The next morning was a loud one in Harvey's dorm. He screamed when he woke up and mistook Harri for a complete stranger, then remembered it was his roommate Harry who had been transformed. Harri was understandably freaked out by the sudden scream and asked what was wrong. Harvey made a simple excuse, "Nothing, just had a bad nightmare or something. Sorry."
"You've been jumpy lately" Harri wore some concern on his bewildered expression, "you might want to look into some therapy services on campus." Harvey nodded but didn't really acknowledge the suggestion. His thoughts were occupied with Harri's condition. Harry had remained as the Punjabi Harri longer than Harvey had ever been Harpinder, so he was starting to worry that this transformation might be permanent.
"Harri, do you remember yesterday when I suggested you wear the yellow turban?" Harvey was getting ready for the day. His body was on autopilot while he got dressed and tied a patka on.
"I do, it was a surprisingly fashionable choice coming from you."
Harvey furrowed his brow at the jab at his fashion sense, "Well, do you remember feeling... different before wearing it? Or, maybe that I was different yesterday?"
"I remember feeling more confident with a complete outfit, but it's not like it was a life changing transformation" Harris chuckled. Harvey wished he realized how ironic that remark was. "I guess you seemed different to me. I trusted your opinion on my turban like you were one of my Sikh brothers. Maybe your time with the Sikh Student Coalition is having an influence."
"You don't know the half of it" Harvey muttered to himself. It seemed Harri didn't remember who he was suppose to be.
"By the way, are you busy today? I was thinking of getting lunch with Mandeep. You can join us."
"No thanks. I'm going to head over to the library. I don't think I'll be seeing Mandeep for a long time." Harvey packed his things and left the dorm. His plan was to find a way to change Harry back to his normal self. He hoped there was some book or article on the university's database that could provide some help.
"That's odd, I wonder why he said that" Harri said, now alone in the dorm, "Oh, Harvey forgot one of his notebooks" he noticed Harvey's religious studies notebook on Harvey's desk and flipped it open, landing on the page where Harvey was describing his transformations. "What's this? 'Notes on transformation?' '1. This all started when those people from the Sikh club tied this patka on my head.' what?" Reading the rest of the notes, Harri understood what they meant. "Wow, Harvey really does need therapy! He can't really believe some fabric touching his patka is going to make him a Punjabi Sikh, can he? Wait, is that why he doesn't want to see Mandeep?" Harri set the notebook down dismissively, but then started to consider what if the notebook was describing a true phenomenon. Harvey did ask if he seemed different yesterday. In that moment Harri got a brief image in his head of a pink turbanned man suggesting Harri wear a yellow turban instead of Harvey. "This can't be real... can it?" He looked at the pride flag he had on his wall, wondering how it would look as a turban.
On his way to the library, Harvey passed by the walkway where he assisted Gurpreet with the Sikh Student Coalition's bake sale. He shuddered to think about the obese bear of a man he had become that day. So he quickened his pace inside the library, further determined to find a solution as soon as possible. The inside of the university library was rather large. Just beyond the help desk was a collection of desktop computers where students could work on digital assignments and access the school's database. Beyond that were rows of tables where students could study. Along the walls were private study rooms that students could reserve that were mostly utilized for group projects that required communication. The rest of the library is what Harvey was most interested in, the aisles and aisles of books. Unfortunately there wasn't one section dedicated to transformation as a genre, so Harvey scoured the many aisles and picked up any book that seemed relevant. Most were fantasy and science fiction books that discussed how media portrays transformations caused by werewolves, vampires, aliens, and futuristic technology. He managed to find one book about transformation in the real world, but a quick skim revealed it was about biological processes like caterpillars becoming butterflies.
After placing the last book in his bag, Harvey overheard a disagreement coming from the study desks.
"Beat it" came a deep commanding voice. A student with a reddish complexion and corn blonde hair slammed his hand on the table, glaring at another student who was sat down alone. He had a beefy and intimidating figure, wide with untoned muscle.
