ARJUN: CHAPTER 1

Note: This story is based on Author’s fiction. It does not apply to any historical references or real-life incidents. This is my fourth collaboration with my friend Magnus after Escape From Trap, Miracle and Shades of Love.

Story by: Magnus

Written by: Magnus and Adhithya Sakthivel.

POLLACHI, COIMBATORE DISTRICT

08:00 AM

Everyone in this world wishes to live with happiness, peace, and prosperity. Arjun is a fun-loving and easy-going guy who wishes to live life on his own. After securing good marks in the 12^th grade, he wishes to pursue a course in cyber security. Going near his father Indra Kumar’s room, Arjun said, "Dad. I need to talk with you."

"Yes da. Tell me." His father said, after telling his student (in a phone call), "I will talk to you later." Looking at his father, Arjun said, "Dad. As I have scored good marks in 12^th, you wanted me to pursue engineering. But I wish to pursue a course in cyber security."

Calming himself for a few minutes, Indra Kumar looked at Arjun’s younger sister, Aadhiya. He takes him to another room, where he has medals, certificates, and several such achievements. Turning towards Arjun, he said, "Have a look at this, my son. These all didn’t come easier. With lots of pain and effort, I achieved these things. You know? I had a bachelor's degree in engineering at PSG Tech in Coimbatore. Then I pursued my M. Tech at the Indian Institute of Technology, and finally my MBA at Indira Gandhi University."

Holding his shoulders, Indra Kumar said: "Look, Arjun. You can pursue whatever course you wish. But, before that, have a bachelor's degree." Arjun reluctantly agreed to pursue a course in engineering at Dr. JKR Institutions, which is very famous in Coimbatore district.

JULY 2015

DR. JKE INSTITUTION

8:30 AM

On July 3, 2015, Arjun joined Dr. JKE Institutions. His father dropped him off at college after requesting that his driver take the day off." How his father cried when he paid Rs. 2000 by selling two of his favourite cows during his M. Tech admissions," he said as he entered the college with his father. Indra Kumar requested that his son study well and enjoy college life, to which he agreed.

The college looked gorgeous on both sides. To the left is Ramoji Canteen. On the other side is Joseph Hall. To the left side of Joseph Hall is the bike parking lot, where so many people are parking their vehicles. Meanwhile, security is asking everyone to wear their ID cards.

Arjun reached the Department of Engineering after walking one kilometre from the institution's ground to the place where he interacted with his father. While going, he asked a senior student, "Brother. Where’s B.E. (Civil Engineering) class located?"

After looking at him for a few seconds, the senior said: "It’s on the second floor, da. Room No. 340." Arjun goes faster to the class and stands for a few minutes. As he left, someone from the back tapped his shoulders and asked him, "Are you in the civil engineering department?"

"Yes." Arjun said. The guy who tapped Arjun introduced himself as Ajay Krishna and added: "I am also from the Civil Engineering Department." Your class only."

Everybody came one by one and joined the class. The class tutor, Joseph Krishnan, came to the class and instructed the students about the rules and regulations that are followed at the college. His baritone voice feared the class. They realized his strict nature and decided to execute what he instructed. Initially, Arjun struggles to study well because he reluctantly agreed to do so.

However, he decides to study well for the sake of his father, who has to balance his busy college schedule with raising his children. After the death of his mother Kundi Devi (during the delivery of Aadhiya), Indra Kumar was the one who shoulder each and every responsibility of Arjun and Aadhiya.

FOUR YEARS LATER

2019

In the next four years, Arjun becomes an excellent student in Dr. JKR's institutions with his sheer determination and hard work. He is the eye candy for every girl in the institute. His younger sister, Aadhiya, also joins the same college for her first year. Now, Arjun is a fourth-year student. Aadhiya is pursuing her course in Hydrology (3rd year). A few months later, Arjun decides to go to the department for a meeting with his sister. As he was planning to go there, Ajay Krishna said, "Buddy, I will also come with you, da."

"Why?"

"Because there will be beautiful girls in that department. I will see their boobs to satisfy my sexual desires." Arjun’s face changes. Holding his shirt, he said: "Crossing your limits, da. Try to respect girls. Why are you behaving like this?" Aravinth laughed aloud. They meet Aadhiya.

Arjun notices a girl who appears to be disciplined while speaking with her inside the classroom. A saffron is there in her forehead. She is fair, gorgeous, and stylish with her simple shawl and is wearing steel-rimmed spectacles. Arjun is smitten with her beauty.

