Lost in Translation – Mini Episode 1

The ladies hostel unlike the men’s hostel had a curfew of 6.30 PM. All inmates had to check in within the stipulated time, meanwhile the security on duty usually acquired “Hodor”ic sensibilities, ensuring no transgressor got in without the matron almighty, descending to assess the situation and thereafter announcing her verdict (no one was ever turned away but not without some empty threats). There was the get in free card of course, provided that the inmate had already provided advance notice to the matron.

Of course, as a fool proof mechanism, there was the roll call at 6.30 PM where all the inmates gathered in the common corridor to give attendance. Since there were close to 300 inmates, and roll call began with the hostel blocks in ascending order, pretty much everyone had an idea when they needed to be present to give attendance. It was common to have a few miss their roll call on any given day. They were either late to come down from their rooms, some may have broken curfew while some just were lost in their own world. The usual practice was the warden would call out the name of an inmate and if they had not responded the first time, the name would be called out 2 more times if there was no response thereafter, the matron would put a “kuthu” (dot) in the attendance column against the name of the inmate.

 So coming back to the last scenario – lost in their own world, my good friend Jyo, who was mostly in her own world given any time of the day, was late to one such roll call. I believe she was lost in thought, she was playing out in her mind a spirit possessed enactment using which she would scare her naive god-fearing roommate in the coming days (which without doubt would backfire splendidly...more on it in another post).

I think it might have been the sound of recurring footfall in the corridor that brought her our of her reverie and the realisation dawned that she was late for her roll call. The last thing she wanted was the warden calling up her parents and informing them about her lassitude when it came to following protocol. She made a dash for it, it wasnt going to be easy, she was in a different block and there was a good chance she would miss the roll call. But there was going to be a twist, she was not going to be make it even to the ground floor of her block...

(no, she does not get sucked into another dimension .... though I have often felt she comes from another dimension)

So some of us, who were her neighbours on the same floor ,were returning from roll call when we were taken aback by Jyo trying to rough up Subha on the first floor landing. Subha was not just from the same block, she was our classmate and friend. She had Subha pinned to the wall with one hand and the other hand curled into a fist, ready to pummel poor Subha. From even afar one could make out Jyo was seething with anger. She kept saying, “How dare you say that to me”

One wondered what could have transpired in the short timespan between second and ground floor to lead upto such melodrama. Perhaps, Subha had already completed the design assignment that was not due for another month and rubbed it in Jyo’s face, who was yet to buy cellotape to stick the sheets onto her board (and that had been used up a week back).

With much difficulty we pulled her away, and tried to make sense of the situation.

“ You wont believe what she said to me, man,” she said, “I was already panicking since I was going to miss the roll call and was making a dash for it, when this girl comes up and abuses me, for no reason whatsoever”

“What, what did she say?” I asked (more out of curiosity than concern, I mean this was indeed saucy)

“She called me a dog!!!!” she bellowed

One can hear Subha say something in the background but presently we needed more info from Jyo

“Jyo, are you sure you didnt say something, I mean, did you like mention something about her annoying need to be the first to turn in all the assignments or how she would get paranoid when we pay a visit to her room while she is working on her design, I mean how can one even copy her design, especially when she is designing a 5 star hotel and someone else is designing a public toilet for a bus stand, though its not for lack of trying” I go on on an aimless rant

Jyo is a bit confused, so are the others, almost seemed like it was I who had a problem and not Jyo.

“Anyway.... as I was saying, she abused me, I had not uttered a single word” Jyo clarified

Ok this was not leading anywhere, and we were getting bored, so we turn to Subha to seek her explanation.

“Subha, I know Jyo can be annoying with her hippie ways and her conspiracy theories surrounding the mess food (the govt is not trying to kill us, the cooking is just bad, period), but you shouldnt have abused her” I reasoned

“Edai, I did not call her a dog”

“You liar!” Jyo was getting riled up again

“Could you all just give me two minutes to explain” Subha pleaded

We agreed. We held onto Jyo just to ensure she did not get violent if and when the explanation turned out to be unsatisfactory

“I was coming back from roll call when I saw Jyo rushing down. Since I was present there when the warden had called out her name 3 times, I just wanted to inform her that she had missed her roll call. So I told her, these are my exact words, “Jyo, kuthaaa””

Epilogue:- Jyo isnt great at Hindi, but like most people who dont have a good handle on another language but know all the “good” words, she too knew a few of the “good” words in Hindi. Post Subha’s explanation, we spent a good ten minutes laughing ucontrollably, which only added to Jyo’s ire, before we could calm her down and explain what Subha meant. Asking Jyo to translate Hindi songs became our source of entertainment post this episode.