Quite a couple

Calcutta Institute of Information Technology is also known as CIIT.
In fact nobody remembers when CIIT was called anything else other than
the acronym. CIIT is a computer institute. As it proudly claims, it is
not an university and awards diplomas only. The most popular diploma
course is called PTM. Nobody quite knows what PTM means but a large
number of students attend the two year course. Arin is just one of
them. His course is divided into four semesters Sem P, Sem Q, Sem R and
Sem S. Arin has cleared semesters P and Q. He has been a good student
with scores just in excess of 90\%. Today is the first day of Semester
R. Classes commence from ten am. But Arin was in the student area by
nine thirty. He really had no work in hand. He just hated staying at
home after nine in the morning. As he walked in through the glass door
of the institute he noticed many familiar faces. They were discussing
something intently. Arin wanted to know what it was. He joined the
group and soon was in the thick of conversation. The matter being
debated was this. The last class in Sem Q had been taken by Miss Sandy.
Everyone thought she was a terrible educator. In addition to all this
she was always late. The students were fed up of her. There was a
rumour that Miss Sandy would be asked to teach Sem R. In anticipation
of this, Robert, who was a notorious pupil had made a complaint about
Miss Sandy to the principal. It was being expected that the principal
would visit the new Sem R gathering to iron things out. As Arin was
trying to pacify Robert he saw something from the corner of his eye. It
was a girl wearing a green polka dot dress. She was not only pretty but
looked very intelligent too. Arin allowed her ten minutes to settle
down. Then he pretended to walk by the seat where she was perched.
Then, as if in afterthought he went to her and said, 'Hi, I am Arin'.
The girl looked a little confused. Nevertheless she replied, 'Hi. I am
Monika Roy.' That was the end of the conversation and the bell rang.
The students made a beeline for the study area which was essentially a
large hall with seats. As expected, the principal came visiting. He
asked the students to present the problem. As the brightest student in
the class Arin decided that he should make his views known. He used the
most flowery language he was capable of speaking. He was less concerned
about getting justice for his fellow students and more intent on
impressing Monika Roy. His attempts did bear fruit. During lunch he met
Monika in the cafeteria. 'You know a lot of words, you sure do.', said
she. Arin blushed a little and said 'Thank you.'.
From the next day classes began in earnest. The group had a new
educator DK. His job was to teach the group Unix. He made Arin and
Monika sit next to each other. As a result there were conflicts. Arin
always wanted to sit on the corner chair and so did Monika. Each would
try to occupy the coveted seat. And these attempts would end in massive
quarrels. There were other problems too. Both Arin and Monika thought
that they were more intelligent than the other person. Whenever DK
asked a question it was Monika who wanted to answer it first. Sometimes
Arin preferred to keep quiet but if he knew the answer he found it
stupid to not blurt it out. The conflict between Arin and Monika became
a source of entertainment for one and all.
The group decided to go on a picnic. Diamond Harbour was the chosen
spot. There are many resorts in this area and they rented a room in a
medium sized establishment. The picnic took place in late January. The
class had fourteen boys and eight girls and CIIT provided a bus for the
occasion. The institute's driver drove the group to Diamond Harbour. He
was also their designated caretaker. But by afternoon he was fast
asleep. It was then that the students decided have some 'fun'. To begin
with, they had a few drinks. They participated in some mock wrestling
fights. Then, Jeremy, who was known to like Monika very much threw a
challenge at Arin. He was asked to spend three hours in the same room
with Monika. Of course Monika too had to agree to enter the room with
him. Arin was a little inebriated and perhaps Monika was feeling bored.
The group rented another room and locked the two in. After a while both
fell asleep. After exactly two and half hours the door of the room
where the duo was sleeping was banged till the whole resort knew what
was happening. There were two persons at the door. One was Arin's
father. The other was Mr Roy, Monika's stepfather. Jeremy had called
both of them up and concocted a great story of intimacy between Monika
and Arin. The boy and girl were woken up and were greatly embarrassed
to find themselves together. They were virtually dragged into waiting
cars and transported home.
This incident changed things forever. Arin and Monika became great
friends first and then lovers. They spent hours exchanging sweet
nothings in the cafeteria. Though both of them came to the institute in
chauffer-driver cars they would ask the driver to drop them at a
specified bus-stop. From the bus-stop they would take the slow bus.
They wanted to spend as much time with each other as possible. Their
course too was nearing completion. Monika decided to skip the final
exam and take the Overall Revaluation Exam(ORE) two weeks later. In the
meanwhile Arin got a job with computer firm BCS. It was now or never.
They decided to marry. They approached the registrar and the date was
fixed on 31st March. The three witnesses were the three brothers Ben,
Bon and Bun. On the appointed day everything was ready. They tried to
make the civil marriage as fancy as possible. Nobody had any idea where
the man and bride would live after marriage though. But Jeremy helped.
He had informed the families of both Arin and Monika about the events
of the marriage day. But by the time the elders arrived the legal
formalities had already been completed. Nevertheless, both families
welcomed the groom and bride into their fold with the best wishes they
could offer. It was a happy ending to a strange love story.