Sitting on the edge of his bed, he stared at his phone like it had betrayed him personally.

The Eid holidays are over. The world had resumed. The group chats had gone from

“Eid Mubarak” to “assignment to be submitted, bro.”
And yet, something inside Roll 17 had not restarted.

“Today is the day I become disciplined,” he whispered.

He said this every post-Eid.

It had never once been true.

At 8:12 AM, Roll 17 opened his bag. Inside: three pens (none of which worked), one notebook (empty except for the first page titled “New Me”), and a half-eaten chocolate bar that had survived Eid like a war veteran.

He nodded.

“Balanced life.”

He had seen this phrase in a reel.

He did not understand it.

By 8:47 AM, he was on the road, but not mentally.

Physically, he was in a rickshaw.

Mentally, he was still negotiating with himself.
“Should I go to class?”
“Obviously yes.”
“Should I skip?”
“Also yes.”
“Should I check WhatsApp one more time?”
“Critical step.”

He opened his phone. The same group chat now had a message:
“Class 9 AM. Don’t be late.”

Roll 17 stared at it.

He turned off his phone like a responsible adult.

At 9:13 AM, Roll 17 entered the classroom.
Silence.
Not the peaceful kind. “We already started, and you are too early for the next class, haha.” The teacher made his favourite joke.

The teacher looked up.
“Roll?”

Roll 17 froze.

This was it. The moment. The identity crisis. The boss fight.

He opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Opened it again.

“Sir… I was Roll 17 before Eid.”

A pause.

Somewhere in the back, someone coughed like they were trying not to laugh in 4K.

The teacher blinked.
“And now?”

Roll 17 nodded slowly.
“Now… I am… confused.”

He walked to his seat like a man returning from exile.

The chair squeaked.

It had also forgotten him.

He sat down and immediately realised a critical issue:
He had no idea what the class was about.

Not “a little confused.”
Not “missed a lecture.”
No.

Full wipe.
Factory reset.

He looked at his notebook.
Blank.

He looked at his pen.
Not working.

He looked at his friend beside him and whispered:
“Bro… what chapter is this?”

His friend whispered back:
“Same.”

Attendance began.

Roll numbers were called like summoning spells.

“Roll 12?”
“Present.”
“Roll 15?”
“Present.”
“Roll 17?”

Roll 17 looked up, hesitated, then raised his hand with the confidence of someone guessing in a multiple-choice exam with no options known.

“Present… I think.”

The teacher didn’t question it.

Nobody questions Roll 17 after Eid.

Meanwhile, Roll 17’s brain was running background processes:
“What is this subject?”
“Why is this subject?”
“Was I good at this subject before Eid?”
“Am I still that person?”

No answers.
Only loading.

Midway through the lecture, Roll 17 unlocked a dangerous realisation.

He did not remember his last assignment.

He turned to his friend again.
“Bro… did we have homework?”

His friend didn’t look at him.
“That question… is too big for post-Eid.”

At one point, the teacher asked a question.

No one answered.
Not because they didn’t know.
Because collectively, the class was buffering.

Roll 17 considered raising his hand.
He did.
Then lowered it.

“The confidence update failed.”

By the end of class, something subtle had happened.

Roll 17 still didn’t know the lesson.
Still didn’t remember his passwords (mental or digital).
Still had not become “disciplined.”

But he had achieved something else:

He had successfully attended.

Which, after Eid, counts as a minor miracle.

Walking out of the classroom, he checked his phone again.

New messages:
“Assignment due next week.”
“Mid prep needed.”
“Group study tonight?”

Roll 17 smiled.

Not because he was ready.

But because he knew, deep down, this cycle would repeat.

Next holiday, he would disappear again.
And return again.
Confused.
Hopeful.
Unchanged.

Somewhere between Eid and deadlines, between biryani and attendance sheets, between “new me” notes that never open and PDFs that never load, Roll 17 lives in a permanent beta version of himself. Updates pending. Bugs unresolved. Still present, technically functioning. Just waiting for the next holiday to uninstall progress and reinstall confusion again.