"Welcome.....to the real world" : Sapna's Troubles (Part 3)

Raj's college was situated outside the city near a village. The only modes of transports were either the college bus or your own vehicles. As college was near highway most of the parents wanted their wards to travel in bus only. Raj too was one of them. Initially reluctant to go in bus, he began to enjoy the bus ride slowly as the journey to and fro from the home was never boring.

The trouble began when there was shuffling in the routes of few buses. Raj's bus was one of them. The new route included Sapna's stop too. That meant she would be coming in his bus now. Raj was happy about it. Now they could talk without thinking about the lectures, labs, tutorials etc. But there was one big problem.

Raj didn't have much interaction with senior guys but he was able to get along well with few of the girls who were his senior. No other junior was as comfortable with them as Raj. Though sensible talks happened very few times. Most of the time Raj and those girls were busy in pulling each other's legs. Sapna's entry into the bus gave them a new weapon to tease him with.

But the reason had more considerable depth than what Raj had thought. Ragging was prohibited in college. Seniors would look for an opportunity in lonely corridors of college or the buses to rag the juniors. 2 of the senior girls had tried to take ragging of Sapna in the first week of session but she had cleverly evaded them and even lodged a complaint against them to the chief proctor. Since then those girls had grudge against Sapna. They couldn't dare to do much into the college, but her coming into their buses provided them ample opportunities to settle the scores.

Most of the boys of the bus used to sit at the back while all the girls occupied the front seats. So, initially, the senior girls would sit alone on these seats fully aware of the fact that Sapna won't sit on any of them after boarding the bus. Most of the times she had to sit on the seats at the back, often with a couple of boys. Raj used to sit with two other guys, but after watching her plight he began to reserve a seat for Sapna. Things did go fine for a couple of days, but soon the senior girls came up with another mischievous plan.

They would often sit around Raj and Sapna, both while going to and returning from the college. They would look for every single moment which could be used to embarass Sapna. Sometimes they would chat with each other in such a high pitch that both Raj and Sapna would find it difficult to talk with each other. On many occasions they would pass comments in low voices, but loud enough to be heard by both of them.

This to and fro journey was turning out to be a little torture for Sapna almost everyday. She didn't seem too concerned initially but slowly things were getting onto her.

"Welcome....to the real world" : Raj's college life ( Part 2)

Almost 2 months into the college, Raj had settled down to his new life. It was hectic, but was fun too. There was a lot of freedom which you never get in the schools. He had befriended a couple of guys from his group and they would sit together in lectures and tutorials. Almost 1/4th of the group comprised of the girls. Raj had anticipated a tough time in getting to talk with and know the girls owing to his schooling in all boy's school. But contrary to it, things turned out easier for him. A co-educational system, that too in an engineering college, throws many opportunities for the opposite sexes to get to know each other. Raj still found it tough chatting with the girls from other group, but he was getting comfortable with those in his own group, except for one.

On the very first day itself, Raj had sensed an aura of stubbornness around Rashi. She had done a major part of her schooling from Mumbai and every now and then she would talk about it in the class. She was very arrogant and would throw tantrums on her friends too. Raj too had had a small dose of her verbal arrows once. After that he would always try to avoid her. Rest of the girls didn't have this attitude problem. Raj would sometimes chat with them, but there was one girl with whom he liked talking.

Sapna didn't come from a very reputed convent school, neither she had a superb dressing sense like other girls. She had very average looks when compared to others. But Raj would enjoy talking to her. She would talk about her family, her school, her friends rather than babbling about herself. Sapna was good at studies and her file work for different labs was always up-to-date. Initially reluctant, Raj had now began to copy her work for almost all the labs. This one trait of boys in co-ed systems he had adopted very quickly. Raj's drawing was pathetic and the two engineering graphic classes were almost like a hell to him. Here too he would take help of Sapna, though not every time. He didn't want to be entirely dependent on her. There were a couple of boys in the group, who too were good at drawing. So, Raj would often go to Rajeev or Raghu to ask his problems.

Rajeev was very witty and the prime entertainer of the class. Though he would sometimes make others butt of his jokes. This is something Raj didn't like much. On the other hand, Raghu didn't speak much. Most of the times he was busy in his work and very few times joined the class in chats or discussions. Raj found it more apropos to ask from Raghu his doubts rather than Rajeev who always looked for an opportunity to crack jokes.

Raj was enjoying the cool college life but there were few things that were disturbing him.