Manu looked into
Neha’s eyes and smiled. He was at ease now. In fact, all the
tension he used to feel while talking to her was gone. His first
and most ardent love story had come to an end. But it had left a
vacuum. And soon, Manu would begin trying to fill it. But that’s
another story.
***
Manu got over
Neha quickly. There was no trauma at all. He looked around and
realized that there were others equally worthy of his affection. It
was a feeling many of his classmates were waking up to. But this
time, these feelings would not remain secret. A season of love was
approaching and in a few weeks these same 12-year-olds who had been
so dismissive and even mocking of the opposite sex would be writing
proposals on chits of paper and sending love missives through
trusted friends.
Maybe, all of this
would not have happened had Radhika Ma’am, 7-A’s class teacher, not
announced her wedding plans. Always stylishly dressed, she had now
become a walking fashion manual. She was getting married to her
boyfriend of many years, Vicky, and talked freely about him. She
enjoyed being teased about him, and the class loved seeing her
blush, and as they went on playing this game they got ideas of
their own about doing some real-life role-playing.
Late August was a
time when the students started preparing for Teachers’ Day
celebrations, unsupervised by teachers. 7-A was enacting a skit and
some of the girls and boys were working together on it. Perhaps the
first coy glances were exchanged then. Manu wasn’t among these
pioneers. After losing Neha, he had suddenly become interested in
Anisha, whom everyone else—teachers included—had always rated as
the most beautiful girl in class. Fair and tall and pretty and
talented she was, but Manu had never liked her. Her mother taught
in the junior wing and Manu always thought the teachers were
partial to her for this reason. If the whole class got punished,
you could count on Anisha to shed a bucketful of tears and be
spared. He also didn’t like the importance shown to her singing and
dancing talents that were obviously not half as interesting as a
nice joke or a mimicry act. She was too important for him to
like.
But when he
started looking around for a second love, he didn’t listen to his
heart the way he had done in class 1. Truth is, his heart hadn’t
found anyone likeable enough. But his mind picked out Anisha as the
alpha girl and the only suitable match. All the other girls were
beneath him.
Problem was that
Manu and Anisha had hardly known each other when they were in the
same section for six years. How could he bridge the gap now that
they were in different sections and their only common friends were
Manu’s newly made sisters? So, Manu did nothing but continued to
hang out with Neha and her gang every afternoon to exchange a few
words with Anisha. He was tongue-tied whenever an opportunity
arose, and usually mumbled things that sounded rude, meaningless or
outright foolish. And he came away from these meetings cursing
himself, feeling dejected and also jealous at the way the others
were obviously getting on in their ‘affairs’.
***
Meghna and
Rohit were the first off the mark, and they made no secret of it.
Meghna’s long plait gave way to shoulder-length hair that made her
plump but pretty face seem less round. Rohit, who was fat, started
combing his hair across from one extreme of his head so that it
formed a sort of cap hood. Both were talkative and laughed a lot,
but now, between classes and during off-periods they would suddenly
change seats to sit together. Back in those days, the abbreviation
PDA had not been coined. But what Rohit and Meghna were up to was
clearly a public display of affection. No, there was no
kissing.
A year ago, their
affair would have reached teachers’ ears as a complaint, but now it
seemed the class was sworn to secrecy. One reason was that Rohit
and Meghna had no enemies. But more importantly, everyone figured
that to implement their own romantic plans, they must not allow the
teachers to make an example of this couple.
By middle of
October, spring had set in in class 7-A. A new girl had arrived and
Raj wanted to propose to her. Joy was interested in Leena. She
never said no, never complained to a teacher, never stopped talking
to him, but if she ever said yes, the two kept their secret very
well. One day Priya and Leena were sitting together gossiping and
Manu, who was monitor, was minding the class when Leena hissed to
him to bend his head. “Priya wants you to sit with her,” she said
and laughed. Manu was dark, so he hoped they couldn’t seem him
blushing, but to show that he was no novice in these matters, he
asked Leena to step out and sat down beside Priya.
