First Day of College

He gave himself one final look in the mirror – stylish t-shirt, awesome jeans, hair styled in spikes in the front and those ultra-cool goggles … perfect. He slung his trendy bag across his shoulder and gave himself a thumbs-up.

“Rounak! Are you going to college or to some party?” His father asked in total amazement.

“Dad! It is the first day of college. If I don’t make an impression today, I would become invisible for the entire five years that I have there. No discouraging comments today, please!”

“Don’t nag him on the first day itself.” His mother’s sharp reprimand silenced both of them.

“Here, take this.” She handed over a tiffin-box to Rounak who stared at it in horror. It was his favorite spider-man box which had served him faithfully in his school days.

“What… take it! I have put parathas… your favorite ones…” His mother said with a smile.

“Oh… Eh, Mom… It is college… I don’t think it is cool to carry tiffin-box there… sorry… I will eat something from the canteen.”

“But what about the parathas? I specially made them for you!” His mother said in a frustrated tone.

“Don’t nag him on the first day!” His father said and stuck out his tongue, much to Rounak’s amusement and his mother’s irritation.

“Dad, I need some money. Just for eating lunch, you know. I assure you, I won't spend much... May be, if I get some new friends, then I may have to treat them. But it is only on the first day... I won’t…”

His father cut off his hesitant and embarrassing speech and handed him a new wallet. It was military-styled and looked really cool. He saw his father had kept some money too inside. It was enough to sustain him for a week.

“Thanks Dad! This is awesome!” He said while eagerly keeping the wallet inside his bag and missed the endearing look that passed between the parents.

“Ok bye! I am leaving now! Will try to come early ok!” He rushed out of his house, eager and excited to start the first day of his new life.

He reached college after half-n-hour. He got down from the auto-rickshaw and paid the fare. At the entrance of the college he saw a group of four boys sitting on bikes. Everything about them spelled BAD NEWS. They were wearing identical red jackets over black jeans and black t-shirt. Every jacket had it written on it – The Red Gang. They were casually smoking cigarettes and looked around at everyone with a disinterested expression.

Oh, oh… Will they rag me? Rounak thought with a little bit of apprehension. He looked around but couldn’t find any familiar face. He kept standing there, thinking about how to get inside.

“Hey, you shouldn’t cross the gang, bro. They will definitely rag you.” The boy slowly whispered to Rounak who turned around to give him a look. He was dressed neatly in formals; his hair parted sideways neatly and was wearing specs. Future professor of this college, Rounak thought with amusement.

“I am Atul. Come this way, we both can get inside from the other end.”

“This college has two entrances?”

“We can get inside through the parking lot. We need to climb some stairs but it will be safer.”

“Oh, Ok.” Rounak shrugged and followed Atul who turned the other way from the entrance.

They both walked around the college and came to its back side which, Rounak observed, was the parking zone.

The parking lot was completely devoid of people and had only vehicles. They both went down into the parking vault. Rounak could see a set of stairs ahead of him.

They came out silently and surprised Rounak. There were about 7 to 8 guys, all dressed neatly. But something about their smiles didn’t feel all right.

“Fresh meat… you brought us fresh meat, Atul! Congratulations, you are now the esteemed member of The Devilz Gang!” The boy who spoke was built up more heavily than the others. His eyes had a mean look and his smile didn’t reach his eyes.

“I am Rishabh. What’s your name boy?”

“Rounak.”

“Okay Rounak, you know the rules. Off with your clothes buddy!”

“Hey just chill guys. It’s not a cool way to rag, ok. There are better ways. I will treat you at the canteen, what say?” Rounak put on a brave front and spoke in a clear yet slightly loud voice that almost betrayed his fear.

“Nah… We have enough money to treat ourselves. Remove your clothes bro, else my gang will forcibly remove them.” Rishabh said with a sneer that only intensified Rounak’s fear.

