Batch of 1999
Page 31
After one year
Principal still runs that school. He prohibits anyone to go inside the chemistry lab without permission. He has appointed a psychiatrist in the school to help students in stress. Students are using this facility to get holydays and bunks.
Sudhir is learning to live with his nightmares. It is more of a nessesary evil and he has accepted his condition to make it more bearable. And this success is because of his dream problem if he wants to look at the positive side. He is getting along with other batch-mates to make a ‘story-club’. Where they sit, drink, tell their stories and discuss their future plans.
Tanak has started working for Sudhir. He calls Sudhir as ‘sir’. Even though, Sudhir has told him against it. His is recruited on the job of Personal -Assistant. So they remain with each other all day long. Though, the job is just an excuse for Sudhir to be close to a friend, he assigns Tanak on tougher jobs sometimes to play naughty. But no one can be naughtier than Tanak. All the girls of the office has started coming on time and finding the ways to get inside Tanak’s cabin as often as possible. Tanak likes a girl in the office who is also charmed by him but she is too shy to express anything.
Sana goes on to make posters. Work is work after-all. And she likes to do this. So what if people think that a girl should do something decent. So what if they think that the posters are weird. This weirdness is the actual energy stored inside those papers. The love for Tanak is still with her. She actually believes that she had feelings for him during school. Her father makes angry face whenever she crosses him at home. That annoys her. These days she is making a banner for a major film event from a big production house.
Deep lives in a rented flat and teach private tuitions. He just likes to watch television in his free times. No books and other amusements. There is no telephone in his house, not even an address board or name on the door. He doesn’t read newspapers. No radio. Sometimes when any student tells him about any major happening or blast etc., he widens his eyes in reaction. Where the reality is that nothing is stirring to him now.
Jagdeesh is working on his substance to make it more sophisticated and potent. His trust on himself is strengthened now after watching the chaos it has created. He is more ambitious than ever. He is now living with his wife who has come back from the asylum.
Vinay went abroad after getting the first chance to play the piano for an Italian circus. These days he is doing well and making money. He is engaged to an acrobat of the same circus. He can be seen playing piano between the clowns, magic and trapeze.
Sanjay is handling family business. People complain about his unprofessional behavior time to time. Few even resigned because Sanjay was giving them a tough time. But he is a good old dog tail in a silk scarf. He is a father himself of a healthy boy and another one is on its way. He takes advice from Sudhir from time to time which only leads to more confusion.
Spandan writes on his walls whenever he gets time.. Different things. of all sorts. He writes for newspaper and magazines too. In English and hindi. This was his way of earning bread. People write him letters sometimes after reading his stuff. This is his favorite part. To reply for the feedback. One day sub-editor told him to write a feature on tourist locations of Delhi because regular feature writer was on holyday to some tourist location in Mumbai. Spandan wrote it with all the enthusiasm and excitement he had. But this feature was so strange that manager read it three times before keeping it inside a file, which had some rare break through features. He didn’t publish it anyway but paid Spandan and never told him to write a feature again. He is good with freelance only. Not for a regular job. A regular job can corrupt the good out of a few people. It can take out the purity of soul if it comes to that. So for time being let him remain a freelance and increase the payments if he will demand. Good thing about him is that he never asks for money and never complains. Bad thing about him is that he is the most straightforward and innocent person of the world. God helps him.
Neel loves his neighbor and he has no further plans about his career or future. Incredibly, girl seems to be melting. She picks up his calls and talks to him. Though, she is defensive many times but it is becoming smoother by time.
Kamal was arrested again and his punishment resumed. They threw him in that cage again and show extra caution while feeding him each time. Sometimes they threw stones and cockroaches inside. They had no sympathy with him. He didn’t want any. All this sufferings ended when someone poisoned him. No one came to take the body. No one answered the call from police.
New arts batch is great. They are good in studies and other extra-curricular activities. They are good in so many things that the list doesn’t end up. They aren’t scared of anything and they don’t like to be controlled. They think they are special. They want to prove something. To declare themselves. One can feel the warmth coming from that room while the study goes on. Like something is burning in there.
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The comics
Atul had plans to create his own comics these days. He had named it “batch of 1999”. Right now he was busy in writing the outlines of the comics. About how this comics should have been. Whenever wherever an idea caught him he wrote it down in his notebook randomly. There were many ideas he had reached thought his hard research on the subjects chosen from Atul’s own past. Some of these ideas were -
A guy who is a complete introvert. He is so stupid that nothing else is important to him rather than thinking.
This guy dies due to a tragic suicide which he did as a favor on himself and society.
A girl who is a bitch during schools and after. But things have changed because last time an old friend finds her sitting on the footpath, ready to do anything for a piece of bread.
She did the same favor on the society and her parents by jumping from the fourth floor. Good going.
Third one is a worthless player, who thinks that he owns the world but it is not true. He is unable to get a job on his own and working in a friends office licking toes.
Another guy is living in desperation. He has everything except that he is too scared to sleep and might even have regained the habit of wetting sheets.
Rich kids are always been foolish. But our guy here is the winner among all. He is going to be a father and still behaves like a kid.
A poster girl. She makes posters. Why on the god’s name someone would choose such profession. And I have seen one of her posters. You must not look at that, trust me.
A guy who can kill over a sneeze. But not to worry now because he is murdered like a dog in prison. Country is safe now.
Another one who had an imaginary friend. He should have an imaginary girlfriend. Yeah, that would be more useful.
A principal who is trying to save the people who are already dead. Somebody stop him for god sake. This is only a try to come out of his own guilt, maybe.
All these are tangling these days and there is a full chance of collision.
They are trying to make a happy club where all of them could talk to each other and socialize but this idea is totally ridicules. They need help not clubs.
Only one of them is doing something worthwhile now. He is working for a comic-book and progressing meaningfully in his life.
Then Atul stopped for some-time. This much is an okay layout to start. Then he wrote roughly in the end of the page.
And they were all in the same class once.
Anurakt Srivastava
Contact number : 011-22325809, 91-9711007817
Email - anurakts@hotmail.com
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