Schoolmates (6 page)

He walked away disgruntled. Obviously he discussed it with Dev, but since Dev was no sharper than a pumice stone, he too did not realise that I was intentionally keeping away from Kabir.

A few days passed like this, the week was ending and it was Friday. I remember distinctly, as it had rained that day and our outdoor periods of games was cancelled. I was standing with a bunch of friends near the water taps when Kabir stomped behind me, looking very upset.

“Did you say that I was a good-for-nothing nitwit?” He asked me without much ado.

“No!! . . . I mean . . . I . . . I . . . was talking . . . but not . . . like this!!” I was lying and was lying badly.

“If I was such a looser, why did you befriend me? I did not ask for charity, you came up to help yourself, and now when I tried to . . .” He looked sideways at the bunch of girls who were standing there, all eyes and ears, and realised that the entire scene was going rather badly. His ears turned their characteristic scarlet.

“I’m so sorry to have bothered you Riya. Never will I cross your path again.” With that he turned to his heels and sped away. My friends, though loyal to me, looked at me as if I was the personified Dracula and then looked at him as if he was Tom Cruise.

Later that day Anjali tried to sooth me with her reasons and logic.

“Riya, it’s good in a way. That boy was not picking up the indirect subtle hints anyway. Ofcource it ended rather dramatically, but then nothing is normal in school anyways. Forget it, he too will let go of this soon.” Anjali spoke.

I simply nodded my head. Little did I know that Kabir was truly hurt that day. It was not that I had called him names ,by now he was accustomed to all that. It was that I had broken his trust. He considered me a genuine friend, who had the right to say the harshest thing in order to improve him, but public rebuke and rejection, was too much to bear.

As I think of that day, I realise yet again how easy it is for people to cultivate trust. A modest smile can lead us to trust complete strangers. Sometime this is what victimises us in the end. I had been so naive that day. What consumed me after wards was not the guilt of been so insensitive towards Kabir; it was the hurt I felt by seeing his face. That was the first time I realised, how much he mattered to me, his friendly smile, his playfulness and his presence in class, which had unexpectedly felt so vacant the minute he stopped speaking to me. But I could not understand all this back then. And today . . . I miss him just as much. I miss his gags, his laughter, and his tricks. Life seems a complete standstill, the home looks so vacant.

CHAPTER-11

K
abir had stopped even looking at me. He would pass by my seat swiftly, and stop talking every time I passed by his. He would joke around with everyone but his cheer would abruptly end when I joined in. I would approach him for collecting copies and registers and he wouldn’t even look up. Sometimes Dev would hand them over to me. Ayesha had taken this grand opportunity to set her eyes on Kabir and was leaving no stone unturned to entice him. But there was a change in Kabir now. Unlike the last cold war, in part two of our cold war, he was not insulting me or mocking me either. Neither was he responding to Ayesha with same fervour as before, much to her amazement. He was just mute.

Tejas Ahluwalia was on top of the world. He knew Kabir was low in spirits and would probably not perform up to the mark in try-outs for team-A selections for basketball. Our school had two teams, A and B. It was team A that was actually the supreme team, with our best players, and to be in it meant playing against the best of Delhi schools. Team B was a backup team, with upcoming players.

Tejas had also discovered another crucial point. He knew how to infuriate the silent Kabir Sharma.

It was our history class and our teacher Ms. Arthi Menon was teaching us Russian revolution. Our work was due that day besides the internal assessment activity that was to be conducted in the next period. It was already getting to our height of boredom when she asked us to take out our maps and start the assignment. Anjali and I were occupied with placing the map straight on our books when Ayesha, who was sitting behind us passed an empty map to me and said very officially, “Riya, give this to Kabir.”

I took it from her and looked at Anjali who was nodding her head, in affirmation that Kabir, had again forgotten to bring his material. She murmured under her breath, ‘I’m sure he isn’t carrying colours or pencils either.’

I knew this to be true. And as I saw Ms. Menon taking her customary round in the class, I realised Kabir would earn a serious reprimand again. So along with Ayesha’s map, I added one spare pencil that I usually carried and also, took out a few random pencil colours and asked Joy to hand over the stationary to Kabir. Joy was the sweetest and most baby-like student in our class. He never minded helping anyone, especially these days since Kabir had made it a point to sit as far away from me as the dimensions would permit.

