The Great Indian College Romance

10. Of Elections and Fests

The day started out perfectly well for me. 

I walked into college, one of my classes got cancelled, Smriti and I hung out in the garden with food from the canteen. Then it was announced that we would have the voting process for the departmental elections in the extra-curricular hour and that bummed me out because going for that would mean that I would have to miss practise with Rhapsody. I could not skip it either since I was one of the candidates. Smriti made me do some last-minute appeals to the students to vote for me. 

Honestly, it all felt a little insincere since I wasn't particularly invested in the whole election now. At first, it seemed like a perfect addition to my college life but then the novelty wore off and I was pretty neutral about the result. 

Also, there was a chance Nirav would be elected for the General Secretary post and if I won then he would be my counterpart. I had managed to evade him since the party. He wasn't approaching me very enthusiastically for whatever reason and that was good for me. 

I was walking back from the photocopy shop with Smriti when I ran into Siddharth. 

"Hey, Siddharth," I called out.

"Hey, Meera." He smiled at me.

"Listen, I was just about to call you, I won't be able to make it to practice today, department elections and everything," I told him.

"You're contesting, right?" he asked.

I was surprised he had remembered, I had mentioned it in passing one time. 

"Yes, I am."

"That sounds great, all the best, you'll probably win," he said.

"Well, I won't be too heartbroken if I don't," I shrugged.

"Don't say that." Smriti chastised, "She's winning alright."

Siddharth laughed and I apologized to the new assertive Smriti.

"In case you finish early you know where to find us," he said and left.

"Sometimes I'm almost jealous you get to hang out with all these cute guys," Smriti said once we walked a little ahead.

My mind went straight to the last time I had seen Angad, it was the same day we had decided on starting over and agreeing to a truce. I had gone to see Yug and Siddharth after class and they were wrapping up with their rehearsal.

This was the first time Angad had been here present with them all when I had come to meet them. We said awkward 'hi's' after the abrupt ending to our conversation earlier in the day and Yug took it upon himself to make me more familiar with his best friend. 

Apparently, Yug and Angad had known each other since they were in pre-school, a fact that either had failed to mention before that day. Their parents were friends as well. 

The air was weird and it wasn't for the lack of familiarity between Angad and me. Nobody seemed to pick up on it. Siddharth tried to reassure me by saying I should be glad that for once Angad wasn't trying to flirt me up. I gave him a polite smile and thought of how they would all react if they knew the real reason for our awkwardness. 

So no, hanging out with boys however cute they might have been, wasn't without the drama. It got better though as the hour ended and I could confidently declare that Rhapsody practises were back to being fun. 

***

So I ended up winning. 

Everyone came up and congratulated me for my win and as the high wore off I realized that standing next to me was none other than Nirav, who had won the General Secretary post. So this was the worst-case scenario.