Trishanku Bhuyan End Term Assignment ( Fiction, Prompt -2)
Fiction:
Using 2000 to 2500 words, write a short-story in which there is a substantial
co-presence of English along with one or more non-English languages.
A
New Life
My parents drove me to
the hostel with the windows rolled down. It was thirty-six degrees in Guwahati,
the sky a perfect amber with the sun just over the horizon. Darkness was slowly
creeping in. I was wearing my favourite yellow t-shirt and was looking at the
newly acquired watch.
We were entering the
school premises. This was my first time at a hostel. A new environment, new
surroundings. It was to this place that
I exiled myself-an action that I took with great horror. It was upon my
decision that my parents enrolled me in the Luit Valley School-considered as
one of the best schools in the city, though it has lost some of its old charm. It
was a beautiful campus situated on the banks of the Brahmaputra. There was a
huge ground with the beautiful mountains as a backdrop. The hostel was situated
right by a cliff. The point at where the hostel ended, there was nothing but
the river below. It was situated right next to Umananda, considered to be the
world’s smallest river island
I loved Tezpur, my home
town. I loved the streets there, my friends.
I loved the small town with its narrow alleys and the ghats. I am sure
going to miss home.
“Jantu”, my maa[1] said to me-the last of a
thousand times-just as I was about to get down from the car. “You’ll be fine. Don’t worry. Ami phone kori thakim tu.”[2]
My maa looks a bit like
me with the round face and the same coloured eyes. I felt a spasm of pain when
I looked into her eyes. This was the first time that I was leaving home. I was
feeing quite anxious, scared and nauseated at the same time.
“I will be fine. You
don’t have to worry. I will have lot of fun.” I lied.
Just then the door of the
hostel opened. Out came a lady, middle aged probably, haggard, pale and sickly.
She looked just like a typical jokhini[3]. Great!! She was the
caretaker of the hostel. Her name is Rita
“Come in. Come in, Mr
Kashyap.” Rita said. “All set to drop your son. You can leave the bags.”
“Kushal!! Kushal!!” she shouted. A man came
running immediately. He was tall and pot-bellied.
“Ei bag keita loi jua aru check kori saba”, She ordered[4]
Oh, please as if I was
carrying weapons of mass destruction with me. From that moment on I was sure that
I was going to hate her.
“Ronit”, she turned to me
with a warm smile. But I was not fooled by her artificial facade. “You are
going to like it here”. Yeah I
sure will with you around, I grimaced.
It was now time to say
good bye to my parents.
“Goodbye son, don’t worry about anything. You are going
to be fine and study hard”, said deuta[5]
Maa couldn’t say anything
she just said goodbye and turned to leave. We were not so easy with displays of affection. I have always been a little bit emotionally awkward. Not
great at all at displaying emotions. Sometimes I wonder what’s the appropriate
emotional response for display in a particular situation. Then I over analyse
whether its too much or too little. I
waved at them awkwardly and waited till I could see the car no longer.
“Get in” Rita commanded.
“Kushal will show you to your room.”
I walked down the
corridor and entered the room. It was a large room with the walls whitewashed.
It looked more like a hospital. There were five bunk beds. I got alarmed at the
thought of sharing the room with nine other people. Now that’s going to be a
problem. I was used to staying alone. I wondered if how my roommates will be.
There were many thoughts running through my mind.
“Eikhon tumar bisona. Rules and regulations notice board khonot sai
loba. Pundhoro minute t bhaat khabo
dining hall ot ahiba” with this
he turned to leave.[6]
I sat on my bed.
There was no one in the room. I could hear the clock ticking.
Just then the door opened with a bang. A group of boys entered the room. They
were surprised to see me at first.
I mentally thought this is sure going to be
awkward.
A guy in boxers and a
yellow vest approached me.
Quite frankly I was scared out of my wits he looked
dangerous. “Hello, new student? I am Krishnav”
“Hello, I am Ronit.”
Just then another guy
pushed Krishnav and said, “I am Jayanta. Welcome to prison.”
I stared at him. He
laughed. “That’s what it is, this place is like a freaking prison”.
“By the way the guy over
there is Victor Marak. He told me that he wants a crack at the new guy. So,
what say?”
That threw me for minute
I was bamboozled by their sheer numbers and I was trying very hard to adjust.
