Posted on: Oct 13, '08

MY FIRST ENCOUNTER OF THE PING-PONG KIND
Tagged by Chithrajust , was there any escape route ???
MY FIRST ENCOUNTER OF THE PING-PONG KIND
A pity , the phase of your life when you undergo all these firsts , I spent in such a small place , first kiss , first love letters and many other memorable firsts were completely ruled out ! I had to be content with the only other alternative , i.e. first encounter ! Which no one can snatch away from us ! It was up to the ingenuity of both the parties concerned , how much memorable they could make it !
I was lucky (?) at least in the sense that she also didnt leave any stone unturned to make the encounter so memorable , it is still fresh in my mind !
I had just entered the precintcts of a college . A lost teenager , in the free and unchained atmosphere of a co-ed college ! Every girl was a Nutan or a Vyjayantimala and better ones were like Madhubala !!Ha Ha Ha !
She was a Punjabi, Nayyar ! Very ordinary looks , but very extraordinary attitude ! She fell in the category of Nutan in looks and Madhubala in attitude !!
In the classroom the girls used to sit at the extreme right side , first five benches were reserved for them .
After the last bench the girls occupied , the boys started sitting .
That fateful day we four of us didnt have any other bench vacant for us other than the one immediately behind the female ones ! She also was sitting in the last female bench !
All four of us were table tennis players and kept the ping pong ball with us , as the balls were not supplied by the college ! I don't know what was in the mind of one of us , the most adventurous one . Probably he was bored by the lecture , may be his thoughts were somewhere else , whatever , but he was not able to concentrate in the class ! Just playfully he took out the ball from his pocket and started tossing it very quietly on the bench and then catch it ! He was so engrossed in his game , he forgot he was in a classroom and however quietly he did it , whenever the ball struck the bench it made a sound , distracting the attention of the students sitting nearby !
Miss Nayyar , gave a very nasty glare ! My bad luck , I was sitting just next to the adventurous guy ! She thought it was me ! The next toss which the guy made was a bit more forceful and bounced back with greater speed than anticipated by him . He could not get hold of it ! The result ?? The ball went into the lioness"s den ! Yeah the ball slipped from his hand , tossed out and went into the not so welcome lap of Miss Nayyar ! She thought this to be a well planned activity ! We were dumdstruck ! Suddenly the bell also rang signalling end of the class ! The adventurous one was smart enough to realise it was too late for any further adventures and left the class at a lightning speed ! I was left alone to face the lioness ! She turned back , with fuming face , eyes glaring and venom spitting out of her mouth " Learn to respect ladies "
The salvo was directed towards me and I could feel the impact !
She also left the classroom straight towards the principal's office ! Here I should tell you that our college was run by the Roman Catholic Missionaries , Jesuit fathers from Belgium ! Very strict disciplinarians !
I followed her keeping a safe distance ! She reached the office and peeked inside ! I stopped at a distance , couldnt see what she saw inside ! I could see her going inside ! I started seeing nightmares in that bright sunlight day ! I could see myself being called by the principal and what would happen there is anyone's guess !!
Five minutes , she was still there , my nightmare was taking a very ugly and scary shape . And LO , I see her emerging out , turning sideways towards me , glancing at my white with fear face ! Then she turned away and went straight to the girls common room !
I also came away from there and went straight to the canteen , to meet my friends , but none of them was anywhere near. I had not done anything wrong . I gathered myself and got mentally prepared to face the music in front of the prinicipal . The next class was to start in another ten minutes ! I had a cup of tea which brought some confidence back ! Then started for the class . But surprisingly there was no summons till now from the dreaded principals office ! I thought may be he was busy and would call me from the classroom ! Felt like leaving the class and going home ! But this would have meant like losing face in front of Miss Attitude Nayyar ! No way !
I went towards the class room . As I was approaching it , I saw lady attitude coming out of her common room . I stopped near the class room , to have a word with her and explain everything ! I saw her coming nearer !
Hey what I saw was unbelievable ! Nightmares I had , but they would turn to a sweet dream so soon I could never imagine ! Yes as she came nearer , I could see a smile on her face .When she was close enough she took out the ball from her purse and tossed it towards me , I caught it but in my astonishment at the suddenly changed scheme of things , could not hold it , and it fell down and rolled towards her She picked it up , again smiled , put it back in my hands and straightaway went into the classroom !
From despair to hope within 20 minutes !!! I cant forget that smile on her face ever again in my life ! It conveyed so many things , it mocked me , it had mischief , it amused me , brought hope in me , and above all reassured me !!
So , how was the first encounter of the ping-pong kind friends ???
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