Rahul and Shreyas were the graph theory resource persons for the camp they were being to. It was scheduled to be held in Indian Statistical Institute Delhi. It was a camp for the first year students from the various IIT’s. The kind of students in the area were extremely brilliant ones. They were ardent problem solvers, waiting to be introduced into the kind of mathematics researchers do. The first class, the very first class handled by Rahul, had them in high spirits. Rahul was an extremely student friendly teacher. His methodology was the kind of methodology which every student liked, Morever, the camp did not have too many students, which allowed Rahul implement his strategy of applying one to one attention to every student.
Shreyas was the more formal type teacher. He covered the concepts in thorough detail before actually jumping into doing problems. But he was extremely humorous and jovial in his approach, and this had the students rooting for him too. In effect, Rahul and Shreyas had taken their place as the most popular teaching duo among the students of the camp. Especially a group of 7 students from Bangalore and Chennai were special to the duo. They showed a lot of affection on the teachers, and above everything, saw to it that the two of them joined them while playing badminton in the evening. Days went by in minutes, hours in seconds, and the camp was a lot of fun. At around this juncture, there was this student from Bangalore, by name Abhinav, who wanted permission for his brother to attend the camp. Apparently, his brother was a math student, who had to discontinue do to family problems, and as he was an enthusiast in graph theory, he wanted to come and try his hand at it. Rahul and Shreyas accepted and asked him to get his brother to their cabin.
Saturday, 11 July 2009
Chapter 2
It had been 7 years since they last met. The world around them had changed considerably. Both were officially adult now. The pangs of adolescence had died out. They lived in a world in which they were completely responsible for one another. He didn’t know where she was. No idea about her whereabouts. But, he couldn’t help it either. The Vinay affair had caused it all. When she left, she had Vinay’s diary with her, which talked about everything. Everything that had happened in the past. It included the backstabbing episode. It was one of the most disastrous things Vinay had ever done. It had been the stepping stone to many of his future mistakes. The buddies, pals of yore, didn’t even know where one another were. The asylum could be the only answer.
As the flight landed in Delhi, Rahul’s thoughts centered on Anjali and Vinay. He had last seen Vinay in the asylum, and that was three years back. As for Anjali, she came to know of Rahul’s feelings for her, through Vinay’s diary. She felt this was a betrayal of sorts. She couldn’t accept the fact that a friend of hers had feelings this deep for her. She severed all ties with Rahul, and sent him into a shell. A world of his own. A world, which only Shreyas shared. During their tenure in Bangalore, Shreyas and Rahul had become best friends. Shreyas had done everything he could, in order to get Rahul out of this. To the extent that he begged Anjali to get back to Rahul. When nothing of this sort happened, he just decided to keep the two away. He kept Anjali’s thoughts as much as possible, away from Rahul. There was a diversion of thought , a distraction of sorts. Rahul plunged deep into mathematics. He was now a professional at graph theory. Shreyas and Rahul were now recognised as the strongest graph theorist duo in the country. As for Shreyas, he was getting settled in life. He proposed to Maria very recently, and they were scheduled to marry exactly a month after. He had not taken the Rahul route, and ended up proposing to Maria, and much to his delight, got an immediate OK. But the dark secrets they shared with each other were known only to the two of them. It wasn’t a huge issue any more. Or that’s atleast what they thought.
As the flight landed in Delhi, Rahul’s thoughts centered on Anjali and Vinay. He had last seen Vinay in the asylum, and that was three years back. As for Anjali, she came to know of Rahul’s feelings for her, through Vinay’s diary. She felt this was a betrayal of sorts. She couldn’t accept the fact that a friend of hers had feelings this deep for her. She severed all ties with Rahul, and sent him into a shell. A world of his own. A world, which only Shreyas shared. During their tenure in Bangalore, Shreyas and Rahul had become best friends. Shreyas had done everything he could, in order to get Rahul out of this. To the extent that he begged Anjali to get back to Rahul. When nothing of this sort happened, he just decided to keep the two away. He kept Anjali’s thoughts as much as possible, away from Rahul. There was a diversion of thought , a distraction of sorts. Rahul plunged deep into mathematics. He was now a professional at graph theory. Shreyas and Rahul were now recognised as the strongest graph theorist duo in the country. As for Shreyas, he was getting settled in life. He proposed to Maria very recently, and they were scheduled to marry exactly a month after. He had not taken the Rahul route, and ended up proposing to Maria, and much to his delight, got an immediate OK. But the dark secrets they shared with each other were known only to the two of them. It wasn’t a huge issue any more. Or that’s atleast what they thought.
Chapter 1
It was the 17th of May. He went up and took the paper. On seeing it, his eyes had a tear drop. Thoughts flashed by him. It had been a long time. Thirty five years to be precise. But memories were still the same. Life flashed back to the college days, school days, the parks, beaches, roads, the chats, the moments they spent. He walked up to the milk booth, and got his daily quota of milk. He was living alone. Atleast for today. His wife had gone to meet her mother, with the kids of course. He sat on the tea table, and pondered upon how stories had changed so drastically.
He went upto his drawer, and pulled out a diagram. It was so evidently a graph theoretical statement. There was a connected graph, or was it connected? Yeah, it wasn’t. He found the disjoint vertex, it was marked in golden. This was made in those days, when graph theory was the order of the day. He had once been too very good at it. But then eventually the interest had faded out. He found it pretty unusual for himself to be emotionally very attached to stuff, but this was something he couldn’t control. May, the 17th, by default, had to be one of the darkest days of his life every year. The day when he lost himself into thoughts. Thoughts of the past. Thoughts which wouldn’t end up doing him too much good. But thoughts, those which would remind him of the golden period of his life. He took that eventful piece of paper, and kept it in his inner palms.
He went thinking into that dastardly trip with that paper in his hand. That fateful graph theory camp, which ended up changing his life. Changing his life forever!! That trip which brought Anjali and Vinay back into their lives!!
He went upto his drawer, and pulled out a diagram. It was so evidently a graph theoretical statement. There was a connected graph, or was it connected? Yeah, it wasn’t. He found the disjoint vertex, it was marked in golden. This was made in those days, when graph theory was the order of the day. He had once been too very good at it. But then eventually the interest had faded out. He found it pretty unusual for himself to be emotionally very attached to stuff, but this was something he couldn’t control. May, the 17th, by default, had to be one of the darkest days of his life every year. The day when he lost himself into thoughts. Thoughts of the past. Thoughts which wouldn’t end up doing him too much good. But thoughts, those which would remind him of the golden period of his life. He took that eventful piece of paper, and kept it in his inner palms.
He went thinking into that dastardly trip with that paper in his hand. That fateful graph theory camp, which ended up changing his life. Changing his life forever!! That trip which brought Anjali and Vinay back into their lives!!
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