Gustaakhs in Fiction - A tribute to Batch'2020

“Truth may be stranger than fiction, but fiction is a lot more interesting.” Ever imagined how interesting the fiction would be, when it would revolve around the lives of strange (Atrangi) Gustaakhs??

Here are some of the plots imagined by the Junior Gustaakhs with the Gustaakhs of batch (2016-20) as its characters. 

The Destination (by Shivani Pandey)

“Baba yaar tu bada haraami hai.....aree purvesh jii......abe tu chup reh rajput...” While Vinayak’s mind was echoing with these voices, lost in the thoughts of his college days, his boss interrupted him. It’s been 10 years since the batch of 2020 graduated and their lives have taken drastic and unexpected changes. Vinayak, who once used to be the man with the ultimate chull has settled like any other man of his age, working as a software engineer in an IT firm; he is happily married. He has no contact with the beloved people he was thinking about. Navin, the founder and leader of “Vikas Party”, is the emerging youth leader. With the elections drawing close, he has become the man on the posters on every street. Abhijeet, an established name in Bollywood, is the owner of the Rajput Films and the one who launched the heartthrob of teenagers, the actor Rohan. After graduating from college, Abhijeet worked in a firm for a year but couldn’t take it any longer. He gathered up his courage and set on a journey to follow his passion. Rohan got to know this and joined him. At that time, the fight against nepotism in the Bollywood industry was at its peak. This benefitted the two young talents in a way they had never imagined and they achieved glory in a short period. Around two years ago, Purvesh and Ashutosh, a duo who always wanted to be on the front cover of Vogue, approached Abhijeet. Though they had carried on with their engineering jobs a little longer, the desire inside them to become actors had reached its peak. To their great shock and despair, Abhijeet and Rohan did not pay any heed to them and treated them like they would treat any other person, despite all those years of friendship. They felt betrayed and the desire inside them grew even more and they set on their journey to become the best actors of Bollywood . They are now working as actors in some digital channels that make short videos and have many young fans, owing to their charm but they have a long journey ahead of them. Everything was going smoothly. One fine evening, Vinayak received an unexpected call from Hrishikesh. They were not in touch for the last 9 years. Hrishikesh, the hacker is the right hand of Navin who collects data of the opposition parties using his skills which are then used to plan the party’s next move. He wanted him to write content for Navin’s party. Vinayak, who had given up writing years back, refused but Hrishikesh did not give up and persuaded him on the name of the bond they once shared and Vinayak had to give in. Thanks to Vinayak’s excellent penmanship, Navin and his party started becoming more popular. But the high class society was not in favour of him, especially Bollywood which has a great impact on the people. When Abhijeet and Rohan came out to support Navin and his party, there was no hurdle left and the win was becoming more and more probable as the days were passing. Meanwhile, Purvesh and Ashutosh who used to support Navin came to know about his secret collaboration with Rajput Films and got infuriated. They confronted Navin and decided to start anti-campaigning. They’d also turned Hrishikesh to their side. With this, Navin was devastated as he knew he couldn’t continue without them, especially Hrishikesh. Not only was he losing a grip on the elections, but his party and friends as well. After thinking a lot, he decided to ask Vinayak for help. After discussing with Abhijeet and Rohan, he came to the decision that Vinayak should contest in the elections. They knew he could convince everyone with his charisma and eloquence. The only risk was his popularity. They had put their faith in the Vinayak they knew in their college days. They were sure that if he was determined, it would take him no time to gain popularity, and they were all there to support him. They approached Vinayak and tried to convince him, asking him to do this for the sake of their friendship. They tried their best to bring out the old Vinayak and left him to think over this by saying, “समय आ गया है...एक नया किरदार निभाने का।”. On returning, they tried searching what Vinayak has been through in all these years when they came across his personal diary on his pc. They were shocked when they got to know that he was in close contact with Chahak during all these years. He had disappeared right after graduation and no one knew about him. It was really weird that his diary did not have much about how he felt or his inner thoughts, all it had was his day to day activities. But his last entry (from a few days ago) blew their minds away, “समय आ गया है... एक नया किरदार निभाने का।”, and obviously it was not about politics. They tried contacting Chahak. He was living in a Tibetian monastery for the last few years. He told them that Vinayak was quite depressed about his dull life but had become too accustomed and bound by commitments, so he was unable to leave things behind. He tried but was finding it difficult to carry on and had almost decided to join Chahak. They informed Purvesh and his team about this and they all hurried to Vinayak, only to find him intoxicated. He had given up smoking years ago so this confused them. They had no idea what was going on in his head. As soon as he regained his senses, all of them surrounded him and looked at him anxiously. A little smile appeared on Vinayak’s face as he said, “बस.... समय आ गया है.. एक नया किरदार निभाने का।”.

