Sunday, October 10, 2010

Demise of Raahukaalam

Before starting, let me give a warning -This article contains objectionable content. Girls, read it at your own discretion; Guys, go ahead – you won’t regret spending 5 minutes of your life reading this ;)

Vivek was in a dilemma. It is almost 7:25 and he has to leave home within the next 5 minutes for his University exams and he hasn’t answered nature’s call yet! Unusual sleep timings always altered his bowel movements. Today, even after two attempts, he was unable to get a satisfactory result.

But as he was dressed up and about to leave at 7:25 he suddenly felt the nature’s call. He had 2 choices before him, either to start now and ignore the call or undress, unload the burden and start from home during Rahukaalam, and face the worst!

Rahukaalam is a certain period of time every day that is considered inauspicious for any important task, according to Indian astrology. Raahu is the northern most point of the intersection of the ecliptic with the orbit of moon, and was considered as one of the nine planets, by early Indian astronomers. Rahukaalam is the time period during which Raahu is supposed to have the power to swallow Sun, and is hence inauspicious!

Vivek was brought up in a religious family. His parents were really superstitious and gave real importance to beliefs such as Raahukaalam. They never went for a function nor decided on any important matters during those times. He too made it a practice to avoid Raahukaalam when he was to do anything important, especially exams.

He was doing his 1st year B Tech in Electronics Engineering at one of the prominent private colleges. He has his Basic Civil Engineering exam today at 9 and his van was due to come at 8. 
The whole dilemma existed because on Mondays, Raahukaalam is from 7:30 to 9 am, which means that he should start before 7:30 from home so as to avoid the evil charm of Raahu, even though his bus stop was just 5 minutes walk from home. 

He finally decided to leave and keep his corporeal pressures under control.  He had a smile on his face, as he was walking down the road “Now, nothing can go wrong. Exam should be easy for me”

He slowly walked to the temple. He made it a practice to go to the temple before every exam, after he failed in Chemistry once in 7th standard. The school authorities threatened that time, to send him off if he scores low again. Anyways it paid well; he never failed after that. In fact he used to top the class for many subjects and he was always confident about his ability to study. But, a year at Engineering College was tough for him; first of all he never wanted to be an Engineer, but had to choose it because he missed the entry to a medical college by a few hundred ranks. Kerala Government was planning to give approval for 5 new Medical colleges which gave him vain hope for a year, only to slacken in studies at his college. So at the end of first year, he was scoring really low on Internal marks, even below the class average and was really uncomfortable about it. He wanted to do well for the University exams, to cover up for his low Internals. This was the major reason why he didn’t want to take risk with Raahu on that day.

He prayed well and came out of the temple. Vivek was feeling slightly uneasy as the nature’s call was getting stronger. “Will I be able to hold on for another 3-4 hours, or should I go back home and clear myself off? But in that case, technically I would be leaving for exam during Raahukaalam and exam could be tough!”

He glanced at the road leading to home for a while, turned and walked towards the bus stop. “I don’t want to play with Raahu on this day”, he murmured.

He reached the bus stop at 7:45. It would still be 15 minutes before his van comes. Even as he waited, he began to get a pain down his belly and strong outward push down his rectum, at intervals. He was feeling really uneasy “I still have time; shall I take an auto rickshaw, go home, complete the procedure and come back?” Vivek wondered    

“No, leaving during Raahukaalam is the last thing I want before a tough exam as this. Also I am not so well prepared too. I definitely don’t want to take a risk”, Vivek has made up his mind for the last time, not to let worldly feelings hamper his faith.

Van came in about 20 minutes, each of those passing like hours. 

Once he was seated in the van, he felt better. He kept his back straight; if Newton’s third law is true, he must be safe in a seated posture, since for every outward force, the seat should exert an opposing force and hence he would be freed of any trouble. Vivek sat in the van taking deep breaths, promising himself to visit the lavatory once he reaches the college. 

But fate had its game to play. One tire of the stupid van got flat and the driver took half an hour to change it. All the while, Vivek was battling with Newton’s Third law. He wondered if it’s being called the Third law of “Motion” has anything to do with his present situation!

