Being a Psycho's Girlfriend

Nobody is talking to Tejas. Where ever he goes, people vanish off faster than the capacity of staying alert in Prof. Jain’s classes. He has only me to talk to, a person he has come to hate in the last few days because I am the only one who talks to him!
“I don’t like it”, he laments every now and then.
He almost cracked up when he went up to the water cooler in Chandni Hostel and Shyam and Anand furtively scooted from his sight. This was followed by a hush on the Badminton Court and even Ketaki, the one everyone feared, left making a sad excuse that she got to study. Tejas’s God like fearful stature is finally coming to haunt him.
“I am going to tell everyone if this gets unbearable! And listen, don’t you keep on following me as if I am going to crack up or kill Peggy any moment.” Peggy is the tail-less-bitch that has become a part of MICA landscape, so much so that our revered seniors have christened our Intra-net e-mail as Peggy. It has been rumored that Tejas chopped off Peggy’s tail and would murder her if he can. True, Peggy’s howling replaces the cock’s crow at wee hours of the morning when the majority finally gets to bed and we all have contemplated murder at some point of time or other but the tail thing is quite baseless, I swear. Tejas would have loved to chop off the tail if it had not been already.
I shrug shoulders and abscond from his sight to go terrorize the Facchaas. Facchaa stands for the fusion of ‘first-year’ and ‘baccha’ (kid). These are the first-year kids who have just entered the campus and we second years are religiously stripping them off their pride of getting through CAT and one of the best institutes in the country. We are making them humble and emptying those heads swollen with self-congratulatory bigotry. Some might argue that we are ‘ragging’ them but please note that our intentions are pure and there is no physical assault involved. We just give them assignments and projects related to management, tell them switch-off the lights and go to sleep at 10 PM and have ordered them to keep off the bucket-chairs and hammocks of the campus. And the whole thing has to be endured till the Fresher’s Party after which we become as friendly as we are within the batch. But, tell you what, the Facchaas are terrified of Tejas and by the virtue of being his girlfriend, they do not dare cross paths with me as well.
The other day a poor Facchaa happened to ask me the direction to one of my batch mate’s room and Tejas glowered at him like a raging bull. He was just about to charge at the clueless guy when I dragged him away from the scene. After that incidence the first-year guys stay away from me, Tejas or no Tejas around. I am enjoying the fearful aura around me. None of my batch mates have stopped talking to me like they did with Tejas and on top of that I get sympathetic looks from everyone for bearing the role of being his girl-friend so well.
It is tough being his girlfriend, though. Yesterday, it rained very hard and the evening tea was being served in my Hostel, Champa, for a change. The tea, the pakoras (bless the mess Bhaiyas) and the rains had made people utterly crazy and romantic. Someone started loud danceable music on someone’s computer and everyone including the Facchaas started an impromptu Rain-Dance-Party. I was at Chota enjoying a rare Tejas free moment immersed in an erudite discussion with Srikant and Kamini on the mad Tuglaq’s leather coin’s impact on the then Indian economy. All of a sudden we hear this distress call vaguely sounding like my name. The call for help was chilling enough to have all three of us running like mad and not mind getting drenched like wet dogs in rain. It came out that Tejas hearing all that racket in Champa, yes, the dance-music was racket to him, has gone berserk and somebody needs to contain him. I reached the scene to witness Tejas grabbing the wrist of a whimpering Richa asking her to reveal the rogue who started the noise. Sharma stepped in to rescue Richa and got promptly slapped in return. Even I had a tough time cajoling him to get away from the scene, it seemed he would not spare even me, this time. I took Tejas to his room and calmed him down. I suddenly saw Harkishan braving his way across Chandni escorting Priyamvada to her hostel, in full view of Tejas. Some people would go any lengths to be chivalrous to entice a woman! I so wanted to dance with the rest of the gang but I too was trapped with this boyfriend of mine. Everybody must be questioning my senility by now.
Tonight Tejas is going to work on his Brand Management project quite assiduously and thus my time has been booked by all the women of the batch for a special training session with the first-year girls in Gulmohar hostel. I really do not want to miss this one, managing Tejas has made me miss enough already.
Richa is in her full swing bossing around. Even Murugeshwari is giving orders! Paula is as usual getting cozy with Sneha, unable to curb their lesbian gestures even in public. We were accustomed to their ways but the junior girls gave a mixed expression of intrigue and distaste. The training session of the newly initiated was in full swing when Tejas bursts into the scene again. Friends signal me with a sigh, he can’t stay away from you, move along poor baby! But Tejas is climbing up the stairs of Gulmohar staring intently at the first-years lined up downstairs. The girls are obviously cringing at his sight.
I walk up to him and ask politely so as not to incur his wrath, “what are you doing here? It is an all-girl’s gathering. Come along, we will go back to your hostel.” No response, he is focused on the frozen scene downstairs.
I implore, “Tejas! You are not supposed to be here!” Finally some reaction, he tells me to come out of the congregation, he has something grave to discuss.
The situation is becoming desperate and I can sense Tejas losing it. He is not going to bear with it for long. It is a boon that the Fresher’s Party happens tomorrow.
“I am sick of being a psycho and sicker of you being my girlfriend!” He bursts out. “You know what, all the other guys are having a hearty look at the First-year girls but they scoot away seeing me. Even Harkishan has gotten that Priyamvada hooked and I am stuck with you. When this is finally over who is going to believe that you are not my girlfriend? I am jinxed now!! I can’t play this hoax anymore. Everybody is enjoying me terrorizing people but me. I feel so bad when the Facchaas get scared of me.” I gesticulated to say something but he went on. “It’s OK with Paula and Sneha, they are playing to be lesbians, so what? Nobody runs away from them and they already have boyfriends. But you have ruined my chances with the juniors. Nobody is going to believe that we are just friends!”
My heart went out for this guy. The traditional hoax we are playing for the juniors has demanded him to be cut off from the entire batch till the fresher’s party day, when hoaxes will get announced in the afternoon. I offered him to write and sign on a stamp paper that I am not and was never his girlfriend and as a gesture of thanks, Richa, the Fresher’s Party coordinator will personally introduce him to every girl of the new batch at the party.
Suddenly we see a junior passing by and Tejas snarls as if daring him to look at me and I know he will endure playing the psycho for one more day!