Chapter 04
It took almost two and a half hour for the bus to reach Chidambaram bus station, Tamilnadu. Daniel and Vishnu were busy listening to music while Jacob dozed off to deep sleep at the empty last seat of the bus. As the bus entered the Chidambaram bus station, passengers started to get down the bus. Vishnu and Daniel woke up Jacob from his comfortable dream and stepped down the bus. At the bus station, there were many Tamilnadu government buses including some of those Volvo buses which provided interstate services. Vishnu guided Daniel and Jacob outside the station and hired a rickshaw to the University. It was twenty minutes of travel from the station to the university. As soon as the trio reached the university, they stood there with no idea about what to do next or whom to meet to get the certificates. “What next?” asked Jacob cluelessly and ready to do whatever he is instructed to do. Daniel took out his phone and called Mr. Raghav Sir who used to teach them in college. He was the one who instructed the trio to go to university to get the certificates. Mr. Raghav Sir informed Daniel to meet Mr. Vivek in the Distance Education Office who would take care of all the things about their certificates. Daniel informed the same to Jacob and asked Vishnu about the Distance Education Office. Vishnu, who has already gone through this process, guided them to the Distance Education Office.
The office was located inside and Vishnu asked a few students who crossed them for confirmation. The buildings of the university were named after great personals of India like Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vikram Sarabhai, APJ Abdul Kalam, and so on. There was nothing special in those buildings other than the pale-yellow colored paint with the name written in bold blue letters at the very top. Vishnu got the information that the Distance Education Office was at C.V Ramanujan building and got the directions. Every building looked almost the same but the visible name made it easier for them to reach their desired destination. After ten minutes of walk through the infrastructure, the trio finally made it to the C.V.R Building. As usual, the building was pale-yellow colored and red staircases raised to the top floors. The surroundings looked empty but some voices came from the interiors. The trio climbed the stairs to the right and made their way into the Distance education office. The office looked like those old Indian government offices seen in movies. Steel grids which separated the old wooden counters where the teachers and staff sat. A long table with a huge bundle of papers and in between those bundles people sat, some doing their office ruckus while others chitchatting with their colleagues. The trio stepped into the office and a potbellied black-skinned man who wore gold-rimmed glasses came up to them and inquiring them about their purpose. Vishnu explained about why they are here and informed about Mr. Raghav Sir asked him to. Soon the potbellied man introduced himself as Mr. Vivek and took the trio down to the examination office.
The examination officer who was a lady was busy on her phone, in call with someone who made some hand gestures to Mr. Vivek. Mr. Vivek took some papers from the examination officer’s table, asking the trio to move out where they could proceed with the rest of the procedure. Following the instructions, Mr. Vivek explained what Daniel and Jacob had to do to get their certificates issued. First, they had check if any pending payment was left to pay and second they had to pay issue fees at the Accounts Office which was in the next building back to C.V Ramanujan Building, to get their certificates. And Mr. Vivek asked them to complete the procedure and return to the Distance Education Office with the receipt as soon as possible so Mr. Vivek could guide them to the next step. Daniel and Jacob agreed to pay the fees without any questions rushed their way towards the Accounts Office. Vishnu who didn’t have much to do around accompanied Daniel and Jacob to the Accounts office too. At the Accounts Office, there were two counters, in one the students had to pay the money for which they would be receiving a token to receive the fee receipt from the next counter. The trio saw that there were a few people at the counters and stood in the queue, waiting till their turn reached. Slowly people started moving and the trio moved forward. The accounts counter was outside and the sun was blazing hot. Slowly as they were moving through the queue, Vishnu recognized a familiar face from the queue. It was one of his professors, who taught him during his postgraduate period. They recognized each other and began a small chat about what was currently going on in their life. The professor informed Vishnu that he has come there for paying the examination fees for the complementary course that he was doing. While Vishnu was talking with his professor, Daniel and Jacob had paid their fees and received the receipts. Soon Vishnu bid a bye to his professor and joined Daniel and Jacob on their way back to the Distance Education Office.
After reaching the Distance Education office, Mr. Vivek took them to the Issuing office where they would be getting the degree certificates. The Issuing Office was on the ground floor which was also looked like the Distance Education Office except for the big bundles of papers that were kept on the tables. The Issuing office had many big brown wooden cupboards that were filled with plenty of papers and files. On the top corner of each cupboard, there was a small label that informed about the different degrees. Mr. Vivek moved towards an officer who sat on a small table to the side of these cupboards and showed him Daniel's and Jacob’s fee receipts. Mr. Vivek and the officer who sat inside the Issuing Office went through some cupboards getting some files and going through the papers inside those files. Later he came towards them and informed that Daniel’s certificates were sent to the college a week before and would be reaching soon in their Bangalore Institute. Mr. Vivek handed over Jacob’s certificate and informed that there was just last one more certificate left to be issued for their entire batch. Curiously, the trio just asked Mr. Vivek about whose and what certificate was left out to which Mr. Vivek informed that the certificate belonged to someone named Mr. Vishnu S Nair. Shocked, Vishnu informed that the certificate belonged to him and Vishnu agreed to collect it then and there. Mr. Vivek said that he had to check with the examination officer if any fees are pending or not, which needs to be paid before the certificate is being issued. Asking the trio to wait outside the Issuing Office, Mr. Vivek went to the Distance Education Office to check on the details with the Examination officer.
