Of Course I Love You!: Till I find someone better… by Durjoy Datta Page A

great friends, Shrey and Vernita avoided each other’s company. Shrey always had problems with Vernita’s boyfriends, whom she picked up from the strangest of places. House parties. Common friends. Friends of common friends. Even the Internet. Vernita never saw any point in what Shrey had to say and invariably pissed him off. Shrey cared, but Vernita was too blind to see that.
    The more I wanted to run away from the interview and the incident, the more it caught up with me. People couldn’t stop discussing their interviews and their projected chances of getting hired. The entire college seemed to have just one topic to talk about—the results. So when the results came out, the entire batch assembled at the T&P Department to see if they or their friends had made it. I was avoiding going anywhere near the department, but Vernita was consumed with curiosity.
    ‘Why do you want to know?’ I asked Vernita, as she pulled me behind her.
    ‘Curiosity’s sake. Let’s see who amongst us are doomed to a life of codes. Not everybody would have screwed up like you,’ she said as we took the long walk towards the T&P Department. We crossed the OAT, which had stood witness to many Engifests, Troikas, INNOVAs and other college festivals, not to mention the innumerable romances that often sprung out of the nothingness that had gripped the college.
    Not that I gave two hoots about getting into a mass-recruiter IT company with a sad gender ratio, but I would have loved to be selected. It helped to have a back-up placement as a cushion before you tried out for companies that offered better pay and a better role.
    ‘Hey, Prasad! Did you get through?’ Vernita shouted across to someone she barely knew.
    ‘Yes, I did. I am sorry for you, Deb,’ he whimpered back.
    ‘Never mind,’ I said, as if I hardly cared. ‘Prasad? He got through? He can barely talk.’
    ‘It is not about how you speak, Deb,’ Vernita shot back.
    ‘Okay, then tell me what he has that I don’t?’ I sounded like a jealous boyfriend.
    ‘He looks like a geek, not an asshole. He looks serious for the job and you didn’t even shave. Look at your hair. Terrible,’ Vernita snapped.
    ‘Oh, so now you finally get it. It’s not about how you speak. It’s about how dumb you look!’
    ‘Whatever. I am glad I didn’t sit for it,’ she said.
    ‘You would have got through anyway. You’re a girl.’
    ‘That’s sexist!’
    ‘Sexist? As if you disagree. You know you are overqualified—too good-looking to be rejected.’
You have great breasts, and you look smashing in formals and high heels
.
    ‘Shut up, you chauvinist pig. I have the brains, you dickhead. And I know how not to screw up an interview,’ she said.
    ‘Don’t give me that crap. Okay, give me the name of one lab assistant who hasn’t gone out of his way to help you cheat in practical exams.’
    ‘That’s easy … I mean, sort of.’
    ‘No, wait, explain this. How have you been consistently outscoring the strongest and the most skilful of guys in the workshop? Don’t tell me those manicures give your hands super strength. Or do you manage to do it with your brains? Just accept it. It helps to be a hot girl in an engineering college.’
    I knew she wouldn’t have a comeback for the workshop retort. She never stuck around the workshop for long. The pervert lab assistants were always too eager to help her out. What did they get out of it? Nobody knew. I would rather see her bend over and sweat it out. At least there would be something to look at while we risked our lives trying to work with molten metal alloys.
    ‘Okay, shut up, sucker. Look, Ayush is coming. Looks like he got through, too.’
    ‘Don’t ask him. I can’t take it any more.’
    ‘Fine. But I guess he is coming this way. No. He definitely is,’ Vernita said.
    ‘Hey, Deb, heard about you. I’m sorry, dude. Never mind. Anyway, I got through. Mohit, too. Bye. Take care, man, and take it easy. Such things happen,’ he said