To lunch or not to lunch, this is the question...

The original plan was to make a short 15 minute presentation. But he never liked the straight and easy path. He liked to explore and when he explored the group of people with him had no choice but to explore. So what started as a journey from here to there ended up being a tour of here, there and many other theres. The group did not complain for they were awed by his ideas and were more than happy to be a part of something so dramatic. They gave their everything to ensure that there were no blips in his vision. 

Not everyone were happy though. The academicians lost their time with the group as it was snatched for the presentation. They gathered, stared at the group practicing and grumbled. Some times the grumble became noisy enough to be heard by him and he decided to give the group a break from the practice. The group with a heavy heart went back to the academicians who mercilessly fed them with complexities that they were not interested in and even if they were interested would have found it difficult to understand. The group had no choice but to sit through the academic sessions.

The icing on the cake was the test that took place in the afternoon of the day before the presentation. No one in the group could think of anything other than the presentation and hence did not prepare. On the morning of the test, the practice continued. It was only at lunch time that they realized that the test was a few minutes away. Most in the group shrugged their shoulders and went to the dining hall. Two of them decided to stay back, skip the lunch and prepare for the test. The academician who was supposed to conduct the test was finishing his lunch when one in the group walked up to him and said "Those two have skipped their lunch and are preparing for the test". The academician immediately found himself in a dilemma. On the one hand, he wanted to get the two of them to the dining room immediately. On the other, he wanted advice the informer to stop snitching on others. The academician being a person of high principles was evil. Such innocent snitching resulted in him having access to information and hence decided to not admonish the one who had informed him. Instead he went in search of the two who had skipped the lunch.

He found them in the classroom. They were deeply involved in teaching each other. For a moment he hesitated. Being an academician he loved to see people study. From a very young age, he had realized futility of spending time in sleeping and taking a bath. Over time, he mastered the ability to study while doing something else, that is, study while eating, study while exercising, study while sitting on toilet and so on. So he appreciated the two of them sacrificing their lunch to study. Yet, he could not let them continue in this manner for the institution took its rules seriously. This meant everyone eat lunch at around the lunch time. No one has the right to skip lunch. The one who had snitched the information by now would have told ten others and he would be in trouble if these others found that he let the two non-lunchers not lunch. 

"You two! Come here!"

"Yes sir"

"Did you have your lunch?"

"No sir, I did not!"

"I did. I had curd rice."

"Leave now to the dining hall and have your lunch. And you! What were the other dishes for lunch today?"

"I beg your pardon."

"You said you had curd rice for lunch. There were other items too in the menu. What were they?"

"Eh! Well! I think it was... Sorry sir! I did not have lunch. I will go and have it now."

"Please understand that I am an intelligent person and I have enough intelligence to find the truth. Go now!"

PS: The presentation was awe inspiring. It included a sound presentation, photograph presentation and art presentation. It also included three short enactments that awed many in the audience.