The gang of four managed to sneak into each other’s rooms at odd times despite all the rules. Staying in adjacent rooms helped, of course. They made it a practice to get together after the lights were out, and the punishments had ceased. It wasn’t often that they managed to do so. Either they were dog-tired and hit the sack, or an overstudy was on alert.
Soon, there were no secrets between them. They swapped stories of their crushes, failures and victories. Conducted in low voices in the dark, the cribbing sessions provided a promise of solidarity and support, which gave them the strength to face the next day.
As the days and weeks passed by, the training started to pick up pace. The day began with drill or PT followed by indoor classes. As the days passed by, new elements were introduced. The latest was a 10-kilometre run every day. Tanned and blistered, feeling like chickens on a rotisserie, they continued to run. Life was an action movie, playing on fast forward. Their lessons had come the hard way. Punishments teach you much more than sermons can, and faster, the four friends realized. Soon, they found themselves hurtling like comets from one part of the campus to the other, changing rigs at supersonic speed, stuffing food in their bellies as though there was no tomorrow, and sleeping with their eyes open in theory classes.
While going to the mess for dinner one night, the girls found Nutty missing. Worried, they rushed to Nutty’s room.
They found her lying on her bed, groaning. Her eyes were bloodshot like those of a drunkard, and she was in a tetchy mood.
‘Are you unwell?’ asked Lucky, checking the girl’s forehead for fever. ‘You didn’t come down for dinner.’
‘Come on, get up!’ exhorted Billi. ‘We will be late.’
‘I am not going for dinner,’ said Nutty.
The statement was rather unusual for a person who could gorge on food like a python. Not once had she foregone a meal.
‘Look at my bloody stomach,’ Nutty pointed at her distended belly.
‘That’s the normal size of your belly after a meal,’ commented Shiny. ‘What did you eat? You look like a pregnant cow.’
The girls tittered at the comment.
‘Yes, I am bloody pregnant,’ shouted Nutty. ‘My bloody belly is full of water. Have you ever seen anyone pregnant with water?’
It was the swimming lesson. It had managed to separate the swimmers from the sinkers. While Shiny was a good swimmer, Billi and Lucky barely managed to keep themselves afloat.
Swallowing pool water was common for the sinkers and they soon realized that they would not die of dehydration, at least not in the near future. Some of the girls, Cockroach for one, preened around in their swimming costumes confidently.
Nutty was definitely a sinker. She was scared of water.
While the girls splashed bravely around the shallow end of the pool, she stood gaping at the water, unwilling to join them.
During the first lesson, the first-termers were taken through some warm-up exercises. They were made to jog along the perimeter of the pool to gain confidence. After which the ustad tried to teach them the technique of keeping afloat and then propelling themselves forward. He also introduced them to the art of holding one’s breath under water.
‘Put your head under water and count till ten,’ instructed the ustad, who was an ace swimmer from Bengal.
A few girls managed to count till five and a few till two. Nutty, however, refused to oblige.
‘Jump into the water, cadet,’ shouted the irate ustad. He was a national level swimmer, who had represented India in the Asian Games and brought back a gold medal. An accomplished trainer, he had dealt with many sinkers and changed them into swimmers within a couple of weeks. He might have been an ace swimmer and trainer, but teaching Nutty to swim was definitely a double-dog-dare.
Jutting her chin out, she continued to disobey his orders, till someone pushed her into the pool and she fell heavily into the water.
She emerged spluttering and coughing to find the ustad glowering at her.
‘Into the water,’ he shouted, as she tried to clamber out of the pool.
An incensed Nutty flapped her arms wildy and, splashed her legs around to keep herself from sinking inelegantly to the bottom of the pool. Poor Nutty found herself unable to breathe through the nose, so she opened the mouth to do so, and the chlorinated pool water entered her stomach. She coughed and spluttered, and swallowed some more water. She also managed to land a few solid kicks on another LC, who was trying to help her. By the time the ustad allowed them to emerge from the pool, Nutty had swallowed a couple of gallons of pool water.
‘That bloody Bengali ustad! He’s a fish flea!’ she now cribbed to her friends. No one reminded her that fish don’t have fleas. By now, they were used to her habit of assigning strange monikers. They also knew she meant water flea. ‘I told him I was afraid of water. Arre! Where I come from, there’s not enough bloody water to drink, forget swimming. Bengalis can swim because they eat bloody fish. I was a bloody vegetarian till I joined the bloody academy.’
The impressive number of bloodys punctuating Nutty’s speech was a clear indication of her state of mind.
