"Patt’s - Row"

Last Sunday as I was sitting in my room, something struck me. In fact I was lying down due to shear pain. The pain from playing cricket or to add, doing anything remotely related to something called “physical exercise” straight after six months! If you ever suffered it, you might be aware, what I am talking about. You go on the practice for a corporate cricket tournament. You see the VP of your company is there. Many other big shots are also present. You try to give your extra, thinking that it might add to your appraisal process. You work hard to add that extra little pace in your bowling; try hard to convert singles into doubles. And the result is – you end up lying in your bed waiting for someone to drop some food or water in your mouth.

So while I was lying down, I was thinking about old days. Do you remember the days, when some guests used to bring those famous Dubai/ US chocolates and it was the only thing you could think about until they get over. When it used to happen with me, I used to make a deal with my younger sister to divide the stuff equally. But you know that sort of “mutual-benefit-agreement” never works out. You always remain cautious about the intention of your sibling. You make several rounds to ensure that the other one is not getting more of the lot. While at the same time, you are plotting ways to get the maximum share without making it suspicious. In the end, it always used to come to that one single day when you had a fight with your younger sister leading to cease fire by Mom-Dad and seizing all the chocolates in their own safe possession.

Now the time has changed, world has moved ahead and I am living far far away from my home. But I guess life is still the same. Chocolates have been replaced with bandwidth, sibling with roommate, but still the aim is same - to get the maximum out of it.

You see, in India we have a decent connection speed of 512kbps-1 Mbps and it is usually shared between 3-4 roommates. In my case it is shared between two, me and Pattrow(my roommate). The speed is very much sufficient for two people if they are just browsing through sites. But the real problem starts when it comes down to torrent. I guess nothing on this planet can satisfy the desired speed for torrents. So is the case with us.

Just as it used to be in the back ol’ days, we have a deal to share the connection mutually. But this evil, evil thing called torrent makes you to go for maximum. We both keep sharp eyes on each others movements. If one of us goes out of the house, even to collect mail, the other one will start the torrent immediately because he has the excuse that – “I thought you left for somewhere.”

We pay special attention to each other’s sleeping time. Whoever sleeps last has an advantage of sneaking into others room and shutting off the torrent and has the whole 1Mbps speed for the whole night at his disposal. Excuse – “I was doing something really important and with your torrents open, the speed was not coming so I switched them off”. Till now this night thing has been my forte.

Pattrow has his own ways. The modem is in his room and I have a cable connecting it to my age old desktop. So sometimes this evil creature goes to the length of pulling my data cable out of the modem and when I inquire, he fools me saying that his internet connection is not working too. Brilliant!! Isn’t it?

Last time we used some of the competitive exams, we were appearing for as our weapon. I used my CFA in December and justified that “ I have to attempt online test papers so kindly switch off the torrent” or “ I have to download this really important .pdf from net so kindly switch off your torrent” . It’s a killer tactic which is cannot, just cannot be defended. Just one flaw- Now it’s been used by Pattrow, who is using his GMAT for the same purpose. I wish he gets over it with soon and fast.

And as usual it always come down to that one single day when we both keep our foot down, add 5-6 torrent file and start downloading at the same time. “If I am not getting it, so are you”

And people say – ‘Life changes’. But I believe “zindagi isi ka naam hai mere dost” (Please add Rajesh Khanna tone and style to it!) All these little things make you feel alive. They amuse you whenever you look at them from a third person’s point of view. They give you a reason to look back at life and smile. More importantly they keep the cunning and dark part of your nature breathing and give them a reason to come back again.

PS: After revealing all the secrets, I guess we both had to work on new ways. Ideas are welcome