My Journey - A Left Right Left Story

XVI

12th May, 2006.

Naina : Hi.

All (eyeing Aryan) : Hi.

Dr. Mishra(trying to appear friendly) : Cadet aap aapne date se hume introduce nahi kareyengi.

Hi I'm Dr. Mishra (extending her hand).

Aryan(trying to match her tone) : The psychiatrist right ?

Sorry its just that you look like a psychiatrist.

I'm Aryan by the way (shaking her hand).

Dr. Mishra(slightly unsettled) : Right.

Rajveer : I'm Captain Shekhawat.

Shalini : I'm Dr. Captain Shalini Singhal

Aryan : Hi.

Naina : And yeh hai,

Huda, Minal, Ali, Pooja, Aalekh, Yudi, and....I'm guessing you guys are Neelu and Madhu ???

Neelu : Yeah, I'm Neelu. Humne phone par baat ki thi. I must say, you really know how to make a good deal.

And this is Madhu by the way.

Naina : It is so nice to meet you.

And that thankfully was enough of an ice-breaker for everyone to start mingling. Dr. Mishra kept trying to fish information about the three civilians. I really thought she was going to just fixate on Aryan and try to find out about us. But she was equally invested in all three of them. Which is kind of weird ? Although, I must say all three of them did a commendable job in deflecting her.

Luckily, B.C. ne jaldi hai opening dance ki announcement kar di. Aur kyunki iss saal sab alag taarike se kiya ja raha hai, toh Fresher's Ball bhi alag hai. You see traditionally the opening dance was a way to show the new blood how to conduct themselves in situations like these, cuz the academies before did not teach cadets how to dance. So, these Balls were the only way to learn how.

But this year academies were teaching the cadets how to dance. So, the opening dance was compulsory participation instead of observation.

BC started the dance with Shalini. One by one all the couples also joined in. Our star group were dancing close to one another as the floor was very crowded.

Aryan : Military Balls mai kab se opening dance compulsory ho gaya.

Naina : It's not. Wo toh BC ko sirf ye check kar na chaate hai ki humne dance lessons seriously liye hai ya nahi.

Yep we got weird looks for this.

After the first song was over, we all slowly made their way towards the edges. Soon Huda found a way to control the type of music that was being played and started playing upbeat music. The party was soon in full swing.

Rajveer was avoiding dancing with Dr. Mishra at all costs. The opening dance was awfully painful to watch, he had tried his hardest to maintain some distance between them, had tried that his hand won't touch her back. Finally she gave up on the idea of dancing and sat down on one of the tables with Rajveer and quickly drowning two drinks.

Rajveer saw us heading towards the seating arrangements and tried to communicate his predicament to me. And come on the guy looked so much like a sad puppy, it was impossible to say no. Heck, Aryan khud mujhe table ki taraf lead karne laga.