Redux (Discontinued)

Punishments and Perceptions

PKC's lecture turned out to be one of the things you either joke about or swear about.

In Sanyukta's own case, she was disappointed.

The day had started like a charm. Vidushi's alarm had gone off at 5 am and the sound of the Hogwarts theme blasting at full volume had made both Vidushi and Sanyukta hum along until they were mostly awake. Kaustuki however, had told them to "Shut off the goddamn racket!"

That had resulted in Vidushi and Sanyukta giving each other a look. That had also resulting in a glass full of water being dumped on Kaustuki along with the overly cheerful "Rise and shine, Muggle!" from Vidushi. Kaustuki in revenge threw her wet blanket at her giggling roommates and proceeded to hog the bathroom. This made both Vidushi and Sanyukta slightly late for PKCs lecture. And that was where all the problems started.

For one, the only two seats available were at front, next to a bespectacled Akash who smelt quite strongly of Axe and sweat. Contrary to the advertisements, neither Vidushi nor Sanyukta found it irresistible. Infact, the strength of the deodorant made both the young women shift themselves as far from Akash as possible.

Sanyukta's attempt to shift resulted in her bumping into another man, Yoyo. He immediately took this as her flirting with him and tried to get her attention by quoting Shayari and couplets modified to praise Sanyukta's hazel eyes.

Vidushi couldn't help her giggles at the goofy and mispronounced words. And that set Sanyukta off too.

That had attracted the ire of the plump and jolly looking professor PKC. The lecturer had a stutter along a pair of spectacles that only made his round face look rounder. He was prone to anger and anxiety because of the students making fun of him. He was also prone to misinterpreting situations and jumping to the worst scenarios possible .

Unfortunately for Sanyukta and Vidushi, PKC's neurotic nature lead him to think that the duo were laughing at his expense.

That was how the whole class ended up being punished by PKC, who turned rather red with anger and embarrassment. The test that he assigned them consisted of five problems that most of the class had difficulty solving.

Only four students managed to solve all five problems correctly. To no one's surprise, Randhir was the first to finish the test. To PKC's dismay, Sanyukta and Vidushi too managed to do what PKC had hoped would be impossible for them. Sanyukta was the second to complete the test, using a few shortcuts she'd learnt thanks to her 12th grade teacher. Vidushi took a little longer, sneaking a small peak at Sanyukta's sheet before shaking her head. She did not want to cheat. Randhir would never stop teasing her. Three sheets, a broken pencil and a couple of curses later, Vidushi Kumar turned in her completed test.

The fourth student, to everyone's surprise, was Sahil Kataria, the quiet, shy boy who always sat on the first desk and barely looked into anyone's eyes.

Sanyukta smiled at Sahil, giving him a small thumbs up.

Sahil smiled back and immediately turned back to his books to hide his red face as the rest of the class began to congratulate him.

In the back of the class, Randhir Singh Shekhawat looked at the back of Sahil's head, noticing the curly haired boy as if for the first time.  'PKC's punishment wasn't really a punishment. It was a gift wrapped opportunity. I wouldn't have noticed it this fast if it hadn't been for this test.'

Randhir's lips curved into a smile. A soft one. 'Sahil Kataria has  some brains. His shyness might make him a less than ideal leader. But it will make him an excellent follower. And if I have to suffer doing teamwork, I'd prefer to have some followers who ask no stupid questions. Granted that Vidushi likes her independence. But her skills lie in presentation, pitching and designing. Not in leadership. She is also cunning enough to know that her best interests lie in not challenging me in my best areas. She can also look at the long term benefits better than the me'  Randhir grudgingly accepted. He shook his head and looked at the fourth person, the other potential dream team candidate

'Sanyukta Agarwal' Randhir frowned. The fact that he knew close to nothing about the girl apart from her name, her marks and the fact that Vardhaan Sir had practically handpicked her to be his rival for the first place irked Randhir. 'Vidushi is her roommate. I'm sure she'll be more than happy to give me more information than I need if I asked nicely...'

Randhir's plans were interpreted by the shrill sound of the bell. PKC walked out of the class, mumbling something to himself.

Most of the students sighed in relief. One or two of the boys, including Yoyo gave Sanyukta and Vidushi angry glares before stomping out. Vidushi flipped them off and told them to study harder.

Sanyukta Agarwal stood tall, as if her spine was made of steel.
Her silence made Randhir shiver a little inspite of himself.

Something told him that Sanyukta was not going to be as easy going as Sahil.

Another part of him, the daredevil part welcomed the challenge.

After all, beating a worthy opponent only made the victory sweeter.

And Randhir Singh Shekhawat was nothing if not a winner. Defeat was a word from a foreign language. It sounded like made up nonsense for him.

"Randhir?" Vidushi was looking at him as if he had grown another head.

"What?"he nearly yelled at the petite girl.

"Vardhaan sir's lecture is next. Remember his policy on tardiness?" Vidushi raised a delicate eyebrow.

"Crap!" Randhir yelled, grabbing his books and stuffing them carelessly in his bag.

Vidushi giggled.

 But she had not failed to notice how Randhir had stared at the Kataria boy. Nor had she failed to see how Randhir was looking at Sanyukta.

Like he was back in their boarding school, 13 years old again. Frowning at the engineering level problem he was trying to solve for an hour.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sahil is another underrated character who is a part of the Dream Team. I don't remember how he got in, so I'm making my own reasons for it.

Randhir is intelligent enough to know what kind of people could make up an ideal team in theory. He will try his best to ensure he does not have to suffer being in a team with a bunch of idiots or worse with a bunch of idiots who think they know the best. Randhir wants to lead.

But so does Sanyukta.

Up next: Dream Team qualifications and Parth.

I'm throwing the RD being jealous of Parth because he is always with Sanyu track out. Instead, Parth and RD having an actual reason to have a rivalry will be there to mix things up.

What do you think?