“I will do nothing like that!” He shouted, his voice almost cracking. To his utter ridicule, his parents’ image came into his mind, making him long for them like a child and stinging his eyes. He furiously blinked his eyes and fisted his arms.

“That’s so bad, Rounak. Just when I thought you are my new BFF!” Rishabh advanced towards him and caught the collar of his t-shirt. Click! Rounak heard the sound of the camera snap. They are going to film it! He thought in horror.

Rounak tried to shake himself off Rishabh’s hands but Rishabh was too strongly built. He kept fighting against Rishabh who was trying to take off his t-shirt. The camera in the meanwhile went on clicking.

Suddenly, Rishabh’s hand left Rounak’s t-shirt.

“Why should only you guys have all the fun, ha?” Rounak heard a deep voice say and when he cleared the tears off his eyes, he saw a member of the Red Gang standing in front of him, holding Rishabh’s hand.

Rishabh shook off his hand angrily and asked. “Who are you?”

“Yash, leader of the Red Gang...” The boy said cheerfully. He wasn’t as stocky as Rishabh was, but had a tough and lean frame that seemed to have weathered many fights.

“Just wait for some time, Rishabh. It will be more fun if we do this in front of an audience.” Yash said with a wink.

Rounak visibly paled while Rishabh’s laughter hooted out.

“You called out some people here to witness this?” Rishabh looked at Yash in amazement and wonder.

“Ya, what is the fun if there is no one to watch it?” Yash shrugged and made Rishabh laugh even more.

Rounak was perilously close to breaking down. He looked frantically around, trying to find some means of escape. He looked at the entrance of the parking vault with fear and hope.

“Don’t even think about it, Rounak. You will only end up hurting yourself. Just do what we say. We will let you go in peace all right.” Yash said in a dangerously soft voice.

Rounak stared at everyone in disbelief and fear. He fell down on his knees and put his head on his hands, unable to believe that this was indeed happening to him. “HELP!!!” He shouted at the top of his voice, hoping that someone would hear his cries and rescue him.

Rishabh muttered heavily under his breath and marched hurriedly towards Rounak with his hand raised, as if to slap him. But before he could reach Rounak, Yash stopped him and turned him towards himself.

Slap! The sound resonated in the entire parking vault. Rishabh staggered back with the force of the slap and laid a hand to his burning cheek.

“You want to see what audience we have brought?” Yash said in his bone-chillingly low voice.

He stepped aside to show Rishabh and Rounak. Another member of the Red Gang had brought in two guys who looked like professors and another dark-skinned, curly-haired stocky guy who carried himself with superiority and confidence. This guy came over to Rounak and helped him to stand up.

“Are you okay, boy? Don’t worry, I am Shetty, Vice-principal of this college.”

Relief seeped into Rounak’s very bones as he dropped his head with sheer exhaustion and nodded.

“You never heard the camera clicking, Rishabh? Or did you think that it was one of your own gang members, trying to film your dirty deed?” Yash asked while Rishabh looked at the professors in confusion and fear.

“It was John who was clicking the snaps so that he could show them to the proper authorities and bring in someone to stop this.” Yash gestured towards the boy who had brought in the professors. John shook his mobile at Rishabh and did a little jig.

“Come boys, we need to TALK..” Shetty drew out the last word in a long menacing breath. He looked over at Rounak and asked him gently. “Are you really all right? Should we call someone from your home?”

“No! Not my parents, please!” Rounak pleaded as he thought about his parents’ reactions if they came to know of what he had been through.

“Sir, can we get an hour’s break?” Yash asked Shetty.

“Right on the first day and first hour of the college??” Shetty asked in disbelief and amazement

“We will just go over to the canteen and have something to eat. All the excitement has made us hungry.” Yash said and looked pointedly at Rounak who was still trying to settle down. He was still perspiring and his hands were shivering lightly.

Shetty looked at Rounak and held his shoulder lightly. “Steady now, it is over. Go to the canteen, have something to eat and drink. Go with these guys.”Rishabh and his team were shepherded out of the vault through its entrance by the two professors and some peons who had joined them too.

