On 18th March, when the magnanimous Christopher Nolan and Wes Ball, the director of the off-the-charts The Maze Runner, stepped into the SN Hall for Hall Day, they were not at all impressed.”I had no idea what looked like an obsolete piece of unstimulating architecture would move me so much in just a matter of fifteen minutes.” said Nolan after spending nearly two hours within the hall premises. “Give me a Red Bull!” gasped Ball the moment he had found his way out of the corridor.
Nolan and Ball had come to India for inspiration for the next edition to the saga: Maze Runner: The Death Cure. “We had stopped by the Kharagpur station for its world famous Jhal moori. Our train was late because the train driver felt the weather to be too hot.” said Ball while sipping his cold coffee. All three of us were at the CCD lounge while these men sang their eulogies. “Earlier I’d thought we’d screen the protagonist eating the Indian manufactured Maggi and the villain hiding the antidote, but the plot seemed too obvious.” Nolan stated.
“We’d heard about IIT Kharagpur since we have spent an enormous cut to catch the thugs operating DC at your campus.” Nolan chuckled while enjoying his cappuccino in his left hand, and a pen in his right. “We were immediately invited to the hall as we reached the campus. Even the gatekeeper asked Chris whether the totem toppled in the end or not?” said Bell, with a fantastic grin on his face. But the reason behind their elation wasn’t quite apparent yet; the choco fantasy now got served and just as we proceeded with our forks, Bell unraveled his latest endeavor at SN.
“SN Hall defies logic. It is real and unreal at the same time. It is dull and grand at the same time. All of ’em is what I need”
“It’s like The Labyrinth. Perhaps more real! Borges would have turned in his grave if I lied.”
“The architecture of SN Hall is made with meticulous obscurity. The way the wings are named is in itself a work of ingenious inanity of intellect. My phone had stopped receiving its mobile network. It was as if I was truly living the Maze Runner. The only difference being that I was being treated with Ras Malais and not fruits, as is the case in the movies.”
There seemed to be no end to both of these men’s apotheosis of S.N. Hall’s nonconformity to Logic and Reason. But Bell and Nolan were definitely lost in the hall, just as every other LBS fresher present. Bell himself had tried to escape thrice from the metaphorical prison but had undoubtedly failed. “GPS had become dysfunctional. It was as if WiFi was playing tricks too.”
“The dull and monotonous walls which were omnipresent now had become ominous.”
“I was getting scared as hell for I had grave doubts if I would ever be able to figure my ways out of the E wing.”
“A B E F S W NR wing order might as well be a crypt. Who knows?”
But both were finally able to knock their way out, nevertheless. A few guys had their German class at 8 pm and somehow they’d cracked the route conundrum. “If you have the rigor to learn German, I guess this must have been a piece of cake” quipped Bell. “Anyway, I’m going home with a great location in head. All I need is to read an offbeat philosophy and pen down a script.p” said Nolan, while fiddling with the pen between his fingers.
I bid them final adieu, and they found their train still on the platform. It was just five hours late.
Vibhuist 