THE TITLE HELL-MATES MAY POSSIBLY CREATE A MISUNDERSTANDING IN THE MINDS OF READERS. THE MEANING I INTEND TO IMPLY HERE IS ‘MY FRIENDS WHO REMAIN MY FRIENDS EVEN IN THE HELL’. I HAVE A FIRM BELIEF THAT DUE TO THE COLLECTIVE EXPLOITS AND MISCHIEF WE HAD INDULGED IN DURING OUR SCHOOLDAYS, TOGETHER, WE ALL THE FRIENDS ARE INEVITABLY DESTINED TO LAND INTO HELL. HOWEVER, A FEW OF MY OPPONENTS CLAIM— WHEREVER MAY WE BE SENT, EVEN IF WE ARE SENT TO HEAVEN, THAT PLACE IS BOUND TO BE TRANSFORMED INTO HELL. WHENEVER OUR TEACHERS DEMANDED IN THE CLASS THE NAMES OF THE PRANKSTERS, NONE OF US OPENED OUR MOUTHS. IT’S IN THIS SENSE, WE WERE TO EACH OTHER, MUTUAL ARMOURS— ‘HELMETS’, AND ‘HELL-MATES’, TOO! THANKS TO THE UNITY AMONGST US, MOSTLY THE WHOLE CLASS WOULD ALWAYS BE THE SHARER OF THE COLLECTIVE/ CORPORATE PUNISHMENT. WE HAD SIX ‘BIOMATRICS’ AMIDST US. YOU MAY FROWN AT THIS NON ENGLISH WORD, BUT ‘BIOMATRIC’ IS A COINAGE OF A NEW COMPOUND WORD FROM TWO LANGUAGES: ‘BIO’ IS DERIVED FROM THE PLURAL ‘BAAYAA’ IN MARATHI WHICH MEANS ‘WOMEN’; AND ‘MATRIC’ WAS A COMMON TERM IN VOGUE IN OUR DAYS FOR THE FINAL YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL. SO, THESE SIX BIOMATRICS MEANS OUR SIX CLASSMATE-GIRLS. ANOTHER REASON WHY I MENTIONED THEM AS BIOMATRICS IS BECAUSE THE WORD IMPLIES DUAL MEANINGS — THEY WERE EXPERTS IN TAKING A ROLL-CALL, AND ANOTHER, THEY WERE EXPERTS IN TAKING US TO TASK. FOR THE LAST TWENTY FIVE YEARS, WE FRIENDS, WHO HAVE BEEN TOGETHER SINCE 1962, GO OUT SOMEWHERE ON A FOUR-DAY- PLEASURE TRIP EVERY YEAR. MYSELF BEING A DOCTOR, I HAVE ALREADY SENT AHEAD FIVE OF US TO HELL TO MAKE ADVANCE BOOKING FOR REST OF US FOR FUTURE REUNION .