"I'm sorry... but this table is reserved for a study session for the Sikh Student Coalition. B-but you can study here too if you want..." the other student said. He was clearly a first year student, very young looking and relatively weedy. He was wearing a plaid button up shirt with a bow-tie, and some khakis. His face displayed youthful features, free of wrinkles entirely and with patchy stubble. Harvey noticed the guy was Sikh as he was wearing a morni pagg style turban. The reserved table had a paper sign that read "Sikh Student Coalition Study Session" and the table was decorated with a blue banner with the pun "Think Sikh".
"I don't want to study here, I want you gone" the white student barked, "I don't want to look at you rag heads when I'm at school".
"I should tell the librarian that guy is getting bullied" Harvey thought to himself. "No" he shook his head and turned around, "I told myself I'm not going to get involved with these weird Indian guys anymore. He took a step to walk away when a memory suddenly called out to him. "A Sikh should be a warrior when people need defending." That voice, it was Professor Singh from Religious Studies 372. Harvey grabbed his head, "why am I thinking about that now!? ... He taught us... Sikhs are suppose to help those in need?" Harvey turned back around and marched to the table and spoke aloud, "Hey! Leave that guy alone."
"Who the hell are you?" The beefy white guy turned around and glared at Harvey. Coming face to face, Harvey realized just how much bigger the guy was. Still, he didn't feel like wimping out. Harvey had an average build so he was confident he could take a few hits and land his own if things got ugly. The beefy guy noticed Harvey's patka and burst into laughter, "So you rag heads got yourself a little white boy convert?"
"Stop saying rag head" Harvey clenched his fists.
"Well since you like rags on your head so much..." The beefy guy grabbed the blue banner from the table and threw it at Harvey's face.
"Hey!" Harvey exclaimed as he tried to pull the blinding banner from his face. However, he felt the similar sensation of the cloth wrapping around his head and becoming a turban. "No, I'm changing again!" He thought. "Wait, that Sikh guy needs a warrior to defend him. Maybe this will buff me up?" The blue banner lost its "Think Sikh" text and became a blue turban cloth. Harvey's skin turned a Punjabi brown, though much paler than his perious transformations. His beard, now black, grew down to his collar bone, though this one had more wavy kinks and was far less well groomed. His mustache was like two bushy catapillers that failed to meet the rest of his beard. The blue turban was folded up into a tall, skinny, cylindrical gol pagg dumalla that stood about a foot taller than Harvey's head. This was perhaps compensating for Harvey shrinking down a foot in height. In addition, he became much skinnier than what was proportional, losing much of his average muscle. His jeans shrunk with him and became khakis that ended above his ankle, displaying his high socks. His shirt, however, did not shrink. Instead the white tee gained the words "Sikh Geek" with a logo of a black silhouette of a Sikh man's turban, glasses, and mustache. The oversized tee greater pronounced just how skinny Harvey had become. The only part of him that didn't slim down was his butt, now looking like the fat and frumpy rear of a man who lead a sedentary lifestyle. Finally, a large pair glasses appeared over his eyes, completing his Harpinder form.
"You think you can tell me what to do? You look pathetic!" The beefy guy said as he grabbed Harpinder's underwear and yanked it high, making Harpinder dangle helplessly under his wedgie. He dropped his bag with the library books spilling on the floor. The tight tug at the front of Harpinder's underwear was giving his cock a sharp pain, though this slowly subsided.
"Did my cock just shrink!?" Harpinder thought, barely feeling what was remaining of his tiny dicklette. "Stop this!" Harpinder said out loud. His Punjabi accent was thick as a F.O.B., and much more naisily. The beefy guy laughed at how pathetic it was. Still holding on to the underwear, he lowered Harpinder back on his feet and then hooked the underwear over Harpinder's turban, giving him a full atomic wedgie.
"Leave them alone" called a feminine voice. It was Rupi, the girl that Harpinder met at the bake sale.
"Who's going to make me" the beefy guy said condescendingly.
"I've already reported you to the faculty for bullying these boys. You should stop harassing them before the campus police get involved." She stood proud, challenging the brute with her body language despite the great difference in size between them. He glared at her, looking like he wanted to retort but remained silent. With nothing to say, he turned away and exited the library. "Here, let me help you" Rupi turned her attention to Harpinder, removing his underwear from being caught around his turban.
