Crossword

Flashback:

I was doing my third year in College. I and my friend Kumar used to go to the Besantnagar beach every weekend for relaxation and also to have a look at the girls there. Once we were waiting for the bus to Besantnagar. To pass the time he was telling a story about a guy who stays in the room next to his. I forgot the guy's name. So lets assume his name as X (as usual). I am telling you whatever he told me that day, now.

"Mr. X had a girl friend in his school it seems. He is kind of a half-minded fellow. Now he is in our college, doing third year mechanical engineering. His girl friend is doing her engineering in some other college (which is not in Chennai). As most of you experienced people know, distance is the main villain in these relationships. But our X is a bit different you know, every day at 9 o clock after dinner, he goes to a phone booth and calls her (Cell phones had not yet become popular at that time). The calls invariably go until 1 o clock. A guy usually accompanies him to the phone booth and waits there till he completes his call. That guy has leaked out all these details. The thing is, he starts his calls with, the regular stuff, like 'Had your dinner?', starts giving lectures about indian and american politics, sports and movies. After that.... he starts solving that day's crossword in Hindu. For this, he brings The Hindu everyday to the phone booth. His girlfriend also needs to keep that page with her, otherwise he starts giving lecture about remembering things, etc, which would take some one hour more than the usual time. Some times she starts crying, unable to bear his torture.

Days went by, a boy who is studying with the girl, proposed and was chasing her like anything. Considering X's torture and this, she decided to reciprocate his love. Not even understanding that his girlfriend is not in love with him anymore, he continues to torture her to this day, even after she told him about her new boyfriend. He also threatens her that he would kill himself."

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I was doing my final year now. Now we had single rooms for everyone. And my friend Prakash who was doing Mechanical engineering final year stayed in the same floor. He was very studious and very disciplined. He normally goes to bed at 11o clock sharp in the night. And for his final project, he found a new partner, his name was Parathap. One day at 11:30 Prakash came to my room, asked if I could come to his room and say 'Good night'. The reason was, his new project-mate and friend and classmate Prathap. Prathap keeps on talking about spiritual things, since prakash likes them. But the problem is, he keeps on talking until midnight. So I went. There I saw a lean and bald guy with specs. He was talking about love and hatred.

That time I imagined myself as a saviour to Prakash, and also a Hero. With this big brother attitude, I told Prathap, that everyone loves some things and hates some others in life. It is natural. Prakash was shaking his head in dismay. Prathap started this new topic with added enthusiasm.
"The universe itself, and every thing in it can be defined according to newton laws as a whole or none. Nothing can be partial. If you say that you love some thing in the world, you can not hate anyother thing. That would mean that you hate everything in this world"

Like that, some thing he was telling me, I started to get sleepy. Then I stood up and said "Goodnight Prakash".
Prathap said, "Hey where are you going, it is only 12. We will talk, he can sleep at 1"
Prakash gave me a killer look.

That time, since I had been chasing a girl full time, my exam results bombed. So many Arrears. Added to this, I had not got any Job. Most of them in my class had got placed. Like everyone else, my faith in god increased direct proportional to the increase in my problems. So I went to the Madhya Kailash temple in Adyar, alone that evening. After fighting with God for failing me in the Subjects , I was having a stroll around the inner building. There I saw Prathap sitting at a corner. Since it was very dark, I couldnt see that he was meditating.

"Hey man, Why are you sitting here?"
"Hey, I am asking you only da"

Slowly he opened his eyes and said "Shhhhhhhhh".
"Wait I will drop you in the hostel in my Bike."

For around half an hour I was sitting not knowing what to do next. Then, he slowly opened his eyes.
While going back, he showed me both heaven and hell. He went at around 80 kmph in the busy traffic of adyar. He didnt follow even the signals. Once my leg hit on an Auto. The auto uncle shouted at us. Prathap turned back and had long look at him (even now the vehicle was moving at the same speed). Once he stopped his bike, I turned back, said thanks and ran to Parakash's room. I asked him what had happened to this guy. He said, "He follows Swamy Vivekananda vigorously. Vivekanada said 'Have no fear!', so he is being so bold!".

I was so irritated that I left his room immediately. I doubted that this Prathap is the same guy, my friend Kumar was talking about, from his behavior. At that time, I was telling everyone that I am a straight forward guy. Like each and every straight forward person, I was also stupid. Once me and Prathap were having a chat in Prakash's room. Suddenly I asked,

"Hey, you are the one, who is calling your girlfriend every night and ask her to solve crossword until midnight, right? Dont lie to me, I know"

He stared at me for a long time, and said,
"No."

Then there was a long silence.To break the ice, I asked, "Why are they still keeping Ganguly in the team?". Because, it was the time when Ganguly was not able to cross single digit score in so many matches and was given nicknames like "Noodles Ganguly" for coming back to the pavilion so soon.

Prathap started giving a lecture until 2 in the night. The thing is, I didnt know that he was a Ganguly fan. Prakash was giving me the same killer look.

After this happened, the next time I met Prathap was, when I was on my way to meet a friend in another hostel. At that time, on seeing me, he came, and started shouting, without any possible reason. He was using words, which are unprintable, and also were unheard of. All the swearing words, which existed in tamil. He was not shouting at me. But there was no one else at that place. He was talking as if he was talking about a third person.

I came and told Prakash about this, and he started laughing. I also heard that Prathap was taking pills to control his aggression. I never understood why he did that, that day.

After a month or so, when I was talking with a friend, he said he is the one who accompanies Prathap to make calls to his girlfriend. So he is the Crossword man! Now I understood the reason for all his swearing.