Amma Laptop.

We stared down at the feedback slip in our hands with a malicious grin on our faces. We had received our free laptops a few days ago and now we were asked to comment on it. Our minds were going astray, we knew very well that the feedback sheet would have to go through SPS, and that he wouldn't consider turning us in as an option. Moreover Arivu had already commented,
‘Ellame free ah kadaicha, aen ulaika vednum?’
He was our biggest inspiration. So after not much thought, I pulled out my pen and jotted down, ‘Vaalga valamudan’. I seriously have no ideas why I penned down that quote. Then it was Vishal's turn, he snatched the pen away from my grasp and scribbled down, ‘Beauty’ (A Synonym for our most loved... in fact the only loved Math teacher, Mr.Prabakaran). Nanda strained his forehead, trying to squeeze out something catchy, he came up with, ‘Amma'vukku nandri’. After all, she is supposedly the one that got us the laptops. Suhail was void of any such ideas, so he copied Nanda, almost word for word, ‘Ammamma Vaalga’.

We knew SPS would set out on a quest to find us once he lays eyes upon our scribbling. We were half hoping for it to happen sooner rather than later. 

We were in the midst of a wide eyed slumber during the Computer Architecture lecture the next day, when SPS came about knocking the door. Suhail as usual had absented himself from the day’s classes, so it was just us three. SPS read out from a list of names and asked for us to gather in the neighboring room. To our surprise, Nanda's name wasn't read out. But we knew for sure it was a mistake. There was no way he was sidestepping from this. 

We gathered in the adjacent lecture room as requested. SPS called forth each of us individually and started inquiring our stupidity. There were a lot of girls in the gathering too, but their crimes were not as notorious as ours. Dinesh was called for, I tried to pry on their conversation, but SPS was as always, inaudible, but I was able to ask Dinesh what he'd written once he was sent back. 'Company laptop ah iruntha nalla irkum'. I couldn't help smirking. Then it was Vishal's turn. I could see him straining not to giggle at what he'd written. SPS gave him a whitener pen and asked him to edit the comment (Dinesh had been asked to do the same). After him, it was me. I stood, looking down upon SPS as he sat on a bench. He pointed at my comment on the feedback sheet and asked,'enna pa ithu?'. I had already rehearsed my answer, 'Sir, Vaalga valamudan is tamil for thank you'. I didn’t even care if I was making sense. I was hell bent on trying not to laugh. Breathe, breathe. After hearing what I had to say, SPS glared at me at first, then his features broadened in amusement. That's it, I burst out laughing, I couldn't help it any longer. What was bad is that I couldn't bring myself to stop. SPS didn’t appear to be getting furious, so I took time calming myself down. Then I apologized to him and started changing my comment. Only then did I remember that I needed my laptop's serial number to complete the feedback. But I had already discarded the cartridge in which the laptop was presented. So after enacting a phone call home, I filled in a random number, it wasn't that hard. Just about then, my eyes stumbled upon two other comments. Ramesh's row had the entry 'Dheivame!' and Gowtham's had 'very worst' scribbled beside a few dashed out words. Both those feedbacks had everything to do with us. We had seen an opportunity and had pounced on it. Ramesh was unaware of our comment and so it had been left unaltered, but it was obvious that we weren't that lucky with Gowtham, for in he had already stroked out Vishal's comment on his behalf, 'Parappalavu Sirithu'. Nevertheless, he was called forth for his edited comment (Actually, everyone who hadn't given 'good' for a feedback were asked to gather). All was well. 

SPS had stayed calm, until the part where he hadn't read Arivu's comment. He then started fuming. 'Nee laptop ah return pannidu pa' he said. Arivu maintained his composure and sat next to SPS and started explaining things rather seriously. I don't know what he cooked up, but SPS didn't take long to let him go. Later, when everyone's turn was over, it was Nanda's time to face justice. Vishal helped summon him and then it was the usual routine. We both stood outside the threshold, smirking at Nanda trying to explain himself. When it was all over, we headed back to class together. It turned out to be a Marvellous day, one that will forever remain etched in memory. 

If our faculty advisor were anyone else other than SPS, we wouldn't have dared to risk doing anything as such. We did it because we firmly believed that he would always treat us as one of his own. This is one memory of him we would cherish for eternity. We would remember him as the professor who would stay calm even if the world was to end in a few hours.