Looking at the notice board, Nishant realized his college had been really trying to help students with their interests. Drama, Music, Dance, Quiz, writing, Photography, Table tennis, Cricket, badminton, mountaineering, fashion etc - there were simply too many options. But of course, most of these options would not be of interest to him. Nishant needed something simple and less risky. Quiz and writing, both these were finalists in his eyes, but quizzes were scary. One must be really fast and also possess knowledge on wide variety of topics. This was simply absurd because Nishant had been trained to concentrate on academic books and understand the technical topics better in order to gain marks. In other words, Nishant had no practical and general knowledge. His mind was filled with bookish topics and taking part in quizzes with that mind was really of no use. So the only option left was joining the writers club. This was the club responsible for college magazine and they also had various other forums to share their writing. This felt like the ideal place to be. So Nishant mentally noted down their regular meeting details and headed towards the class.
Since it was only 2nd day after semester break, many were missing from the class. These were mostly the people who stayed in hostels and they were always the last ones to come back from any vacations. First week after vacation was always like this; half full classes and absent minded professors. Most of the times, there would be mass bunk during this time, which was like a win-win situation. No one would lose attendance and they were free to roam around the campus or to go out. But Nishant hated these little tricks. He was under the impression that bunking classes would only cause problem to them towards the end. Exams would be near and there would be so much left to catch up. Today looked one of those days where majority of the class would initiate the "mass bunk" protocol and he would just have to fight it back with all his might. First step was to remind fellow first benchers about the after effects of this stupidity. Then gather them all and march towards the leader of 'mass bunk' and let them know about the plan of insubordination. Yes, it was indeed very serious matter of insubordination to leader as he would talk about unity and marching towards common goal etc and that would probably mean that everyone should follow the protocol and clear the area before the professor was in the vicinity. Anyone failed to do so, would be considered as a traitor and would be looked down by the majority.
Thinking over his strategies Nishant was about to initiate the conversation with his fellow comrades. That's when someone shouted that Prof. X met us in the hallway and told us not to waste his time if attendance was not above 90%. He really had some important work to finish and hence he would rather not waste the time with smaller class. It was implied that 'mass bunk' was suggested and this meant no one would listen to Nishant now and he had to agree to the protocol. Within few seconds entire class was empty. Everyone had gone out as if they were running for their lives. Cursing his ill fate Nishant headed towards library. Obviously library was the only place where he could wait, till it was time for the writers club meet.
After spending almost 4-5 hours in library, it was time for the most awaited meet-up. Nishant had been feeling a little nervous thinking about joining the club, but this was something he had to do. The meeting was at 3pm in one of the rooms of community building. Not knowing what to expect, Nishant stood outside the classroom for few seconds. After taking a deep breath, he walked inside. It was a well lit room and was very similar to a classroom. There were few members sitting in a small huddle and chatting. Someone looked up when footsteps were heard. Seeing that it was just nishant, they went back to their huddle. Few of the seats were occupied by individuals who were working on their laptop without caring about the surroundings. Blackboard had few names and some words written on it. It looked like details about some competition and also ideas for articles.
Naturally Nishant occupied the first row and took out his book and started reading it. After few minutes footsteps were heard and few more people walked in. They were seniors and looked like they were in charge of the club . Along with them was, one familiar face. Nishant was surprised to see Shradha taking seat in the last row, facing the guy who was now standing in front of the class. "Hello everyone. Thank you for coming to our regular meeting. We have many things to discuss today although this is just the beginning of the semester. We have a busy schedule ahead and we will have to work hard this time to keep up with the stellar reputation we earned last year, by winning most of the university and inter college competitions." Looking around the class, the senior continued, " I see some new faces this time. I am very happy that more and more interested juniors are joining us. Although entry to this club is based on the skills you show during entrance essay writing competition, held in first semester of every year, we take in ad-hoc entries throughout the year. All you need to do is to write an essay, on any topic, and show it to us in the next meeting. We will just need to know if you are really serious about writing and know basics of writing. We can help you improve your skills from then on. It's all about helping each other while winning competitions and publishing school magazine. Now, why don't we start with the introductions"