“You wanted to
tell me something, Priya?” he said carefully, making sure that his
voice didn’t quaver, because his heart was hammering his ribs so
heavily Manu felt sure everyone could hear it. Priya was all
confused bashfulness and merely shook her head. Manu excused
himself, softly telling her that he was sorry, he had his heart set
on someone else. He felt very grown up after that. And the best
part was that the word travelled around very quickly. “Who are you
eyeing, Manu?” girls asked out of plain curiosity, and Manu always
shook his head nobly. “Can’t tell you till I have her
permission.”
This display of
chivalry raised his stock in their eyes considerably. They still
thought him haughty, but he wasn’t “bad at heart” was the new
consensus. And Manu, eyes firmly on Anisha, worked on his image by
opening doors for girls, letting them pass in the corridor, and
helping them in a hundred other small ways. But was it working?
There was no sign. And to his great discomfiture, a rumour started
that Robin, one year their senior and also a teacher’s son, had
already won Anisha’s affection.
It wasn’t a
question Manu could ask Anisha. Besides standing in a circle with
her friends for a few minutes in the tiffin break every afternoon,
he hadn’t managed to get any closer to her. He couldn’t ask Neha
either, because he didn’t know whether she was as fond of him as he
had been of her. Yet the stories continued coming to him at
second-hand, from his friends in the senior class. Maybe the older
boy was bragging, but undeniably Anisha would know him better than
she did Manu because their mothers were friends and spent a lot of
time together. Unable to crack the mystery, Manu decided to press
on. If it did turn out that the other boy had won Anisha’s heart,
he would snatch it from him. He believed that he was the better,
stronger dude of the two.
November came and
the same sorry fumbling for words still…
“Hi, Anisha, how
are you?”
“I am fine, how
are you?”
“Fine.”
Silence. Manu’s
thinking hard of what to say next, Anisha is talking to Ginny about
some girl in their class, Neha is talking to Deepti about a story
in their Hindi book. Finding nothing original to say, Manu asks
Anisha whether she liked the story too.
Anisha looks at
him, and Ginny is visibly displeased to be disturbed in her gossip.
Manu can see that Anisha is making an effort to smile and give him
a genial reply, but she hasn’t quite grasped his question. “Didn’t
you find that Kaka Hathrasi story about spending a rainy night
under a bridge funny?” he repeats listlessly.
“Oh that, yes, it
was hilarious. I was in splits.”
So was the rest of
the class, Manu is thinking. What a stupid question to ask a girl
whose heart you want to win. Anisha hasn’t turned back to talk to
Ginny, and her eyes clearly ask, “Is my interview over?” Manu knows
he is a bore, a terrible bore, and wriggles out of the situation by
asking Deepti whether Vij Ma’am’s notes on the story are good.
After that he disappears, depressed that he isn’t a better dude
than the class 8 senior after all. “He can talk and laugh and
tease, and play the guitar, but what can I do?”
Manu was morose
and sulked the rest of the week. He didn’t go to the girls in the
tiffin break and carefully avoided Anisha as a lost cause. When he
sulked, he tested Ma’s patience the most. For anything that went
wrong in his life she had to bear the brunt of his tantrums. But
even she couldn’t guess what was tormenting her son. Then, the next
Monday when some of his emotional fever had ebbed, Manu casually
came to see the girls, and was surprised that they all complained
about his absence. Even Anisha remarked on it jovially, and he
wondered whether she did like him a bit, just a little bit. His
mood rose from the pit that it had been in for a week to a high and
he couldn’t believe how talkative he was that day. Yeah, he would
win Anisha’s heart after all, no matter who his opponent was.
***
The weather had
become very pleasant. Mornings had that nip in the air that makes
children only sprightlier while parents worry about them catching
cold. It was the perfect time for school picnics, and class 8 went
to Suketi Fossil Park near Nahan. When class 7’s turn came, the
teachers decided on Bhakra Dam. The children were thrilled, not
just because they were going to spend a whole day out of home and
with each other but also because it was a special place, one they
had read about right from the time they were little children in
primary school.