गुस्ताख़ अल्फ़ाज़ (by Paras Jain)

Thodi virtual hai.... Lets begin... Baba ne Khaya piya phooka With all other seniors of his batch Fir so gye... Fir dekha to pta chala... नवीन जी के हाथ में पूरा राज्य है, और हमारे प्रिय मंत्री है राजपूत जी, फिर आवाज आती है चहक सर की,, खवातीन ओ हजरात अब हमारे सामने पेश है बाबा और पुर्वेश जी का नृत्य, जिसमें संगीत होगा, आशुतोष जी का और हमारे प्रिय मल्लू जी का, फिर क्या था, सब मग्न थे इस कार्यक्रम में और इधर से आते है, ऋषि sir, "मेरे हिस्से का माल कहां है?" ओ माफ करना ये सब सपना था।।

अतरंगी यारी (by Samarth Neema)

This is the story of some amazing (friends). The 2k16 batch comes to the college. Naveen, Vinayak, Abhijeet, Ashutosh, Hrishikesh and Purvesh are the same wingers. Let me introduce you all to these boys. Vinayak is a boy from a relatively backward area in Himachal Pradesh, most of his education was done in Hindi medium and he has not got much exposure. Abhijit a confident boy from a well to do family he soon became very popular in the college. Ashutosh is a happy boy who was interested in writing stories. He decided to join the scripting team of the college drama club. Hrishikesh was interested in coding and stuff related to software. He was the roommate of Vinayak. Purvesh was a handsome and cheerful boy. He also dedicated himself to join the drama club because of his interest in typical Bollywood movies. And last but not the least Naveen a boy who was having a strong personality but he used to bully others. As I have already mentioned that Vinayak was from a backward area he used to wear non fashionable clothes and also always looked sad probably because he used to compare himself with others. He came to a different world. All these wingers became friends but Vinayak was a misfit in all of them. Naveen used to bully him and he also used to make jokes on his underconfident nature. All others initially used to appreciate jokes of Naveen and this appreciation was more of a permission for naveen to further crack jokes on naveen. But Naveen was not always a bad guy. (Naveen will tell you more about himself later) Wait a minute, have you guys thought that Vinayak was a weak student let me tell you he was very sharp in mathematics and he was also very good at writing in Hindi mainly because of his education in Hindi medium. As I have already told you that Vinayak and Hrishikesh were roommates and hrishi (as his friend used to call him) was a good coder but many times Vinayak used to help him in writing proper algorithms. Vinayak also used to help Purvesh in preparing for his role of a village guy for a college drama club event. Ashutosh, a kind of writer himself also used to take help of Vinayak to set the plot of his stories. Vinayak was having kinda good relations with all but he was not a good friend of all mainly because of his shy nature and partly because all other wingers used to make fun of him with Naveen. NAVEEN SPEAKS- [Tum logo ko kya lagta hai mai bohot bura hu sayad aisa hi lagta hai kyu ki yeh story to mere point of view se nahi likhi gayi. Toh chalo tum logo ko thoda mere baare mai batau. Mere papa army background se hai aur unki frequent transfers ki wajah se mere zyada dost nahi ban