The person called Victor
was very lean and pale. He almost looked sick, the kind of sick you get after a
few rounds at the Ferris wheel during the spring festival fair. He smiled at me
and said, “Jayanta’s just kidding. Jayanta give the guy a break. He has just
arrived.”
Just then a boy called
Delvin came near me. I didn’t like the look of him.
The first thing out of
his mouth were “Do you like music? I mean do you play?”
“No but I am interested.
I always wanted to learn the guitar but I guess I didn’t have much
patience"
Just then the bell rang.
It was a loud screeching noise.
“Guess that`s dinner
time. Hey big guy, get a move or otherwise you won’t get a seat”, Krishnav said
mockingly.
I turned to leave with
the others. I entered the dining hall. It was a huge room with two rows of long
tables and benches. The tables reminded me of Hogwarts although there was no similarity
except the length of the tables. There was a huge TV set connected to a home theatre
system.
We took our seats. I sat beside Krishnav. As we were taking our seats
there was a flurry of activities. A large horde of girls entered the room and
took the row of tables behind ours. It was a co-ed hostel which was quite
uncommon in our country at least at the school level. Great this is going to be
more awkward as I came from an all-boys school. I just wanted to disappear.
“Like anyone you see” Krishnav
asked with a wide grin.
Just then the jokhini entered the room. “I want you all to have your dinner in
silence. If I hear another ruckus like last Tuesday you won’t be given any
breakfast tomorrow”. With this she left.
“Bitch. I don’t know what
her problem is”, Krishnav said
“Neither do I. She looks
a bit unpleasant” I replied.
Krishnav snickered,
“unpleasant. Hahahahaha!!! She is the witch from hell sent here to torment us.
I heard she is not married. No wonder she takes out her frustration on us. A
word of caution though stay away from her if you are wise” Krishnav said with a
poker face.
As I was turning back to
take a peek at the girls on the other table. One of them waved at me and said,”
Hey, can you pass me the salad?”
“Oh sure”
“By the way my name is Liza.”
“I am Ronit.” She smiled
at me.
Okay that wasn’t so bad.
She looked like a friendly person. Coming from a conservative all boys school
it was new for me to be interacting with females my age. I wasn’t a very social
person in general.
My parents tried their
best to take me out to various functions and make me interact with people which
I completely loathed. I liked to be left alone and enjoyed being by myself. A
big gathering or the prospect of interacting with new people always makes me anxious.
Krishnav whispered, “Try
to stay away from her too. She is a little bit mad I mean psychotic.”
I stared at him. It
seemed like Krishnav had an opinion about everyone which he liked to share with
others.
“What?? Anyways finish
your dinner”, Krishnav
After dinner we gathered
in our room. Krishnav introduced me to the other guys. Thomas, SedeVizo,
Manpreet, Hachithung, Alato, Tsering and a few others. It was very hard for me to
process so many names and faces at the same time.
“So, what’s on tonight’s
agenda”, piped in Manpreet
“We will wait for the
witch to take her nap and then we are going to smoke at our usual spot. Then
get some of that Frooti from the pantry. I saw Kushal brining in a few cartons today”,
said Krishnav. He looked quite excited and proud of himself
“Do you smoke?” Alato
asked me
“No, I don’t”
“It’s a pity. Children
like you should go off to bed early” sniggered Alato
Oh, right smoking made
you a “man”. I didn’t want to point out to him who the real child was.
Suddenly the bell went
off.
“What was that?”, I asked
confused
“Oh, just wait a few
seconds”, replied Victor.
I could suddenly hear
footsteps outside the door. The door opened.
It was Kushal.
“Lights Out!!! Chalo light bondho koro. Ma’am ka order hai. 9.30 ke baad
koi bhi room ke bahar nahi dikhna chahiye” said Kushal in his broken hindi.[7]
I could hear Kushal’s
footsteps fading away as he was shouting lights out down the corridor checking every
room.
“Why are we sleeping so
early, right after dinner?” I quizzed
“Actually, this is
supposed to be our study time. Lights out is usually at 11 pm. But since
Krishnav pulled that TV prank yesterday, this is supposed to be our punishment”,
said Thomas.
“How long?” I asked
“This will last for a
week”, replied Victor
“Pah!! Baal[8]
Rita. This is just an excuse for her so that she can sleep. At least good
for us we can now go and raid those frooti soon”, said Krishnav.
“Hey, what is the TV
prank?” I asked
“Nothing you need to
worry about. Go to bed kid. We don’t want you messing things for us,” replied
Alato
With nothing much to say I
went and got into my bunk. The light was suddenly turned off.