Tejas had seen all this; or rather I now believe he and Ayesha were in cahoots about this. So as Ms. Menon crossed his bench he obviously filled her in on it and this infuriated Ms. Menon so much so that after a heavy scolding she made Kabir stand behind the room.

My name was mentioned as well and so I too received a bit of her wrath but since she was from my house and knew my flawless record, her voice was a few octane lower. After the class was over, we all handed our work in and that was when the real drama unfolded.

“So Kabir, the dashing superman, the star, the thunderbolt . . . I see that you have a lot of support from girls these days . . .” Tejas spoke near the class doors. “Lucky man . . . I never imagined you would still take stuff from her, is there any special “reason”? Something going on between you and that chick Riya?” Tejas was standing with his coterie of followers and a few from the next door section had also joined in.

“Mind your own business Tejas . . . Ayesha passed me the map in case you missed that. One can attribute it to a vision problem, as the coach pointed out yesterday or perhaps it is brain damage, that your mom forgot to tell you.” Kabir replied acridly.

Tejas fumed up instantly and one thing led to another and eventually there was a huge brawl. Finally someone pushed the other, shirts were torn, faces were scratched, lots of abuses were bombarded on one another and the net result was that both the boys, the current candidates for team A selection, were summoned to the Principal’s office. The coach, Mr. Ranjeet was summoned too and a warning issued that one more step out of the line would land Kabir nowhere near the trials. Mr. Ranjeet was very upset after everyone left the Principal’s office. He had been hoping for Kabir and Tejas both to make the team, as no matter how they behaved in classes, they were both extremely skilled sports players. And we needed a strong team to win the rotary matches, which were a prestige issue amongst the top schools.

“There, the dynamic duo is back!” Anjali drew my attention to the class door as both Kabir and Tejas stepped in later during the day. Tejas had a smirk on his face as he saw Ayesha, which was when Dev got suspicious. All I saw was the vile and angry look that Kabir gave me as he sat down on his seat. Mr. Bonerjee knew what had happened and during his long monologue he made it a point to pass curt remarks towards Kabir.

“So, Kabir . . . tell me this, if a net charge Q flows across any cross section of a conductor, in time t, then the current
I
though the cross section is . . . ?” Bony sir looked sideways from the black board towards Dev and Kabir. I knew he did not know answer, but this was not my concern at the moment. I feared his next selection of student for the answer.

“Shameful!! Totally shameful . . . Riya? You tell me . . .” He looked towards me.

“I=Q/t”
I replied meekly.

“Good . . . learn Kabir, or do you wish to get a compartment again? What do you expect me to give you in internal assessment?”

Tejas was marvelling at all this. Despite the fact that he too could not answer a single one of Bony sir’s questions, he was jubilant. He knew it was hard for Kabir to sustain his temper and a single spurt of anger from him would ensure Tejas permanently in team A. Besides, he was relishing the agony Kabir was enduring and therefore Dev too.

“Dev . . . stand up! Tell me, what is the S.I. unit of charge?” Bony targeted Dev this time.

Dev stood up and looked as blank as a white cartridge sheet.

“Great! You too are going the wrong way young man!” Bony sir spoke in an irritated voice, though I wondered why. I’m sure he knew Dev did not know the answer either.

“Anyone else??” he looked around the class and then permitted Anshuman to answer. Anshuman Jha was Bonerjee’s favourite pupil.

“Coulomb, which is equivalent to the charge, contained in nearly 6xio
18
electrons.” Anshuman replied, replacing his spectacles. Everyone was sure he would do engineering from the highest institute in the country. We all wondered which one though . . . IIT Delhi or IIT Roorkee??

To this Tejas patted Anshuman’s back as he sat down and jokingly mocked him with the famous jingle everyone sang for him . . .
All izz well.

The entire class had a small laugh except the three of us.

As the last class for the day began, I was completely crushed with work, my upcoming inter-house declamation competition preparation and the sour sordid looks I was getting from a few classmates. I was awaiting the last bell to ring when Dev accidently bumped into Anjali and she stamped his feet in the shuffle.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Dev retorted, finally letting go of all that he had sustained in the day.

