Encounter of the nth kind.

Thats it, a dozen more feet and you will reach your room. Time for some well earned sleep. A couple of hours on the tennis court, and you have more than had your share of daily exercise, not to mention fatigue. You happen to glance to your left, and are surprised to see a long queue of excited, almost hysterical batchmates. You trace the source of the queue to room number 7. Though your body begs to sit and rest, your curiosity compels you to find out whats going on. You trudge on, towards room 7, determined to find out the cause of the commotion. You see a guy keeping the queue in order, not unlike a policeman. Some people try to bribe their way to the starting of the line - you see them waving 10 rupee notes at him. No, he nods, 'that would be unfair'. You have seen enough. You seek out the nearest acquaintance, and ask him what goes on. He looks confused, almost scared. But after he hears your question, he looks at you, as though that was the most absurd thing he had heard, in his life. ' What?! You dont know? Rajiv knows this ancient method, by which you can talk to dead people, and get the answer to any question you ask them. It really works!'. As if on cue, another friend emerges from the dark room, in a trance-like state, mumbling to himself and staring into space. Though disturbed by this sudden observation, you give him the thats-the-stupidest-thing-I- have-ever-heard look. 'Dude, you are crazy. I cant believe you people.' He counters, 'Why, then, do you think you just saw Karan walking like in a daze? And tell me, why would so many people queue up to try it? I tell you man, its really true.'. 'Gimme a break,' you think. Simultaneously you begin to think of a reasonable explanation for Karan's behaviour. No flash of brilliance. You decide to leave it at that.

Unlocking the door, you enter the room, greeted by the familiar mess that has almost become a part of you. You move the books, the giant heap of clothes, and your bag to one end of the bed and sit, all the while wondering about wat you just saw and heard. 'Ditch it', you think,'I have loads of work to do'. After your shower (you are surprised at how alien this feeling of cleanliness is), you grab a few assighment sheets and sit at the table (After moving another heap of unwashed clothes from you chair). Suddenly realising, that you have yet to borrow someone's assignment, you get up and exit the room. On entering the corridor, you see a friend, laughing hysterically, as if possessed. 'Hey Vikas, what's up man? You alright?', you ask. He clutches at his abdomen, as if trying to stop. You almost give up and walk on. He finally manages between his fits,'You have GOT to check out what they are doing man. I havent ever seen anything like it.', pointing at the queue, which, by now, had grown to even larger proportions. Still skeptical, you frown at him and drop by your classmate's room, and collect the assignment from him. On your way back, you see another friend, covering his face with the palms of both hands, as if in shock. You dont bother to ask, its only obvious where he has been.

Two hours and 6 pages later, you are counting, with growing frustration, the remaining ones, when Nihar walks in. 'Abey popat', he greets,'how come you are sitting here? Everyone is waiting for their chance in the queue. I tried, and its awesome.' The next 5 mins, he describes to you in detail, the happenings in the room, ending with how it can change your life and your beliefs, like it did to so many of your friends.

'Yeah, right', You sneer at him, 'take a hike, man. I dont believe in all that.'

'True', your room-mate, Lokesh pipes in, 'Horse shit'.

'You dont believe me?' Nihar challenged, seeing the triumphant look on you face. He looks at Lokesh,'A hundred bucks says you dont have the guts to do it.'

'Oh, yeah? Bring it on.'

'You'll have to wear a white vest first. It is needed, for the mantra to work properly.'

'Ok, wait a sec.' A brief search later, he slips a clean vest on.

Nihar leads him out of the room. You wonder if it is really true, all this. Though you dont want to lose face by finding out, after having been so openly mocking. However, not long after, Lokesh walks in. And promptly lies down on his bed, face down, not uttering a word. 'Are you ok?' No answer. 'Dude, you feeling alright?' Same result. 'Maybe I better see what this fuss is all about', you think. Leaving the assignment half way through, you spot the only clean vest on the bed and wear it. You make your way to room number 7. After 15 mins, (the crowd has notably thinned), you walk it. The room looks dark and dingy. A solitary candle burns calmly in the middle of the room. You feel a little apprehensive - its a bit more serious-looking than you expected. One of the five guys in the room points to the chair, facing the candle. While you sit, another signals you to take off you shirt. You do so promptly. 'Look at the candle and concentrate on it, as hard as you can, thinking about the question you seek the answer to. You ll hear a voice answering the question, and the lock will click open at the same time'. Ok, you nod. The person nearest to you then takes this steel glass, the kind with the sharp edge, and holds it against your chest, on the inside of the vest. Another then takes this lock and lightly, but firmly, knocks it against the glass, from the outside.

You hear the monotonous clanging of the lock against the glass, and the chanting in the background. It takes all your concentration to look at the candle fixedly, in the din. The chanting gets faster, and the clanging louder. All of a sudden, it stops in unison. The lock didnt open and you didnt hear any voice. Suddenly, there is laughter. And its loud. Thinking about what you did wrong, you look around. And you see the source of the laughter. Everyone in the room, other than you, is cracking up. All pointing at you, all the while laughing hysterically. You look at your vest to investigate. There it is. A hole the size of your fist. Damn. Their Modus Operandi : the lock hits the cloth against the sharp rim, which slowly tears. Hence the hole. And the embarrasment. They won.

You see the humour, but are fuming that they did get you, after all. 'Please, Srinath' they beg you, 'dont tell anyone. You can laugh at the others too.' An evil glint in your eyes, you walk out. Mumbling to yourself, staring off into space.

(True Story. First year. 300 guys were fooled!!) :D