The Tech Nut at IIT-G : Chapter 14

The agony…oh the agony

The amount of trouble we had to go through for this. Aishwarya kept telling the counter dude to ‘check again’. We pleaded that it was our last day here, but nothing worked. We even offered to pay extra. Nothing worked. Anyway, another kindred soul told us of another theatre we could try. By now, the taxi had left, of course, so we had to take 2 autos. For 80 bucks each. The funny thing about the autos of Guwahati is that they had small Doors, with a metal frame and cloth canvassing. With a little window in the middle.

Anyway, the theatre he told us about was pretty low class and was only showing Hijack anyway. By now, even the auto drivers took pity on us, and one of them found out a newspaper from somewhere. It said that Rock On was showing at that hall near Pan Bazaar as well. It was the first hall we had checked out. The thing was that we never walked up to the counter and asked the dude, we just assumed it was showing Hijack, because the posters were of Hijack.

So, all of us, charged up, got into the autos, and told them to take us to the first theatre. Unfortunately, in all the excitement, we forgot to ask him how much he’d charge, giving him an opportunity to fleece us. Anyway, for the first time, I was cursing at traffic. It really was slow. The show was beginning at 5:30, but it was already 5:25. Darn. I also took picture of the other auto (which had Bakri, Ashi and ma’am). Got only 1 decent one.

Eventually we did reach that place, and found that it was showing Hijack after all. As I said, all that trouble, all for nothing. Then came the problem of going back. We realised that we had to take the same autos back. He was willing to go, only if we gave a total of 700 bucks, for both autos, from G.S. Road to that other theatre, to IIT, Guwahati, with the third theatre falling on the way (sorta).

While ma’am battled it out, I talked to Ankur Tyagi, back in college, and asked him about any further cineplexes. When he heard our story, he ‘tch-tched’ in pity. I also asked him if there were any VCDs we could borrow from the hostelers, but he said that we probably wouldn’t get Rock On. Sigh…

Anyway, we got into our autos, and proceeded to IIT. As we passed the bridge, we saw the most spectacular view. a mountain, somewhere over the horizon, was blocking the sunlight from coming over at one point, and the light was pale in other parts and well…it’s inexplicable in words! Couldn’t exactly take a pic, could I?

When we eventually reached back, we paid off the autos, and then proceeded to View Point. The girls and ma’am had still not seen it. However, the path wasn’t well lit all the way to the top, so ma’am wasn’t willing to take us up there. I would’ve liked to see the campus lit with little dots. I also discovered taking pictures of the moon could be fun. If I increased the exposure time to a few seconds, and held the camera quite jerkily, I get a long twisting ribbon of silver!

So the only thing we could look forward to was the closing ceremony, which consisted of an array of fireworks. We didn’t want to miss this one, like we missed the laser show… We marched back to the audi, where the prize distribution ceremony was taking place. Naturally, we weren’t getting anything, but we clapped anyway. Karthick took a sudden interest in palmistry, and began reading Ashi’s and Bakri’s palms. All make-believe stuff, but fun, neverthless.

After this, we moved to the football field, where the fireworks display was to take place. I discovered my camera’s Fireworks mode as well, where I just need to click, and it takes care of everything else. Couldn’t keep it 100% steady, though.

After this, we all sat about on the stands there. Chatting. Karthick continued his quest for palmistric excellence. I found an abandoned bamboo stick, which we then began balancing on our heads. I tried walking as well, as others tried to distract. We caught most of this on video.

After this, we slowly walked onto the main road, back to our hostels, had food, and came back to the T-point. From here on, we just walked slowly, till the place where a path branched off towards the core buildings. There we found some places to sit. And then Ayush came past, on a cycle he had borrowed from one of the hostelers (most likely a fuccha).

We all took turns on that. Even Aishwarya, despite the fact that there was a crossbar, which girls generally have trouble with. But then, she needed someone to help her on, help her get started, and then help her get off – namely me. She did fall off the second time, when she was stopping. Didn’t get hurt, just tumbled… I sat on a cycle for the first time in several years, and it felt great. The wind rushing through my ears, the sense of speed…of course, if I drove a bike, the cycle would be nothing compared to it, but in a cycle, the feeling in your legs, as you power the bike along is also unique.

After the cycle, we sat on the road, dharna style, and talked for a while. We were sad. We were leaving the next day. Then, we eventually got up, and walked to our hostels. Fell asleep pretty quick…