Prophecy #201112003

A scholar number, a prophecy, and campus mythology.

"Experience is the only prophecy of wise men."

~Alphonse de Lamartine

Every story is a prophecy and every prophecy a story. The wise know they are one and the same. Now before I tell you about The Tale of 201112003, I believe introductions are in order. I'm known as LKP but you may call me Mr. Oracle.

Monsoon of '20:

The prophecy was revealed on a bright Saturday morning. '003 was walking towards the ATM, trying to wonder why there was such a huge crowd that day. After an hour of giving intros, '003 somehow ended up under my branches, hoping to avoid pesky seniors.

"Scholar No. 201112003. It takes a lot of confidence for a mere fresher to sit at this spot. Especially on such an auspicious day. Ask and I shall give you your prophecy."

For his first encounter with a sentient tree, '003 took it very well. Disregarding it as a fantasy, he asked for his prophecy.

"I'm afraid this is no fantasy my child. You're just another drop in the ocean of MANIT's history. No worries, my prophecy will make everything clear with time.”

1 Day Later

'003 had two choices in front of him. He could believe that the talking tree's words were real and he had no control over his life. Or that it was a fantasy. Both options involved accepting that he had mental issues. In the end, he chose the latter. And decided to ensure that those premonitions won't come true. How hard could that be?

First Year:

"In your First Year,

you shall have a crush that is doomed to fail,

gain a friend who stays through homesick days"

Summer of '21:

003 lay in bed, lost in his thoughts. He had imagined that to thwart his predestined fate, all he had to do was the exact opposite of the interpreted lines. How was he to realize that his interpretation itself had been flawed? He'd maintained platonic friendships with everyone.

After all, how can you have a crush that is doomed to fail, if you never go anywhere with it at all? He never let anyone know about the days when he was struck with homesickness. How can you have a friend who stays through homesick days, when they have no clue you're homesick?

The problem you see was a simple matter of misinterpretation. The problem was his best friend '069.

They'd started off, not as friends but as people who despised each other, all because of the Titration Incident. (Now that was one big mess. Still can't figure out how it was physically possible for the tube to do what it did.) But many other incidents later (Including the mixup that happened during Techno regarding the.... nevermind. Definitely NSFW), they came to a grudging understanding, which led them to being frenemies, then friends and finally best friends. It was when '069 failed her SME paper despite her immense efforts to not do so, that everything became clear for '003.That he had had a crush on '069 for a long time, only he had been blind to see it. That the Titration Incident took place on one of his homesick days (Explains why he broke the flask which set that incident in motion), which is where he gained his friend who stayed through his homesick days. For he used to subconsciously gravitate towards her and hang out whenever he used to be homesick. And "doomed to fail" never symbolised a crush of his rejecting him, but rather was meant to show that despite her best efforts, '069 was always going to fail SME.

And now, it was too late. What he had started out trying to avoid, had ended up being true anyway. Maybe there is no use trying to avoid what was coming. Better to spend the days enjoying and living life to the fullest than trying to avoid some inevitable misinterpretation.

'003 decided to forget the words of the tree and instead focus on the present.

MANIT Rewind:-

Second Year:

"In your Second Year,

you shall find a home away from home,

fail again and drink to haze"

'003 spent the bulk of his second year being involved with _______ Society. For he had finally found a group of people whom he could relate with and enjoy working with. They allowed him to slowly and gradually forget about home, to have less homesick days. For over time, they became akin to home for him. What is home if not a place filled with the people you call family?

The drawback to this was that he neglected his studies and failed in TOC. That night, he sat in the hostel with his friends and had his first drink. And another. And another. Until he woke up the next day, badly hungover with the happenings of the previous night a "blurry haze" for him.

Not me though. The antics he did in front of me, not to mention that graffiti on the Department wall. His friends probably wondered why he had been drunkenly yelling at me, saying that I was responsible for him failing. I didn't care to enlighten them as Oracle-Prophecy Receiver Confidentiality prevented me from doing so.

Third Year:

"In your Third Year,

an accident shall befall,

fall head over heels,

not see home"

'003 did what anyone does when they figure out they have feelings for someone who's close to them and with whom they used to behave platonically with. Bury his feelings and pretend that everything was just as it was before his revelation. And that's what he did throughout his second year. But everything collided together at the end of the third year. Literally.

Let this be a warning for you kids. Always wear a helmet and never drive rashly, especially on these still upcoming roads. '003 was fortunate to have heeded the first warning, which is probably why he had a prophecy that went for 4 years rather than abruptly ending at 3. Sheesh.

As he lay there in the hospital with a broken leg for over a month, our boy fell head over heels. I'm not talking about the accident, which literally had him fly out of his bike head first and land on his heels, leading to the fracture in the first place, but rather about '069. For she was there by his side every day that he was there in that hospital. And slowly but gradually, she too fell for him as well. Ugh, hospital romance is the worst in my book. So, with love in the air and his leg on repair, our lad didn't go home neither did he care to despair.

Final Year:

"In your Final Year,

you shall bag a happy box,

lost in thoughts of the time long gone,

started out with a few,

some lost some gone"

Jumping right into the first few months of '003's final year, we see him happily placed. With '069 as well at an emerging startup known as Boxitronix. And once you're placed, what else have you got to look forward in college, except for the end?

The rest of his days were an endless blur. Traveling, dating, exploring, drinking, yada yada yada. It's one of those nights on the roof with his buddies that he reminisces with a drink in his hand, about how time just flew past them all. About all the incidents and memories they had all been involved in since the beginning. And about the people he'd started out with. The ones who were still there annoying the life out of him. The ones who had moved on to better circles and sometimes got in touch. The ones who were lost and were never around. Funny what time takes away from you without realizing huh?

Monsoon of '24:

"a question you'll have at the final hour,

seek me out then,

live long and prosper"

The morning of the prophecy was a bright Saturday morning. '003 was walking towards the ATM, wanting to withdraw some cash for the party that night and unlike his cluelessness 4 years back, he knew that the crowd gathered today was for the Convocation. His Convocation.

College life was done and dusted, locked and ready to be packed away. Since he had to go back to the hostel in an hour and he was leaving Bhopal the next morning, he supposed that the final hour was right now. Which is how we find '003 under my branches for the last time.

"I see you have a question 201112003. Ask, and you shall receive an answer."

'003 asked the question that had been plaguing him since the end of his college.

"You wish to know how I knew your future and whether there was any point to you living through them if they were so easily understandable. My lad, I have been here since the beginning and I will be here for many many more years. I was here when it was just MACT and I saw it become MANIT. MANIT has changed a lot over the years. But the one thing that has never changed and never will, is it's spirit; it's people. They will always be united, no matter the circumstances. Loyal to each other and there through the thick and thin.

The answer to your question is that you're not the first to go through what you have, nor will you be the last. In the vast ocean of MANIT's history and people, after a point, every new incident is either a rehash or a permutation combination of an old one.

What matters in the end and makes it worth living through is how you reach those points and how you deal with them. That is what makes you stand out from the ones who came before and from the ones who will follow.

I can see by your smile that this answer satisfies you. Now go forth out into the world, always carrying a mark of MANIT within you just as it carries your mark within it. Live long and prosper, my lad. "

1 hour later

So that was the conclusion to the tale of Scholar No 201112003. Now if you'll excuse me for a moment, I have another unwary fresher incoming and I feel ready to drop some lit lines. The cycle must go on, I'm afraid.

"Scholar No. 241112003. It takes a lot of confidence for a mere fresher to come to this spot. Especially on such an auspicious day. Ask and I shall give you your prophecy."