Moments in Time
“I won’t cry... No! I am a big girl now… what is there to cry for anyway? Its gonna be fun… I am free now, I am staying with girls my age, will have lots of friends... have fun, hold as many pajama parties as I want, stay up late at night with nobody to scold me.. I am going to be fine... yes Its going to be real good… no Anu u will not cry anymore…”, though Anu tried all her best to stop the quivering of her voice but yet parting from parents was not easy especially watching them go, leaving her behind…
With a heavy heart she trudged back to her room on fourth floor into her ‘Cardboard’ wala room and flopped face down into her window side bed crying softly missing dad and mum already, Anumeha Awasthy had completed her 10th with as we call it ‘flying colors’ topping the district with 96.8% scores and all…
Seeing such brilliant results of their only daughter Mr. and Mrs. Awasthy had decided to enroll her into the best school possible, and what better option was there other than’ The D.A.V Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Shyamali’, after all it was the best school in all of East Zone, and just 5 hour ride from home!
Life was looking up brightly and their little sunflower was ready to shine.
With no accommodation facilities available by the school they set Anu up in as paying guest in one of the many ones around there.
‘Pranav’ was owned and run by Mrs.Chaitali Mukherjee who was a real businesswoman to the boot! Each flat in the apartment had 3 bedrooms which housed as many as 2 girls each, the halls were made out to be rooms using ply boards, even the tiny kitchen was turned into a single sitter with a bed quashed along with the cooking slab and sink!
Chapter 2
Evening came and along with it came the introductions… Anu was housed in the seniors’ block with ‘didis’ so sweet and understanding that she almost forgot being away from home, almost…
And this was when she came across the ‘Rules of Pranav’, As she was mingling around with the girls Mrs. Mukherjee(aka CM) marched in with two of her aids introducing Sheetal Bhaiya and Beena Didi as the other staff and proceeding with “The Code Of Conduct”, reciting each of the rules to all us new entrants,
Rule no 1:- You are not allowed to talk loudly/squeal /shout.
Rule no 2:- No more than three girls should be seen together anytime anywhere and No boy talk!
Rule no 3:- Breakfast 6:30 am
Lunch 11;30 am
Dinner 8:30 pm
Rule no 4:-No outside girls allowed into your rooms and certainly No boys!
Rule no 5:-No cell phones
Rule no 6:-No boy friends, infact if you are seen talking to a boy anywhere…, “Gawd! Is she neurotic or something? No boy-No boy-No Boy!! Doesn’t it get a little old? This woman is really some piece of work! It would be fun breaking each of her rules, just for the sake of seeing this old coot’s enraged face!” Anu couldn’t help snorting at her ever rebellious thoughts… CM on the other hand droned on with her ‘rules’ unaware of the little disturbance,
Rule no 7:- You cannot open the windows. (“Yeah right ! They are strictly for decoration purposes”)
Rule no 8:- You cannot go visit friends and… (“Yeah yeah yeah got it, now I will automatically add the ‘No boy thingy’…”)
Rule no 9:- You are not allowed on the terrace. (“This woman is a bloody jailor! Psycho I tell you… how the hell am I supposed to not get suffocated in this Matchbox apartment of hers, Conspiracy!! Mummy I wanna go home now!!!”)
Rule no 10:- Maintain decorum. (“I will show you decorum! You... you, you reincarnation of Cruella!”)
Rule no 11:-The calls made to you will be monitored from downstairs to ensure you do not talk to any boys… (“Gosh I am bowled out now… No comments!”)
Rule no 12:- And most importantly did I mention No boys?
So these are the codes of conduct, you girls need to follow, you all are good girls from educated backgrounds and I hope you will maintain discipline or it will show poorly of how your parents brought you up” and with a meaningful glance at each girl she marched off with her two lackeys.
“How do you stand her? She is Not CM or anything gods she is Cruella personified… rather Cruella Mcbitch would suit her better”, gasped out Anu, finally out of the aftereffects of her first encounter with the Dragon… the senior girls smiled conspiratorially and said “you will learn bachha! By the way the new nickname aint bad...” and winking at her they left for their rooms to study.
Chapter 3
“Wake up! Wake up! Wakey -wakey up!” her alarm clock chirped at 5:00 am, “Nooooooooo not school again! When will I ever grow up? Why do I have to Goto School at all? I hate school!”This was Anu’s daily mantra in the mornings. In her previous school she had a 100% attendance record yet she was one of those students
Who wished every morning that the Naxalites blow off the school someday just for the sake of that ever elusive “5 minutes more”.
Anu was halfway through getting ready for school when her roomie Sania interjected “Aren’t you in noon shift? Why are you hogging up all the mirror space now?”
“Oh my God! Wow just wow! How could I forget I had bullied daddy into getting me the Noon shift! My sleep and my cozy bed is calling me back”, an excited Anu hopped back into bed and finally her dreams missing her breakfast which would be a first of many such missed breakfasts in the next two years.
Later on standing in the assembly line, in the overhead sun she couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty and wondering,”Sau chuhe kha ke billi haj ko chali… I mean who prays and chants the gayatri mantra after a fully fledged lunch of fish curry and rice? It just seems so… wrong? Well whatever…”
Sitting in class Anu was again stabbed by a pang of loneliness when, “hey kid!” chirped in a sweet voice and she was face to face with this girl with long shoulder length hair and a cute face full of oh so many freckles… “I am a Kid? Then who are you? Meri dadima? “Anu winked and so the girl moved up to sit beside her. “Good morning Sir!” the class sing songed and in came their Chemistry (Inorganic) teacher. The paunchy teacher was taking their roll calls and looking at each student closely when he stopped before Anu, “Anumeha Awasthy! Okay so how is your sister Anumeha? Quite a persevering student your sister is, so you up to the mark, eh?”
