College Capers

There is never a dearth of naughty boys and girls upto some mischief in schools and colleges across the world! The incident that I am reproducing is absolutely true, I swear, though I was not a party to it. The reason why I am so sure is because it was narrated to me by my then to-be  sister-in-law, who was a willing or conspiring participant – the naughty girl!

There was this professor in the college who was not  exactly liked by most of the students, so they pranked him many a time. Here’s  one memorable incident!

One day. someone brought a monster of crab – live, of course – and tied it to a string which was then slung across a nail hammered into the wooden framework of the door from which the professor entered. The other end of the string was in the hand of one of the boys.  As soon as the professor entered, the entire class shouted “look out” and that very moment the boy holding the string slacked it a bit so that the crab was dangling right before the eyes of the terrified professor! I’m sure you can judge the reaction for yourself as the boy quickly released the string and let the crab fall to the ground and crawl away.

After gathering his wits, the professor entered the classroom and noticed that not a single fan was switched on. You can well imagine how stifling it can get in India in the summer months. As soon as the switches were turned on and the fans gathered speed, banana  peels, broken eggs shells and the like came down from heaven, reminding one of manna the only difference being that all this stuff was not palatable!

And lest you thought that this was the end of the story, no, not by far. Now, the podium upon which the professor stood to deliver his lectures, was actually a hollow wooden platform made of slats or planks nailed together and one could easily hide underneath. Before the class started, one boy had  hidden inside the platform with a twig in his hand. When the professor ultimately proceeded with his lecture and turned his back to write something on the blackboard, the twig appeared from between the slats and started dancing. The entire class burst out laughing, but as soon as the professor turned, the twig disappeared! The poor professor could not understand what was happening, neither would anyone let out the secret! Each time he had his back to the class, the twig made its appearance again! And when it sought entry into the professor’s trousers, poor chap, he started scratching, as the entire class could not control itself! After a while, he simply walked out, unable to pinpoint anybody for this mischief.

 

Aren’t we Indians a naughty lot?  I  wish I’d  been a party to this hilarious episode!