By Kanishka Jain
Gayathri criticized, "He looks more feminine than any girl I have ever known."
"Oh my god, yes! I can feel the smoothness of his legs by looking at them," exclaimed Khushi. Both of them giggled.
Khushi expressed, "Here comes beauty itself. I admire the sarees she wears and the jewelry she accessorizes herself with."
"Ya, Gitika Mam does have a great dressing sense," Gayathri said cynically.
As Saira walked into the ground floor corridor, Khushi and Gayathri noticed this. They shared a look with a sigh.
Gayathri, in a derogatory tone, "The cool, rebellious scholar of the class is coming. Hey, Khushi, when was the last time she followed any discipline rules from the past 4 years that we have known her?"
"Never," both of them said in unison.
One fine day, Gayathri took a leave. Now Saira and Khushi had to be friendly and talk to each other. But this was all about to change. During the lunch break, the disciplinary teacher saw Saira without braids. This frustrated her as she had scolded Saira for this just the day before. She, with all her determination, decided to make Saira learn a lesson. As the break ended, Ms. Ankita, the disciplinary teacher, stormed into the class, grabbed Saira's bag, and announced that her bag was being confiscated because she didn't follow any rules and regulations in the school. She also promised to make sure that Saira would leave the school that day without it. Ms. Ankita very precisely mentioned to every teacher not to intervene in the matter.
After all this, Saira got permission from the respective subject teacher and went to cry in the washroom. Everybody in the class behaved like nothing happened and nobody knew anything. When Khushi saw this, she couldn't help herself from checking on Saira as even though she hated her, at last, she was a person who needed help.
With the teacher's consent, Khushi took a water bottle and went to console Saira. As she entered the washroom, she saw Saira crying in a corner. She provided her with some water and tried to calm her down. Saira started to confess her problem with not being able to follow the school protocols. While drunk in her sorrow, she didn't notice that she told one of her most personal and deep insecurities to the girl that she liked the least.
Saira revealed, "Nobody in my house helped me and listened to anything that I said. Nobody helped me in waking up on time after being asked several times. My mother and elder sister carelessly ignored my demand to braid my hair every morning." Then she sobbed for a while and continued, "So I started living on my own and did my best for myself. Now I am feeling incapable and unworthy of taking care of myself and my relationships." She stared, looking at herself as a failure as a human being.
Khushi listened to all of this and couldn't believe that a girl as quiet as Saira thought aloud about her life. She waited for her to be quiet and told her that she had to trust her family always. Khushi said, "I know it takes an ample amount of patience and endurance, but God gives the hardest battles to the strongest soldiers." As Saira felt heard and empathized with, she smiled a little. Khushi wiped her tears and asked her to have a more polite attitude with her family members. Saira looked at her with a confused face when Khushi advised, "One doesn't 'tell' or 'demand' things from their family. They make a 'request' and wait for it to be fulfilled." The school day was over. They both went to Ms. Ankita and apologized and convinced her that this would be taken care of next time.
The next day Gayathri came late to school. As she saw Saira and Khushi running towards her with big smiles, she got puzzled. Saira, Khushi, and Gayathri, for the first time in 4 years, did a group hug. Before Gayathri could even ask what happened. Saira and Khushi narrated the whole story with great enthusiasm. And all three of them became best friends forever.
By Kanishka Jain
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