My friend Rajil was at SAC, sitting in a corner, relaxing after directing a particularly heavy practice session for his Department’s Freshers’ Party. Earlier that day he had had a surprise quiz which being a surprise quiz (a surprise for him alone as it turned out later) landed him with another of those now usual ziphers. The heat of the day and the frustration of doing bad on a quiz were driving him nuts. One of his other friends came to him and they started talking. He asked Rajil as to why he was so frustrated so Rajil told him the surprise quiz thing. The only problem was that it was not all so straight. Rajil added as many praises for the blood relations of the Professor concerned as possible to vent out my frustration. The point was: How could he take a surprise quiz when it was not told in the beginning of the course that there would be surprise quizzes ( may be that was the surprise element )? As he was speaking and making obscene gestures, he felt a soft pat on his shoulder. Rajil looked at his friend who was dumbstruck. Then Rajil looked behind and suddenly knew what it meant to be dead:
MAN AT THE BACK: [he is the professor actually] Nahi yaar. Dekho beta maine pichhli class me bataya tha quiz ke baare me. Surprise quiz nahi thi yaar woh.
What could Rajil have said! He had lost all sense. The professor was speaking direct to him after having heard all that Rajil was speaking about him. What were the odds for this to happen? I would have wanted to vainsh in thin air if it had happened to me. But as it turned out, Professor neatly ignored what had been said and moved on. Rajil was relieved and still wonders about one thing and it is this: Why, of all the department’s several faculty members, did he have to come to SAC to look at the preparations?
