Orphaned Samosas

Wondering what a photograph of dozens of ready-to-eat samosas and sweets doing here? Well, they are not just an battalion of samosas, crispy potato chips and delicious sweets served along with tomato sauce; waiting to be had. They mark a rare occurrence in our campus. Generally we have a short break after every 50-minute lecture and a long break after every two such lectures. The first long break is a tea-break; the second one is the longer lunch break. Blame it on the soporific tax law lectures or the early morning physical exercises or the late night solid, liquid diets and movie sessions or just the sheer frustration arising out of the mere act of sitting inside the lecture hall for 50 full minutes -there is a sudden outburst of energy after every 50 minutes; that's when most of us rush out of the lecture rooms and make calls, catch up with friends, curse the bureaucracy, have sun bath in full formal wear outside the building, and prepare ourselves for the next fifty minutes. The energy outburst is of a very high intensity during the first long break when the tea, coffee etc is served. Being the winter hot soups are also being served these days. Most of us just wait for the lecturer to officially conclude and the moment we get that signal from the lecturer, there is a mad rush towards the mess workers who wait outside with the tea-can, soup and biscuits.

I feel it gives most of us a kick to fight and earn something, rather than getting things easily on one's lap. All of us here are aware that there is going to be enough of tea or soup for all of us, still we simulate the environment outside a PDS shop in a small-town, during every tea-break. There is a mad rush towards the tea-can. Imagine a minimum of 100-plus fully grown adults making a campaign for the tea-can and biscuits! Terrific! Here, the strategists have an edge. While many of us run and take positions near the tea-can and try to lay hands on the disposable cups kept on the other side, the masterminds conquer the disposable glasses first. Such a strategic move gives them the wild card entry; they have instant access to the tea-can. Their job is done, they have earned their cup of tea.

Among others who had lost out on the strategy there is a chaos and now the war zone shifts from the tea-can to the array of disposable cups. In the end everyone has the plastic cups in their hands and the real fight for the tea begins. Sometimes due to the commotion, many of our fingers lose the delicate balance of the plastic cup with some steaming tea, and a few others end up with heavy tea stains on their neatly-pressed formal shirts and trousers. "Very sorry yaar...". Coming to the biscuits the ones that vanish the fastest are Bourbon biscuits. I too attack them. Usually the salted biscuits are the leftovers.

So how were these samosas and sweets spared? Well, we had a special guest in our campus that day. He is also one of the persons I too admire. Samosa was in none of our minds. All of us were impressed by the talk the person had given in the audi earlier and were obviously interested in having a small talk or a snap with that special guest in the mess lawns, where the samosa-battalion was tantalisingly waiting. Alas! No one even cared about it. (Did you notice this in the photograph...how carelessly a person walks by the samosa battalion?!) No one even turned towards it.

Sometime early December, 2009. The best-ever captain of the Indian cricket team, M.S.Dhoni, visited our campus. It was an inspiring and a very memorable day.