Campus Rumpus!

Ours was a group of three girls doing MA in Punjabi University of Patiala and staying in a hostel. We were the best of pals, but always short on money. Tina and myself were quite simple, but Ashu was vivacious and a hyper- flirt. looks and an open attitude added to her charms and there was always a string of boys dying to talk to her.



Though Tina and my self often reprimanded her for all her notorious activities, she just couldn’t change. One night we gave her a ‘real good grandma’ lecture and threatened to boycott her unless she changed her ways. She somehow seemed to realize the gravity of the matter and said:



“However hard I might try, I just can never stop myself. After all, my basic nature can’t be changed!”



So, we both thought hard till we reached a solution for our dear bubbly Ashu. Every weekend she used to go to her home. We told her that the next time she returned from there, she must announce that she had been engaged!! That way, all those boys would automatically learn to maintain a proper distance!! Nobody had ever rung up at her home, so the risk was worth taking. Ashu liked the idea, loved it and, in fact, next Sunday itself she wore a brand new ring and I had to congratulate her for her ‘engagement’ in front of some seniors.



Word spread around like fire. It was serving the desired purpose as well. Our arts department demanded a ‘treat’. This was going to be expensive!! Ashu succeeded in cajoling Tina and me to help her pay for it. How we saw our colleagues eating samosas and pakoras and rasgullas and gulping down Coke in the canteen while we felt our pockets going empty!!!! She had always been a famous girl in the university and this sudden news had everyone open their eyes wide in amazement!! To begin with, we didn’t really mind all this business; but soon it started getting to our nerves. Ashu, too, was tired of behaving like miss sober……we decided maybe it was better to pull the curtains. It wasn’t April, or we could have said that we had been making a fool of them. Well, this problem solved itself for us.



Next weekend when Ashu returned from her home, she looked buoyant and there was a spring in her walk. Her parents had given her a surprise by getting her engaged to her all-time crush and childhood best buddy.