Empty Hand Revolution

Naga Party Life

Kachui burst into the common room he and Cosmo shared with two others in one of the university dorms. After slamming the door, he held up two envelopes. "They came."

Rubbing his eyes, Cosmo looked up from his studies. "What came?" It took him a moment to focus across the room. When he did, he leapt over the low table and snatched the envelopes before Kachui could retract them.

"Hey, give me that. One of them is mine!"

Cosmo danced away. Keeping his cousin at bay with one hand, he scanned the letters for the one addressed to him. It was from his brother. "Here." He handed Kachui the other envelope and plopped onto the stained sofa to open his.

Kachui skirted the low table and headed for the kitchen counter. Inside the envelopes, they would each find short letters and money to help with the living expenses of attending university in Delhi. They both knew the amount of money in Cosmo's would be significantly less.

Cosmo's father and older brother both provided what they could. It simply wasn't very much.

Cosmo's roommate, Pemi, poked his head out from a darkened bedroom. He swore while wiping drool from the corner of his mouth. "Keep it down in here. Some of us need to rest up for tonight's party."

"I thought you were resting from last night's party." Cosmo held up the cashier's check for 2,000 rupees, the equivalent of $30 US dollars. It would get him through the final six weeks of exams. If he scrimped and got top dollar from reselling his books, it might be enough for him to return home for a visit.

Pemi staggered into the common room and stretched. "Don't be daft. Last night was simply hanging out with friends. Tonight is the party."

"What's the difference?" Cosmo folded the check and stashed it near the back of his bio-chemistry book. He knew his classmates received up to ten times the amount, but the money only made them wasteful. He was not like his classmates. He would be grateful for the little help he received. He would turn the little into something great.

"The difference? The difference?" Pemi threw up his hands and looked to Kachui. "Can you believe your cousin?"

Kachui shrugged while taking the seat on the couch next to Cosmo. He placed two glasses of water on the low table. "I guess you're going to have to explain it to both of us." Pulling a textbook out of his bag, he opened it.

"How can two people who study so much be so ignorant?" Pemi pretended to bend over and touch his toes. He could only get as far as his ankles.

"There's always more to learn, I suppose." Kachui responded absently.

"Learning. Well, learning. Sure. Learning is one thing. But this," Pemi waved his arms as if orchestrating an invisible symphony, "this studying! This stagnation! Aren't you tired of studying yet?"

Cosmo responded without looking up. "How can I be tired when I'm not finished?"

Pemi stepped over Cosmo and squeezed onto the couch in between the two cousins. "You're finished when you get tired."

Cosmo took a drink of water and turned the page in his text. "I'll be finished when I graduate in two more years."

Pemi closed the book. "With that kind of attitude, you might as well be finished now."

Cosmo cracked the vertebra in his neck and shot Pemi a withering look. "What's the event tonight?"

"Come on, roomy. It's the Diwali Festival for God's sake."

"Watch your mouth." Cosmo took another drink. "You're beginning to sound like an Indian."

Pemi rolled his eyes. "Well then what could be better than a Naga Student Union Mixer on a festival night?" He elbowed Cosmo and Kachui both.

Cosmo ran a hand over his face and stood. "You know how I feel about the NSU."

Kachui closed his book and stood as well. "Come on, Cosmo. They're our people."

"Et tu, Brute?" Cosmo quipped.

"I forgot about the mixer." Kachui floundered in an effort to cover his sudden flip-flop on the matter.

"So you agree with Pemi, that we should party instead of study?"

"In this case, yes, I think we should put down the books."

Pemi wrapped an arm around Cosmo's shoulder. "Besides, what's so bad about the NSU?"

"I'm only invited when there's a party or a fight."

"Because those are the only times you'll attend." Kachui pouted.

Cosmo paced into the center of the sparsely decorated common room. "The rest is a waste of time. All they do is talk. They don't have the slightest idea how to actually make a difference."

"And you do?" Kachui threw up his hands.

"Not yet," Cosmo pointed at his books, "but I'm learning."

"There's more to learn at university than books," Pemi said.

Cosmo paced to the window. "I'm learning the rest too, from them." He nodded at the street below their second story dorm room.

Pemi and Kachui shared quizzical looks.

"What else is there to learn from spending all my time surrounded by fellow Nagas? It's the Delhites that prevent our people from their full potential. The Delhites are the only ones who can teach us what we need to know to defeat them."

Kachui opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He stooped to pick up his glass of water. He took a drink.

Pemi filled the silence. "Okay, you've got a point. What exactly that point is, I'm not sure. But for tonight, forget all that. Your books will still be here in the morning. God knows the Delhites aren't going anywhere. But tonight, we dance. Tonight we meet beautiful girls." He raised an invisible glass in a toast. "Tonight, we party."

Cosmo relented, holding up his glass. "You're paying."

"All will be provided, my friends." Pemi wrapped an arm around each of the cousins. "Tonight is on me."