Recall: Sachin Tewari

Sachin Tewari, SMIT 1999-2004

During my days in St. Augustine's School, Kalimpong, we'd had a very good Quiz team. That team won us a lot of prestigious Quiz competitions, not just in the local district and sub-division but if I recall correctly, even in some competitions in Kolkata. No, I was never a part of it because quizzes bored me. But it was a small school and everyone knew everyone else. That is where Sachin and I got to know each other - he was a year senior to me and he was one of the school prefects. Years later, when I joined SMIT, I was pleasantly surprised to see him there, too. You know how happy one feels when one sees some known faces in a strange land, especially on the first day. But he was in 2nd year. And in an engineering college, as a "fresher" you had to respect your seniors. So it was "Sachin Daju" for then.

The first year while we were in SMIT, Sachin was not in our group as he was, like I said, our senior and had his own "Senior Gang". Our interaction then was more of a polite "Daju, Kasto hunu huncha?" and "Thikai chau Bhai?". You know, that types. But yeah, Sachin definitely had a very good reputation in our gang of boys as the "atti parantey Daju", courtesy Sumiran. That is because Sachin used to stay at Sumiran's cousins as a paying guest during his 10+2 years in Gangtok, and Sumiran as we all know has the beautiful knack of describing things very articulately. We all looked up to our parantey senior for notes, for the better part of our first year. And truth be told, he was a good senior.

I think it was Sachin's 3rd or 4th semester Mathematics paper that did him in, and thus he had to fall a year and join our batch. By then, the entire engineering college had shifted from Tadong to Majhitar. So, being the newest addition to our gang, Sachin started staying close to our rooms in the SMIT hostel in Majhitar. That is when we actually started to know him better. Much better! Initially, we were all still stuck with the "Daju" and "Bhai" stuff. But slowly, it went to the dogs! It became purely on a name-to-name basis, and the reverential references were slowly put behind us. However, it has to be said that Alvin was Sachin's most favorite "Bhai" :)

I think it was pretty much around the same time that Sachin had his break-up with his college sweetheart. Man, I'll never forget those days. It has to be said that he, too, tried his best to make it up. But some things are just not meant to be, and I'm sure that Sachin in his present state of bliss will totally agree with me here. I've spent some good time consoling him then, listening to him, advising him. I don't know how much that helped, but for all I know, it was the best we could do given that we stayed in a place like Majhitar!

Sachin was also a teetotaler in those days - no smoking, very less drinking. I think we in a big way led to his smoking and drinking ways! One can never forget the first day that Sachin actually went to the run-down hut near our college fence (which was prohibited by the authorities) and bought his first packet of cigarettes - a bloody Wills Flake packet! And the ecstasy of it. I still remember him coming screaming to our I-block corridor in the hostel, and shouting at the top of his lungs, "Alvin bhai, Alvin bhai... Mailey cigarette kiney ta aaju!". It was like a boy had turned into a man. In the next few minutes that we all spent smoking those same cigarettes on the corridor, Sachin very elaborately mentioned his first cigarette buying experience. I will never forget that scene :)

For all these experiences, it was the Kolkata trip in 2003 that actually blossomed Sachin. That was where him and I became "hunting partners" - the deadly duo of Wasim and Waqar, as we liked to call ourselves. It was in that trip that Sachin fell ill to a bout of influenza, and would not visit any doctor who did not have an FRCS degree next to his name! And when he did, he had to come out of the doctor's cabin, go to Alvin who was accompanying him, and ask him to lend money to pay the doctor's consultation fees! It was in this Kolkata trip that the latent disco dancer within Sachin was born, and born with horns in its head (or some other 'horny' place, who cares!). It was in this trip that he took dancing instructions from our Maailaa-transformed-to-Michael friend, our shehri friend - Pritam. Once can never forget the scene - a dimly lit corridor in our Kolkata house, with Rawat's CD player blasting some techno music, all of us high thanks to the "dipped in O" stuff that we'd smoked up. And there was Sachin, in his blue SMIT t-shirt and tight, doodhwala shorts with a knit woolen cap on his head, dancing to Pritam's beats of "1-2-3-4"! And the look on Sachin's face - seriousness personified! But it has to be said that Sachin did put that training to good use when we went visiting Tantra one weekend. Although it's a different story that a gay dude started stalking Sachin after that!

One can also never forget Pritam teaching Sachin (again!) the way to impress chicks in a "diks" (that's how most of us pronounce "disc" - and Pritam was no exception). Pritam's instructions went as,

"You need a cigarette - a long one. Buy about four Gold Flake Kings before entering Tantra. Next, you need a mobile - borrow one. Harish and Alvin have one each, take the blue Samsung R220 - it'll be more visible in the dark 'dics'. When you go inside the 'dics', sit next to the bar. Order for a beer, light your cigarette and play with your cellphone. You must have that attitude look on your face..."

Trust me, Sachin followed these instructions to the T! What a night that was!

For all that has been said about this guy, he was probably the livewire that sparked a new life of enthusiasm in our group. Now married for about a year to his long time girlfriend, and expecting his first child soon, life sure has settled for this man.

Thank you Sachin, for all those glorious moments. You are and always will be, a "Zitarian"!

(The first draft for this post was saved on 8th August 2009 - but actually published on 5th September 2009. However, the post published date in Blogger shows the former date, don't know why!)