Incorrigible Originals - Part 2

Warning: 

This post should not be considered a work of fiction. It is not. All the stories are true incidents that happened on Bellary Medical College Campus between 1988 and 1994. The persons mentioned are real flesh and blood people. 

The abbreviations used here are just to save my beloved friends from their respective spouses. Sorry guys, if any of you end up in the soup in spite of my honest efforts to the contrary, don't kill me ! 

I don't claim any Intellectual Property Rights over the dialogues or one-liners, but the people in the post might. I should in no way be held responsible if the "Incorrigible Originals" sue the Copycats !

Incorrigible Originals - Part 2 

It is never easy to be a Medical Student and stay in a hostel and still remain free of vices. Anyone who didn't pick up at least one during those apparently interminable years must be a big bore. Well, this species actually doesn't exist. If they do, please call the Paleontologists !

What I mean by vices are quite innocent things like booze, fag, rummy and of course bird-watching ! These were the words we used in those days. Don't know what the kids lingo sounds like today.

Let me turn back and see how we dealt with the vices in our days. See No Evil, Hear No Evil was one of our favorite movies those days, though we had no qualms about not following the 'Do No Evil' Part.

In one famous scene, Richard Pryor talking at a meeting goes something like this, "Exercise is good for health. Some people like walking, some prefer jogging and some love swimming. But I personally prefer f--king!". This became a landmark word for us. So many 'King's were born thanks to this King !

Kings; They All Were !

BooKing !

Rummy was a favorite time-pass when you had no exams and a favorite stress-busters when you had exams. It was played with all sincerity and our campus even institutionalized it and recognized it as the 'Official Sport' of the Campus.

We all played Rummy and almost all loved it. Some were good, some plain lucky and some were damned crooks. There was a fourth dimension too, the plain dumb ones. One such chap was Praveen Kumar Varma. Though he was pretty witty with words, he was plain ordinary with cards. He usually gave points in 'book's.

A Book in a game of Rummy is when you refuse to play due to poor alignment of cards or poor ability to judge or both. When his habit of providing a 'book' became a routine, he was Christened "BooKing" by one of our most prolific players 'C' ! BooKing he remained forever !

DrinKing !

Rum doesn't need an introduction from Wikipedia. There were many DrinKings who were also known as 'Barrel' or 'Drum' or 'Kuduka' and many more words. Though this was not as famous a word as BooKing, the greatest DrinKing was one who believed "Alcohol needs to be promoted because it actually stood for truth". He quoted our Forensic Medicine book which said "In Vino Veritas" !

SmoKing !

Smoking was more of a style statement when we were kids. But it was already in the black-list when we reached college. My friend DR asked me for the smallest loan ever asked. He wanted one rupee at 7 AM on a Sunday morning. When I wanted to know why he needed one rupee, just one rupee; he replied with all sincerity, "I need a fag to go to the toilet. If I don't get a cigarette, I'll be constipated till I get one. Please help me Yaar".

Such dependence at such a young age. He had to be the SmoKing !

PungKing !

Bluffing, fibbing or just yapping was known as Punging those days. Suresh Bhatta for reasons not very well known to me was anointed PungKing. He was good at 'brain eating' though. One incident involving the naivety of Babu turned me into a sensation to supersede Bhatta. But since he was already the PungKing, he graciously consented to elevate me to the higher pedestal of 'Pung-Emperor' !

ShocKing !

One senior created some kind of a precedent while writing a short note on 'Shock' during Pathology Internal Exams. He defined Shock as as a "Condition experienced by a person on touching a live electric wire or when hearing a 'Shocking' news". Unanimously he was appointed the ShocKing !

DucKing !

One aspiring Tendulkar wanted to bat like the Teen sensation of those days and always wanted to attack. But somehow he ended up getting out for nothing most of the times. So his nickname had to be DucKing !

CooKing !

There were days when our mess didn't function. Going out in the burning Sun for lunch was such a task. Many boys used to prepare their own food, though I was never one of them. But I helped myself to those delicacies prepared by these generous souls. Ramdas Naik was one such pious chap who saved me during those days of famine. He was so adept and meticulous with his culinary skills, he had to be the CooKing !

Other Kings !

Then there were those boys always neatly dressed even at 2 AM. We called one such boy 'TucKing'. The boy who savored his food and then enjoyed munching on his own fingers had to be 'LicKing'. The boy who trusted in luck for everything had to be 'LucKing'. My friends who know Tulu, would interpret this word in a different manner.

It isn't necessary that every boy on campus knew these revelations. Some were known in small circles. Most were used by a small coterie of people to good effect. Today all this can be told. Why did I end up as Pung Emperor ? This story requires some detailing and is reserved for another day.

Incorrigible Originals will be back...



Dr. Pun-dit