Labu lived in a tiny private hostel in Siliguri along with four other boarders; they were Joel, Dipu, Nipu and Chachu. There was no telephone connection in the hostel as till then telephone used to be treated as a symbol of luxury and mobiles were yet to be invented. Chachu was an editor cum owner of a weekly newspaper while the rest of them were college students.

Chachu used to be treated as the leader of the hostel for being the senior most and a permanent member of the hostel since its origin. After lots of confusion, misunderstanding, miscommunication and conflict, all the boarders of the hostel agreed to abide by certain rules for the peace and prosperity of the hostel under the able guidance of Chachu. One such rule was like the following:

According to Chachu, falling in love was not a crime but hiding the affair to the boarders or hostel mates was a criminal offence and should be punishable by law. So the rule says,” No boarder should hide his love affair from the rest of the boarders.” Since rules are made to be broken, Chachu’s hostel was not an exception.

One morning, hearing a gentle knock at the main door Labu had to go to open the door as he knew his talented friends were in slumber.

 As he opened the door, he found a lean and thin girl, wearing blue sari with a good number of pimples on her round face, standing before him. In spite of her pimples she looked pretty.

He became surprised looking at the girl. Though they kept on talking about girls almost round the clock but he couldn't remember the visit of a girl in their hostel. 

As he recovered from his initial shock; he understood that by mistake she knocked at the door in search of someone in the neighbourhood. Anyway he didn't like to leave the chance of helping an innocent and helpless girl. Like a smart boy he said, “Yes Miss, how can I help you?”


“Would you mind taking me to Mr Jagrav Bishnu?”  She replied keeping a sweet smile between her lips.

It was Labu’s turn to respond. Keeping a smile between his lips he said, “Would you mind showing me the address?”

“So far I know Jagrav Da is your room mate. If I am not wrong you are Labu aren't you? She said with confidence.”

Hearing his name from her, Labu became thoroughly nervous and asked her, “Who are you?”

She suggested, “Let’s move to the room, it doesn't look good talking long in the door step.”

Labu became thoroughly confused by her smart announcement since they didn’t have any Jagrav in their hostel.

Anticipating his line of thinking she boldly said, “Your Joel is my Jagrav Da and I am her sister, I mean cousin. Let's move.” 

Saying that she guided him towards their room where all his friends were in deep sleep. For the time being he felt she was the host while he became a shy guest.

Entering into the room she gave a tight push to Joel in order to wake him up with a sweet call, “Jagrav Da! Jagrav  Da?”

Joel got up and being surprised asked her, “Who brought you here?”

Without any hesitation she replied, “Labu brought me here.” 

Listening to her ready reply Labu failed to understand whether he should feel proud or be ashamed of. Joel jumped out of his bed and said loudly, “This type of foolish work only can be done by this stupid Labu.”

Labu realized that he should be ashamed of his action. Having been ashamed, he failed to get a suitable place to hide his face. Joel continued, “One can't expect minimum common sense from him.”

Then looking at Labu he asked angrily, “Hey, how do you bring a girl into a boy's hostel, particularly when they are in sleep.”

“Stop scolding Labu. Put on the shirt,” She said loudly throwing a shirt on Joel. Then she continued, “Labu didn't bring me here rather I brought him here. Sorry I will give you all ten minutes time to get ready.”

Immediately she went out of the room and closed that door from outside.

Dipu and Nipu jumped out of bed and started dressing themselves up in a hurry  while Chachu without waiting for morning fire like other days got up in a hurry but failed to decide from where to start his dress up.

 Putting on his shirt Joel gave an angry look at Labu. Labu became nervous and failed to understand his actual fault. He was almost like a temple bell hanging at the door step; as anyone can ring the bell, similarly any boarder of the hostel could scold Labu with reason or without reason.

After sometimes she gave a knock at the closed door, probably it was her warning bell before her second coming. By that time they gave a tidy look to the room along with themselves and Labu was scolded again both by Dipu and Nipu for being slow in arranging his bed. Before final bell Labu was asked to open the door.

She introduced herself as Dew, the cousin of Joel. They all became thoroughly surprised when she perfectly identified Dipu and Nipu. Identifying Chachu was not a great job and how she knew Labu was a mystery but distinguishing Dipu and Nipu was really surprising.

To welcome her by a cup of tea, everybody became very active except Joel. His anger towards Labu was not going to extinct so soon. The girl seemed to be thoroughly bold, smart and commanding. Finding Chachu awake along with others she became very sad and didn't hesitate to express her dissatisfaction. She scolded Joel for being noisy and regretted for not getting chance to witness the rituals of putting fire on Chachu’s lips in order to wake him up.

In fact, almost all of them had their own style to wake up in the morning; but Chachu’s style was really unforgettable. They had to ignite a cigarette and place that between his sleeping lips and he would start smoking smoothly in his sleep and then only he could wake up properly. It was their daily drama.

Remembering their daily drama, they all got amused and became aware that there was nothing to hide from Dew. Within no time they all became comfortable with her. In order to prepare tea, Chachu ordered Dipu to put on the stove. Dipu without hesitation asked Nipu to do that and as usual Nipu passed that job on to Labu. He could pass that to Joel but remembering his anger he had to make an effort in putting on that stove.

Finding him struggling all alone with the stove, Dew, probably feeling pity on him joined her hands in helping him in preparing tea. Her move activated Dipu Nipu and Chachu and their enthusiasm pushed Labu out from tea track. Chachu asked him to bring biscuits from the nearby shop. Labu went out to execute the order. 

He left a sigh of relief coming out from there. There was a funny competition among Dipu and Nipu to impress Dew. He felt Chachu was not far behind. Probably he was ready to sleep again to please Dew. They all understood that she was not merely a cousin of Joel; she was much more than that.

Still they didn't like to leave a chance to impress ‘a girl’.  Labu felt they were behaving like lunatics. He didn't like to get involved in that silent competition as they were all talented people while he himself was a slow witted boy.

They all had tea along with biscuits. Knowing about their joint cooking, she became highly impressed and spontaneously agreed to prolong her stay until lunch. Certain changes were made in the menu to entertain her. Joel too forgot his anger and got involved in their days activity. 

They failed to feel how the day glided by with marathon gossip, song, recitation and cooking. Dipu and Nipu recited their own poems, Chachu read some extract from his editorial column and finding nothing, Labu recited a nursery poem. Except that Labu had to play the role of a servant of the hostel as no one was in a position to leave the station, leaving Dew behind.

After lunch Joel went to leave Dew at the station. Though Dipu and Nipu wanted to accompany them but Chachu stopped them by using his presence of mind. After their departure Chachu explained that they needed that space.

Of which they all agreed but Dipu and Nipu made Chachu understand that again Joel broke the rule of the hostel by keeping his love affair with his cousin Dew secret. He should be handled properly for violating the hostel ethics. In fact, they got their own nature back and they were not going to become tired by teasing Joel. Following the rules of the hostel Labu too had to join them but remembering the stubborn face of a girl, he became nervous. He thought, instead of Dew had she been Pue, his secret sweetheart.