Pallav Gopal Jha (panda, fenku)

You must have heard of this: "Its raining cats and dogs." Now this dude I am writing about has had a hands-on experience of this as he very lazily exclaimed, "Kutta billi toh tahi, par mere ghar mei baarish mei macchli zaroor giri hai" (Not dogs or cats, but fish certainly has come with rain in my house). As people started to laugh, he reasoned, "saala paani bahut jyada evaporate ho raha hoga, aur macchli thi chhoti hi, toh vapour k saath chal gayi hogi" (The fish was small, and the vapour was large enough to carry it along!) He then summed up, "Tasty bhi bahut thi, paka ke khaye, mazaa aa gaya tha." (We cooked it, it was tasty).
This is precisely what this panda-boy from the posh locality of Williams Town in Deoghar spent his life doing in Vidyapith. He always had a story or two, about everything one could conjure, he had the most amazing experiences of all, and always supported them with what he thought were logical explanations. Another time, he very coolly mentioned, "Is baar ghar mei chaapakal chala rahe the toh magarmachh ka bachcha nikla usmei se." (This time around, as I was using the hand-pump at home, along with water came a baby crocodile.)

One of the funniest stories that I remember from our Vidyapith days involves this cool panda and the eternally tortured Parivesh. Taking a cue from Snehil/Atul, Pallav decided to show his domination of the weak, and who better than Pari would fit the bill. So Pari was made to kneel down, Pallav placed his leg on Pari's chest and announced, "British rule over India" (The fact that the skin colours fit the bill perfectly made it all the more hilarious.) But Pallav was left red-faced, literally, as Pari suddenly went up and slapped back, furiously shouting, "The revolt of 1857". One of those embarrassing moments, which you can do nothing about.
(I have to thank Vibhor for this story)

I hear that Pallav was quite a successful model in his college days, but the bug had bitten him way back in our Vidyapith days. I hope you do remember the Raymond's ad involving puppies (the one where the lead plays with them and even the dogs can feel the smooth fabric suiting the Complete Man). Now, Pallav once invited some people to his home, they were greeted by a similar scene. Pallav took one of them in his hands, looked towards his bemused guests, waited for a comment, and since there was no response, himself completed the exercise, "Raymond's, the complete man!"
Pallav was deeply moved by the Raj Aryan character in Mohabbatein, and started keeping the blue Vidyapith sweater on his back (I can't exactly describe this thing, hope you do remember the Raj Aryan wala pose). I am told that he had a photo-shoot of himself on the +2 building's roof, for participating in Grasim Mr India. With his build, I am pretty sure he would have gone a long distance in the competition.

Of his special friends, I have already covered most of it in the post for Anupam. though I must add that Ankit, Amit and many more were gung-ho about him in our school days.

Sadly enough, I have not been very much in touch with him these days, and have also not revised stories, so the post shall come to an abrupt end. I am pretty sure though, that you'll have much more to share about him.