paaye. Bachpan se hi mai kaafi alag alag jagah rehne ki wajah se zyada dost nahi bana paaya. But meri best friend meri mom hai jo mere saath khub khelti thi bachpan se hi aur Muje khub khiltai thi (The reason why I am so healthy 😅) but then came this fucking JEE aur Muje 9th class Mai hu ghar chod ke kota jana pada. Waha par bhi zyada dost nahi bane jo bane bhi woh khaali test paper discussion tak hi the. I worked my ass off to clear NTSE, KVPY and then JEE. The reason why I make jokes on Vinayak because I thought ki Mai agar thoda humorous hounga toh sayad mere zyada dost banenge I know it’s weird but jab 4 saal kota Mai akele rahoge aur uss se phle bhi zyada dost nahi honge toh I guess pata hi nahi chalta kya weird hai aur kya nahi.] On an evening Naveen thought of doing something adventurous with his friends.He always comes with not so weird (according to him) plans. Naveen told everyone that we will go to Vinayak and will tell him to dance on those stupid Himachali folk songs. Although not everyone was happy with this plan, none of them were having the guts to deny Naveen because of Naveen’s muscular body. But when all of them went to Vinayak’s room he wasn’t there. Then they all went back to their rooms and thought that they will do this when Vinayak will come back. Abhijit and Ashutosh came to their room and they discussed that what they guys had been doing with Vinayak was wrong. They then thought they should go to Vinayak and apologize. Then Vinayak told them that he has many family problems and he is also not getting good grades. Vinayak told them that he is kind of a loser. Then Abhijit and Ashutosh told Vinayak that he is not a loser. Ashutosh said-“ Vinayak bhai tuje aisa kyu lagta hai ki tu looser hai tu itna accha toh likhta hai bhai aur Muje hrishi bhi bata raha tha ki tu algorithms bhi bohot sahi likh ta hai. Aur Naveen ki baaton ko personal mat liya kar woh mazak karta hai.” Then both of them convinced Vinayak and also said that they will help him with his English. While they were coming back to their room, Naveen was there in the cooridor. Naveen thought that Ashutosh and Abhijit are bringing him back for dance on folk songs. Naveen told Vinayak to dance but then Abhijit told Naveen to stop all this. This was something unexpected for Naveen. Naveen said -“Kya Bol raha hai Abhijit. Ab tu iss Vinayak ke liye muj se ladega” Abhijit-“ladai ki baat nahi hai naveen lekin Vinayak ka har baar mazak udana kyu hai woh toh sabse acche se baat karta hai thodi hasi mazak chalti hai lekin ab hum Vinayak ke saath kuch zyada hi kar rahe hai” Then they all went to Abhijit’s room. Vinayak said naveen-“bhai matlab Muje tum logo ke mazak se koi problem nahi hai lekin tum log Muje apna dost nahi maante Muje kaafi bura feel hota hai jab tum log akele hi gumne chale jaate ho.” After hearing what Vinayak said naveen realised that Vinayak is also feeling the same thing which he felt when he was in kota. There was an awkward silence in the room for 2 minutes. Naveen came forward and hugged Vinayak. Then we had the beginning of family Gustakkh Saale from their year and finally a trophy in the Nukkad.

The not-so-single " BaBa " (by Ridhi Ratan)

