The penultimate show

The penultimate show

-Biswadeep Ghosh Hazra

“Ronojoy stand up!!!” The words echoed in my ears, almost having a ringing effect. I made up my trademark pleads face but even before I made an attempt to speak, PS shouted out, “Get out, you dirty prick…” Shaking off my lethargy, I rose; this became a daily routine for me, “Asshole!” I muttered under my breath. The mellifluous tune which I was humming inside my head got distracted as I heard another scream.

“What! Master Ronojoy did you say anything?” he roared out, speaking in a typical archaic tone. ‘PS’ or Promothesh Sen (Police Station we called him, you can guess why!) because of the air of authority he carried around himself; almost like a bio-suit. He hated defiance, like any other teacher and I being one of such defiant boys always got his curses.

“Did you say something, Ronojoy? “He inquired, staring queerly at my eyes through his big, black, round spectacles. I felt he almost gorged up my soul; “I was going out, as you said” was all I could muster at that moment.

*After 40 minutes of agonizing pain in the Tiffin period*

 Shilajeet: Man, I saw, rather heard and saw Devjeet make a sound deliberately so may have PS’s wrath-like you’ve been getting recently. He’s wants to be in PS’s good books, I foresee.

Me: I was watching Sujata concentrate on Julius Ceaser, her locks of hair breaking her concentration; she slowly removes them locks behind her ear which I think is…

My sentence remained incomplete, as her love for me because no one could evoke such feelings when a quarrel was going in the class. Shilajeet was my best friend; we’re man in arms, brothers from different mothers. He had already instigated Devjeet to fight and by the time I ran and went beside him, he had already taken one on his face. I jumped on Dev hitting him with random shots, he didn’t miss any opportunity to return the favor and I got hit a few times too.

Someone grabbed me by my collar and my eyes met the same pair of eyes that gorged a part of my soul earlier- PS was the Coordinator in charge of the floor our class was in. Though getting cane lashes were no good after such an exhausting session, Dev got the exact same lashes as me made me less sad. Beaten, broken and after four more classes and three hours later, Shilajeet and I decided the day called for some refreshments and refreshments meant chilled beer and a few fags.

*At the bar*

Me: You took one for me, thanks man…

Shilajeet: We’re brothers from different mothers’ man, I’m sure you’d do the same for me…

Hard to tell, I would not have taken such an extreme step until absolutely necessary, anyway he took one for me and it was my duty to make him feel comfortable, and feeling comfy meant another bottle. We’re joined by Abhinav, Charan and Gokul. I had already taken ample time from home stating I had a mock test at my tuitions and convinced my ever worrying mother I would come home late tonight.

*The penultimate show*

It was 7:47 pm and we all had time till 9:30 give or take ten to fifteen minutes; and we had to pass the time. As we were discussing about everyone’s theory of how to murder time, Gokul suddenly screamed out, “How about a C-grade movie trip to Chitrakatha?”Chitrakatha was famous for its B and C-grade movies and only the best of the best were shown there- no one could deny such a movie after getting pumped up by beer. Anyone could expect to see a couple of juicy scenes in ‘Julia ki jawaani’ which would be more than what anybody could possibly demand-for a thirty five rupee per head ticket. The penultimate show was from 8:00 pm and we had about enough time to buy ourselves the tickets.

Our anticipation was shot high as we saw the posters leading to the hall. Tensed and full of fear, we managed to enter the hall keeping detailed account of our surroundings-there’s always risk involved, especially in places like this. D-1, D-2, D3, D-4 and D-5 were the seats allotted to us by the kind fare taker. The hall was dark and gloomy inside with traditional Vicco advertisements going on. As we five huddled into the little gaps the arrangement of chairs offered, I handed out the strip of tickets to the ticket to the ticket checker and he pointed out we were in the C row and our seats were in the D row. As he pointed out his torch for us to indicate D row better, the torchlight fell on Promothesh Sen! You should've seen his face-I guess this is what element of surprise means!

Bless Gokul, because from that day onwards, I was never punished!

©Copyright Protected© Biswadeep Ghosh Hazra