The morning after. Enormous hang-overs. The peace of the graveyard. And as is with any place where two or more JUCSE guys assemble, a lot of finger-pointing and blaming each other was going on. Santo was off on a rant...he was very disturbed. He highlighted, with more emphasis than I thought he usually does, that the collective behavior shown last night was despicable. And he hastened to apportion blame pointing out individual follies....it seemed I was listening to the voice of "bibek" or conscience that you get to hear in village yatras. And when Adi came in Santo said :" And this is the guy most to blame." Poor Adi could NOT believe his ears. After all he had spent the entire last night from keeping CV jumping off the balcony, Arun from dying in the bathroom, Kaushik from emptying the alcohol. On top of that it was his house to which the cops had been called and we were trashing his house. Officially the reunion was over as Adi had asked us to leave the night before. But like encroachers on a government colony or like ants on a rasogolla we had refused to budge. Coming back to the story, Adi was aghast. Then Santo said that he hadn't "seen" it was Adi but thought that Adi was Kanoo. Well Santo seemed drunk on his adrenaline which were now flowing full force.

Incidentally this was a new Santo we were seeing. Gone was the old Santo of old who once in school was sitting when a girl went by shaking his bench. Santo, mildly angry,said "Whats this ". At which the girl shook the bench again and went away.This was the" Trinadopi sunicheno" Santo we all knew. Not any more. To put it mildly he had undergone a Kafka-ian "metamorphosis". Just the night before I had been intentionally trying to piss him off by mentioning the names of algorithms and stuff that Santo did "not" know. Stuff that we had done in grad school. I know that it was pissing off Santo as he doesn't like the thought of anyone knowing more than him far less people like me who he does not consider his intellectual equal ! I went on rubbing it in till at last I couldn't resist and said something on the lines of "Santo you really should have come for Phd...see how much of a winner we are". At which Santo said :" Let me show you my bank account and then we will see who is the winner and who is the loser." Point taken, albeit square in the chin!

People still wanted to go out. But not many. Most of us wanted to use this day to reflect, talk about old times. Enjoy each others company. Placid, soporific, reflective. People crowded on Adi's king size bed which he claims he sleeps on alone. After Santo's financial braggadocio the day before, the topic turned to how much Basu earned. Basu hemmed and hawed...he said it was top secret. Ah well..times had changed. Santo had become aggressive, Basu had become secretive. Oh wait ! Did I say times changed ? Oh no.. the more things change the more they stay the same. So Basu's refusal to divulge his salary was not much of a change...hasnt he always been the discreet type. Except of course when keeping Rajo's and my secrets-- especially from each other. [ Rajo once told me with all his godly wisdom:" When I(Rajo) tell basu something about you, I tell him to keep it a secret and yet I know he will tell you. When you tell him something about me, you know he will tell me. Yet when we find out that he has actually told me yours and you my secrets we get shocked and blame him !] Meanwhile the conversation with Basu took many vicissitudes till people came out with Basu's monthly expenses and his savings. When it was pointed out that adding them together would give Basu's income, Basu chuckled self-contentedly. Evidently, he hadn't revealed the amount he has invested. Well that escaped poor grad students like us ! Investment...gee wheez..now what could that be ! We were now talking about women. After all we dont like talking about money. The guys who dont have money dont have much to talk about. And the guys who have it also dont want to talk about it so that they dont have to treat the poorer ones any more often than they have to ! Women were completely different. Cause they are about as familiar to most of us as the yellow-tailed parakeet which lives in Macaw. And with Susu and Kaushik in the conversation, there was a lot of spice. I will deliberately leave this part underspecified except that there was a lot of reference to the "dashes" that pervade any mail from Susu, Rajib or Kaushik.

Haimanti was the last JUCSE alumni to arrive. Of course she pointed out to my looking "different". Yes sure. The good thing was that I wouldn't have to hear that again for the rest of the reunion. Some people wanted to go out. I want. But we went out to go to the nearby waterfront. Questions of great importance like the mating habits of ducks were discussed.

