Chp 16. Tommy

Meet my friend Tommy.

Fraud Bengali and an even bigger fraud FII member. He’s a graduate from IIT, Mumbai. Not only is he one of the toppers of our batch, he’s also extremely dedicated to his FII work. FII stands for Forum for Industrial Interaction. It is one of the many clubs here in IIMB. When he is not studying, he is busy with FII work. He hardly finds the time to hang out with us during our free time because of FII work. Whenever we say “Come Tommy, lets go out for dinner” or “lets go watch a movie at PVR”, his reply 80% of the time would be “Sorry guys, I’ve got FII work”.

And so things went by.
1st semester…
2nd semester…
3rd semester…
Tommy busy with FII work…
Tommy busy with FII work...
Tommy busy with FII work...

Things wouldn’t have changed at all, until one fateful night, when N and M caught Tommy having dinner with FII! That too at a romantic setting, candle-lit dinner-for-two types at “Indie-Joe’s” (the restaurant next to TGIF on airport road). And suddenly the news spread like wildfire and it dawned on everybody what FII work really was! Or should I say “WHO” FII work was, all this time!

Naughty naughty Tommy! The guy who claims that he’s not the type who likes partying with the opposite sex (in the most non-gay way ofcourse), who proudly said that in his boring mundane life, investment banking comes first, and then only comes other minor issues of life like hindi sitcoms and girls.

So me n my frens were just wondering… how come nobody knew about this other side of Tommy before? Nobody has even seen them speak to each other in campus, and “FII Work” is one of the hottest girls in campus. Believe me, IIMB is a very small community, where everyone knows whats going on between this guy and that girl, or whats the latest gossip on the grapevine. But Tommy? Ooh boy… secret rendezvous, secret code-words, signals that only the two of them can decipher… people have really underestimated this silent killer!

I love their idea of having secret codes that only the two of them know. Very romantic. Now I know why he hangs his towel infront of his room everytime we go over to his room for a chat (he’s my wing-mate by the way). It must mean “Don’t message me on bracket, my frens are in my room”. And if he hangs a tsepak jersey, it means the coast is clear! A tsepak jersey and a blue jeans hanging together with a broom slanted 45 degrees next to his door? “How about dinner tonight at 9:45pm?”

And how does FII response to all these? Well, if she ties her hair at the back and walks up and down our block, which she usually does, it must have meant “Cool, lets go out”. If she wears her three-fourths showing her tattoos (oh, did I not mention that she has a cool maori symbol tattoo on her ankle?) then it must be “sorry dear, am a little bit busy. How about 11pm?”

Nobody has even seen them leave the campus together before. They leave their respective rooms alone, and meet outside the campus where they take an auto. That’s the only way its possible not to be seen by anyone. I’m sure he must have told her “Listen carefully, for I shall say this only once. At exactly 9:45pm, stand infront of the college gate wearing a red top. At 9:47pm, an auto will zoom towards you from the left. Just before reaching you, the headlights will blink twice, and then stop infront of you. Without looking anywhere else, just jump inside. I’ll be sitting inside covering my face with a newspaper just in case… The auto driver is Ramesh, our regular guy. He has already been briefed with the instructions. Now, before we part, lets synchronize our watches together….”

But one thing I gotta admit. Tommy has been my inspiration. My inspiration NOT to quit smoking! The dude has been on and off nicotine ever since coming here (He was the first non-prep classmate I met). For a month or two, he was a non-smoker. But soon, he couldn’t resist the call of tobacco anymore. Now he puffs like a train engine.

I too smoke a lot. But I smoke by the pack. Sometimes 1 pack a day, sometimes 3. Tommy never smokes by the pack. He’s the type who buys cigarettes in “singles” only when he feels like smoking. Hence this gives him the impression that he’s smoking much less than me. So sad all those illusions must go up in smoke, coz the truth is, yes, he does buy just 4-5 ciggies a day. But the rest of the time, he comes to my room and whack my ciggies. Does that count as him smoking? Technically no, since he didn’t buy them. Very “chaalu”. No wonder he got into investment banking!

Nowadays I have even learnt how to recognize the sound of his knock on my door. Just like how every individual has a different fingerprint, I do believe they also have their own distinct style of knocking on doors. I can recognize atleast 4 of my frens when they knock on my door (One of my proud achievements after coming to IIM that I can truly brag about!) Don’t ask me how, but I just know when its Tommy who is knocking on my door. Maybe it’s the pitch of the sound, or the gap in between the knocks, or sometimes simply bcoz he calls out my name while knocking And when he knocks, I just simply pull out a cigarette from my pack and give it to him when I open the door…

I could go on and on, but I think I’ve taken enough of Tommy’s trip for the day. Poor guy

Coming up soon. “Meet my friend Monu” aka “I fell in love with Backstreet Boys” aka “Why do guys wear skimpy shorts at the hostel gym” aka “Why do girls love a sensitive N-sync loving, Metallica hating, guy who cries everytime after watching the movie Titanic”.

Also soon to hit the blog-stand. “Meet my friend Amol” aka “Arbit fiter pillages A-first” aka “A step by step approach on how to become a vegetarian” aka “How to spend your money wisely”.