A Hero Returns

"Ah! Home at last". This was the only thought that raced through my mind as the train hurtled past the final stations of the journey. I was only too aware of the fact that my mood was going to change drastically in the next few minutes. "Oh! Home at last?" was to be the updated version of my thoughts, and sadly it hasn't changed a bit over the past few days. My mother had arrived at the station. The conversation was quite normal till we arrived at the parking lot. Till then it had been quite harmless, seasoned with occasional remarks regarding changes in my anatomy over the past semester. It was only when we were comfortably seated in the car that she looked me in the eye, and asked THE QUESTION (Er.. you know what they are bound to ask the day after your exam ends). I quickly browsed through the gallery of my 'ready – to - wear expressions'. I couldn't find any of the latest 'fraudo' looks. So I decided to execute the backup, which was a part of the ' winter 2004 ' compassion show. It was of a pale hue, and made me look like a quarter quintal of cow dung. But it served the purpose and some temporary, well-earned mercy was shown. Phew! That was close. Unfortunately this was only the beginning. The toughest times were yet to come. They were those moments in the middle of some arbitrary conversations when I knew that if I were to utter just one more word, the outcome would be an hour's sermon on how to revamp my CGPA. I would have to spontaneously change the topic from, "The funniest professor on campus" to "Hey! That dog's pissing on our car!". The first time I was successfully caught off guard was over dinner yesterday night. I was explaining how beautiful our campus was, to my grand mom, and the freedom that we were given here. "Are also allowed outside at night?" "Oh! Yes we are!" was my prompt reply. "Then, do you roam around when it's dark?" Engulfed in a fit of machoism, I replied "Oh yes we do!"(With due apologies to manu and venky). That was enough for her to conclude that I missed the first lecture frequently, to which I pleaded guilty after a few minutes of desperate attempts at defending my cause. The outcome can be assumed by anyone who has read this far. Please pray for me guys, till the results arrive. Jai Yanthra Dharma!"