The Big Bang Theory

Like many of my friends, I was a day scholar at engineering school.I have been told that there had been a part of engineering school (not people, but life) that was not known to me, or for practical reasons out of bounds to me. I am talking about the world of "hostel-ites", as they were called.

Confined, OK, let me add 'by choice', to the palisades of Vastrapur New Campus, I am now a part of a camaraderie of hostelers.I had been variously told that I had missed out one some part of growing up by not living in a hostel. I was not so sure at the time. OK, sour grapes. I now think that the fact that we sit together and debate over 'business decisions' into wee hours of the evening and rub (all) our noses to the ground over frustratingly ambiguous case studies, weaves around us an invisible thread of fellow feeling.Slowly but surely we are building up a repertoire of stories that we will recall in future.

An unforgettable would be that of the Midnight Blast.

Post dinner, bogged down by an 'Analysis of Data' assignment, we were in the abyss of confusedness when, suddenly, there was a "Bang!". In day time, we've heard rare air-gunshots fired to scare away the hundreds of pigeon that think it is their right to deface, with natural elements, the ornate facade and modernistic walls of The Institute. But an air-gunshot in the middle of the night? There was a perplexed expression on several faces that were peering out of different syndicate rooms. On the hallway were PK and SP who had no idea what had hit them. The others were wondering what had come upon these two. It took the duo a few seconds to understand what had transpired. We thought it was excusable for them to be perplexed, since it was as real as it was unbelievable.

Turns out that PK had asked SP for a match and SP threw a butane lighter in PK's direction. PK missed the catch and the projectile exploded on contact with ground causing the big bang. What PK and SP were looking for, not realising all this had happened, was the missing blue plastic lighter. Obviously, neither of them had any background in using ammunition of this kind. So, it took a golden few seconds to understand that the heavy odour was that of sublime butane and the blue pieces of plastic were remnants of SP's cigarette lighter.

A wave of comic relief spread over the present crowd as dawned on them an unpleasant side-effect of playing catch with a lighter. Lighter as SP was of a lighter, our minds were lighter from the monotony of the post-dinner discussion. Somewhat like during the aftermath of the big bang, our ideas started crystalising (read as some progress on the case) all the while shaking our heads at the un-impossibility of what has just happened.

For the record, no one was hurt!