The semester was coming to an end & D was very sad about it, He knew after this semester there would be some major changes in his life, No more daily hangouts at the college, cracking jokes in the class, playing pranks on his friends in the computer lab, gossiping, bunking classes, attending college fests etc. He had already begun counting his last days at the college. He had lost interest in life as each day passed by, always thinking whether he can in anyway re-live his college days. There was about a month and a half left for the final semester exams, & he realized that each day he lived from now on would be very precious. He had spent almost 5 years in the college now, 1st two years being his PU studies & the next 3 for his Bachelors. The 1st two years were totally irrelevant to him, As he had hardly explored the college life. The main focus being the 2nd PU exams & the CET. D was very shy, silent & hardly spoke to anyone. He had very few best friends. His parents dreamed of him studying engineering, so that they could proudly say when asked.. 'What is you son doing? or 'What has you son studied?' & the proud reply would be - 'Engineering/Engineer'. It dint matter in what field he would specialize at Mechanical, Civil, software.. etc. Just the word 'Engineer' was what they would be content with. Can't blame them as the word itself had a high place in the society, & whoever was an engineer or doing engineering would attract respect. And so he spent his two years preparing for the two exams that would make his parents dream come true. He was quite good at studies but very lazy which often was the cause for his bad performance. Two years went by & it was the day of the results, His 2nd PU final exam percentage was in mid-seventies & his CET ranking was 19K, Both average scores but not enough to get him an engineering seat in one of the good colleges. His parents were very sad, his father couldnt believe his son had shattered his dreams. Things were very gloom at D's home, with his parents now uncertain about D's future. D was good at computers, he did his 1st computer course when he was just 10yrs old. & the trainer had told his parents that D would do well in the IT field. D's ambition was to become a software engineer. And so he finally decided after much consultation from friends & relatives that he would do BCA, at that time not many people were aware of this degree & would mistake it for BSc.
He joined the same college & much to his luck, the hod for BCA stayed in the same street where he lived. So it made him quite comfortable as he knew the hod well. And so with new hope of repairing his career which had taken a beating recently and with a new dream of joining one of the IT giants, he started his 3 year journey. He was shy, silent initially, but was quite determined in his approach to studies & so ended up being a topper in the 1st year. He continued with the same determination and found some very good friends along the way, He was conistently doing well in studies & had ventured out into other activities like participating in college fests, orgainizing events in the college, getting involved in important discussion in the class etc. He was enjoying every moment of his college life now & hoped it would never end. He had become very attached to the college with his friends, teachers. He also got placed in one of the IT companies in his final year, his dream had come true & so for his parents as well. He was feeling uncomfortable now & felt someone poking him continously, he heard the sound of plate being kept on the table, some taken away, people engaged in discussion, some laughing, some eating.. the sound became increasingly louder as he felt more pokes, he saw faces staring at him, faces he was very familiar with. One of them said loudly 'Lo Maga ellidyo? Yava lokadali kaldogidyo?' meaning (Dude where are you? in which world are you lost in?). D suddenly gathered his senses, he saw Farooq poking at him, his friends Avi, Deadly, Allola, Busa, Viru, Suhas, Somari looking at him puzzled. D had lost himself amidst the thoughts of his college life. He was so engrossed in those memories that he did not notice the waiter quite upset, staring at him.. The waiter had been standing at their table waiting for D who was yet to order something from the menu catalogue which he was holding for quite a long while now since the waiter had arrived.