Finally he reached the college, 5 minutes before the scheduled start of the exam. Surprisingly, he wasn’t feeling any pressure now. He wandered around the corridor to see if the lavatory was free. But time played the spoil sport here. The Invigilator was calling everyone to enter the Exam Hall. Vivek paused for a moment to check if he was alright. He was feeling just normal, no pressures at least for the time being. 

He decided to take a chance and enter the Hall. “Shit, this time also I am the only boy in the entire examination Hall. This is the problem in having names starting with last alphabets”. With “V”, he was the last guy in his class and was grouped along with the girls. He wouldn’t have cared on any other day, but with a war raging in his belly, he was not at all comfortable of the idea of being in a class full of girls.
He settled down and collected the question paper. The chic from IT coming from his bus stop was in the same seat as his. She smiled at him. ‘God, it would be really embarrassing if something happens beyond my control’ he thought as he smiled back.

5 minutes onto the exam, trouble started again. This time it was much worse than earlier. He tried to keep his cool and focus on the question paper.

Vivek has learned in his 12th standard biology that there are two muscles which control exit of feces from body- the Internal Anal Sphincter and External Anal Sphincter; the former being involuntary and the latter being voluntary. It is the external sphincter that helps human beings to keep control of their bowel movement. His biology teacher in fact made a remark about crows not having control over its anal sphincter, because of which we at times get showered. 

For the first time in his life Vivek empathized with crows. He vouched never again to abuse a crow for shitting on him.

20 minutes into the exam he has not even started answering. He was glancing at the paper to comprehend the questions, but his mind was wandering elsewhere. He was analyzing the different possibilities of making an excuse and going to the lavatory. There was a younger professor and an older Lady, both of whom haven’t taught him yet. That was a bit consoling, as asking permission for this would have been really embarrassing to a familiar teacher. Also, asking the Professor would be a better option compared to asking the older lady. Now the problem was how to ask. Obviously he should take control of even the remote chances of the girl sitting next to him overhear it. Given the gossiping potential of girls, one girl knowing is as good as everyone knowing it!

Also he wasn’t sure how to phrase it “Sir, Can I please use the lavatory?” or “Sir, I think I have food poisoning, would you mind…”

Vivek suddenly felt the strong push down his rectum again. He remembered the Art of Living Teacher telling him how to focus on each body part and monitor its movement. Taking one deep breath, he tried to concentrate on his anal sphincter and tried to communicate with it “Dear sphincter muscle, please don’t let your master be dishonored in front of so many girls, Hold on…Fight for your master..Fight I say!!!”

A moment later, he felt a sticky wet feeling in his posterior “Ohh God, are you giving up on me?” Newton’s Laws also seem not to hold true anymore.

“Any moment it would start stinking and I will be a mere ass in front of all these girls!”

Vivek stood up and motioned the invigilator to come closer “Excuse me, Sir?” His hands were shivering. Invigilator looked up and stared with a puzzled look, without moving. 

“What the Hell! Can’t he come closer and ask? What is this moron paid examination duty fee for? Does he want me to say that I want to go to lavatory, in front of all these girls?”

Vivek moved out and walked up to the professor and leaning forward close enough, whispered “Sir, I want to go to the latrine, It is urgent”

Invigilator was taken aback by the quick movement. He stared back at Vivek, as if asking “Don’t you have one at your home, son?” 

A moment later he stood up and called to the elderly invigilator at the other end of the Hall, “Excuse me, Madam”

“God, what he is going to say?” Vivek felt a chill down his spine. The scene ran across his mind – the professor calling up to the Lady “Madam, this guy wants to go to latrine, Can we let him go ?” and all the 50+ girls bursting out laughing – “God, I would prefer the earth swallowing me this moment, as it did to Sitadevi, than face such a disgrace!”

“Sir, It’s urgent” Vivek’s voice was at his peak as he said it. But it worked. Whatever the actual intention of the professor was, he turned to Vivek as said “Yeah go ahead, and come back soon”

Vivek ran out of the hall to the toilet. He had the picture in his mind, of the two invigilators laughing at his plight. But this was the wrong time to think about what others think.

He reached the toilet in the blink of an eye. The sweeper aunty was near the toilet. He aired a weak smile at her and opened the door.

“Son, there is no water. Pipe is not working”, aunty said

‘Ohh God! why are you doing this to me? Wasn’t my situation bad enough?’ 

Vivek gave a pleading look at aunty not knowing what to do. Already his valve has given way and there is no question of holding on any longer. 

