JUDEians at a round of Fauji. Picture by Farah Gherda

Beyond the book, stock and several smoking barrels, JUDE (Jadavpur University Department of English) remains an explorative delight. Spearheading the mission to “kill time in between periods”, the students have structured a rather colourful escape in the form of a game, simply called ‘Fauji’. Introduced to the department by Azeem Hussain, a 2008 JUDE graduate, who found inspiration on a trekking trip, Fauji now draws a diverse spectrum of reactions from the JUDEians, mostly on the brighter side.

Explaining the basic structure, Srinanda Ganguly, 2008 JUDE graduate and a Fauji enthusiast, says, “There are two teams, usually recognised by their scarves or handkerchiefs, which also denote lifeline or resistance. Each hides some worthless treasure and whoever gets to it first or kills off more members from the other team by physically catching hold of them and taking away their resistance or scarf, wins. Also, each team should not have less than five people, or else it’s pointless.” A creative adaptation of the original rules of Fauji, which involved “ambushing the opposing team and jumping on the treasure” never worked out and the JUDEians settled for the more practical version with less potential for violence.

Although this revamped version of Fauji comes with a JUDE copyright, participation is not restricted to them alone. “Random people from other departments and also outside college often join us,” adds Sandeep Mancha, another 2008 JUDE graduate.

Convicted with the crime of hiding in the worst of places, Azeem defends himself: “Keeping the treasure on the air-conditioner in one of the rooms in the department was, according to me, very original and quite difficult to think of.” And trust teachers to come up trumps: “If any other place could beat it, it would be when the treasure was tucked under a car when Rimidi (Rimi Chatterjee, now a JUDE professor and one of the founder members of Fauji) hid it,” smiles Azeem.

What’s fun without a little bit of controversy and a sprinkle of creative misfortune? “Once caught, people would try to bribe the opposition for retaining their resistance by providing random pieces of information about the treasure, which would most often be wrong,” remembers Sandeep. Some even kept replacing the handkerchiefs, he complains. “Some would even change teams during a game for some strange reason. It’s all political, you see,” nods Srinanda.

Towards the end of its era, the game achieved a controversial reputation and got the entire department talking when JUDEian Anasuya Sengupta was accused of making a “racist” comment during a game. “I am indeed tainted for life,” jokes Anasuya. Despite what sounds like fun, the craze for Fauji soon started tapering, “as it required too much organisation and ended in proper fist fights,” recalls Satrajit Ghosh Dass.

Fauji even flaunts an Orkut community of its own for strategising and scheduling more attacks. For more, catch the JUDE ’08 batch playing their last homage game soon.