Morning Blooms: A Dormitory Tale

Our Satyam Days, part XXIV

Renju and one of her best friends and flatmate, Elizabeth, accompanying her as a roommate at STC, had their dorm rooms on the opposite side of the long corridor. Elzy (short form of Elizabeth) was so visibly tired that had Renju not put her hand around her and led her together to their room, she would have tripped and fallen in the first few seconds of walking to their room.

Overwhelmed by sleep, Elzy lay her head on Renju’s comforting shoulder while the best friends trudged down the aisle. Before shuffling back to our dorm rooms, Mandeep, Gnana, and I said Good-Night-Sweet-Dreams to Renju and Elzy as they strode through the long corridor, and they wished back the same, Elzy raising her hand and drawling: Ggooooodd nniiiiight!

Remarkably, Elizabeth was up and ready by morning the following day. She was idling around the edge of the dorm's garden lawn, admiring a row of Daisies, Lilies, Lavender, and Periwinkle that were blissfully in bloom. The night before, Gnana, Devi, Suresh, Mandeep, Devi, and I were all allowed to sit on the same lawn grass by the dorm cafeteria and play dumb charade and Antakshari until our hearts' content. Even in 1999—one of the golden years of our lives in terms of overall Satyam experience—mobile phones hadn't invaded our lives yet. (Life is so much more significant and gloriously wonderful—that is, so much more alive and active—when we are not carrying a cell phone).

When Mandeep and I emerged from the dormitory, Elzy looked up, waved her hand, and cheerfully said, "Hi, good morning! Last night, I got so tired and couldn't say goodbye properly."

Mandeep smiled understandingly and replied, "No problem. We were exhausted, too. We crashed on the bed as soon as we got to our room. It was a long day."

Elzy nodded in agreement. I asked her curiously, "Where's Renju?"

Elzy answered, "She's coming presently... I just got dressed and came out to admire these gorgeous flowers. They are well-tended. Look!" She handed Mandeep and me what I believed was a geranium flower, inviting us to admire its beauty. We did so and appreciated it as much.

As we spoke, we saw Renju approaching. She greeted us, saying, "Hello, Mandeep... Hi, Arindam, good morning!" Noticing that her teammate Gnana was missing, she asked, "Where's Gnana?"

"He'll be here any moment,” I said. “He was wearing a tie when Mandeep and I told him we would wait for him outside on the lawn for a while. You know that knot… it doesn't always come out right the first time. Gnana is tying the knot around his neck!"

“Ha ha ha... I hope he does it right,” said Renju good-humouredly.

As we stood at the entrance by the garden lawn, Gnana joined us and suggested, "Let's head over to the cafeteria for some delicious breakfast. What do you guys say? By now, they should have served it. I need my coffee fix," he said with a playful grin. His well-knotted tie and neatly done hair made him look well-dressed and dapper.

“Look at you, you finally got the knot right. The knot, I mean,” quipped Mandeep.

Gnana smiled and, feeling the wrapped knot under his neck, said, “Yeah, finally. Not used to it. But I got it.”

“Chalo, let’s go. GG must be expecting us in the conference hall by 9:30 am,” said Gnana.

Someone quipped that (it must have been Devi), saying, "Yeah, GG and his <bleep> expectations!"

Everybody joined in the laughter as we stepped towards the dorm cafeteria nearby. We appreciated GG, our fire-breathing Wrecking Ball of a manager, who was, literally and figuratively, behind everything and our stay at the incredible Satyam Technology Center, even though he was completely unaware of our candid yet pointed critiques of him.

(To be continued…)

By Arindam Moulick