In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones

Annie Grover is stuck repeating his fifth year at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. He spends long hours in the hostel, daydreaming about social uplift and a controversial scheme to plant fruit trees along the railway that serves as cheap compost and irrigation. The mood is nostalgic, humorous, and defiant.

He keeps two hens in his room and earns a modest sum from selling their eggs. His hobby is undercut by a prankish meal when his friend Mankind and Ugandan roommate Kasozi roast the hens, mixing humor with a moral jab at his carelessness. The incident foreshadows the fragility of unconventional plans.

Arjun and Radha, a lively couple of fellow students, present Annie with a rabbit as a token of sympathy and a spur to new adventures. Their antics on campus add energy to Annie’s still-life dream of reform. The rabbit becomes a symbol of his imperfect, sometimes chaotic support network.

The day to submit the thesis finally approaches, and the hostel buzzes with nerves and last-minute cramming. Annie’s friends rally around him as the formal interview process nears, turning the campus into a pressure cooker of expectations.

Radha goes to the interview dressed in a saree but wearing a man’s hat to obscure her own sober attire. Arjun and Radha hatch a plan to draw the panel’s sympathy toward Annie, turning fashion into a symbolic support for his cause. The move tests conventional norms and buys time for Annie.

Just as Annie is about to be judged, Yamdoot receives a call from his deep-voiced mother, who is revealed to be Mankind pulling the strings. The trick unsettles the hostile panel and buys Annie a more favorable hearing. The room pulses with the tension of deception influencing the outcome.

With the ruse succeeding, the jury watches Annie with renewed sympathy and awards him a good grade. The result lifts the spirits of his friends and vindicates the risky strategy. The moment marks a small victory against hostile authority.

At the graduation party, Annie arrives with heavy books under his arm, his hair shaved, and a butterfly painted on his head, signaling a new persona. He announces his plan to study law and to sue Yamdoot, turning his education into a fight against authority. The scene swirls with celebration and rebellious resolve.

The epilogue reveals the various paths the characters take after graduation: Papey returns to Ludhiana as a building contractor, Lakes starts an interior design firm in South Delhi, and Kasozi rises in Kampala’s urban development authority. Each pursuit reframes the community around them as they diverge from Annie’s path. The world remains full of ambition, even as old tensions linger.

Kasozi becomes the vice chairman of the Kampala Urban Development Authority, establishing himself as a major force in urban planning in Uganda. His success signals the broad, global reach of the friends’ ambitions. The tie between student life and professional power is highlighted.

Mankind transitions from roommate to architect for a departmental store chain in Copenhagen, illustrating the transnational arc of the group’s ambitions. The move marks a shift from campus improvisations to large-scale commercial projects. The distance between friends and their worldliness expands.

Radha, the non-conformist voice of the cohort, drowns to death in 1976 before she can complete her first novel. Her demise underscores the fragility of dreams in a world that rarely grants easy chances for women writers. The tragedy adds a somber counterpoint to the otherwise optimistic epilogue.

Arjun becomes the second biggest commercial marigold farmer in India, turning a campus side project into a thriving agricultural enterprise. The shift from student to entrepreneur demonstrates the unpredictable but persistent hunger for success. The countryside’s golden crops mirror the characters’ stubborn hope.

Annie Grover is appointed assistant professor of design at the National Institute of Architecture in 1977, signaling a formal academic ascent. This comes a year after Yamdoot’s retirement, closing a chapter of institutional struggle with personal achievement. The arc completes his journey from rebellious student to credentialed educator.