I could make out SedeVizo
reading his pocket bible with the help a torch.
The rest were engaged in silent
whispers planning the big raid.
I tossed and turned in my
bed. I was feeling hot. I could hear the clock ticking and the sound of the AC
was quite annoying me as well.
An hour must have passed by.
I suddenly had an urge to take a shower. Just as I looked over my bed, I could
see most of the bunks empty. They must have gone on their night mission.
I quickly got off the bed
and went inside the cupboard room which a very tiny room full of cupboards
inside our dorm room. I grabbed my towel from the bag.
I slowly crept out of the
room and lightly closed the door behind me. The corridor was deserted.
I slowly made my way
towards the washroom. I could hear my own footsteps against the tiled floor.
I somehow managed to
reach the shower. I quickly got into one of the shower cubicles and turned on
the water.
The cold water running over
my body was calming me a lot. I was trying to process the entire day. As I
thinking about school tomorrow, I suddenly heard a noise.
I was jolted back into
reality. I quickly turned the shower off. Dried myself and dressed hurriedly as
I didn’t want to be caught roaming the corridors after hours since it was my
first night.
As I got out of the washroom,
I could hear the whispers from the other end of the corridor. It was coming
from the pantry.
I debated whether I should
go and check. Curiosity got the better of me and being the Poirot I was I went
ahead to check. Just as I turned the corner, there was a big glass window on
the left. I could make out Krishnav and Manpreet inside the pantry munching on
corn flakes.
The window had no grill
on it. I figured how they entered the pantry. Suddenly Krishnav saw me and let
out a cry. He was shocked to see me there
“What the hell are you
doing here!” he whispered angrily from the other side.
Suddenly there were loud
footsteps.
“HEY! Who is there?”
It was the jokhini, Rita.
“This is it! If I catch
any of you out of bed you are going to have to answer!
I hope for your sake that
it’s not you Krishnav!!”
I was stupefied. I couldn’t
move.
I could make out the
others trying to hide inside the pantry.
Krishnav hid behind a
sack. Victor just rolled under the table. Manpreet crouched behind some
cartons. I could make out Alato hiding behind the pantry door.
The footsteps were
getting closer. I was completely clueless.
Without knowing what to
do I started running towards my room. The footsteps were getting louder and
closer now.
As I turned the corner, I
hit suddenly hit a figure.
“AAH!”, Rita shrieked
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”
she shrieked
“Ma’am I just came for a shower.
I wasn’t feeling sleepy”, I mumbled
She glared at me.
“Don’t you know you are not
supposed to get out of your room after hours?”
“But ma’am, what are we
supposed to do if we need to use the washroom after hours?” I replied back
She stared at me with
those empty eyes.
“I hope you are not going
to be a problem Mr Kashyap. We have a way of dealing with troublemakers. Since
its your first day I won’t be taking any action. Consider this as your last
warning.”
“Now go back to bed!” she
said
Suddenly there was a loud
crashing sound which seemed to have come from the direction of the girl’s dorm.
“Now what? Can’t I get
some rest!!” with this Rita turned around and started pacing towards the girl’s
dorm.
I let out a sigh of
relief and somehow made my way to the room.
As I was about to get
into my bed the door opened and in entered the night marauders back from their
spoils from the pantry.
Krishnav rushed in and
gave me a hug. Everyone seemed pleased with me.
“Hey, bro that was cool
thanks for saving our ass”, I was surprised to hear this from Alato.
“I thought we were done
for”, said Victor
“Here have a frooti. We got
one for you”, Manpreet handed me one
Everyone was smiling at
me. For the first time in my life I felt like I belonged to somewhere. I felt
like a hero. Usually I was the always excluded from groups in my previous
school. I guess this is not going to be as bad as I thought it would be.
“Come on everyone. Get
back to bed before someone comes to patrol the corridors”, Krishnav.
As I lay in bed that
night there was a smile on my face. All was well. It was a new life.
[1] Mother
[2]
“We will keep calling you” in assamese
[3] A
kind of evil spirit in assamese folklore
[5] Father
in assamese
[6] That’s
going to be your bed. If you need anything tell me or the other workers and
check the notice board for the rules and regulations. Dinner will be served in
the dining hall in about 15 minutes.
[7] Come
on, switch off the lights. Ma’am has ordered. No one is supposed to be out of
their rooms after 9.30
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