I was going outside my hostel building towards mess, while on a call with my best friend Abhi, while my girl gang started teasing me over talking to him this much. I told them to shut up as we are just friends, okay "best friends" for the past 10 years, kind of "rakhi-not celebrating" best friends with opposite genders xD xD. But my mingled girl-friends couldn't resist my single status and thus everyday teasing was no new thing. I ignored them all and was engrossed in talking to him. I noticed some senior boys of my opposite hostel were gossiping and having fun, all fourth yearites, their last year, how nostalgic it would be na? I asked Abhi. Some tall, some thin just 2-3 years older than me,but they would have an independent struggling life from now onwards, wow, even passing your four years in college is a great achievement, I sighed, while he also was telling me about his college life. Our conversation was going fine and gentle over nostalgic stuffs until I shrieked with lowest possible voice with only Abhi allowed to hear, "Wtfff, This can't be true!!" . I was shocked, I had never expected to see this day in college, such a heartbreaking day. I was all drowned in my own thoughts when Abhi asked me with panic on his face, "What happened?". "He....He got committed!" I said, with pain visible in my voice. "he, who?? Ohhh your crush? hahaha, if you won't approach someone was doomed to take him. Well if you don't mind, do you remember even I'm single since 6 months, you remember my past creepy girlfriend na? oh sorry! I mean ex, who was still obsessed with her ex, haha....You know na it went way more longer then I ever expected, 4 weeks, so long four weeks, well anyways, listen, I too am single.... Hey are you listening even?" At last he asked when I stayed quiet for 57 long seconds. "Can you just shut up, stop flirting with your only best friend, and yes he isn't my crush, he is ba...." "Who is he then?" Abhi interrupted. "Let me speak now, shut up..." "Okay say" "Yrr he was the only person so chilled and jolly in college, the best example of "singles are happy", but he ruined my belief. He was the only person I assumed would remain single after me. You remember I told you stories of "baba" and his great writeups of hindi. He broke so many young hearts today yrr...." "Your heart's okay na....?" "Shut up Abhi, I'm all fine, I'm just worried about finding a new 'single'-role model now, do you understand how difficult it is in today's times...." "But I'm .... single "he again interrupted. "Listen, shut your mouth" I almost shouted at him , loud enough for people to hear me, felt a bit embarrased. Meanwhile, I saw that now everyone was congratulating baba for getting a chokri along with nokri, while that girl was all smiling and blushing, hearing this cringe-shit word,"bhabhi" from I donno how many mouths, though voices of navinji, purvesh sir,chahak sir and all were quite high to be heard by anyone. Afterall they have welcomed their first "bhabhi".Quite good for them, and obviously bad for young hearts of college. I too moved to congratulate baba, as usual a skeletal cheerful soul of college. "Aur Ridhi , kya haal?" he asked me. "Sab badhiya sir. lekin ye kya kia aapne? "Babi" dhundh laae, itni jaldi? Mujhe to lga, aapki waali mummy laengi!! Anyways sir congratulations." "Arreee naukri milgyi to socha ab chokri bhi le aau, before getting out of college, everything sorted." I nodded( what else can one do ) and told him how I always presented him as a role model for singles, happy and cheerful, in front of my friends. He started laughing as if I'm joking(while inner me - no one's ever gonna take you seriously, {starts crying further}). Since there were other people around, I moved back to give peeps chance to congratulate baba. "Hey listen, now see everyone is mingled, let us also....heehee, you know na what I mean..." Abhi was still on the call, trying to .... flirt!!.....ohhh something's terribly wrong today, he hasn't ever talked this creepily" "Abhi can you stop being creepy. There can never ever go something between us, get this thing in your mind....!!!" "Hellloooo, madam, wake up it's already 10 and you have missed your past two lectures, don't worry nothing can ever go between us..., okay" He said laughing so hard. "But we both are really single na XD, hahaha"he further added. "OH damn, that all was a dream, thank God", I exclaimed. I explained the whole story over call to Abhi and how do I get these terribly wrong dreams. I cut the call with ttyl, curtains raised, realising it's already been 3 months since January 2020 and how fast life moved on from cult meet of december'19 to Corona-ending-college-start of Feburary. Time really flies, I told myself and got back with my chores.

Train of Dreams which I lived with Gustaakhs (By Bhumanyu Goyal)

Familier smell. A beautiful cloud passing by. Familier beats. Bollywood jokes. Witty jokes. Amazing story. Serious jokes. Another cloud passing by. Old town road. Someone said Football? What a lazeez smell. Desi jokes. Home-feeling. "Happiness" of "Happiness". A sophisticatedly beautiful line passed by. Suddenly the "train" stopped! "Your time is up. Go back to earth!" - I heard.