The Green-eyed Monster

Chapter 5

Settling in her own seat, Naina took her books out and prepared for the class to start. Once satisfied, she looked up to see Swati's gaze fixated on Prem, and realised that she hadn't inroduced the two. She hesitated for a second. After all, it was not common in those days for boys and girls to be friends. Would Prem even want to be introduced to another girl? Could he even be in their friend group? 

But then she suddenly stopped thinking along those lines, for Prem had already proven to her that he was not like most people. He was different. Away from the classifications on the bases of rich-poor, male-female, and various other divisions that the society had imposed on them. He would not care if Swati was a boy or a girl. He treated everyone with equal respect. 

Naina (calling out and gesturing for him to come): Prem?

Prem walked over to the duo, putting his bag by the wall in the front of the class. Naina stood up, pulling a puzzled Swati out of her seat, and towards Prem. 

Naina: Prem, ye Swati hai, meri best friend. Swati, ye hai Prem. Aaj hi humaare school mein aaya hai, aur humaari class mein bhi aur.....

Prem: ... Aur aate hi inse dosti kar li. Hello Swati!

Swati: Hi Prem. Humaari class mein aapka swagat hai. 

Prem: Shukriya, par please, aap mujhe "aap" kehkar mat bulayiye.

Swati: Arre, to phir ye rule to aap pe bhi apply hona chahiye...

Prem: nahi, main agree nahi karta. Aap mujhe "tum" kehkar pukaar sakti hain kyunki main apne aap ko aap dost maanta hun, aur aapko apna. Lekin aap meri dost hone ke saath saath ek ladki bhi hain, aur "tum" aapke like respectful nahi hoga. Ladkiyon ki hamesha izzat karni chahiye, ye meri maa ne mujhe sikhaaya hai. Toh mere liye to "aap" hi theek hai. (Smiling)

Swati, Naina and the 16 other classmates whose attention Prem had grabbed during his mini-speech broke out in smiles and a soft applause. The boys looked at him in admiration and the girls had the looks of awe. In those "16 other people" our trio of Munna-Pandit-Sameer also stared at Prem, but not in awe or admiration, rather in confusion-confusion-irritation respectively. They had been quietly observing the entire interaction between Prem and the girls ever since Naina had called out to him. Two boys from the trio were especially very interested in the events as they unfolded, and had observed every detail, as a result of which, they had already decided that neither did they like this turn of events, nor the person who had brought it.

Swati: Arre wah Prem, tumhaari in baaton ne to sachmein dil jeet liya.. aur sirf mera nahi, lagta hai sabhi ka jeet liya. toh ab iss baat pe mera kaha bhi suno. Haan, ladkiyon ki izzat karna bahut zaroori hota hai, magar izzat sirf ladkiyon ki nahi ladkon ki bhi honi chahiye. Duniya sirf ek se nahi, dono se bani hai. baraabari ki. toh izzat, swatantrata, sab sirf ek ko nahi dono ko milni chahiye. Aur ye sirf shabdon ka kehl nahi hai. kisi shabd ka istemaal karne se izzat kam ya zyaada nahi ho jati.. izzat to dil se hoti hai.. aur uske baad tum ho ya aap, kya farak padhta hai?

Prem: Khoob kaha Swati g! aur maine aapki... tumhaari iss baat ko maan liya. Dost?

Swati (Smiling): Dost!

Just then, there was the door to the classroom opened, and Shanti teacher walked in. Students scrambled to get into their seats and prepared for the class to start, while Prem walked back to the front of the classroom to introduce himself to Shanti teacher.

Sameer looked towards his side to try to catch Naina's attention but found, to his dismay, that Naina had switched sides with Swati. So where normally, Naina would be adjacent to Sameer, today, Swati was sitting between them. Naina was focused entirely towards the front of the class, and Sameer felt his heart break a little more.

Meanwhile, Shanti teacher turned towards the class, and introduced Prem. She directs Prem to an empty seat, next to a boy, and diagonally in front of Naina, which elates Prem and angers Sameer. He walks to his place and puts his bag down.

Sameer (Thinking): Ye to hadh hi ho gayi ab Bhagwaan Ji. Aaj iska pehla din hai aur ye meri Naina ki zindagi mein ghusta hi jaa raha hai. Subha pehle dosti, aur ab class mein saath-saath. Aap kar kya rahe ho?

