Dedicated to all my friends at college hostel. Really miss those days :)

A blast of an agonizing odor filled the room as soon as my room-mate opened the door toilet attached to our room.What followed was a series of abuses and curses he uttered at me for the next 10 minutes. The culprit of the unenduring situation in which my room and my other room-mates was my clothes soaked in water and a sachet of Surf excel for the past 3 days. Now the lime-n-lemony flavor of the detergent powder stinked like puke and I was sure that if I didn’t make a move it would have certainly led to my friends throwing up. Never wanted to be a part of the bigger menace, so I slipped in my un-ironed un-washed denims, wrinkled shirts for the nearest store. No, I wasn’t gonna buy a room- freshner, as way back in 3 yr in the Engg. even a deodorant was a luxury. We preferred soaps over scents so, an unscented room hardly mattered. I had to buy a detergent soap, the very reason I couldn’t wash off clothes earlier. Yeah, the store was very far, as far as 300 meters from my Hostel gate.
When you are young and in your early 20’s you leap an extra mile. I jogged my way to the store, only to find a huge crowd. Guess the entire college seemed to buy some utilities. No, it wasn’t the entire college, but mostly girls. As a smiling guy left the store, I was the only male customer, trying to get some relief to my room-mates by buying a detergent bar. Making my way across the girls wasn’t possible as it would have certainly made them hue and cry.More over I would have been stamped with words like desperate and pervert. I was neither of them. Am impatient and certainly the view of chicks buying lip glosses and nail polished at 11 Am on Sunday morning did no help. Gosh! Who the heck dresses up and buys cosmetics on Sunday morning wee hours(yeah 11 Am was a wee hours on Sundays). Somehow, even the hottest looking chicks didn’t fascinate me then.Shopping and seeing girls shop is big turn off for me. I took out the only Rs 10 note from my pocket, waved in the air to the get salesman’s attention. The second I proved lucky(lucky as the guy actually did move his eyes from girls.You gotto be lucky for it.), I shouted “A Rin soap, anna”. What followed was a eerie silence. I re-visted my memory to make sure that I had asked for soap and not for a pack of condoms or Viagra.
More than 50 eyes stared at me and checked my unkempt and untidy looks. Its weird when people or rather say a crowd gazes at you with smirk on their face and utmost silence. I suddenly felt naked and wanted to hide myself in the nearest corner.Somehow I regained my conscience and posture and made an expression which was a combo of “What!!” and “I really don’t care!”. Am not sure if anyone over there understood my ambiguous expressions, but they certainly made a way for me to the counter. I was collecting my change when, I over heard an elegant “Excue me!” followed by tap on my shoulder. I made an about turn all set to ask “What is it so important that you cant give me a minute”. I mumbled and fumbled as I turned around.
Contrary to what I looked and was dressed in, she wore what I guess a white chiffon Salwar kameej with certainly a low neckline,low enough to give a preview of things more than required.Maybe I was the one who went in looking for something extra. The smell of “I don’t know which perfume, but it was OK, no it was great” filled the air. I admired her beauty for the next 2 seconds, which certainly did annoy her. She turned side ways to give me way and it meant I had to leave.I walked briskly only to turn around and look at her for the last time before I barged into my hostel. I had a story and the bachelor’s were always interested if it involved a girl, a beautiful one. With the finish of my pacy narration, one of the guys patted me for my bravado. I inflated my chest as if I was become the President of the country. The other guys cursed me with my good luck and the extra-enthusiasts dressed up in borrowed outfits and also made their way to the store to check out the girl in low neck line outfit. I shouted “I saw her first” as if she had my copy-write protected seal all over, but no one took a note of that.
But certainly the stink and the mess my room was in eluded everyone’s mind. The very same guy who hated me half an hour ago, was giving his tips to get the girl. The others too hogged around me to find other intricate details, which even though I didn’t see, but fake it up. Come on! Who would have cared it anyways. This is what hostellers do, Live the moment and live every second of it. No idea, who the girl was or what happened to her, but a week later, in an attempt to re-create the magic of my luck, I chanced upon another girl. This time it was the one in the color blue, my favorite!