PART IV - The day CPT results were announced! – AIR 1 !!!

“The remaining reminiscence can hardly be put into words. Please forgive my (in)ability to recreate memories, if at all, by a faulty choice of words.”

I entered my number 1-6-0-4-7… and pressed enter and first checked the name. It said SATSHEEL DEEPAK REDKAR. A chill, literally passed by, licking my skin tenderly to arouse goose-bumps. The screen blinked a serene figure. The figure of the day. My figure. 190! I hastened to click on the ‘Check Merit’ tab. 190 hadn’t even seeped in yet, cheers would have to wait till the bigger story was revealed.

I still couldn’t believe what I next witnessed. 1^st! ALL INDIA FIRST! I mean come on dude, you came first? I wanted to cry. I really wanted to. I rushed out. Literally ran as if the wind had entered my soul. I ran the length of the library. Anupama asked me while sitting in the library. I raised my Index finger while still running; and shouted ‘first’. I reached the exit door. There I met ‘god’. I told him that I had come first. He patted me. God patted my back. There were two more people there, although they didn’t enter my senses then. I flew down the stairs. Zooming past figures, not registering any of them.

On my flight downstairs, I placed a call to my mom, careful to avoid the ever-watchful gaze of our professors prying on mobiles or was I even bothered? Faces swam past by ever so familiar. Participantrs from various colleges went about finding classes where their events were being conducted. I rushed past them. My mom’s initial reaction was one of caution. She asked for my seat number and the site where the results were being displayed so that she could check out for herself and confirm lest I might have been mistaken in haste. I stepped out of the college building. My next call was to dad. I informed him. Although he did congratulate me but he too asked me to confirm once again.

I headed to G4, the place where I had begun my day. Himani was simply ecstatic! I can still feel her happiness as it was genuine. The entire Admin was intimated. I remember the quizzing faces of the students who had come to participate in enigma. Himani allowed me to take a few hours off from Admin duty – she said it was my Day today!!!

I rushed out of college onto the lawns just to meet the guy who had thrown the serene, dull morning into a tizzy. Nishant was saddled on to a bench along with Polka dots. He once again asked me the question that was going to become the phrase of the day - ‘Kitna mila’? And the confession of the year – 190! He swore, struggling to get off the bench (he didn’t go to the gym then!). Obviously it was too much for a rational person to believe it at the first instance.