The Chinese Advantage

The world is replete with instances of the most unbelievable and mind boggling phenomena - the rainbow,the beautiful water falls and yes, the Indian democracy - to name a few.But none comes so close to leaving you spell bound as does a certain gentleman(pardon my indiscretion) by the name Karma Sonam Bhutia (Also known as China,Angula,Spanky,cheen by his loving friends among which I number - but that's beside the point). Yes, he is a phenomenon in his own right and a rather rare one at that.Given below is an adorable picture of him.

Observe it closely. Yes, the face would depict the serenity one would associate with a Buddhist monk who had renounced all the pleasures that this world had to offer to lead the life of a recluse . And a lot of people have indeed been deceived by this ostensibly innocent portrait. From being the darling of teachers to being the object of pity love of college girls, this face has done it all .No wonder his female companion-ships are on the rise . The reality of his person is as far from this as is Sikkim from Kerala (What an apt analogy!!).The innocent lamb has transformed into a marauding stallion . From late night bike rides and the roof top parties to being chased by cops Karma has shed all remaining inhibitions of his bachelor life.

What really contributes to the making of this phenomenon is the outright contrast one observes in his levels of intelligence. Karma is a university gold medalist for good reasons (though Arun K and I would dissent). He has got a very sharp brain. While most of us tried reading notes to make sense of seemingly difficult subjects,Karma would discover ,with an 'Oh Ya?', that there is an exam barely 6 hours before the actual commencement thanks to his trustworthy comrade Debmalya without whom this Dragon would have been reduced to a dragon-fly . His preparation style would in many ways be like India's organizing of the Commonwealth Games - running around from pillar to post to understand subjects which people would expect him to explain. Yet his intelligence is such that he would invariably end up knowing more that what you ever taught him and on the day of the exam- any guesses who the highest scorer would have been? -- Yes the protagonist of this blog. And while most people would leave the exam hall visibly dejected-Karma would look unperturbed and when asked how his exam was - his face would contort and distort beyond recognition before spelling out "Ya OK!" The "OK" performance would be the ingredient to a future 9.something at the end of the semester.

While this intelligence always left people speechless - the lack of it at other times left people in fits of laughter. For instance, you could always make him believe that there is a test the other day,that the prettiest girl in the college has a crush on him or that the project guide has decided to fail him for some reason. He will willingly treat you or lend you money with the belief that he would get something better in return.The latest in this series being his realizing last Thursday that his TOEFL exam was a couple of days ago!More stories coming up!!