"I would like to kiss these kinds of girls at least once in my life, da, buddy," said Aravinth, to which Arjun replied, "First, you clear your backlogs da. Then, you can kiss them as you wish." This embarrasses Aravinth. But he remains quiet to ensure that Arjun doesn’t get disturbed.

"Aadhiya. "What is her name?"

"Why are you asking?" Aadhiya asked him by squeezing her left eye, to which Arjun replied, "Simply."

With a little laughter, she said: "Okay, I understand. You continue." Arjun gets angry and almost leaves with his friends. Aadhiya, on the other hand, stops him and says, "Hey.Why da? Wait. Her name is Yashaswini."

"Wow. What a nice name!" Arjun said. Arjun approached Yashaswini in the canteen cafeteria the next day and introduced himself. She called him "brother,", which made Aravinth laugh at him. However, she smiles at him while going to her class.

"So, are you falling in love with this girl, ah?" asked Ajay, to which Arjun stared at him and didn’t say anything. Slowly, Arjun speaks with Yashaswini, and their relationship grows stronger. One day, Arjun proposes his love to Yashaswini, which she accepts immediately after going into emotional turmoil.

"Yashaswini. I'd like to meet your family members. Why don’t you take me there?" asked Arjun, to which she cried inconsolably. When he asked for reasons, she said, "I don’t have any family members. Only a brother He has taken care of me since childhood days."

"What’s his name? Where is he now?" asked an emotional Arjun. Yashaswini said: "He’s Adhithya Krishna. Now, he is busy in Swaraj Swayamsevak Sangh and actively works for the development of Hinduism, Arjun. We can’t reach him so easily. "I will definitely take you one day." She holds his hands, tearfully.

ONE MONTH LATER

9:45 PM

Meanwhile, Arjun decides to take Aravinth to a psychiatrist. He sleep talks and has teeth bruxism (teeth grinding at night).After the classes are over, he, Ajay Krishna, went along with Aravinth to meet the psychiatrist Ravi. As he has a reputed name in the city. And Ravi is also a teacher by profession who teaches students and gives motivational lectures at various events. After getting his appointment, they went there on time and entered his room.

The guys introduced themselves and explained Aravinth’s problem by saying, "Doctor. For the past few months, he's been sleep talking and suffering from bruxism disorders in the hostel room. We don’t know what happened to him."

"Both of you stay inside the room." Looking at Aravinth, Ravi instructed him to wait for 10 minutes outside the room. Ravi asked, "What bothers him about this?"

"Doctor. He does not even study in the hostel room. One day his father came and said to me that he is only getting 90% from the 6^th grade onwards. His percentage is very low. Before, he scored more than 98%. But now his marks are too low." Ajay Krishna told the doctor.

While Arjun said, "He is simply using his mobile all the time at home as well as in the hostel, doctor. His parents worried a lot and asked us to take care of him. He never reads textbooks and instead reads some other story books. Now, he is reading some shitty books like "Rich Daddy, Poor Daddy." Keeping the book on the table, he asked, "What is this story book?" I, Ajay, and Aravinth’s parents are getting irritated daily, doctor."

"Doctor. Aravinth’s mother is depressed because of the constant fights between him and his father." Ajay Krishna said. The doctor questioned them: "Why didn’t his parents come? Any problems?"

"Doctor. They went for important work in Hyderabad. Hence, they asked us to take care of Aravinth," said Arjun and Ajay Krishna.

The doctor interpreted and said to them, "I can tell you with 100 percentage clarity that the real person in depression is Aravinth." Pausing for a second, he questioned, "Ok. Then what else do you find wrong about him?"

"The main thing is that he does not do what everyone else does.He is always different from others in every aspect, doctor. So, how could he survive in this world if he doesn’t follow what others do?" asked an emotional Arjun, to which Ravi interpreted and said, "Ok, Arjun. I have heard enough from you. I will speak to your friend and let you know what to do next. Now, you both can wait outside."

Ravi asked his assistant to call Aravinth, who comes to his cabin. After entering the room, he sat opposite the doctor. Ravi asked, "What bothers you, Aravinth?"

He said, "Everything bothers me, sir. My parents are judging me by my marks. Not by my skill. Really, I did not want to join engineering. But they forced me to do it. I really wanted to be a writer, sir. But I was forced to take up law. Now I am really stressed about attending regular classes at my institution. Can I tell you the harsh truth, sir?"

Ravi replied, "Yes." Tell me."

