‘Study’ Holidays : The forgotten pickle and the cat that never came.

For the fourth time in my college life, I am entering the period of time widely regarded by students (of course, there are certain exceptional cases) to be one of the dumbest things in their lives (assignments are a close second). For 'study' holidays aren't holidays in the sense that you can watch 3 movies a day, spend hours online, hang about street corners with friends, and indulge in every activity frowned upon by parents who'd like to see some grades on their children's grade sheets, but you end up doing all that anyway. Indeed, I have seen many of my fellow 'engineers' react with shock and astonishment of the most violent nature when confronted with the fact that 'study' holidays are meant for 'studying'.

I decided to spend my 'study' holidays at my cousin's place this time, the idea being that my cousin being one of those exceptional cases I talked about would induce in me a sense of dread and fear of low grades, which I've never been subject to, yet. So here I am, at my cousin's place, loaded with my laptop, a couple of jeans, cell phone, ATM card, three novels and...er...yeah...a book which people said contained the subject matter for the first exam. To my dismay, I learnt that the exceptional case born to my father's sister had classes for the next five days and I would be spending that time inside a house with only the cat that kept creeping into the kitchen for company, from 8 a.m. to 3p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 6.p.m. (the cat mysteriously disappears from 3 to 5 everyday).

This is the first day of the 'study' hols and I am already off my rockers. I woke up at 4.30 a.m. in the morning. The reader must not be misled by this, for my waking up at 4.30 had absolutely no academic reasons whatever. It was a bad dream and mosquitoes that committed this heinous crime of waking a guy up at such an unearthly hour. The rest of the morning was spent downloading movies from the internet ('study' hols, aren't they?).

At small town Pollachi, where my cousin's house is, one doesn't get to hear cars and buses screeching all the time. The chief source of entertainment in the morning is the quarrel between my uncle and the local dhobi, which from what I heard, attracted quite a crowd daily. After that, came his efforts to wake my cousin up, which were equally entertaining. Once the herculean task is complete, it is his job to pack her lunch and do other stuff. Only after packing her off to college does he realise that he'd forgotten to pack in some pickle along with the curd rice and starts lamenting about what kind of hell he has in store when his dear daughter returned.

At approximately around 10, he leaves and I start looking for the feline company I was promised. I got bored after waiting for sometime; it was most rude of the cat not to turn up punctually just when I needed company. I decided to, like my fellow college gentlemen, roam around whatever was there in that small town. Only then do I realise that I'd have to be doing it by bus (yes, they've got buses here) because my uncle had taken the two wheeler to work. Cursing my cruel fate, I stepped out into the hot sun and started waiting for a bus.

12:10 Am waiting.

12:20 Am waiting.

12:30 Am still waiting.

12:40 No sign of anything that remotely resembles a bus.

12:45 I finally get the brilliant idea of asking a passerby when I'd be getting a bus.

He tells me that the regular bus has been cancelled and I'd have to walk for 10 minutes, bearing the wrath of lord Surya to another place where I was promised a bus to the town for every 5 minutes. I reach the mentioned spot, take the promised bus, and after having my bones rattled in it for 15 minutes, reach my destination.

First things first: I need to top up my mobile phone.

Zeroth things are more important: I find my purse empty. I need an ATM.

This quest of mine kept me busy for the next half an hour, and the sun god was still unrelenting. I finally find the ATM, get my cash out, top up my phone and after which I'm too tired to do anything else. I head to the local supermarket, climb up and down its 4 floors 5 times to find the place where I could buy some blank DVDs. I finally find them at the electronics section hidden well behind the medicine one. After this comes a bumpy auto ride home and 4 more hours of loneliness (the bloody cat never turned up, I kept waiting in the kitchen), a couple of self-made coffees (Another one of those hidden talents?) and my uncle at 5. He was pleased to find the house still in one piece after it spent 7 hours putting up with me. He still hadn't returned to complete sanity though, obsessed with the forgotten pickle.

By 6, the Girl Without The Pickle arrives, and I find myself in eager anticipation of another hour of solid entertainment, only to be cheated, for my cousin hadn't opened the lunch box at all. Thanking his lucky stars my uncle resumed his duties in the kitchen, my cousin resumed hers in front of the TV, and I was back in my room with the book I brought. And thus ends the day.

Studying? Er...ok...I'll admit it. I've been guilty of studying a few pages in the afternoon, but this was out of sheer boredom. I couldn't watch mega serials for more than a couple of hours, seriously.

And yeah, I still have a score to settle with that unruly cat when it comes tomorrow.