“Sorry for stamping your feet Dev, but really, it was you who were walking with your eyes elsewhere. You bumped into me . . . YOU should be apologising, not me!!” Anjali was never the submissive kinds.

“Why? Just because you are some prefect?” Dev replied back, an angry stance in position.

“No Dev . . . Don’t prove again that you are stupid, I know that . . . EVERYONE knows that. I asked you to apologise because that’s what civilized people do when they unintentionally bump into each other . . . But how would you know!!” Anjali too stood akimbo.

“Stop Dev . . . leave it man!!” Kabir spoke pulling his arm, trying to prevent another scene. I also came behind Anjali and pulled her away.

“Sorry Dev . . .” I said softly. “You know how . . . she gets angry these days . . .” I tried to sooth things down.

“Keep your apologies Ms. Sehgal. Leave us alone.” Kabir had not even looked my way. After ten days of silence, this is what he said to me.

“Kabby . . . Kabir . . . I . . .” I did not get a chance to complete my statement when Kabir turned around suddenly and said very loudly, “SHUT-UP . . . JUST SHUT-UP AND GET LOST!”

I gasped! Just then Ms. Payal Suri, our English teacher entered and silenced Kabir with a reproachful look.

“I had just asked her to pass the map!! I mean, she could have folded it or something, it is hardly of any size, but NO . . . the girl is so self-consumed that she had to increase the bulk by adding her pencils!!” Ayesha was swiftly filling the gossip grapevine in the corridor.

“I mean, is there something between them? Why does she always want to do unwanted stuff and get Kabir into trouble? And then she claims she is innocent . . . plays the victim, could you imagine? She knows he has just returned from suspension and the trials for team are coming up next week . . . isn’t this . . . Satanic?” Ayesha spoke with her wide fluttering eyes. Madhuri nodded her head obediently.

“I tell you, she is out to show him down. I’m sure. And she is so clever, she got Tejas also thrown out of the class and summoned by the Principal! Not to forget poor Dev . . .” Madhuri finally added her valuable contribution.

As I crossed by, their voices turned to whispers and I could not suppress my tears any longer. So I walked out deftly towards my preferred area, the Banyan tree and cried my stupidity out. I vowed never to interfere in Kabir’s business again, come what may!

God! How wrong I was. Riya though today as she recalled the unwavering pledge she had taken that day. A smile crossed her delicate face.

“You are the most beautiful stubborn chick I’ve seen, my flightless bird
. . .
I love you all the more when you press upon your point so defensively with me.” Kabir had said one day when they were in 12
th
grade. She had insisted that she pay her share in the outing they had planned. He always insisted it never mattered who paid between them, although like a chivalrous man, he never permitted her to pay either. It was only when she found out through grapevine that he had been borrowing money, that she scolded him and demanded to pay her bit.

Little did she know that she would carry that debt of his with her, her whole life.

CHAPTER-12

S
chool life is the most exciting and wonderful time in any individual’s life. There are so many activities going on that one can be booked for the entire week. Our school had a plethora of co-curricular activities and needless to say, I and Anjali participated in most of them. The best ones were the debates when we both stood against each other. The entire school knew we were fast friends, yet on stage, we were rivals! There were no smiles exchanged, just formal head-nods and later the final handshake. Though secretly neither one of us was ever concerned about who won, yet it was a great feat for the entire school. I suppose that’s what made us better.

The much awaited English debate was around the corner. As expected, Anjali and I were to debate against each other. The topic was not new, we had heard it before from our seniors, yet both of us had prepared our speeches and had them edited and approved. We had been practicing it, separately, as this was the only thing we did separate.

“So, Cinderella is against Snow White . . . for the victory crown.” Jaya spoke in recess that day. The weather was surprisingly cool, due to the shower late last night. The sky was muddy with leanclouds and the sunlight was diffused. There was a cool breeze and everyone was enjoying the rare spell of good weather in the city. I had purchased a milk shake along with Anjali and was sipping it when Jaya made the remark. She was our classmate as well and a good friend of ours.