"I am seeing suicides happen to my friends and hostelmates. Yesterday, I went to the football stadium, where on my right side was George Stephenson and on my left side was Elon Musk. They are some of the best engineers in the world. At that point, I realized that I could not become an engineer or a developer. I am a complete failure. I even saw my close friend Anuvishnu commit suicide right in front of my eyes."

The doctor asked, "Why did your close friend commit suicide? What happened?"

"Doctor. It was all because of this education system."

FEW MONTHS BACK

DR. JKE COLLEGE, 2018

Aravinth wanted to become a website developer and told my parents about it. But his parents forced him to take up civil engineering by telling him that "this is the number one money-making position. You cannot make money by being a developer. So, if you continue to be, you will not receive even a single rupee."

So he joined the college. Since he was not interested in hydrology, he was not interested in listening to the lecturers. Hence, he will bunk classes and attend hackathons instead. He would always question teachers, like, "What’s the purpose of studying Hydrology and what's its use?" All teachers would target him, and he didn’t even grant a single digit mark for internal.

On one day, he went straight to his tutor, Devakumar, and asked him, "Sir, I have written everything. Why did you give a single-digit mark for the semester?"

Deva said, "Ok. I will ask you two questions. If you answer them correctly, I will make you pass, or else you are failing. Is it okay?"

Aravinth said, "Ok, sir."

"So the first question is a very basic question. Just tell me about the Indian River and its sources." Anuvishnu couldn’t answer the question that was asked by his tutor.

"Okay. Second one. This is even simpler. Tell me five definitions of hydrology." Aravinth said, "I don’t know, sir."

"See. This is why you have failed in many of the subjects. You are a wasteful fellow. Without knowing these basic IQ questions, how will you survive in this world? Go and learn from your friends and classmates. Harish gets 95% and Sowmiya gets 90%. But you are keeping arrears in these subjects. See how they study. Go and learn from them. Mark my words. Both of them would work for a top multinational company. But you would end up on the roads, selling tea."

Aravinth asked, "If you don’t mind, may I ask you something, sir?"

"Yes, go ahead."

"Sir. This is like saying if a fish, monkey, and lion All of them have to climb the tree, and whoever climbs the first is the best among all."

Devakumar replied, "I don’t understand what you are saying."

"Every student has their own interests and passions." If you tell Messi to become the No. 1 cricket player, will he be able to do it? No, he can’t. Because he excels in football. What I am saying is that keeping exams for the students and judging them based on their results and comparing their marks with each other is not fair. Every person is unique in their own way. Also, this examination leads to stress and anxiety among the students. If you fail the exam, you start saying your career is over and your life is over. Then, how will he handle failure? You cannot win every time. Students should be taught how to overcome failure and not to fear it. I will ask questions till my last breath. That is how we gain knowledge. Not by writing answers and memorizing stuff, which are too old and garbage stuff."

The HOD Mary Abraham, who just came there, shouted and asked him to get out of her room. She immediately called Anuvishnu’s mother and told her, "Your son is asking questions after questions and torturing us. So we called him and said humbly if this continues, The degree of your son is in my hands only. If I want to, I can even fail him in all the subjects and ask him to sit again in the first year. He won’t even get a degree. Let’s see how he passes in each exam." He went to the stage for the speech competition. "Questions will be asked," he said in the presence of his friends Arjun and Ajay Krishna, as well as teachers and other students. You are bound to answer!"

He continued to tell them on stage: "In the name of guidance, some male professors are harassing female students sexually. If they don’t cooperate, they blackmail them by saying you won’t get internal marks from me and you won’t pass the exam. Finally, I won’t approve your project. You will end up a failure in life. If you don’t get good grades, keep this in mind. They are torturing the students mentally as well as physically. If anyone raises questions, they are either dismissed or suspended. They plant fear, saying that if anyone raises questions, this is where you will end up in life. This system based on marks has to change."

Staring at Devakumar, Aravinth added: "Many teachers misuse this for their own benefit. So many girls are forced to do what the teacher says. If any girl commits suicide regarding the issue, the police will close the case by telling everyone she eloped with her lover or some other garbage staff. The institutions will hide these with their money so that their name will not be spoiled." This irks Ramesh Babu, the college dean. He warns Aravinth to stop, and this eventually affected him a lot.

PRESENT

At present, Doctor Ravi feels pity for Aravinth. Asking him to wait outside for ten minutes, he asked Arjun-Ajay Krishna to come inside his cabin with the help of his assistant. There, he tells them everything that had been said by Aravinth.