"Rupi? What are you doing here?" He asked, visibly embarrassed. The fabric of his underwear was stretched far past its elastic limits and did not snap back into place. So he had to manually stuff the rest of the droopping fabric back into his pants.
"I was browsing the library when I heard all of the commotion. That was really brave of you to stand up for Satvinder like that." She had a warm smile.
Harpinder flashed what he thought was a sly grin and attempted to speak in a flirty voice. Instead, his buck teeth and naisily voice just made him look goofy, "A man's got to stick up for the little guy, right?"
Rupi giggled, "That's right. Well I can't stay long, but we should study together some time." She mentioned casually.
"How about a 1 on 1 session at 7?" Harpinder said, jumping at the opportunity.
Rupi raised an eyebrow and pondered his proposal for a beat, "Sure, you can come by my single." After exchanging her dorm number she went on her way.
"Wow, a study date with a girl like Rupi" the first year Sikh at the table said "you're living every nerd's dream."
"What do you mean?" Harpinder asked, "I'm not a nerd"
The first year looked skeptical, "No offense... but popular guys don't get wedgies." He grabbed Harpinder's bag and books off the floor and placed them on the table.
Harpinder opened the selfie camera on his phone and realized it was true, he looked like a nerd! Closing the camera app, he noticed that most of his social media and streaming apps were replaced by graphing calculator, spreadsheet, and e-reader apps. "Golly!"
"You're checking out a lot of books about transformation. Are you interested in studying this subject?"
"Yeah... Rupi called you 'Satvinder' right?" His thick accent pronouncing the name perfectly, "you know about transformation?"
"Know about it? With all the graphic novels I've read and sci-fi I've seen, you could call me an expert." Satvinder beamed. "Instead of reading these books you should take a look at super heroes. There are so many examples of them transforming with their powers or being transformed against their will."
"I am interested in that second one, can you tell me about it?"
"Of course! There's been issues where the flash and Superman were turned fat as a way to slow them down and weaken them. And while green kryptonite weakens kryptonians, other colors have has more transformative effects."
"What about...transformations involving clothes?"
"Sure, usually it's jewelry like amulets or rings, but it can be fabric too. The first one that comes to mind are the power rings in green lantern. Hal Jordan's personality changes a lot when he's tempted to use one that isn't green."
"That sounds a bit familiar" Harpinder stroked his kinky beard.
"You've probably read it. You're a comicbook nerd too, right?"
That wasn't right? Sure, Harpinder enjoyed watching action packed super hero movies, but that didn't make him a comic book nerd. Though on second thought, he couldn't deny the collection of comic books he had in his dorm. "Haha, right-o-rooni. I am a bit of a comic book nerd."
"Then you probably already know these types of transformations are especially dangerous. The changes can get stronger the longer the item is worn, especially if the changes go unnoticed." Harpinder was a bit unnerved upon hearing this. He would need to get this turban off before it changed him further. Still, he was confident he was smart enough to notice if anything about him was different. He had an at least average intellect. Actually... he posited that his above average intellect would aid him in identifying any additional anomalies.
"So are you studying transformations for one of your classes?" Satvinder asked.
"No. I'm a business major and I'm studying marketing."
"Marketing? Really?" Satvinder looked skeptical again.
"Gee willikers! I mean I'm a business major studying accounting." Harpinder corrected. He thought to himself, "It's a good thing Satvinder said something. I would be in a pickle if this turban made me forget everything I've learned about bookkeeping and statistical analysis."
"What a coincidence, I'm an accounting major too! You know, Gurpreet suggested I attend these study sessions because it's a great way to mingle with other members of the Sikh Student Coalition. We should study for our accounting classes here, together."
Harpinder didn't like the idea of attending anything associated with the Sikh Student Coalition. They were somehow linked to his transformations, after all. However, he was starting to realize he had a lot in common with Satvinder. Perhaps they could be friends when he was back to his old self as Harvey. "That sounds like a plan, Buddy-o-pal." Harpinder checked the time on his phone, "I'd best be going. I want to look spiffy for my study date tonight."
"I recommend a bowtie" Satvinder suggested, "they always help me look snazzy"
"Haha, I'll consider it!" Harpinder chuckled as he left. His naisily laugh was soon accompanied by a few nerdy snorts.