Etched- I

P&P was a funny subject for us in First Year.
No one worth his salt needs to apply those vague principles one learns in P&P for application in his/her corporate life. If anyone really does need to apply the principles and theories laid in those 3 text books and 11 handouts we went through for the subect in his/her professional stint, it would , IMHO ,be due to an acute scarcity of horse sense.

However , an oft used and abused theory from the subject is Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Triangle. It is man's intention to move towards the peak of that triangle , so we are told. Or that the human self tries to eclipse the previous four blocks of needs to reach the "Need for Self Actualization "level. The whole thing does make some sense.

It made tremendous sense for us on the night of 26th July,2005 at the Boys Hostel at SPJIMR. India's heaviest rainfall in the shortest possible time flung us up and down that blocked triangle I just described. We were hurled around those five levels of the triangle , dealt with by nature like maggots and for once we thought we would be lucky to survive the rain!

It began like any other rainy afternoon.
And I was with RB catching up after a long time.
The lights went off in some time .. just like any other rainy afternoon.
In the course of our conversation we happened to see the tubelights kept on the GW Rooms floor floating effortlessly on the water that had gushed in. Well.. at this point of time we told each other maybe.. just maybe this isnt like any other rainy afternoon.

So we went around the campus and heard that the CRM presentations had been cancelled. We saw water in our domes till knee height and we went to the Bistro to splash water with Ronaldesque kicks .And on last count me and Morpheus were tied at 1-1.
At around 4 :30 p.m. while me and RB were at the entrance of our college wondering how to get back to the hostel , we were confronted with this sight of one of our classmates with slippers in hand striving to get some attention from this guy. While our man was in the Jeetendra mould- of all charm and poise the lady reflected all that I really cannot put in words now.

Nevertheless ,we started walking towards the hostel at around 5:30 and it wasnt as much of a walk as much of a float-and-wade that we employed. The ploy proved successful and once we were in the hostel we also ventured into the lawn with chest deep water in there for a fairly competitive game of Water Polo. We also mixed some volleyball and rugby rules and our Social Need for companionship was being met with some unexpected speed and success.

And then someone popped a question: What next?

Err.... cant go out , cant call anyone, cant be on the LAN, cant see the TV, cant heat the water for a bath, cant connect the lappies, damn cant even see anyone in this darkness in the hostel!

What next really?

"How about something to eat? "
"Who's got the stuff? "
"Jayaram's not here either?"
"Damn.. What /how/when /where do we EAT??? "
"Sleep man.. just forget about it. Things will be better tumro."
"Excuse me I was on FM .This rains not stopping in the next 48 hours! "
"Partha .. actually if this is true.. you will be the first in line to get butchered.. so do something"