"Arjun. This is very important. Please note the activities of Aravinth carefully. Since then, he has had suicidal thoughts."Arjun and Ajay Krishna said ok and received some medical inscriptions—tablets—written by the doctor.

The next day, Arjun and Ajay Krishna went to their hostel room to wake up Aravinth. But he’s not in the room. They see students rushing to the ground floor. Ajay catches one of the students and asks him, "What happened, da? Why are all they running here and there?"

"Someone has fallen from the 7^th floor to the ground floor, it seems, brother." Panicked, both men rush to find Aravinth dead on the ground floor. Both of them become heartbroken upon seeing their dead friend. Yashaswini and Aadhiya try to console the guys. But they cried inconsolably.

Aravinth’s parents blame the institution for their son’s death and protest in front of the college. Students started to protest in front of the college. Some anti-national forces and parties take advantage of this issue and incite people to create riots for their own benefits. Henceforth, many vandalized the vans, threw stones at the college room, and tore some answer sheets in the staff rooms. As the situation spirals out of control, the principal of the institute calls the police, who brutally beat up the people and send them off from the college.

The news headlines are changed so that the reputation of Dr. JKE University doesn’t get damaged. A few days later, Arjun picks up the diary of Aravinth, which he wrote before his death. He mentioned: "Arjun. I was seen as a joker by many people. But I was doing my best to expose some unfair activities taking place in this college. Your sister, Aadhiya, too became the victim. She was feared and said to me one day that a professor’s son in the college drugged her and had sex with her, which led to her pregnancy. After aborting the baby, I started to investigate this with some of my friends. Since Anuvishnu also committed suicide, Then, I got to know that an agreement is signed before entering this college. In that agreement, it will be stated: If your daughter becomes pregnant, this institution is not responsible; if your son is missing, we are not responsible, etc."

Showing this to Ajay, both the guys go to the office and get the agreement paper, which they signed when joining the college under the pretext of verification. They were shocked to find these statements in the agreement. Angered, Arjun confronts his tutor, Devakumar, who says: "Yes. What can you do for that? Are you going to protest or revolutionize? Nothing can be done until the Dravida Parties and Communists collapse, Arjun. Do other works."

As he stared at him, Devakumar laughed and asked, "What, da? Staring at me. Is this arrogance?"

Taking the slippers in his hands, Arjun came near to Devakumar and trashed him brutally with the slippers. He further tears his shirts and pants. An angry Devakumar shouts: "Arjun!"

"Hush!" Arjun sat besides him and said, "Don’t shout, you motherfucking idiot. After mother and father, you were the ones whom students respected a lot. That’s why our ancestors wrote: Mother, Father, Guru, and God. But, you. Chi!" Arjun spits at his face and humiliates him. Then, he proceeds to beat the professor’s son, Nagoor Meeran, who sexually molested Aadhiya. Arjun breaks Nagoor’s limbs (near the private part), making him crippled for the rest of his life.

This news reaches the principal and the HOD, who suspend Arjun for three weeks after his father comes. Without hearing what he has to say, Indra Kumar shouts at him. But Aadhiya stops him and tells him what's going on in college and for herself by her professor, which she didn't tell him because Aravinth stopped her.

Indra Kumar realizes his mistakes. But he eventually requests that Arjun complete his final semester exams by writing an apology letter to the principal, so that he can get his degree without any hurdles and then rebel against the institution. He eventually accepts it and writes an apology letter to the principal and Devakumar.

While going out, Devakumar said to Arjun, "Don’t worry, Arjun. It’s just the beginning. You had hit me right."

Nagoor and his father come and tell him, "You will be seeing our other side from now on."

Arjun said, "Black sheep like you aren’t deserving to speak these dialogues. After my semester exams, you will see my game. Let’s take a break before we start this game of dice!" As Nagoor and Devakumar look on with evil laughter, Arjun walks with Indra Kumar, Yashaswini, Ajay Krishna, and Aadhiya.

As he neared the car, Nagoor saw Adhithya Krishna, who was waiting for these guys. He becomes shocked upon seeing him.

"You get into the car with Yashaswini, Aadhiya, and Ajay's father. I will sit in front with Adhithya Krishna." Arjun said. Both of them looked at Nagoor and said, "Let’s start the hunt."

EPILOGUE AND CONTINUATION

ARJUN: CHAPTER 2. TO BE CONTINUED...