THE STREAKERS CLUB

Ah, for blonde hair. No, brown hair. Reddish brown. No, black.

Hang on. Let's rewind. Although hair coloring was initially targetted at grey hair, it unleashed a desire in many people with perfectly normal hair to streak. Perhaps an occasional change is ok, but as they say, a pastime can become a passion. And passions can always take you too far. It may be hard to imagine, but there are pockets in India, where the passion for streaking has been pushed to new limits and the people are now simply... streakers. In these places, streaking is the norm, leave out hair coloring. Flat out streaking. One such place is Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore. Well, I just found out too.

Recently, I met my long-time friend from VIT. It had been a while since we met, and she had changed considerably. As we merrily flit through the fun old days, I casually brought up the interesting topic of streaking.

"So whats all this talk of some guys streaking in your college." I asked.

"Oh that," she laughed, "Well, what can I say.. its quite the best change that has been brought about in VIT culture."

"Hmm. Well, it can't be very popular though can it?"

"Oh no. We've got a Streakers Club in VIT." she said, "We have like 100% of the college enrolled. Everyone from the students, to the staff and the workers is a full time member."

I was a bit taken aback. A minority cult is ok. But you don't expect an entire college to streak for no reason.

"That's pretty novel. How did the idea come about?" I asked out of curiosity.

"In VIT, the students always wanted to revolutionize something. We believe that with our outlandish ideas, we will get better recognition for our research programmes."

"But isn't it plain revolting?" I ventured.

"Not at all. When I came to VIT, it was a crumbling shack. The rest of Vellore couldn't care less for VIT," she said , "But after 'The Revolution' as we now call it, we have a lot more visitors on campus for our college fests and otherwise. VIT students are instantly spotted in a crowd. The press is constantly at the campus doorstep. It's nothing short of VIT-mania out there."

" 24/7 ? ", I asked feeling a little crazy.

"Absolutely!"

"Doesn't excessive streaking cause a strain on the public?", I thought aloud.

"Well, you have to think objectively. Yes, there are some who may be very disturbing to the average observer. But which person in his right mind will want to stop the whole thing?".

"Right." I said, "What are the practical uses of streaking anyway?" I asked.

"Well, the summers are really hot in VIT." she said after a long pause. I think my face let out some skepticism.

She made her case. "But hey, who cares when it is such a big success? I tell you, this is a big revolution. It's spreading everywhere. We believe this is an idea whose time has come. And the euphoria is unstoppable. We are on a winning streak."

"Hmm.. it sounds exciting. But didn't you face any anti-streaking resistance initially?"

"Yeah", she giggled, "But they streaked in protest."

"How is the streaking phenomenon catching up outside VIT?", I asked.

"Well, we haven't seen many who wanted to participate in the club. However the sponsoring support we received from non-members to keep the club going was overwhelming."

"Was it?", I feigned surprise.

"Ya, and we've thrown open the club to outsiders as well. The response has been a little muted although strangely a lot of the other clubs have seen exceptional public response since then."

"Why wouldn't they.", I laughed, unable to hide my alienation.

"Say, you seem very interested.", she bombed.

"Err.. not really. I just ..", I started .

"No, it'll be great. You'll be hot news as the first one outside VIT to join the Streakers club."

"The first one? I thought you said the response was only a little muted", I asked.

"Ok, it was fully muted.", she brushed it aside, "But hang on, I'll have you enrolled. Mind you, they're pretty strict on your committment to streaking".

"Please.. just listen to me.", I said.

"Come on, it'll be fun. We can go on a streak trek."

With this, she blithely flipped open her phone and went acackle for half-a-minute. It was a very awkward wait. When she was done, she looked at me a little dejected.

I stared at her face, and thank god I stared only at her face when she said, "I'm so sorry. To be eligible for membership, you should have been naked all your life."

(Sorry dear friend. You know who you are, and this just had to come out bursting sometime.)