At 2.30 in the afternoon, the Common Room lawns resembled a battleground. The seniors stood on a raised platform and surveyed the sea of juniors on the lawns below. At the given signal, everyone went hammer and tongs at each other. In the melee I couldn’t see Grewal. The seniors were in a position of advantage. They were at a higher level and had pillars to hide behind; we, on the other hand, were completely exposed. In the end I didn’t throw any eggs. I just stood there and took the punishment. War cries rent the air; boys stumbled and fell over each other. I caught a glimpse of Chandy howling pleasurably, egg yolk dripping from his forehead. Twenty minutes later a shrill whistle called a halt to the induced savagery. Seniors and juniors hugged each other. The boys had finally become men.

‘So how was it?’ asked Feroz. ‘You are quite brave really. I ran away in my first year. Went to my local guardian’s.’

‘How did you manage that? Didn’t they screw you later? Seniors came around to our rooms in the morning and warned us that if anyone went missing they’d make sure he got hell later on.’

Feroz said I took things too seriously. ‘Do you think anyone remembers? Do you think anyone can see anything in that confusion?’

‘I suppose you are right,’ I said, smelling my arm for eggs. ‘Anyway, it’s all done now. I am a bona fide member of this college.’

‘And you’re going to smell of eggs for a week,’ joked Feroz.

Feroz went back to his desk as he often did. For all his disinterest in the army, he had an army man’s discipline when it came to working.

I lay down on the mattress. I was even more tired today. Last night had been uncomfortable with two grown men sharing a mattress meant for one.

I must have gone to sleep listening to my Walkman because when I opened my eyes I found Feroz lying next to me. He had somehow managed to squeeze into the narrow space between the wall and me. I felt sorry for him. Last night must have been uncomfortable for him too. I gave myself five minutes. Then I’d be off: rain or no rain.

I removed the Walkman from my chest and put it on the floor. I was about to get up when Feroz’s heavy head lolled onto my chest. For a second, I was startled. I was reminded of chair-car journeys where one often wakes up to find a fellow passenger’s head on one’s shoulder.