Basu enjoys the last days of his bachelorhood

The evening was time for reflection. Like old men of yore, we decided to glean the lessons of life from the ones who have walked the path of love. And loss. Everybody found their way onto Adi's bed. Adi was going to be in the hot seat. Santo was going to be the moderator. Taking questions. Passing closing remarks. And Kanoo was going to be the official pain in the ass. Taking over from Arun from yesterday. As Adi went on Kanoo kept on telling him to "hurry up". Evidently Kanoo had heard this story "many" times. He wanted to convince Adi to get married. He wasnt interested in this post-mortem. But everyone else was. And Adi kept on being interrupted by Kanoo who kept on smirking while everyone else listened with rapt attention. Ultimately, after one too many interruptions triggered by Kanoo, Santo lost it. Again. He lashed out at Kanoo like a tiger being shaven by a rusty razor. Kanoo stayed quiet for the rest of the evening. But the smirk remained.

The oral traditions of JU

After Adi's session dinner was served. It was sumptuous.Typically Bengali. Beautiful. Then it was the turn for me to be in the hot seat. I now told my story. Kanoo suitably chastised in the last session sat silently. The mood was somber. In sharp contrast to last night. Yet there was a warmth that permeated the entire room. And no I am not talking about the warmth of bodies that Basu felt all around him. Nor the warmth of whiskey hitting the stomach. I am talking about the genuine warmth of being together that I am sure all felt. It was strange in a way. No-one of us, three-four years ago sitting in CS building in JU, could have visualized this. That we would have our reunion so far away from home, so far away from the world that was our world. Everybody had changed. Noone was the same. And yet there was something unchanging in that scene..all of us together in one room like the days of old. Santo sitting in the front. Adi sullen. Kanoo with a knowing expression on his face. Basu getting fondled. Susu slinking into the back and whispering to Kaushik. Subhadeep trying to get some leg-room. CV dozing. It felt surreal as if I was caught in a time warp, some sort of "phantom" vision of moments gone by. And somewhere in the fuddy-duddy world of the familiar, I felt happy. I was in a little bit of home far away from home, part of a time that I was once in . One of the most memorable evenings I spent in a looong loong time, more time than I care to remember.

After my story was over, people wanted to hear about Basu. And his forthcoming marriage. How he fell in love with his wife, what happened...all the dirt as they say. But Basu guarded his secrets with all the zeal of someone belonging to a company who hate the word "open source" . Basu had a standard reply.. it was off limits. Virtually anything we asked him was "off limits". Talk about anti-trust ! It was getting late. And Basu had tired us with his incessant stone-walling. CV had already curled up..he had spent a very quiet day. Perhaps reflecting on his technique for picking up girls. So was Dipti. Some of the more energetic guys had more energy to grill. But I was done. So with the sweet languor and the delicious tiredness of someone who had just had a great time, I dozed off to la-la land.

The next day was the day for farewell. Accounts were being settled. Adi was tipped by everyone for his good service. The only excitement was when Kanoo went to the restroom to do his morning stuff. Except that the restroom he went to didn't lock. Even when you turned the lock it could be opened from the outside. I was bathing when Kanoo himself turned the lock, it opened and told me :" Cant you lock the door?" I shouted back at him that the door doesn't lock. He didn't hear that. So he had gone in and just then Kaushik came. I didnt tell him that Kanoo was "in". I just told him why dont u just turn the knob and see if anyone is there ? Kaushik did and the door opened. With Kanoo doing you-know-what. Kanoo tried to keep the door closed. But Kaushik was pushing trying to get in. From somewhere Santo came with the camera.. trying to get a papparazi shot. While Kanoo tried to protect his dignity by keeping Santo from Santo slipping the lens of the camera into the gap made in the door as Kaushik and Prad fought to keep the door open/closed. At last Kanoo shouted. Using the new JU technique saying that "things were getting serious." A few years ago this would have been the signal for more people to join in pushing the door. But now as "mature" people we were not going to "cross" the line. So we let Kanoo be. Suffice to say that if the camera had clicked, Kanoo would be well on become a Net celebrity. And so we all set off. Not before a hilarious lunch buffet at an Indian joint. Where we laughed more than we ate. Actually good that we did cause the food wasnt too good. But we didnt care. The only thing we did care was that the reunion was over. One more year before we have it again. But have we will. For the foundation had been laid. A foundation that has its origin in the dusty halls of JU, among the cobwebs of PC Lab, among the attaches and chotas smuggled in pockets and the somnolent 8085 kits.. a foundation that has grown stronger with each passing year. And stronger has grown the bond that binds us so tightly even so far away from home, we few, we happy few, we band of brothers.