Sunday Snippets
By Venkatesh Raghavan
This is a recollection of what happened during the early years of my college life. I was solving physics problems related to projectile motion, where the book offered only the correct answers and there were no solved illustrations. This was in preparation for my first and only attempt at the coveted IIT entrance exams. It was a public holiday and all schools and colleges were closed as it was the celebration of India’s most popular spring festival, Holi. I was thoroughly enjoying myself as I succeeded in solving each problem after working backwards from the answer. This was the very enjoyment I derived when solving differential equations or working on integral calculus. However, my private fun fiesta was rudely interrupted as my senior colleague in college, Kannan visited me along with one other mutual friend Arun.
After heading out without intimating my parents as I myself was unaware of what the destination was going to be, we three kept walking down the lane sharing our quota of colours to sprinkle on each other. Kannan took the decision that we should go to Juhu beach. We three purchased our return local train tickets and landed at Santacruz station in the western suburbs of Bombay. Subsequently, after waiting in a long queue we got to commute standing all the way to Juhu beach in the city’s BEST bus service. For the first ten minutes or so we all three were undecided on what will be our next course of action. Kannan spotted a coconut vendor operating his stall out in the open. He told me, we can deposit our clothes with the vendor and venture into the waters.
As we crossed the shallow sea waters touching our feet and headed towards a neck-level wave rushing at us, clad only in our underwear, we lost all sense of time and even capacity to feel hungry. From the early morning 9 a.m. when we left our homes, it was post 3.30 p.m. when we finally decided to return from the waters. Fortunately, Arun carried enough cash with him to treat us to vada pavs and though our appetites were not fully satiated, we felt comfortable enough to move on towards our return journey.
On our return local train journey, we were busy discussing what excuse we were going to give at our respective homes? Those were the days where there was not even a landline in any of our homes, and mobile phones were still miles and miles away. In the course of our discussion, I pointed out to Kannan, all three of us will have to give the same excuse to the minutest details in our respective homes. In the event of cross-checking, we won’t be faced with any problems. Kannan pitched in obligingly. We all will say, “We were playing football with our friends in a nearby open ground. That will explain even the sand on our feet.” The three of us felt smug and confident of handling the fire-fighting once we reached our homes.
Soon after setting foot in my home and waiting for the fiery welcome to wither out, I told my dad, “We all were playing football on an open ground near our friend’s residence.” My dad put his hand into my shirt pocket and took out the return train ticket from it. He quickly figured out that our destination station was Santa Cruz. I then changed my line of defense and conceded we three had gone to Juhu beach and were enjoying sea bathing.
The atmosphere was pretty hot in the homes of all three of us. We played it cool and kept off visiting each other’s homes for nearly two weeks before the frayed tempers receded and our parents decided that let bygones be bygones.
Looking back, it struck me that whenever I decide to enjoy myself with problems on projectile motion or differential calculus, some form of interruption arrives and I get headed for a new adventure.
