The Aftermath part2

13th Feb 2003 : 4PM


As the day wore on and so did my peace of mind. Some of our visitors, the genuine ones, tried to keep us in high spirits. One of them, a localite, came to me, pulled me aside and asked me. 'What next?'. 'Excuse me', I thought,'Can anyone be more confused than me at this stage? and you are asking me ...' But i had to put a brave face here. I told him,'let us see how it goes'. He continued, 'Mike, you tell me what we should do. If you want us to hit them again, we are ready for it.' I don't know why it made me feel so good. when he told me that i can choose my fate (and also may be the fates of a few others) I felt so good. Maybe it was just the lack of control i had over my campus life. Maybe it was just that i was being important. Maybe it was just having the powers.


I thought abt it for a moment. For some1 who got scared and got hit for the first time in his life less than 24hrs ago was pondering about another attack. Power can be really addictive!!! But, I gathered myself and told him. 'No..Not now dude!!!' I think deep inside he was happy too that i made that decision.

But in retrospection I think I made the wrong decision. I should have gone ahead and asked himto take it out again. Because it was not just me who was scared. They were scared too. They hit us back because they were scared. It was a matter of seeing who blinks first. Today, six years and 166days later i regret that we blinked first. And today, I know that i had to be a politician not an apologetic one that I turned out to be, but a calculated one. One who could have made use of that 'stout bastard from Mech'. That 'sbfm' who i shared my room with. That 'sbfm' who came to visit me that evening and gave me courage!!! That 'sbfm' who dared to lay his rotten hands on his pals who was with him thro' thick and thin.

I had to be a calculated politician. One who could have understood this sbfm's need for being the hero. Should have made use of him. Should have asked him to hit back for me. All his ego wanted was a lil bit of notice. Being with us he was just another guy. On the other side, he became a celebrity overnight. He was their best cricketer, their best comperer, their mech-rep, their best showman, their JAM judge(hahaha), their goto man. And above all.... the biggest M*ther f*cker in the world.