| Kismet |

02

10 years ago.

"Akshara." The teacher called out. The one from the last but one bench raised her hand and answered the attendance. "Akshath." She went on calling names. "Ma... Madh...ri...ma?" She struggled to call my name. 

"Present ma'am." I answered raising my hands. She called out a few other names. We were a class of approximately 30 people. The classes had been shuffled this year so I saw lot of different faces.

"Hi Madhurima. How was your summer break?" The girl with extremely curly hair spoke. Her hair barely reached her shoulders and they looked super frizzy.

"We can hardly call that a summer break, Rekha." I rolled my eyes smiling. "It was just 30 days. It's not fair at all." I whined. It really wasn't fair. I didn't even get to finish my 'Learn pottery in 30 days' course.

"Okay listen students. I am your class teacher. I am Sushma Chakraborty and I will be teaching you all Organic Chemistry. Now I know it's a different subject but I hope we can make it easier by working hard." She said with an abnormally wide smile on her face. "Being a class teacher I will expect good discipline and behaviour from you guys. So I hope you don't disappoint me chilren."

"Yes ma'am." We all chorused. She seemed nice but still too early to be sure.

"So I hope you don't hate me for this but I will feel more comfortable teaching you all if I assign you people your seats. That way I can know everyone properly and there won't be any confusion." She smiled. "So I divided the class into two groups. I have written the names of group 2 in chits. Group 1 members will draw out chit and that person will be your partner." She explained. She distributed the chits among some students and those people called out names of their partners.

"Madhurima?" The girl whose name I remember as Akshara calls out my name. I pick up my bag and stand up to go sit with her. She smiles at me and sits down. "Hi." She said and forwarded her hand. "I am Akshara Singhania." She introduced herself.

"Hey. Madhurima Yadav. Nice to meet you." I flashed her a smile. "What do you want to persue after school?" I asked her to make a conversation.

"I am thinking maybe engineering." She shrugged. "What about you?" She asked me.

"I have no plans actually." I smiled at her. I actually really did not have a single idea what to do next. It's okay I still have some time left to decide about it.

"I understand." She smiled at me. Throughout the conversation we had fun and learnt a lot about eachother. She was actually really fun. "I am actually new to this city." She said.

"Oh where are you from?" I asked her intrigued.

"Well I came here from Hyderabad but I am from Delhi." She smiled at me.

"Wow that's nice. I've never lived in any other state." I confessed. I clapped my hands getting an idea in my head. "Hey I got an idea. Since you are new here why don't we go out this weekend. I can show you the library, malls, etc." I offered.

"What? Really? That would be awesome." She smiled at me.

"Yeah! Maybe Sahil can drive us." I exclaimed when the idea popped into my head.

"Sahil is...?" She asked suspiciously.

"Bhai. He is my brother. He is in 12th B." I explained.

"What?! Really? Even my bhai is in the same class." She smiled excited. Oh wow that's a weird coincidence.

"Wow. I hope my brother doesn't misbehave with yours. He thinks he is the King or something." I rolled my eyes. My gut says that Sahil already hates her brother. He has this thing where he feels the need to be competitive with everyone. Well... Every male.

"Even my bhai!" She laughed. We both complained about our brothers through the period.

***
At lunch break I was graced by the presence of my ugly brother's face. The girls in my class stared shamelessly at my brother and his two friends who came with him. I scowled at Sahana who was probably drooling at my brother's sight.

"Madhu Madhu. Help." His whiny voice came as he annoyingly tapped on my desk. I didn't mind his irritating presence and calmly opened my box revealing pulav that my mom made. From the corner of my eyes I saw Akshara talking to a guy who came with Sahil. The spoon in my hand was snatched away making me frown. The pig took a spoon of the pulav and put it in his big mouth.

"Sahil!" I shouted grabbing his ear and pulling it making him yell out loud. He hit my hand continuously to make me let go. I pulled a bit hard and let him go with a scowl. "Kya hai?" I asked him irritated.

(What do you want?)

"Sign this na?" He smiled at me handing a letter to me. It was an apology letter for not doing the assignment. Same old Sahil.

"What will I get?" I asked him smirking. Among us only I could copy our parents' sign.

"Arre yaar!" He whined and glared at me. "What do you want?"

"This weekend I want you to be my driver." I smiled sheepishly.

"May I ask why?" He asked raising his eyebrows.

"Because. Akshara and I are going out this weekend." I smiled at him.

"Brat." He rolled his eyes and gave me a pen, silently shaking hands on the deal.

"No you aren't." The boy told Akshara. Kamina kahika.

"Please na bhai." Akshara whined.

"No is no Akshu. It's dangerous." He scolded her.

"Please na bhai. I'll be careful." Akshara requested him. The frowny boy shook his head.

"It's not like we are murderers." I mumbled and rolled my eyes. Akshara snorted when she heard me. But her brother still had that displeased frown on his face.

"Arre yaar chill. I'll be there na." Sahil said.

"Tu bada siphai hai." I rolled my eyes. Adi burst out laughing and gave me a high five. Adi was the only friend of my brother that I actually approved. Rest are just loud, rude and egoistic.

(As if you are a soldier.)