Prem (turning around): Naina, humaara koi connection hai. Subha sabse pehle tumse mila, aur ab tum meri padosi ho, ghar pe bhi aur class mein bhi. Maza aa gaya! Meri kismet sach mein lajawaab hai. Thank you Bhagwaan Ji!

Sameer (Thinking): "Connection"? tujhe to main bataunga connection ke bache! Aur ek second? Padosi? GHAR ke paas? Kahin vo purana ghar to nahi? Bhagwaan Ji! Kya kar rahe ho? Isse door karna hai.. aur paas nahi laana!  

Sameer steals a glance at Naina, who smiles at Prem, and then turns back to her books. This is unsettling for Sameer to watch, as he uncomfortable with the prospect of Naina and Prem's friendship. The entire class goes by, with Naina and Prem not interacting any further, to the relief of Sameer, and Sameer subtly stealing glances of Naina. What he misses though, is the way how Naina also steals glances of him during the hour, without as much as moving her head even a centimetre, an art she had mastered a long time ago. She looks at him for a millisecond, and then berates herself for falling weak, thus fuelling her anger further towards him each time. 

As the class finishes, and Shanti teacher walks out, various conversations break out between the students, with friends turning to each other and talking about different topics while they wait for the next teacher to arrive. Sameer turns in his seat to face Naina, and try to get her attention, but he sees Prem turned completely backwards and chatting animatedly with Swati and Naina.

Munna: Yaar ye Prem bahut zyaada nahi uchal raha? Dekha tha kaise subha Pandat se has has ke baatein kar raha tha? Aaya bada 'Dost' banne. Aur vo kya tha? Izzat ka paath.. Arre chikni-chupdi baatein kar ke Pandat ko pighlane ki kosis kar raha hai, dekh lunga isko to. 

Pandit: haan yaar. Aaj hi aaya hai aur aaj hi do ladkiyon se dosti kar li. Vo bhi NAINA se. Swati ka to samajh aata hai, lekin NAINA?

Munna: arre aise ladkon ko bahut jaanta hun main. Dosti ke bahaane ladkiyon ka haath pakadte hain ye. Ye to acha hua usne Pandat ko haath nahi lagaaya varna dhar leta main to usko idhar hi. 

At this Sameer turned around, surprised, for he clearly remembered seeing Prem shake Naina's hand in the morning. Did he not hsake Swati's? Why did he not shake Swati's? Why did he touch Naina then?

Sameer: Kya? Munna? tujhe achi tarah yaad hai usne Swati ke saath handshake nahi kiya?

Munna: Arre haan yaar. agar usne haath pakada hota to ab tak apne pairon pe khada na hota vo. Pandat ko haath to laga ke dikhaaye vo, bharta na bana dun?

Sameer: toh usne Naina ka handshake kyu kiya?

Munna: Naina se haath milaaya usne?

Pandit: Aur NAINA ne milaane diya? 

Sameer: Haan, aaj subha main jaldi aaya tha Naina se baat karne, to main dekha tha. Us Prem ne meri Naina ka haath pakda hua tha.

Munna and Pandit: "MERI NAINA"? 

Sameer: Matlab, Naina ka.

Munna: Sameer, humse chupaayega? Humein pata hai ke tune kya kaha aur uska kya matlab hai. 

Pandit: humein to trip pe hi shaq ho gaya tha. aur teri harkaton ne humaara shaq yakeen emin adal diya. Maan le Sameer. Pyaar karta hai tu usse.

Sameer does not say anything, but his silence speaks volumes for his friends. they look at each other and smile happily. After all, Love was one of the most beautiful feelings, and their friend was experiencing just that. Sameer would agree with them, Love was the most beautiful feeling. But at this minute, he was feeling not just love, but another very strong emotion- Jealousy- and that was not beautiful at all.

OKAY. I know. MORE than 1 month was very very very bad. But school has started and it is very difficult to write and update. But this is no excuse I know. SO from now, I promise, I'll try to update more regularly. Please do not kill me. Agar main mar gyi to kahaani kaun poori karega? ;)

Vaise, Happy Valentines Day to all you beautiful people! Have a Fantastic day! :)