It was sometime in the middle of the night. The corridor bore a quiet and deserted look, just a yellow bulb glimmering at the centre and another at the far end. The doors on either side were securely closed from inside and only with a close attention one could hear the fusion of the whirr of the lazily turning fans and the breathing of the sleeping occupants.
Four figures tiptoed towards the target door. The information was reliable and the surprise operation had to be done at the earliest. The treasure had to be seized. One hand went towards the switch board and turned out the light from the centre bulb. While one of the figures tapped on the door, others waited, standing closer to the side walls.
“Wai..Kaun hain…” came a dozy voice from inside.
“Hum hain… abey” Gupta spoke in a whisper.
The bed-spring squeak followed by the thump on the floor suggested that the prey was up and moving towards the door. It opened with a creaking sound. A tired, bedraggled and grumbling Sharmaji stood on the door. In no time the intruders were inside the room, some hugging Sharmaji, some diverting his attention with small talks without losing focus- all eyes searched the room for the treasure.
Aditya Sharma came from Jammu, quite far, in fact the farthest, as compared to the rest who came from nearby states to study and live in the hostel. He had returned from holidays that morning and like always had brought with him canisters full of temptingly tasty cookies, sugar coated nuts and other snacks items blended with “Maa ka pyar”. These were no less than treasure for the other ravenous boarders who had to feed themselves with the bland mess food.
It was assumed that Sharmaji would not share the cookies hence the ‘Robin Hood effect’ was being practised, snatch it and share with the deprived ones.
The treasure was finally sighted; several filled plastic jars were discovered hidden behind a pile of books on the cemented racks. The craving hands grabbed all the jars and sprinted out of the room. Fearing that Sharmaji would retaliate the door was locked from outside. But, in the mayhem, Gupta was also locked inside along with Sharmaji.
We wolfed down the cookies and then banged on the closed doors offering cookies to the heavy-eyed friends. Some of them thought they were seeing some pleasant dream while the others’ eyes brightened up at the sight of sumptuous cookies. They thanked us profusely for considering them worth sharing the booty out of the ‘Cookie heist’.
While the festivity was on Gupta fearing being trashed by Sharmaji in the closed doors called out meekly “ Abey…koi darwaja kholo”. Gupta had never been so polite ever in his life!
Someone suddenly suggested “Let us offer at least one cookie to Sharmaji”. After all he was the rightful owner of the now fast depleting treasure so one cookie was slipped from below the narrow opening of the door. It remained unknown whether Sharmaji consumed the cookie or not. The munching continued for some time while Gupta prayed hard for his life.
Finally, some daring soul unlocked the door lock and ran blindly without turning back. Everyone returned to the safe confines of their rooms. The corridor again turned quite and deserted. Gupta quietly walked out of the room and blasted with all ear deafening swear words. In the meanwhile Sharmaji closed the door with a bang and switched off the light.
If by any chance Shamaji happens to read this post, please accept our thanks for the cookies and for letting Gupta live. The cookies were scrumpy. Though it took these many years to acknowledge.
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