The Maratha Regiment

This story dates back to good ol' tough days. The days when "studies", "goals and ambitions", "future" etc. was in air (or atleast was supposed to be). The days of HSC (the twelfth standard).

No subject is more interesting than Physics. And no teacher was more interesting than the Physics professor, Mr. Deshpande. My junior college being a convent institution, the marathi speaking lot was a scarcity. (although the situation had drastically improved since the centralized admission process was established). Thus, a marathi speaking guy was a priceless gem for Deshpande sir and hence was eligible for the soft corner and above priviedged treatment. One that comes handy in a year as important as HSC. My first encounter of him was kinda shaky, though. He was elated to know I was a maharashtrian and spoke marathi. He very enthusiastically asked me about my hobbies and I, inadvertently, said reading (which was suppose to be the most common hobby of most ppl). He asked which books do you read, expecting me to list down names of some famous titles and authors pertaining to marathi literature, one that I hardly had a smell of. Not even PuLa occured to my mind then and I somehow managed to get rid the situation by giving some roundabout answer.

So then, the experiments we performed in Physics lab were very interesting, and from exam point of view, easily crackable. Except for one - to find frequency of a tuning fork using sonometer, with paper riders kept on a metal wire. The probability of finding the exact length of wire where the rider would fall off (due to resonance and not wind) was far less than finding a needle in a haystack. However, with combined effort of entire batch, a few lucky ones did hit the jackpot with all their stars falling at right place on right time. All we had to do is to store the results and preserve them like a precious jewel.

In the practice experiments, the dress rehersal for the final showdown, we mastered only one act. Sleek execution of the experiment with the results already stored at the back of the mind. And at the end of the day, we were prepared to take the finals head-on.

On the day of the exam, we had to pick a cheat for the experiments to be performed. It was a very cruel setup. Made you feel like your whole career was a mere gamble. After all the exitement, and the apprehensive pondering of faces selecting the cheats, my turn came and I knew my stars weren't shining brighter that day when I found - Part 1: To find frequency of tuning fork...

We were trained for this situation, yet my heart skipped a beat. But I had to do well... just like a cold blooded sniper, who finds a corner window of a remote building, unpacks his gadgets, puts the parts together to assemble his 1000 yard precision rifle, aims at his victim, pulls the trigger and bang... the victim is lying dead!

I got to my desk, setup the sonometer, aimed the rider at right length, lifted the tuning fork and bang... not a stir in the air!!! The rider sat cruelly stuck to the wire... Bang, bang, bang... no effect on the rider.

Apparantly, the metal wire that was used for our practice experiments was changed. The metal density, that had always been a constant in all the calculations ever done, had varied that day. And not even the wildest imagination of mine would have predicted that (forget the sensible analysis).

Next one hour i was busy adjusting the length and banging the fork. Sometimes i felt like banging my head and giving the poor fork some relief. But the results were not to come... in desparation, i manipulated the calculations with whatever that came to my mind. Did not show anything to the external invigilator. Went to proceed with my next expreiment (which fell on right, rather perfect tracks).

That day I felt like all the time I spent on the college ground should have been spent elsewhere.

When I got my result, I found myself wanting for marks in Physics. Only 90/100 meant the first experiment had got a zero. But when I got the breakup, I had got 20 in practicals. The situation could have been worse had I got any lesser in practicals...

The Maratha Regiment had struck!!!

ATM

it was 8:10pm and had another hour of work.. I was walking pretty fast.. only to realise the reason later.. rather in time.. my wallet was lighter than ever.. and i was standing in front of the ATM.. this new ATM was very peculiar for the fact that you dont have to keep your card inserted for the entire transaction.. (rest of world might not find this any peculiar though..) but this ATM machine had always left me awstruck.. sounds silly, but thats truth.. neways.. the fact that we just had to swipe our card and the rest of the transaction proceeds real butter soft.. So.. with sparkle in my eyes, i pulled the ATM door (with some difficulty coz of the mat lying outside).. and there stood the machine-fascinating.. the swiper blinking green and black.. the screens changing with number of ads on display.. My hands went to my pocket to grab the card out of my wallet.. it was then that i found something strange from the corner of my eye.. the screen that was flashing ads a couple of minutes ago had come to a stand still.. worse still.. the screen bore my name on it.. Welcome Mr Abhijeet Kesarkar... Please Enter You PIN X X X X. An uneasy cold wave gripped my brain.. the card was still in my wallet.. i wondered if i already swiped the card.. but there was no way i had done that.. not unless my brain had ceased to remember beyond past minute.. all i wanted to know at that point of time was is there any balance left?? trying hard to remember the PIN.. was it 2320 or 2023.. yes.. it was indeed 2023.. before i touched the keypad, the screen once again changed.. i skipped a number of beats.. yet trying to recollect myself.. pondering over all the possibilities for such strange sequence of events.. but every thought returned void.. all efforts were going in vain as the screen changed once again with no involvement of mine, other than the fearful glare at the screen.. Now i was standing still.. i, who had categorically refused to believe in anything other than science, was now feeling the unnatural presence of the supernatural.. yet.. finding it hard to comprehend the monetary interests of the supernatural power.. my mind now had ceased to stretch my imaginations any further.. Finally the dreaded screen appeared.. Enter amount to withdraw.. 1,00,00,000... Total silence.. i was unable to believe what was going to happen right in front of my eyes.. the fear that was prevailing over me was replaced by tremendous excitement.. the sparkle was replaced by dollar signs in my eyes.. i had a shrewd smile on my face.. i wondered how was i gonna carry so much of cash.. yet.. i didnt care how.. suddenly that sound of the counting machine spinning inside the ATM started getting louder.. i knew it was going to take some time to count that sum.. i deliberately tried to avoid thoughts, of how am i going to spend that amount, creep into my mind.. suddenly there was a different sound that interrupted the sweet sound of the counter.. i wonder if the counter got knocked out with the prospect of counting the cash of its lifetime.. but then i realised there was a knock on the door.. someone was waiting outside for his turn.. i certainly didnt want to walk out with that much cash in front of someone.. also wondered if he will be left with any cash to withdraw from the machine.. i gave a closer look who was standing outside.. it was some fellow who looked pretty flustered for some reason.. I looked back.. the swiper blinking green and black.. the screens changing with number of ads on display.. my card was still in my wallet.. there was no other sound.. another of my day dreams i guess.. i swiped my card.. entered the PIN.. and coolly withdrew 300 bucks.. the guy outside was still wondering why it took me ages to withdraw that sum.. I left the ATM towards my building..