The College Diaries #8

There are people who make you feel that you need to change yourself. And there are people who make you feel happy for being the way you are.

I was fortunate to get a roommate/dear friend, from the first day of my college life till today, who was a member of the second category.

When you are a boy who 

• is not interested, in the least, about any sport 
• is interested more in in-depth conversations than small talks
• does not want to get involved in a fight just to show off a few heroics or the so-overly-admired courage
• thinks a lot more than he does

life gets difficult. Especially when you are surrounded largely by a majority that exhibits characteristics completely opposite to the ones I just mentioned or to put it in simpler terms, when you are surrounded largely by boys. 

I never understood what was the logic in sitting before a television and watching someone exhibit and hone his/her playing skills if it was only for pure entertainment. 

I never understood the logic behind hitting a guy for an offensive remark - practically speaking, there are more problems that arise when a person gets in a fight right from the mental instability that is caused to the adrenaline rush to the energy wasted on landing the blows to the implications that fight has on the surrounding and the victim. Wouldn't walking away silently be a better option? Wouldn't it save time and energy and be a much more fitting reply to the remark?

Not everyone agrees with these opinions of mine. To be honest, except for exactly 4 friends of mine at college and 2 friends from my school, no other boy does.

And my roommate/dear friend was/is a very important person among these six.

Both of us became very nervous when we were accompanied by a not-so-close-friend while eating in our hostel mess because we were relatively bad at small talk. We contributed very less to the conversations apart from our munching sounds.

Both of us came to know that a cricket match was in progress only by the cheers that erupted in the hostel. 

Both of us liked to watch a film by our own (even the films that we watched together were watched in our dead silence) unlike the usual norm in a hostel of watching a film as a group and passing a funny remark at every scene thereby spoiling the mood of the film. 

I guess the following conversation that the two of us had last week would give a much better understanding of our nature.

"What would you want to be? A werewolf or a vampire?"

"It depends! There are lots of different classes among vampires and werewolves. But I guess I would rather be a vampire."

"Reason?"

"Vampires are known to have more control than werewolves. Vampires can control their thirst for blood whereas werewolves, on a full moon day, are totally helpless."

"Valid point! But a vampire does not age. Would you prefer such a life?"

"What's not to prefer with that? You would get more time to achieve a lot of things. You would witness a lot of changes that might occur in the next generation and the one after that and the one after that. Would you complain about such a life?"

"Wouldn't you be bored with the never ending life after a point?"

"I guess I will keep myself engaged with more advanced people and their blood (laughter)! And that's another point that supports vampires. Vampires can control their blood thirst and let a person live after having sucked a small amount of their blood. But werewolves kill the person in most of the cases."

"I would say that death is better than the pain of being bitten and allowed to live."

"Many people mistake a vampire's bite. Literature says that a vampire bite, due to certain enzymes secreted then, is actually pleasurable than painful."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah! So you tell me now - what would you want to be? A vampire or a werewolf?"

I know that many would be baffled by such a conversation. "This is no way better to a small talk" - many might think. 

But this is what the two of us loved. However irreverent the topic might be, we wanted to get to the bottom of it. 

Even two hours prior to the typing of this post, as I accompanied my friend from our hostel to the entrance of the college to bid him goodbye, we were discussing the best possible strategy that could be adopted for a trip around the world in the present scenario (thanks to the 'Nellie Bly' Google doodle).

For those of you who are surprised by learning that boys could exhibit such traits - Yes. Boys like us do exist. 

As a matter of fact, boys like us should exist. 

If not, the world would become a really aggressive and violent place. Trust me.

But for a long time, I was of the impression that there was something terribly wrong with me in comparison to the other boys. It was only my friend who pointed out that there was nothing faulty. All that existed was just a difference.

And I would always be grateful to him for that.

(The College Diaries is a shameless attempt to increase the number of posts in this blog in a short span of time and in the process, recall and cherish various instances and incidents of my college life that strike pain and pleasure in the heart in this last fortnight I spend here.)