Flashback: One fine morning/afternoon (I don't remember) back in fifth semester, me and my friend are puttering around in the campus. Suddenly he exclaims:
Him: "Hey you are on my team for the project, I'm telling you now itself... so, no bailing later!"
Me: "What project?"
Him: "8th semester, final year project"
I had not given a thought to this issue till then, but hey I felt that it's in the best interest of the both of us to be on the same team. It was a mutual feeling, only he had made an effort to put the proposal on the table at a very early stage.
Me: "Yeah alright, that sounds like a great idea!"
Little Fast-Forward: It's sixth semester now, a lot of self proclaimed punters have spawned all over the class. It's like playing fantasy football, "I'd like to have zidane, pele, maradona, carlos ... in my team, yes kaka is good he'll play for me!". Turns out some(many) punters have included my friend in their fantasy project teams.
A little analogy would help here. Forgive me for generalizing, suppose if there is a very desirable girl in your school/class, if some guy manages to get her it's a sense of accomplishment for the whole boy-kind. They'll be happy, they congratulate the guy, maybe crack open a beer(appletini actually :p) and say "Yeah mate, you finally tamed that chick!". Now imagine that the other way round, imagine being that girl. Who is the queen bee of the school, every girl would be at some point envious of her. This is exactly what has happened with the project. The very desirable player, is on everybody's list but nobody is getting him to play for their fantasy project teams.
All the girls run around in awry, flailing their arms around, crying foul and what not. The irony here is, these girls are mostly guys :(. They watch as we walk together from the corner of their eyes letting their imaginations run wild as to what we're conspiring. Suddenly, I am the villain who abducted the famous princess. Some wise crack thinks I brain washed the "most desirable player" and got him onto my team. So he latches onto us whenever we are alone trying to stop me from casting anymore spells from my vast arsenal of witchcraftery(OK that's not a real word :P).
Another one goes public announcing that her fantasy team has turned real, job done. So, the girls(read guys) are totally pissed off, they feel we conspired this without telling anyone. At least I should have kept them abreast of the happenings. Yeah right! Well, finally the truth gets out, everybody knows that the most valued player is on nobody's team and he is back on the market. And boy are the girls happy! They huddle together and jump and finally, get back to fantasizing :-p
Recent past: It's seventh semester now, not many developments except people trying to beat each other with bamboo sticks. Secrecy is the key here, try to get projects from contacts etc, you get the point. Sherlock Holmes/Holmesses of the class run secret investigations throwing questions at the members of the same group and check if their answers match. Set people on my chaff to siphon off answers, ah the list goes on.
Present: Sherlock Holmess creates a ruckus, for not getting the most valued player on his team, turns out somebody else has found his secret treasure trove as well. Holmess if baffled, at wit's end to find out how anybody could have ever found the place(how hard can it be, really?). Immediately targets the usual suspects because he is awefully wronged(missed your periods mate? fret not!)
It's been nearly a decade since I left high school. Seems like some people are still finding it hard to come to terms with this fact. Whining, moaning, bitching, crying doing everything we could possibly associate high school girls with. Well can't help but deal with a lot of guys who are still holding on to their favorite pleated skirts from high school...
