Burning the midnight oil

Nithin wanted to study alone. So he went to one of the empty rooms, laid out his book and started in earnest. The exams were just 2 days ahead and even the second round of revision was not over (Geez! what a Nerd!). But in the corridors beyond his room walked his greatest nemesis. No prizes for guessing who it was!

Now, I normally don’t disturb people who are studying unless they do it in my room. But with the exams so near and nerves so jittery, I was not my usual self. As I walked past his room each time, I felt more and more frustrated. I couldn’t digest the fact that there were guys who actually finished the portions and had started revising this early before an exam. And Here I was, who had not finished even the first module, forget the revision! I ask you, is it too much to ask for a lil bit o’ company when you are as screwed up as I was?

Each room had a master switch outside. You turn it off and nothing works inside. So, it was no wonder that my hand inadvertently turned it off when I walked by. Nithin, came out cursing. “You bloody ass*****! What the hell do you think you are doing eh??” He then turns on the switch and goes back to study.

I reach the end of the corridor which is rather long, come back and again my hands “inadvertently” turn it off. Nithin is fuming mad by now. He got all the looks of a clinical psychopath. He somehow controls his temper and turns it on again. This time around as I pass by other rooms with equally frustrated people, I spread the news of what is happening. Everyone comes out to watch the unfolding tamasha. The third time I did it, Nithin comes out with the silent attack. His eyes all ablaze with fury and that “do it one more time and you are dead” look.

On a normal day, that’s the time I let things cool a bit. But then, exams make me act rather funny. So I repeat the whole thing again. This time around I see helplessness. I start wondering whether this guy is practicing for some acting lessons. He was dishing out all human emotions in all sorts of funny combinations by now. For some unknown reason he couldn’t see the fun in all this….:)

By the fifth time, he has stopped coming out of the room and is just sitting there in the darkness staring at nothing. I can’t stop myself giggling. There is a light in every room except his. But by the sixth round it was I who was in for a surprise. As I walk by, I expect to see a dark form huddled in a dark room. Instead I get to see a guy studying by candle light!!! The whole scene was so hilarious. Everyone came out to see this wonderful engineer, “burning the midnight oil”.

It was of course no wonder that when the results came, I was in deep shit and Nithin was one of the toppers. Well because of me, he can at least brag to his kids* about how he had to “struggle through adverse situations” and face “immense difficulties” to get his degree….:)

*Comments like "can he actually make kids?" are absolutely unwelcome! As they say "it is beyond the scope" of this article to discuss it....:)