gonna be the homing spot whenever we needed to re-convene.

The escapades began. Sutta and I were together as the other two went off to look for their own adventure. We had all chipped in for the psychedelics and I decided on a dolphin and a hoffman to kickstart the night. Sutta decided he is going to pop his share after a while.

While the other two went off, I decided to roll one for Sutta and myself. By the time i was finished, Sutta had pretty much passed out! Anyway, I had a pretty white girl sitting next to me who was more than happy to share the smoke. As the night progressed, my highs began to work their magic.

Sometime during the night I had succumbed to the psychedelic and so decided to head to the dance floor to meet other magicians and create an alchemy of good vibes. Sutta, of course, was left sleeping next to the chai waali.

Now, because, I had been sitting there and was chatting with the white girl and buying stuff off the chai waali she didnt mind that Sutta was lying there sleeping his ass off. Once i left, having pretty much forgotten about Sutta, I have no idea what happened next.

Around 5.30 a.m. I bumped into the other two who asked me about Sutta. I said he must be still there because he was deep in slumber and snoring away to glory when I left. We made our way back to the chai waali.

This is when all three of us almost died laughing. Now, i wish i could sketch the scene out for you so I'll do my best to put it down into words and try to create a visual for you.

Sutta was completely stretched out (like you would on your own bed), his feet were pointing in opposite directions, his arms were in a V-shape with his hands bunched up to the sides of his chest (you know like chicken wings) and his mouth was wide open. Coupled with that the chai waali was hitting him with her steel 'chimta' (tongs), trying to wake him up while shouting "this is not a bed you harami! Either get up and get lost or start buying something in compensation for the last five hours you have been passed out because of which i have lost business you bastard!".

Like I said i wish i could draw this whole scene out for you, because not only the three of us but everybody sitting around was looking at what was happening and was laughing their freaking balls off!

The three of us calmed the chai waali down, so she would stop hitting and cursing him, by buying some tea and there was Sutta still lying in the same position throughout this whole comedy. He did wake up eventually only to find that his share of psychedelics had also been used up by us. I mean c'mon you think we would wait around till 6 in the morning for his royal ass to wake up while we held on to the goodies?!

I don't think anyone in the world has ever slept so peacefully at a rave like Sutta did that night. How? You gotta ask him yourself 'cause we were too busy laughing ourselves to death!

5th Element

I was once told, by a senior in college, that the people who are your friends and enemies in the first year would perform exactly the opposite roles by the time its graduation. Alas, like everything else that was broken by our batch, this rule also never applied.

The four of us were pretty thick all the way up to the end of first year. Disintegration had started just about 6 months later actually. It all was because of this one guy who was the prick basically. The one i ended up trusting and for the same reason had to apologize to at least 4 people. Anyway, like i said 4 of us right? No. There was a fifth element. Maybe not for all for but for me he was the link that was grounded and with a level head on his shoulders. I helped destroy that link and he lost faith in me and many more. It happened quite gradually and by the time it was 3rd year the kind of attitude that had developed within our relationship was strange. It wasn't animosity. It was disappointment.
Here's a good and bad story for ya.

There was this particular project and 4 people had to team up for the task. I grouped up with five, another idiot from the batch and the prick. Of course, no work was done. By the time we realized it was just about a week before submissions. So, five and I put ourselves to the task, worked over 3 nights and put together a fully bound and embossed project one hour before submission. Both of us managed quite a decent score. There happened to be a viva on the project itself a week after submission. Five and I never let the other 2 even see the project. They failed miserably. Anyhow, the good showed and i trusted five even more.

A couple of months later, five, a senior and myself decided to hire a T.V. and a V.C.R. for a 4 day long weekend that was coming up. We rented about a dozen movies, stocked up on booze, snacks and made the room a small little theatre. 2 and a half days later we went out and got another 4 movies and except for that we didn't move until Sunday evening. With the retail guy on our doorstep three of us had to return the gadgetry and pay for it. So the 2 of us made up this story about how we don't have money and all but will pay five back if he took care of it right now.

Photographic memory or not sometimes some images just stick so permanently in your head that if i had a print option i would use it and frame my thought! Five and I went to the ATM and i remember vividly the look on his face. Sheer disappointment because he knew we had not told him the whole time about the truth and had concocted this story. The nice guy never said a word but the image of that expression on his face is something i will never forget.

Since that Sunday evening, it was like a small little hot rock that was created and it kept growing bigger and hotter. Again not that there was any animosity brewing just that it wasn't the same you know. We still hung out from time to time, he still helped me out but this was the bad side of things.

A few years ago five and I happened to be in my hometown. We hung out a couple of times but there was this marked retort that i heard in him. It wasn't obvious but it was there. Things somehow got real ugly over the phone one day - for no apparent reason actually. That is what took me by surprise. It was a small disagreement and he went off on another completely different plane and said things that didn't really make sense. That conversation is what prompted me to write this because the more i went over what he said the more i understood the depth of the divide that had been created.

Misunderstandings are a part of life i guess and sometimes it takes time to come to term with them. I have and one day he will too. Till then this is an ode to the 5th Element who has saved many a day for me.