“Good work guys, and really cool jackets.” Shetty told Yash and his team.

“Thank you Sir.” Yash beamed and with another look at Rounak, Shetty left the vault.

Fifteen minutes later, Yash, his team and Rounak were seated at the canteen. There were very few students there as it was lecture time.

“Thank you guys, thank you so much. I don’t know what would have happened if you had not come at the right time. I tried to put up a fight, but he was much stronger than me. I couldn’t…”

“We understand. Don’t think about it. Have some juice.” Yash slowly passed on a glass of orange juice to Rounak.

“I don’t know your names.” Rounak asked the other two boys besides Yash and John.

“I am Sagar and he is James.” The boys introduced themselves.

“Thank you all so much.” Rounak said in a very low voice and sipped at the juice thoughtfully.

Yash felt a bit of concern for him. He had seen Rounak’s excitement and eagerness when he had got down from the auto-rickshaw. Typical rich lad, He had thought after seeing Rounak. Now the boy looked totally down-hearted and lost.

“How did you come to know?” Rounak asked Yash.

“It was purely by accident. We were the last ones waiting outside the college and the peon shooed us off to park our bikes and get in. We saw you all assembled downstairs and heard Rishabh talking. We were waiting to see what you all were upto. When Rishabh started forcibly removing your shirt, we decided to step in. John took some snaps of Rishabh mishandling you and left for the college to bring in some professors.”

“It was my sheer good luck that Shetty Sir stopped me to ask why I am loitering in the college without attending lectures. I showed him the snaps and he immediately called out two professors and those peons. And that reminds me, I need to delete the snaps. I took them just as a proof against Rishabh and his gang.” John took out his mobile and deleted the snaps in front of Rounak.

“Do you have any friends?” Yash asked Rounak.

“Not yet. Can I be a part of your group?” Rounak asked in a serious voice.

Yash seemed to be taken aback. He recovered himself and said. “Sure, bro. But is it really what you want? I mean, look at you and look at us. Surely you are leagues ahead. We were, are and probably will be, back-benchers always. Would you really like to hang out with us?”

“There is no one else I would trust. You may sit at the back but when it comes to helping someone, you probably are the first ones. Correct me if I am wrong.”

Rounak smiled lightly when he saw all the four tough-looking guys visibly cringe in embarrassment. 

He thought of Atul and shuddered. He knew it would take a long time to forget the episode.

“But we need to lay down some ground rules here for friendship.” Yash spoke in a serious tone.

“Which are?”

“First, no girls in the group. Don’t take us wrong, but we are hopeless when it comes to talking with girls. We respect them from afar and that’s it. Do you agree?”

“Don’t mind Yash. He has spoken to only one girl in his whole life and is crazy about her. They went to the same school and now he has chosen this college because she too is studying here. And yet, our super-hero friend has not disclosed his feelings to her. Can you believe it?” James said while Yash turned red with embarrassment and the other two boys laughed out.

Out of respect for Yash’s feelings, Rounak kept a straight face and said. “No girls, I agree.”

“All right... Second rule is regarding smoking.” Yash said.

“I don’t and I won’t smoke.” Rounak said firmly.

“And no one can force us to quit smoking.” Yash said sternly.

Rounak smiled sweetly at all the four boys and said. “Is that a challenge? We will see about it.”

“Oh Gosh. I knew this boy would be trouble.” Yash exclaimed and all the boys laughed.

“Done with your hourly break?” Shetty approached their table and looked at Rounak. “How are you feeling now, boy?”

“I am fine, Sir.”

“THEN GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE AND MOVE BACK INTO YOUR CLASS!” Shetty shouted and all the boys scurried out of the canteen. They heard him shout again “WITHOUT YOUR JACKETS!” Everyone burst out laughing as all the four boys hurriedly took out their red jackets.