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There are a lot of reasons to go to college, believe me…but there is someone special, whom I like to see everyday. I have been seeing that "special one" everyday for the past two months, and even today, college is incomplete without it. Well, that special one…believe it or not, my friends…is a Spider in the Loo.

I was there when he was tiny, and looked so cute that I felt like kissing him, in the middle of my "event". I was there to watch him struggle along the white-tiled, slippery walls of the "compartment", and build a web of his own. He was the king there, with no one to bother him. He used to get plenty of food, and…ahem…water. Even when the newspapers were wailing about the drought emerging as a national calamity, and the impact it would have on our economy, the Spider was carefree…he was getting his regular rations of flies and urea.

My first meeting with the Spider was highly coincidental. Our lectures had got over, which meant that I had been sitting in one place for over 2 hours. My brainwheels had run a lot, and the car exhaust needed to be cleared. We have a codeword for peeing – Cross Border Terrorism (CBT)- with the Loo being called Pakistan. I conveyed my urgent need to infiltrate to my friend, and rushed to Pakistan. To my wholehearted disappointment, all the "compartments" in the Loo were occupied. I took a pose that I thought would save me from disgrace, and waited patiently for someone to alight from the compartment. Finally, one of the compartments got vacant and I rushed in to terrorise.

And there he was…!!! Moving on a slithery surface with remarkable ease, he was busy making a nest of his own. I watched as he jumped from one corner to the other and bound them by a common thread.

Then from that point, he moved on to another section, and threaded them, too. I would have loved to watch him till the end, but a "Chal, Jaldi Kar" sound behind me forced me to alight from the compartment and head back to the department.

And from then, a relationship started. I have seen him grow from that cute-little, tiny wobblebug to a eight-legged monstrosity. I have seen his home being attacked by foreign elements, and how he defended his nest with tremendous valour and courage. I have been a witness to days when he would go without a munchy fly, and sit lonely in his web, contemplating on the deeper issues of life. There have been times when he would wander off from his area with the intention of seeing the world, travelling places, but the cruelties of life in Pakistan forced him to sit entangled always.

My dear friend has been an "indispensable" part of my life, everyday for over 50 days. But today, his situation is very pitiable. The common bonds of those "fibrous" secretions which made up his house are now weak and shaky. His weight and size have also increased with time and fly-cholesterol, and his body now seems more like a small pebble. He is in every danger of falling down into the urochrome coloured river flowing in the canyon deep below. He needs serious medical attention, and some psychiatric help too, but getting a doctor to treat a patient in the Loo is a difficult task.

I will be coming too the Loo day in and day out, but I fear seeing that day when my friend would be no more. I would surely miss him, for all the things he has taught me, in such a short span of time. He has not just been a Spider, but a guide, a teacher , a philosopher all this time. He has taught me intricate details of life, like how to weave webs, catch flies, and sit patiently in a web, though I don’t know of how much use they would be to me further. He has taught me that God exists, and also creates creatures that like to live in a nauseating smell of ammonia. He has taught me that we must feel sympathy towards creatures that are less fortunate than humans, and work towards their betterment.

Times will change, mankind will witness more rainfalls which disrupt Mumbai local services and fill King’s Circle with water. There will be times when Saurav Ganguly will become non-controversial, but still, O dear friend, you will continue to be in my hearts for eternity…..

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