My Encounters With The Prettiest Eyes

4. A Bit More Of Her

 A Bit More Of Her

Saturday, 5 November 2023
My First Collective Encounter With The Four Girls

The day before, Abay sir confiscated our phones, insisting we disconnect from the virtual world and enjoy the nature around us. I was only concerned about my Snapchat streak, so I quickly logged in and sent a snap before handing it over. As expected, we were informed that we'd get our phones back only after all the lectures. Many grew restless, but I remained calm. There were always the over-smart ones trying to cause trouble to get their phones back. This time, a rumor or 'misunderstanding,' as they called it, added to the chaos.

After the English lecture, I noticed students already using their phones. Vijay Bhaiya also reminded me to collect mine from the office. Approaching the office door, I found it closed and the lights off.

"You can collect it from the library," some students advised as they came out. Once again, I met Vijay Bhaiya in the library, where he distributed the phones from the box. After retrieving mine, I headed towards the lift where a few people were already waiting. As the doors were about to close, I saw the group of the 'famous four girls' of Batch 1.

"Ya patkan," I instinctively gestured for them to join. They hurried in.

"It's not 'ya patkan,' I think," corrected the short girl, whose name I now knew.
"Ha ..it's something else," Rushika, the 94.5% scorer agreed.

"Are, now I am not a Maharashtrian, so don't correct my Marathi," I asserted.
"What?? So, you are not a Maharashtrian?? But you look like one," Naira continued.
"Nah, I'm not." "Then where are you from?"
"Madhya Pradesh," I said, proud to be a North Indian as always.

The three girls enjoyed the conversation while the tallest one in the black mask remained engrossed in her phone.

"You're all Maharashtrian, right?" I asked.

"Haa. Excluding Lea,we three are maharashtrians." one of them replied.

"5th Floor," the lift doors opened, and we walked towards the corridor. I was curious about Lea's origins since she wasn't Maharashtrian.

"Aye Lea, tu kaha se hai?",
"Assam," was the reply.

"Ha Assam... Assamese, Assamese hai ye," and I had to take that from Naira along with Lea's reply.
"Aye chup," said Lea out of laughter as the four of them entered their class and I entered mine.

I still hadn't switched on my phone. Suddenly, Vijay Bhaiya appeared again, instructing us to return our phones to the box and retrieve them only after all lectures. Irritation and anger filled the air.

I still didn't mind and was tasked by Vijay Bhaiya to inform the neighboring batch to return their phones too. Opening their door, I found those four girls sitting midway. I entered and shouted Vijay bhaiya's instructions loudly.

"Whatt??!!" was Naira's reaction.
"Abe phir diya kyu??" Maybe that was Lea.

"I don't know about that. He has told me to keep it. And I am going to do so," I proudly stated, still not affected by the new instructions.
"Hamara bhi rakh de na please," Naira requested. I quickly gathered their phones, out of which one was extremely smooth, and I quickly commented,

"kitna chikna phone hai be," causing Naira to burst into laughter.

"Are means it has a slippery surface," I explained.
"Are thoda aaram se bhai," Lea interrupted.
"Kyuu? Is that an iPhone?"

"Yes." "Wow, big shot," I teased lightly.

I left the room with four mobiles, including mine. The fourth one of the girls, the tallest one among them who was engrossed in her phone—Sanjana Jaiswal—was waiting for the lift. She didn't hand her phone to me and had decided that she would submit it herself.

We both stepped in together, and when the lift just went past the third floor,

"Sanjana?..."
"Hmm?" she immediately took her eyes off her phone and looked up, with her eyebrows upwards.

"Konsa phone hai?" That was probably the worst way to start a conversation in the 21st century. "Realme Note 7."
"Achaa, it's Note 7. Even my mom had this one." But by then, she had brought back her eyes to her phone.

So she was Sanjana Jaiswal. She was the one Paresh told about. That girl from B1, on whom he once had a crush. Or only attraction for that matter, if this offends him.

In fact, this was the girl I once described as having a duck-like face when I saw her in her WhatsApp profile picture (I am extremely sorry for that), in which she was wearing a yellow top and was in the soft toys section of a store. She was also the one in that warm red and cream-white lehenga (even then I didn't know the lehenga wasn't warm red or creamy white), crossing the road with her hands held by two girls, whom I assumed to be my senior. She still appeared to be my senior, with her open hair, black mask, long nails, and eyes glued to her mobile phone.

We both went to the library for the submission of the phones, with me being a bit behind.

"You don't have to keep them here. Go and put them in the office," Vijay Bhaiya instructed, sending us back from the library. Sanjana was still on her phone. We both exited the library and instead of heading to the office, she slowly walked towards the parking zone.

I, on the other hand, quickly ran into the office and placed the phones there.
"Tell everyone that their phones are in the office and not in the library. Otherwise, they will all come in at once," that was another instruction I received. So, I quickly went back to the Batch 1 classroom and opened the door.

"Listen!" I called out to the three girls whose mobile phones I had submitted. "You will find your mobiles in the office. There's a box with an inclined sloped top, black in color. That's where your phones are." I wasn't sure if they understood where their phones were, but the term "inclined sloped" made them laugh again.