Anu was flabbergasted would have been an understatement, she sputtered,” Sir, I don’t have any sister! In fact I am the only daughter in the whole of my khandaan, you surely have mistaken me with some other girl.”
“No girl! Do not lie to me! I absolutely see the resemblance, my eyes cannot be mistaken”, the teacher thundered.
The whole class now watched with rapt attention at the new drama enfolding, “what the hell! This tondu is hell bent on creating A Big Sister to me, Wow first day in school and I already am the centre of attention! Way to go girl”, muttered Anu under breath.
Loudly she retorted back,“Oh Okay Sir! I guess I do have a sister Maybe Dad Mum forgot to tell me about the Kumbh ka mela version “,and the dumb teacher bought it proceeding to drone on about ‘Fe Compunds’
“Sneha Kashyap, we are friends right?” the girl beside her pulled her hand out to Anu after class, “Definitely!” Anu beamed back.
Chapter 4
So days passed by quickly with Anu easily falling into a routine,
· Wake up at 10:30 am
· Eat lunch/breakfast(well whatever you wanna call it)
· Rush to school tying that ghastly striped yellow blue tie on the way.
· End up being almost late to that ‘pet full wala prayer’
· Get shouted at by the prefects (one of whom being her senior in hostel had the special attention duty of wait-for-Anu-at-the-gate-and-shout-your frustrations-out!) everyday.
· Sleep through classes.
· Trudge back to hostel anyhow by 5.
· Wait with rumbling stomach for the sukhi roti and aalu sabzi dinner
· Gossip till 10.
· Open books and pretend to study.
· Wake up next day again on pillow book and start the same circle.
Life was going on as normally as it ever was at Pranav.
Walking down the long winding road with a fork ahead, Anu was mighty confused…
“Take an auto, pay Rs 4, get down near Yuvraj Palace,walk down the straight road, bilkul naak k seedhe chalna, find ‘Lotus Apartments’, and there on the fourth floor is Bharadwaj sir’s residence, go talk to him and get yourself enrolled into the Physics course! He’s the best in the city for medico aspirants you know!”, these were the exact instructions to Anumeha from her seniors, and now she found herself taking that very path come this sunny November morning. But this wasnot going as per the instructions at all! in fact it was going very very wrong right from the very start! First of all poor Anu was robbed by the sly rickshaw wala who guessing her inexperience charged her Rs 15 instead of 4 and now the ‘naak k seedhe’ wala path had turned out to have a fork at its end, asking the local people resulted in getting her more confused than before, some of whom claimed that there was no such apartment or complex with such a name!
“Right? Or left? Left or right?”,muttering profanities at those unhelpful locals and cursing her own rotten luck Anu proceeded up the right turn, after all right is always right eh? Walking down the path of her ‘Great-physics-discovery’ she did not realize that she had come quite far and there was that man who had claimed the inexistence of ‘Lotus Apartments’ following her, lagging a few steps behind. Anu looked at him from the corner of her eye and getting a bit suspicious quickened her pace, seeing this the man ran swiftly pouncing upon her from behind,
“ this is it!" Screamed Anu's brain,"This is how it feels to be cornered! Gods,I should win this year’s ‘Miss Dumb Dumber Dumbest’ contest! How could I be such a fool? I am well and completely lost, there is so sign of any human being in this remote place, no one would hear for miles even if I shout myself hoarse, I have every probability of getting raped and then murdered and then this awful man will crush my skull with a big stone and nobody would recognize my body, and wont even be able to tell mummy that I had finally gotten this into my thick skull to pay attention where I go!”,kicking his shin and taking to run Anu took a turn and collided into someone.” Aunty! Aunty please help me. That... that man! I am lost!” Anu was now sobbing hysterically, “This is my last hope! Please pretty please help me god!”the woman was a shrewd one she took one look at Anu and gripping her hand pulled her,” Arre beta tum? Yahan kaise? Mummy was looking for you! Chalo...”
Later that night Anu replayed the her adventures of the day, the experience had shaken her to the bones and she couldn’t help shuddering at the thought at what could have happened had not that godsend Angel come to her rescue! Worrying about what could have happened and missing mumma now desperately Anu did not realize when she dozed off waking up the next day with a raging fever and chills. By evening her sickness had deteriorated into fever, body pains resulting in a very grumpy and whiny Anu.
This is the truth of hostel life, when you are sick be patient and bear it with good humor, you haven’t got your mamma and nobody bothers with how you are feeling. This was the loneliest Anu had ever felt at her stay away from home Cruella had visited no doubt, to check that she was properly quarantined and none of the other girls ventured much close lest they catch the bug, A customary call to the doctor too had been made, but it was care and love that Anu was missing so sorely, though medicines were good too, though logically medicines were the best option but our poor dear Anu was an emotional kid not very practical yet and this saddened her, this treatment like an outcaste… Sobbing softly she closed her eyes when she felt a soft hand caressing her forehead, “Mamma!” opening her eyes Anu peered at the concerned face of Sneha. “How did you come up here? Outside friends are not allowed up here? How did you know I was sick?”Anu rasped bewildered at seeing her there.
“I didn’t see you in school yesterday and I was worried and I couldn’t help it so I just came up to check on you, that ape-man downstairs did try to stop me but I dodged him”, smiling wolfishly she sat beside Anu, “ I missed you kid!”.....
Sometimes small gestures touch your heart and melt them to the very core, Anumeha and Sneha discovered a precious friendship in those stolen moments, and this memorable moment cemented their ‘Jai-Veeru’ waali dosti forever.
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