The picnic was
fixed for the last week of November. The students discussed it all
the time. Although it was a guided tour and they had little to do
in it other than to go along, keep their eyes and ears open, and
come back, they made and remade plans all the time. What snacks to
bring, what music to bring, what clothes to wear (that discussion
was restricted to the girls, but Manu heard enough of it since he
was privy to one of their circles). An outsider would have observed
that the children discussed for the heck of talking and letting off
some of their excitement.
The sun did not
rise on the day of the picnic. The night had been cloudy and well
before dawn the sky had been rumbling. Papa did not want Manu to go
in that weather, but since the picnic money had already been paid,
he took him along on his scooter. They were caught in a downpour.
There was thunder and lightning and the wind was icy cold. It was
almost December after all. Disappointment awaited Manu at the
school gate. Bahadur, the old guard, stood hunched under a large
black umbrella, motioning them to return. The picnic had been
called off because of the bad weather.
Manu had used a
sweet-smelling balsam shampoo that a cousin from the US had gifted
his mother, and sprayed on a deo called C’est Ca that wasn’t meant
for him either. Papa had frowned at the blend of odours but
suffered them quietly. Had he guessed the motive behind this
foppish behaviour, a storm would have broken out indoors as well.
But as it was, neither of Manu’s puritanical parents could have
guessed that there son was hoping to charm Anisha on this picnic.
Manu was very disappointed. He quickly changed into his uniform and
rushed to school, only to find that Anisha had decided to stay
home.
The students had a
lot of fun that day inside the classroom since the grounds were
soaked. They had tiffin sitting on their desks, singing and
laughing. It was a pretty good picnic minus the expense. Manu still
smelled nice and in Anisha’s absence he practised his charm on
Priya. He wasn’t sure whether the magic lay in the fine odours or
his talk but Priya was hanging on his words. If only it were
Anisha, he thought wistfully.
The picnic was
rescheduled for the first Saturday of December. The morning was
going to be even colder and the day shorter, so one of the places
on the itinerary was dropped. After a short halt on the road for
refreshments, the students would be taken straight to Bhakra
Dam.
The promised day
neared again and the excitement built up, but not quite on the same
scale as the week before. Nonetheless, when picnic morning arrived,
Manu cycled to school spreading the same old sweet smells. It
wasn’t cloudy and there was no threat of rain but since he had to
leave very early in the morning (he was so excited he started much
before than he absolutely needed to) he had to face some fog, and
in places where the streetlights were on the blink, the road became
pitch-dark.
Bahadur was at the
gate, wrapped in a heavy overcoat and a woollen blanket through
whose folds only his eyes shone, but the two buildings were still
locked. So Manu had to wait in the cycle stand dodging the drops of
condensation falling from the mango leaves. One by one, his
classmates arrived—mostly with their parents although some also
cycled as usual. Groups built up and the arrival of the class
teachers made the party complete. All that was missing now was the
buses that were to take them to Bhakra, but for the students the
picnic had already started. Packets of chips (wafers, they were
called in those days) and biscuits and fruit cake had been emptied
even before the buses hove into sight.
Manu knew Anisha’s
mother because she taught at school. She was tall for her time and
slim, and turned out gracefully in bright saris with a rose always
peeping out of her hair bun. But that day he saw her father for the
first time, a big man and none too friendly-looking at that. Anisha
sat timidly behind him on his scooter but she was gorgeous in her
casual clothes. He looked approvingly at her jeans and North Star
running shoes, a world removed from her annoying dance costumes and
hennaed hands. Had he seen her thus before, he might have been head
over heels in love with her right from the beginning, he thought.
But out of habit, he couldn’t help comparing her with Neha, who was
also wearing similar clothes. Anisha was prettier, he decided
happily.
The division of
sections was forgotten for the picnic. Students could choose to
travel in either bus with their friends, but all of Manu’s friends
had boarded a different bus from the one on which Anisha and her
friends were travelling, and Manu would not let himself be
ridiculed by travelling in a different bus, so for the greater part
of the day he did not get to see Anisha at all.