Chapter 5: Trials in the Lab

**Four.**

My major is pretty tough—a lot of homework, and it's really hard.

Days blurred into nights filled with assignments and chai. The pages of my notebooks were full of crossed-out equations and desperate doodles. By now, my room was a battlefield of textbooks, half-eaten Maggi packets, and empty chai cups.

One weekend, Kunal and I were stuck in the hostel struggling with a physical chemistry problem.

The fan creaked overhead while we sat in our shorts, the hostel corridors alive with cricket commentary from someone’s mobile speaker. Kunal’s hair was a wild mess, his forehead creased with frustration.

Finally, Kunal wailed in pain.

"I can't do this anymore! Why is it so hard? No matter how many times I recalculate, it's wrong."

He tugged at his hair, eyes squeezed shut, like a TV soap heroine in distress. "Maa kasam, engineering is a scam!"

Looking at the few hairs he'd pulled out, I felt a little sorry for him, but there was nothing I could do.

College coursework is so much harder than school, and not by a little.

Gone were the days of last-minute mugging and lucky guesses. Here, every mistake felt like a personal insult from the universe.

"How about we ask someone else?" I suggested.

"Ask who?" Kunal asked, stumping me.

Teachers? ...Didn't really dare.

The thought of approaching our professors gave me the chills. They seemed like distant gods, always busy, always in a hurry.

Classmates? Kunal was already the top science student in the state.

If he couldn’t solve it, what chance did I have? I scratched my head, feeling the weight of defeat settle in.

While I hesitated, someone came to mind: the Stephen's senior. If she were here, these problems would be a breeze for her.

I sighed, wishing for her guidance—the way she’d break down complex steps, sometimes throwing in a filmi joke to lighten the mood.

But I'd already deleted her.

Regret gnawed at me. Why had I been so hasty, blocking her like that? Sometimes, my own stubbornness shocked me.

If I'd known I'd still be tortured by homework in college, I wouldn't have acted so impulsively back then.

Just then, Kunal, who'd been lying there, suddenly sat up.

His eyes sparkled with a sudden idea, his earlier despair forgotten.

"I just thought of someone!"

"Who?"

"The senior we met at the library last time—I added her on WhatsApp, remember? She's in this major too, she must know."

Kunal acted right away, grabbed his phone, and sent a message.

A minute later, he excitedly dragged me outside.

He nearly pulled my arm out of its socket. "Chal, bhai, she replied! Let's go, abhi ke abhi!"

"Come on, she agreed! Let's go find her now."