Kraant

Chapter 13

A pin drop silence.

The thundering quietness resonated across the auditorium packed with the students, teachers and staff members of the Abhayajuli Public School. The reason not being the exceptionally good speech but the bamboo stick that dangled in Gambhir Sir's hands. (he was not actually going to hit them, yet the sentiment was essential)

The only sound that echoed around the auditorium was the speech that was being delivered by Ishan which had been written by him hastily in the last minute with Mayank's urgent help. Above, two smiling individuals adorned the wall in framed pictures, accented by garlands of white flowers draped elegantly around the wooden frames for all to lament.

Ishan and Shubman had gone to Principal Dhoni's office to propose their idea of commemorating Anupriya di alongside Rohan. Initially, he had hesitated, citing potential displeasure from the board members at the last-minute change and he had no power over them. It took a lot of coaxing on Gambhir Sir's end that convinced Dhoni Sir to appeal to Jay Shah, the Managing Director of the School Management Board to let them give her a ceremony too since this event would be uploaded on the school's social media handles and would help enhance their public image.( After Jay Shah was made the MD, many people had called him a bad product of nepotism)

Now though, he was sitting in his assigned seat, grinning proudly like a shark as if it was his idea all along.

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"Finally, its over." Rohit Sir sighed, sinking into one of the chairs Gambhir was organizing, irking him. When the memorial ceremony was concluded, Jay Shah had spent a lot of time giving a lengthy speech about the betterment of their school, it had exhausted both the students and teachers, but the latter were firm enough to not let their irritation bleed into their façades of attentive listening.

As if that wasn't enough, he then guided the teachers to rearrange the furniture, a task that had already been efficiently handled by student volunteers but they were firmly ordered to vacant the hall as soon as possible. (The reason being someone had stuck a chewing gum on his seat without his knowledge when he was giving the speech, if it wasn't for his efficient assistants who too had stuck behind him like a chewing gum, his honour wouldn't have been saved)

"Get off the chair!" Gambhir hissed.

To further annoy him, Virat dramatically flopped onto the nearby chair, flailing infront of Gambhir like a 18th century maiden, eliciting laughs from everyone, much to Gambhir's frustration, he was eager to finish this work as soon as possible so that he could further work on his thesis. However, Virat was adamant on making things difficult for him as he instead lunged at him this time, throwing himself onto his shoulders.

He tried to shake himself off but couldn't as the brat proved stronger than him and fueled by his youthfulness, he tightened his grip. Gambhir looked desperately at Kamlesh, silently pleading for intervention. The doctor struggled to control his laughter before finally prying Virat's godforsaken arms from Gambhir's shoulders.

"You are no fun, Gauti." Virat pouted. "You too, Kamlesh, don't be such a spoilsport."

Kamlesh blinked innocently at the statement, "Gambhir sir had earlier mentioned he wanted to go home early, so, I helped him." He said, earning a pat on his back from Gambhir.

"You are always ready to run along and follow his orders even though I am much more entertaining and handsome than him. Usme eisa kya hain, jo mujhme nahi hain?" Virat puffed out his chest towards Kamlesh like Bindia to Kabir in 'Chak De India', causing him to back off nervously. [What does he have that I don't?]

"Manners and respect, for starters. You're laughing and causing a commotion at a memorial ceremony; show some remorse," Gambhir chided.

"You can do nothing for the dead if you didn't do anything for the living." Rohit muttered. (Why does he say those philosophical sentences in daily life conversations)