Recall: Somnath Prasad
Somnath Prasad, SMIT 2000-2004
Come my lady, Come Come my lady
You're my butterfly, sugar, baby
If you're a true Zitarian, then as soon as you read these lines from Crazy Town's Butterfly, you would've imagined the following sequence of events:
a) The music would've instantaneously jumped from its long buried place in your mind. And the music would've played. LOUD.
b) You would've imagined a shadowy figure, behind a curtain, with its head bobbing from side-to-side, in tune with the music's beats. And also in rhythm would be the figure's hands - open palms, spread evenly and placed at about chest level. Almost as if they were gates through which the figure's bobbing head needed to pass. Some immature freaks would also call this dancing.
Meet Chinday, aka Somnath Prasad. The shadowy figure, in case you were wondering.
His was a weird case. One who used to love calling himself "Ridgian". That was mostly thanks to a faded white t-shirt he used to wear (mostly as inner-wear) which had those words written on its back. I believe he got this during his school days. Unfortunately for him, this was a name with which Chinday would call himself, because we never did.
I don't know but somehow, most of my recollections about Chinday seems to revolve around clothes. Like the blue Pathaan suit for example. I don't know who it belonged to, but what I do know is that whenever there was any function in college and you had to look for Chinday, then all you had to do was look for a blue Pathaan suit. That was him. Every single time. In hindsight, I have to admit that the dude looked good in that suit. I guess somebody made the mistake of giving him that compliment, and which is why he wore that suit day in and day out. Well, it must've been worth it for sure!
A very sharp individual, Chinday was one of the better performers in our group. His trademark style was what he called "selective studying". He had the knack of guessing what to study, and what not to study, for the exams - sessional or semester. And there were but a few incidents when this method failed him. A typical scenario during our exams would be all of us in our common balcony on a sunny afternoon, obediently waiting in line for the sole cigarette being shared. Finally Chinday's turn would come, and he would put the cigarette in the extreme corner of his lips, take a deep drag with his eyes closed, and let out smoke from the other corner of his mouth. And then he would impart on us his wisdom, with a slight shake of his hand and his head, a bead necklace tied to his wrists jingling slightly as he would mutter, "Aaudeina, aaudeina!" (meaning "Won't come, won't come!" in Nepali). He would, of course, be referring to the chapter that the rest of us would be discussing - one that he had selected himself as "out of syllabus". And 7 out of 10 times, the guy would be right.
I have to say that this guy was a romantic at heart. You should've seen just how many times he would change his clothes during his initial dating days. The perfumes and deodorants that he would spray on him would linger through the entire I-Block, reminding us that Chinday was going out on a date. None of us ever smelled as sweet as he did, that is a given.
Co-incidentally, Chinday's birthday was just a day after mine - 25th November. That meant that our birthday treats would always be together, and more often that not it would be the grandest party in the group as there would be two people sponsoring it. Effectively, it was two parties rolled in one. And what parties they would be! In a place like Sikkim where booze prices were literally dirt cheap, there would be a lot of puke and loud, drunk boys returning to the hostel after those parties. And sometimes, a lot of fights too! All for a good cause, of course.
Although life has changed a lot for this guy, who is now doing very well for himself, we still remain good friends even today. All I hope for is that it remains that way, forever.
Cheers mate!
PS: As a sign of my apology for posting this recall so late in the series, I would like to make up for it by posting Chinday's song in this post. If you can, please listen to the song below as you read through this recall - Chinday will thank you! Click here to play the song!
a) The music would've instantaneously jumped from its long buried place in your mind. And the music would've played. LOUD.
b) You would've imagined a shadowy figure, behind a curtain, with its head bobbing from side-to-side, in tune with the music's beats. And also in rhythm would be the figure's hands - open palms, spread evenly and placed at about chest level. Almost as if they were gates through which the figure's bobbing head needed to pass. Some immature freaks would also call this dancing.
Meet Chinday, aka Somnath Prasad. The shadowy figure, in case you were wondering.
His was a weird case. One who used to love calling himself "Ridgian". That was mostly thanks to a faded white t-shirt he used to wear (mostly as inner-wear) which had those words written on its back. I believe he got this during his school days. Unfortunately for him, this was a name with which Chinday would call himself, because we never did.
I don't know but somehow, most of my recollections about Chinday seems to revolve around clothes. Like the blue Pathaan suit for example. I don't know who it belonged to, but what I do know is that whenever there was any function in college and you had to look for Chinday, then all you had to do was look for a blue Pathaan suit. That was him. Every single time. In hindsight, I have to admit that the dude looked good in that suit. I guess somebody made the mistake of giving him that compliment, and which is why he wore that suit day in and day out. Well, it must've been worth it for sure!
A very sharp individual, Chinday was one of the better performers in our group. His trademark style was what he called "selective studying". He had the knack of guessing what to study, and what not to study, for the exams - sessional or semester. And there were but a few incidents when this method failed him. A typical scenario during our exams would be all of us in our common balcony on a sunny afternoon, obediently waiting in line for the sole cigarette being shared. Finally Chinday's turn would come, and he would put the cigarette in the extreme corner of his lips, take a deep drag with his eyes closed, and let out smoke from the other corner of his mouth. And then he would impart on us his wisdom, with a slight shake of his hand and his head, a bead necklace tied to his wrists jingling slightly as he would mutter, "Aaudeina, aaudeina!" (meaning "Won't come, won't come!" in Nepali). He would, of course, be referring to the chapter that the rest of us would be discussing - one that he had selected himself as "out of syllabus". And 7 out of 10 times, the guy would be right.
I have to say that this guy was a romantic at heart. You should've seen just how many times he would change his clothes during his initial dating days. The perfumes and deodorants that he would spray on him would linger through the entire I-Block, reminding us that Chinday was going out on a date. None of us ever smelled as sweet as he did, that is a given.
Co-incidentally, Chinday's birthday was just a day after mine - 25th November. That meant that our birthday treats would always be together, and more often that not it would be the grandest party in the group as there would be two people sponsoring it. Effectively, it was two parties rolled in one. And what parties they would be! In a place like Sikkim where booze prices were literally dirt cheap, there would be a lot of puke and loud, drunk boys returning to the hostel after those parties. And sometimes, a lot of fights too! All for a good cause, of course.
Although life has changed a lot for this guy, who is now doing very well for himself, we still remain good friends even today. All I hope for is that it remains that way, forever.
Cheers mate!
PS: As a sign of my apology for posting this recall so late in the series, I would like to make up for it by posting Chinday's song in this post. If you can, please listen to the song below as you read through this recall - Chinday will thank you! Click here to play the song!
Chinday - well this guys ruined my 3rd sem mornings. Each and every morning of 3rd sem he played the song "lady marmalade" and played it loud. For the first few weeks of that sem it was really irritating to listen to that song every morning but by the end of the sem I had become immune to it. Thanks for that chinday!
ReplyDeleteWell the blue pathan suit, i don't think any one of us can forget about it. I did once ask him why he wore that suit particularly during maal road hours. He gave me a very practical reason for it. I think am among the very few ppl who knows the reason behind it. Unfortunately, I can't let out the reason in a public forum :P
In a couple of weeks he's gonna be a proud father. Congratulation and have a great life buddy.
Lady Marmalade - is that the "Hey Sister, Go Sister" song? hahaha. And I think I understood the practicality of the blue suit - I mean, I think I know what you mean, Chaturey! :P
ReplyDeleteyes it was hey sister, go sister...lol....
ReplyDeleteand regarding the blue suit... what u thought is correct ;)