His expression must have been a strong request in itself, aunty suddenly said “its ok son, you carry on, I will fetch water from the well and keep it outside”

He heard half of it as he went inside; he was stripping as he heard the other half.

The damage was worse than what Vivek initially thought. Sphincter muscle seems to have been too generous that his underwear was sticking to his posterior. 

He pulled it off and sat on the closet seat……………….and………………….the flood gate was opened…………… Vivek experienced what the sages call as Nirvana, Liberation etc. That was a moment of joy when everything else seemed too trivial to him- his unfinished exam, soiled underwear, water-less closet ….everything…

“It must be the jack fruit that I ate after dinner”, Vivek thought while relaxing.

Aunty had brought water in a bucket and kept it outside. Vivek cleaned himself up and flushed the closet. 

Major problem lied ahead. Vivek wondered how to go back to exam hall now. The underwear can’t be worn without washing well. Wearing a wet underwear for the whole of exam is not a good idea; also, as it might stink. Also, there isn’t enough water remaining to wash it clean. If he leaves it in the toilet, aunty would definitely understand that it was him.

Vivek took the drastic decision. He took the underwear with 2 fingers, swayed it to roll into a bundle, taking care not to touch the sticky part and in a quick motion, he flipped open the ventilator and threw it out.

It would have fallen just outside the Principal’s office, if not on someone’s head. Vivek went out before anyone came running to find out who did this kind of an act. 

Aunty was there in the corridor, she was smiling. Vivek smiled back; He felt a motherly attachment towards her. For a moment Vivek wondered if he should hug her and cry “Thanks aunty, you are like God to me. Without you, I would have been in total mess”. 

‘No, I don’t have time. I have wasted almost half an hour of the exam’. Vivek voiced thanks to aunty and ran back to the class.

“What would the girls have thought as I was away? I don’t think they could have guessed that I had run to the latrine in the middle of the exam”, wondered Vivek as he was running “Or do they?”

Rather than letting them guess something Vivek decided to keep up the air that he has gone to puke.
‘Vomiting in the middle of exam is any day better than shitting, Besides the girls might actually think that I caught fever studying continuously for exam, leading to sympathies towards a studious guy, What say?’ His face brightened at this idea.

 Vivek mentally gave a pat on his back, found the nearest tap and washed his mouth and face, consciously allowing some water to fall on his shirt also. Then he entered the class with a battling-with-fever-to-write-exam look.

Partly to his dismay and majorly to his relief, all the girls were so engrossed in writing the exam, no one seemed to have cared that he was missing. 

The remaining hour and a half Vivek didn’t notice what was happening around him. He didn’t have the courage to make eye contact with any of the invigilators. He finished off the exam in time, skipping two essay questions though. But he was sure that he will pass and that was more than what he could expect on that day. He kept the answer paper at the table and went out of the hall without looking at the examiners.

Vivek realized that walking around without primary shield (or going Commando as per the vocabulary of Joey Tribbiani and Chandler Bing of FRIENDS) was not advisable for obvious reasons. In the remote chance of seeing something forbidden……………………Losing that control would be 100 times more disgraceful than people knowing that he lost control of alimentary canal in the exam hall.

Vivek ran to the van, found a secluded seat for himself and sat there. He kept his gaze fixed at the sky and with long deep breaths, recollected how Gautama Buddha renounced all worldly pleasures and lived an austere life. His friends couldn’t make out what happened to this otherwise cheerful guy. They assumed that it was the response to a tough exam. 

Finally after an hour and a half he was dropped at the bus stop. He got out and without turning back once, walked to his home, with short measured steps. He rushed opened his gate and pushed himself inside, putting an end to one of the most dreadful days of his life.

Never again did Vivek bother to check Rahukaalam, not even when he went for his IIM interviews! 

This story is aimed as a mockery of the undue importance that some people gave to superstitions (such as Raahukaalam, Evil eye, Horoscope etc), as against their own rationale. It is completely a work of fiction. Any resemblance to someone existing or dead is purely coincidental!

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3 comments:

Vijay said...

hahaha ..... kiddilam !!! ... saramileda ... now u have grown up ! ... ;)

Nandu said...

kidilam ayitundu...good humour...

RyDER said...

nee ividonnum irikhendavanalla...