‘That bloody ustad,’ Lucky tried to maintain an impassive expression while the others giggled. ‘Don’t worry, we will teach him a bloody lesson, soon,’ she promised.
‘Come on, Nutty. Just eat something, maybe the dessert.’ Shiny tried to pull the girl from the bed.
‘Eat! Are you mad? There is no bloody space for my diaphragm to move. I wish I could drown the bloody ustad. I hope he gets posted out soon.’
‘Don’t be a goof!’ scolded Billi. ‘Ustad Roy has managed to turn sinkers into swimmers. Just you wait! He will turn you into a fish.’
‘My bloody foot!’
‘Nutty, you are a cute doughnut!’ exclaimed Lucky, hugging the angry girl.
‘Dunking the Doughnut, wouldn’t that make an apt title for Nutty’s first swimming lesson,’ laughed Shiny.
‘Get out!’ Nutty picked up a pillow and threw it at the girls.
In the end, the three girls had to abandon the idea of dragging Nutty to the mess for dinner. Lucky left a packet of chips in the girl’s room, just in case…
Without Nutty to regale them with amusing acts, food didn’t taste as good, nor did the dessert. To make things worse, the dessert served that evening was trifle pudding, one of Nutty’s favourite desserts.
The three girls ran into Aaron and Kale as soon as they exited the mess.
‘Hey there,’ Aaron greeted them enthusiastically. It was a huge risk. If spotted by a senior, the GCs would draw a string of punishments for talking to the LCs. For once, he didn’t seem to care.
‘Hi,’ Lucky dimpled, while Shiny looked fearfully around.
‘We shouldn’t be loitering here,’ she warned. ‘I can’t take another round of punishments tonight.’
‘Don’t worry! I am keeping a watch,’ said Billi, her eyes scanning the area for seniors, both LCs and GCs.
‘I just wanted to give you some good news,’ said Aaron.
The word ‘good news’ sounded like music to the LCs ears. The one thing missing from their lives was good news.
‘What is it?’ they asked eagerly.
‘The seniors will soon be off our backs.’
‘You are fibbing.’ The enthusiasm drained away from Shiny’s voice.
Her words dampened the heightened hopes in Billi’s heart, but Lucky was unwilling to accept defeat. ‘Tell us the news and then we will decide if it is good,’ she said.
‘Well, according to the schedule, they will soon be going away for a camp. The best part is that they will be away for not just a few hours but a few days.’
His statement brought back the twinkle in Shiny’s eyes. ‘Is that true, Aaron? You are not fooling us?’
‘Why should I fool you?’
‘Wow! I am already feeling unburdened,’ Lucky shrugged her shoulders dramatically. ‘Just imagine the freedom… Freedom from punishments, freedom to smile and celebrate,’ she trilled.
‘Now we better scram before we are caught,’ warned Billi. Her eyes had detected some movement.
‘It’s just a matter of a few days,’ assured Aaron. ‘Then we can stand here and chat for as long as we want.’
‘Good night and thank you, Aaron,’ warbled Lucky, and the girls turned to go.
‘Hey!’ Aaron called. ‘I forgot to tell you another thing.’
They walked back to him.
‘Quick!’ Billi warned. ‘The seniors are coming.’
‘Who’s there?’ They heard a voice, followed by a holler. ‘Stop!’
‘Let’s vamoose!’ shouted Shiny.
‘Do well in the drill test. You will get an out pass if you clear the test,’ Aaron shouted before melting silently into the darkness.
‘You bet we will,’ Shiny shouted back. Her comment drew a clatter of running feet.
‘Why are you loitering around?’ demanded a GC. To make things worse, he was an appointment.
Getting caught by an appointment topped the list of things-not-to-do. Fortunately for them, it was a GC from a different company. It was an unwritten code of conduct that appointments from other companies did not punish first-termers not belonging to their companies. Instead, they complained to their counterparts in the guilty cadet’s company. Rare was a cadet who dared to take panga with an appointment.
‘We are leaving, sir,’ Lucky said, putting on her most innocent expression. It rarely failed to work.
‘Get moving before I report you to your CSM. Get lost!’
For once, even the fear of punishment couldn’t dampen their spirits. Warmed by the promise of good times, the LCs went back to their company.
‘Let’s give the good news to Nutty,’ suggested Lucky. ‘It will perk her up.’
‘Bloody hell!’ Her distended belly notwithstanding, Nutty whooped and did a quick tango around the room. She followed it up with the actions of uncorking an imaginary champagne bottle. ‘Let’s do a countdown, just like the DLTGH (Days Left to Go Home).’