And one more... and then off to skool I go... hehe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our routine of singing and dancing continued, but we never got any beatings for it again. Sanju maam kept on going to different rooms and beat up different people for our noise. No one told her it was us, and we were not stupid enough to confess. As a result we were one of the ?good? students on her list. One day our room?s tube light was out of order. So more than half of the corridor gathered in our room to dance on the ?disco light?. The movie Kuch kuch hota hai was very popular, so we all were shouting and dancing on top of our lungs on the song ?koi mil gaya?. All of a sudden we heard Sanju maam shouting from outside the hostel. Our noise was so loud that people walking outside the hostel could hear us. Sanju maam hearing our racket shouted, ?Room no. 54 chup karo.? As soon as we heard her voice there was a commotion in the room. Everyone was trying to run out of the room. But Anisha who was the most scared of Sanju maam went to the door and blocked it with all hands and legs. She shouted ?Agar hum fasengey to saara corridor fasega.? (If we are caught, the whole corridor will be caught too.) People were trying their best to run out from below her legs. That was the funniest sight I had ever seen. We laughed and laughed and laughed. Sanju maam did not show up that day and we were again saved. As holi the festival of colors comes by, people like me and my room mates get new ideas on how to be naughty and get away. We were not allowed to play holi in the hostel. Sanju maam had announced that if she found even a drop of water in front of anyone?s room, no matter who was responsible, the people who owned the room would be punished. We were naughty, but not dumb so though we use to sprinkle water all over people in the bathrooms, we never played in the corridors. Some people did not share our emotions though. There was water all over the corridor the day before holi. Anisha, who was totally scared to Sanju maam started cleaning it all up. She took the sweeper bhaiya?s mop and started her work. I should say that she had done a good job, but when she entered our room she noted that there was some water left right on our door. As soon as we saw the water, we heard Sanju maam coming towards our room. We had very little time to act or else lose it! In the state of confusion all I could do was stare at the water. But Anisha took off the T-shirt she was wearing and started cleaning the water. After that she threw the T-shirt in the closet and tried her best to wear a fresh one but Sanju maam entered our room. ?Kapde achhi tarah se closet ke piche nahi badal sakti? Khulam khulla kya kar rahi he.? (Cant you change your clothes properly? Why are you doing it out in the open?) Then she walked out. We were saved but to this day we tease her about her act of desperation. So the night approached. Holi was at 12 midnight and Sanju maam had warned us about not doing anything funny over and over again. We decided that if we did not do anything and went to bed we might be the victims of someone?s joke. So we decided that Anita should do some sleep walking. Anita walked out of the room with a pillow on her hand and a blanket wrapped around her. She went to the middle of the corridor and laid down there. We had to control our laugh because it was a sight!! Anita sleeping in the middle of the corridor and everyone peeking out their room to see what was happening. So, we told everyone how Anita had this habit of sleep walking as a child and at times she would strangle some people in her sleep. We took her to the room and now we were assured that no one would enter our room that night. But Sharmila and I were not satisfied. We wanted something more. We took some poster paint and a paint brush and started entering rooms. We painted some people?s face and counted how many people were our victims. Sometimes we even put paint on our hands and went inside rooms and wished people good night by stroking their cheeks with our hand. We were successful till the time we entered this room and it was completely empty. It was 1 a.m. and the room was empty. Now that did not happen too often. All of a sudden the seven people staying there barged in as fast as they could. We asked them what happened and the first thing they said was, ?Anita so gayi kyaa?? (Is Anita asleep?) We said that she was sound asleep and asked where they were. One of them replied ?Hamey bathroom jaana tha magar darr lah rahaa tha. Is liye h umne socha ki agar ham saato hi jayengey aur Anita wahaa aagayi to hum eke k jhapad mar ke usey uthadenge. Akele jaatey to who hamey marr deti.? (Some of us had to go to the bathroom, but were scared to go alone. So we thought that if all seven of us go there and Anita arrives, we could all slap her once and wake her up. If we went alone she would have killed us.) It took great effort for us not to laugh. But we convinced them that Anita only sleep walks once a night so she would not do that again. But that did not end the story. They had all been sitting in their rooms -- afraid that Anita might walk in, when all of a sudden there was a knock in their room. All seven of them dived to the door and pushed on it so that no one could come in. The person on the other side struggled to open the door for some time but was unsuccessful. So the person shouted ?Darwaaza khol nahi to sab ke sab ko marr dungi.? (Open the door or I?ll kill you all). And it was Sanju maam?s voice!! They went to their beds and sat down but a girl Monica was so scared that she kept on standing there. All others got a bal sudhar each on their buns, but Monica got it on her HEAD. And to think it was all because of us. Well till the time we graduated, no one knew that Anita was faking that day. And next day the whole corridor was shouting and washing their faces, no one knew who did it to them!!