But all this happens later. Bloody stopped attending classes for another, more urgent reason. He had fallen in love. Or, to be more accurate, this was the first time a girl had reciprocated his advances.

In the middle of the first year Bloody is still in and out of class and hasn’t given up on maths completely. In between lectures he hangs out under the banyan tree, flexing his muscles. The girls are impressed. The girls who are not impressed by muscle flexing are in the non-smoking section, a section that Bloody avoids on most days. Which is odd in a way because Bloody doesn’t smoke himself. At night, in the hostel, when he drops by his neighbour’s room, it is to read the newspaper and to listen to whatever’s playing on the stereo. Bloody, it should be clarified, does not subscribe to any newspaper nor does he possess a music system.

Bloody’s neighbour is a tall Naga boy called Viyazo. Every evening, after dinner, a small crowd gathers in Viya’s room to smoke pot, drink beer and listen to rock music. Most kids wear their hair long and have passionate arguments about their favourite bands: Guns N’ Roses, Soundgarden, Metallica, Alice in Chains, Nirvana. Bloody knows many of the songs but doesn’t believe in music the way the others in the room do. He sings along with everyone but is clueless about a band’s discography or changes in line-up.

Viya and his gang were in their second year. They had girlfriends and motorcycles; more often than not, the topic of discussion in his hostel room was sex.

‘Do you think a girl can get pregnant if she has unprotected sex on the first day of her period?’

‘Of course she can. No method is hundred per cent safe. Not even the condom.’

‘Oh fuck off. That way nothing’s safe.’

‘Why would you want to get your cock bloody in the first place?’

‘Bastard.’

‘Hey guys, just shut up for a bit. Listen to this, man. I had Malini up in my room the other day. We were kissing when I heard a rustling sound. I stopped, looked around. Someone had slipped a note under the door. Man, I was so scared. You know what the note said? “See me when you are done.” It was signed by the dean. For a moment I was like, “huh?” That was before I realized it was Khanna’s handwriting. Dude, believe me, it wasn’t funny. I’m gonna kill that fucker.’

Bloody was a virgin. Not being the bragging or lying sort, he would wait for the conversation to come around to the topic of masturbation, which it invariably did.