The Class of '18

Ojas Malhotra

"I have lived for six thousand two hundred and five days and still haven't witnessed a sunrise or a sunset for even once." was her first WhatsApp status, which lasted on the charts for more than a month. This thoughtful status earned the attention of many loners and depressed artists.

The divorce of her parents after seven years of marriage deeply shattered young Ojasvini Malhotra. Her mother still in her thirties maintained well her bodily assets which got much attention at the ladies' night outs and occasional parties. None were surprised when two years later Rashi Malhotra tied the knots with the most eligible successful bachelor and entrepreneur, Vinay Khanna.

"I don't like his surname." Ojas rebuked.

"Well in that case sweety you don't have to change yours then." said Rashi, polishing her diamond necklace.

Ojasvini Malhotra then had a privileged childhood. One that only a few chosen ones enjoy. She was home tutored by the Delhi's best known teachers, sent to most expensive trips and summer camps.

Though she got everything a child wanted, she never received what every child needed - love and attention.

Her mother would always be busy scheduling the next lavish party. 

The downfall struck and the diamond beads in Rashi's necklace reduced gradually, directly proportional to the gradual fall in zeroes in Vinay's bank account. The size of the teddy bears too fell gradually with each passing Ojas' birthday.

It was in February 2011, the doctors declared Vinay Khanna dead, cause of death: suicide. It was three weeks later at a social gathering where Ojas confessed to her mother that she had pushed Vinay Khanna off the balcony. Rashi kept the reasons a secret and later that night Ojas was admitted to one of the Delhi's psychiatric centers. For more than eight months she was kept under strict surveillance, guidance and counselled on a daily basis.

When in December she returned home, she had quite changed. She would smoke five to seven cigarettes a day, sometimes even scaling to a ten a day. She would go to random parties at which she drank till she threw up on the floor.

It was in 2013, when rumors spread around the neighborhood that she was charging two thousand rupees for an hour's sex. Following week, her mother found her in the bathroom naked, lying on a pool of blood and a blood stained blade resting on her open palms.

After another seven months of treatment and counselling at AIIMS, New Delhi, she was discharged only to find her mother who would now roam in the house like a lively soul in a dead body. She wouldn't utter a single word, nor smiled, just kept walking. Her face had wrinkled, her beauty had faded and her eyes never seemed so dull.

Though she couldn't help herself to drinking and smoking, Ojasvini Malhotra for the first time tried to be serious at life only to see her mother's smile again. She would smoke a cigarette but strictly only after completely studying a chapter. 

Her studies suddenly scaled wooping up and she had now began to compete with the toppers in the subjects. 

It was in early 2014, when she found out she was pregnant with a father she was unsure of. She begged around for money and got the baby aborted. It was at that embarrassing and humiliating moment, she decided to quit all her addictions once and for all.

Later that year she devoted herself wholly to studies, cutting herself out from the world. After months of studies and hard work, she gave the CBSE's AISSCE. 

Ojas cried after a long time and her mother smiled after a long time as she got admission in Delhi College Of Arts And Commerce -DCAC-class of 2018.