Weird and Wonderful

Chapter-2

YEAR - 2011
Swasti was yawning at the sight of yellow worksheet of Math sums when a girl tapped on her shoulder.

“Have you completed the worksheet?” the girl asked.

“No,” Swasti replied.

“Then why aren’t doing it?”

“Because I am not in a mood to solve the sums.”

The girl said nothing but whispered something to the girl beside her with a scornful expression. Swasti didn’t care about it. Not caring about what others think was something which she had inherited from her father.
“Sir is late again. I am getting bored. By the way, where is Kritika?” Swasti said to Ami. Ami was an endomorph, which was a decent way to say that she could be found at the XL section in the malls. Her bob-cut hair gave her a mischievous schoolgirl look, which she really was. She was a certified gossip queen. She knew everything about everyone at school and coaching class. Swasti, Ami and Kritika were best friends since sixth standard.

“Hanging out with her would-be-IITian friends,’” Ami said with bitterness. Ever since Kritika started coming to the coaching class by a different van than Swasti and Ami’s, she was spending less time with them.

“Oh! What shall we do until Sir comes?” Swasti said, looking at the motivational posters on the white walls with disinterest. It was good to inspire students but the sight of posters everywhere was an overdose of inspiration.

“I have breaking news for you,” Ami said.

“What?” Now Swasti was listening with increased attention.

“You know why Neeti’s performance in the previous test deteriorated?” Ami said in a teasing manner.

“Neeti…”  Swasti said, scratching her head, “By Neeti, you mean our coaching class topper…”

“Yes, the great topper Neeti. She scored  less marks in the test because she is dating Rohan.”

“Now, who is Rohan?”

“Dumbo, you don’t know Rohan! He is the most popular boy in our coaching class.”

“But, what has dating got to do with marks?” Swasti still could not understand the connection between dating life and marks.

“Swasti, my dear dumbo, what will you do in life?” Ami said like an old woman.

“I will go for ghost-hunting, watch my favourite TV shows, read all the classics and go to Transylvania and write a novel which no one can forget,” Swasti replied.

“Don’t start with your bucket list again. But seriously, what do you think, what is more important, money or love?”

Swasti said, without taking much time, “Well, if you ask me, nothing is important in life.”

“People dedicate their whole life for these two things and you are saying neither is important.”

“Look, in the time of early man, people only had  two things to do-to find food and protect themselves from wild beasts.”

“But, what has this to do with my question?”

“Have patience, Ami. What is the need to hurry?”Swasti said, “But these two tasks were not enough to keep them busy throughout the day. The day seemed endless and monotonous. So to make life more exciting, people started to compete among themselves proving who hunted the largest beast. This was the origin of concept of pride in having immense wealth.”

“Very intelligent! Who tells you these things, Swasti?”

“I have 16 years of experience in life. Isn't that enough?”