In about fifteen minutes, Mr. Vivek came back to inform Vishnu that there were no dues left for Vishnu to pay and he could collect the certificates then and there. Vishnu thought for a second and then proceeded to collect his certificates. Before leaving the university, the trio offered Mr. Vivek some money for making the whole procedure get over fast and for helping them throughout the procedure. Mr. Vivek happily rejected the trio’s offering and wished them the best of luck for their future. Also, Mr. Vivek reminded Daniel to collect the certificates from the college as soon as possible. Thanking and bidding a bye to Mr. Vivek, the trio slowly walked out of the university compound. As they came out the gates of the university, it was past lunchtime and the trio was feeling very hungry. But when they looked around, there couldn’t find any restaurants or shops near to the University. So, the trio decided to walk back in the direction by which they came by rickshaw in the morning. After walking for some time up the road, the trio reached a junction which was empty but only for a small shop which provided lunch with seafood dishes. Since the trio didn't have any other options, they decided to have their lunch from the small seafood restaurant.
As the trio entered the restaurant, they saw that it was very dark where they could barely see the shapes of people sitting around on wooden desks which were laid down horizontally to the entrance door. On the other end, there was a door that was attached to the kitchen area, from where the food for the customers came. The trio moved to occupy empty spaces at one corner of the restaurant. Soon a young boy who worked as the waiter, came up to them asking for what the trio wanted. Daniel informed us that the food would be very risky and it will be better to have something light. Jacob and Vishnu were a bit confused about what Daniel said with fear rising in them. Because Tamil and Malayalam don’t have that much of a difference to understand as they sounded almost the same. Also entering a business and before making a purchase criticizing about that business wasn’t something that everyone would appreciate. But nothing went wrong as the young boy goes through the door and brings back three banana leaves, laying them on the table in front of the trio. Then the young boy gets a slightly big tub and started pouring out rice till the trio said. After the rice, the boy started bringing in various curries. And the trio started eating. The food tasted good and the trio craved for some fish from the smell that came from the kitchen area. But they didn’t order and thought of having something better from a more reliable place. Soon the trio finished up the lunch and continued their way back to Pondicherry.
After reaching the bus station, the trio was lucky that they got a bus that was about to leave for Pondicherry. All three of them – Daniel, Jacob, and Vishnu were tired and they thought of taking a nap till the bus reaches back to Pondicherry bus stop. But this time, the bus was a bit crowded and there were only a few seats left to be occupied. The trio took the empty seats which were at different rows and the journey commenced. As the bus started moving, the trio sitting at different seats plugged on to music and went into their small nap. Soon the bus started to fill up and travelers boarded and got off the bus as it made its way back to Pondicherry.
“Vishnu, wake up!” Jacob called Vishnu who was in his nap as the bus made it back to Pondicherry. The bus was empty and Daniel was waiting outside the bus for Vishnu to get down. Vishnu noticed that the bus was empty and it was parked inside the platform. Time was already getting dark and the trio made their way back to the hotel and take rest. On their way, Daniel remembered the identification copies that the hotel owner has asked for and the trio took a turn back to the bus station in search of an internet café. Reaching back the bus station, the trio found a small internet café and took out the copies of their identification cards which is to be given at the hotel. After getting the copies, the trio walked down the road and went through the market place exploring the different shops that were present. Jacob remembered the jacket that he wanted to buy. Jacob mentioned about this and the trio went in search of Jacob’s jacket. The trio entered a few textile shops, tasted some local bites, and enjoyed the view around the town. Soon Daniel mentioned the beaches that they should not avoid visiting and moved towards the beach road. Daniel was the one who guided with the routes as he checked his phone. After going through a thorough search around the internet, the trio decided that they would visit Paradise Beach which was a bit far from there. But since time was getting so late, the visit was planned for the next day. Time was past 6 in the evening and the nightlife in Pondicherry was something different. The trio planned out their schedule and went back to their hotel. As soon as they entered the hotel gates, Daniel went and gave the id copies at the reception as promised and was found asking something. When Daniel joined back the others, Vishnu curiously asked about what was that little chat all about. And to which Daniel told that the owner asked about how long were they planning to stay there and when where they planning to check out. Daniel made sure that the trio will only be staying for one day and they will check out the next day morning. Saying this the trio climbed up the stairs to their room and they were preparing to take night ride around Pondicherry.
To be continued…
