This incident happened to one of my friends during one of the Introduction to Profession lectures. Now my friend has the ability to sleep anywhere, anytime and in any position. He has been known to sleep while standing during demonstrations in TA201 lab. Some people say that he was found sleeping while urinating in one of the toilets of Library. He was found sleep walking towards GH recently (for obvious reasons). So sleeping in lectures is a very minor feat for my friend. It so happened that the lecture was being taken by Professor B.P. Pundir who was very strict regarding sleeping in classes. I was sitting next to my friend and I had to nudge him in the ribs every now and then to wake him up so that the Professor did not notice him sleeping in the lecture. Professor Pundir was discussing Prime Movers and so, just to know whether we knew anything about them he asked us as to what a Prime Mover is? His eyes scanned the entire classroom so I nudged my friend in the ribs. He woke up with a start and saw the slide on the screen titled: “What is prime mover?” So without thinking twice, my friend spoke:
BHATT: Sir God is the prime mover.
The whole class and Professor Pundir looked at him. I couldn’t make head or tail of what my friend had suddenly proclaimed. The entire class went abuzz with murmurs. Professor Pundir however went berserk.
PROF:[Indignantly] What!! What are you saying?
BHATT:[without realising that the Professor is angry, he went on to explain what he had just said] Sir for example when our bike breaks down, we pray to God to make it good again. And then it gets repaired.
I was certain by now that my friend was out of his senses. He was sleeping anyway. Half the class was laughing at what appeared to them a funny and silly explanation. Not Professor Pundir. He was angry beyond anyone I had seen before.
PROF:[exploding] What the hell!!! Keep this philosophical BS out of my class! I am amazed as to how can young people like you utter acompletely non-sensical thing like this. I don’t know where you people are going.
BHATT:[realising the gravity of the situation now and as fresh as a flower after rain showers] But Sir…
PROF:[as before] You talk about God. Do you know what the Geeta says? Before he could start lecturing on Bhagvad Geeta, my friend cut in:
BHATT:[Sri Krishna couldn’t have put it in a better tone]
???????? ??????????? ?? ????? ??????
?? ???????????????? ?? ?? ????s?????????????
PROF:[amazed and angry at the same time] You know it. Even then…Work is everything young man. Karma is everything. Forget relying on God. You have to do everything yourself. [although that’s not the meaning of the shloka]
BHATT:[his face like a dead flower now] Sorry Sir.
The class was dumbfounded. They couldn’t believe what had just happened. But it had happened all the same. We discussed it for the rest of the week, jibing at my friend while he made it a point to not to sleep through Introduction to Profession lectures. But overall he hasn’t changed much. It’s been three years now and he snores happily whenever he feels like taking a nice old nap. It’s just that waking up from sleep and not sleep itself can prove disastrous sometimes. This was one of those times.
