Destiny - مقدر

2 - Fail - ناکام

"Sometimes the most brilliant and intelligent minds do not shine in standardized tests because they do not have standardized minds." - Diane Ravitch

"Did you tell them?"
"Tell them what?"

I kicked mud and dust up the path as we strode along, breathing in the overwhelming stench of smoke and pollution. The smell of pakoras and samosas cooking on old, rusty stoves tickled my nostrils. "Did you tell them about your exam?" Daniyal replied as we walked up the road towards school. "We haven't even received our marks, yet." I retorted, shaking my head. "Now can we talk about anything else? Please!"

He laughed, "If you insist."
There was something so courteous about him that made me want to laugh. He was chivalrous, indeed. Like a prince in an old fairytale. You could tell in his eyes that he had an utmost respect for woman and just people in general. His emerald green pupils twinkled with satisfaction when he spoke. The same colour as my father's, though his were bright and glimmering. My father's were murky and dark. It really was quite the contrast. Both eyes were the same colour, yet one was beautiful and one was not.

We walked in silence, the white noise of the bustling streets of Kashmir filling the absence of sound. Once we'd reached the school he departed again, making sure to say goodbye properly before he did. I walked up the steps to our classroom door and leant against one of the large white pillars that held up the old building. We had arrived early and Sarafina was not yet there. Afreen definitely wouldn't be here, surprisingly she wasn't.

Suddenly, peaking her head out of the side of the door, I heard Mrs Khan begin to whisper my name. "Aqsa! Aqsa, come here!"

I stared confusedly at her, looking around me before walking towards her. "Yes, Ma'am?" She opened the door slightly ajar so that I could slip into the classroom and then she shut it firmly behind her. I looked through the door as it slammed shut and then looked up at her with confusion and doubt. "I need to talk to you about your exam." She stated, clasping her hands together.
"Oh."

I looked despondently at the ground before being lead to a table and sat down. Mrs Khan picked up a pale yellow booklet of paper from her desk and dropped it in front of me. "Your test paper. Do you understand how you did?"
I read the bright red inked letters that illuminated my page with sharp crosses and exclamation marks. "I did bad."
She huffed, clearly aggravated by my careless words. "Not bad, Aqsa. You did absolutely awful! This-" She shoved the test paper closer to me so that I could really see the full extent of how badly I had done. "-this is shameful! Have you no shame?"

I nodded, slowly, looking down at my feet and drowning in the pool of shame that she had just pushed me into. "You know, no one will marry you at this rate. This isn't good, at all."
I looked up at her fiercely. She couldn't just claim that every woman's purpose was to get married to a lazy Asian man that constantly demanded food and clean clothes. Why bother with exams and going to school when we'd just end up marrying strangers and being prisoners in our own homes?
"What if I don't want to get married?"
"Don't be ridiculous, Aqsa. You're sixteen. Do you even understand?"
"Yes, I do. And I'm not getting married. As you said, I'm sixteen."

She gasped at my impudent remark, "Aqsa! I'm trying to help you and it seems all you want to do is cause trouble!"
I remained silent. I knew that my fierce temper and need to constantly be right all of the time would get me in trouble. "Well?"
"I'm sorry, Ma'am."
I nodded my head slowly, looking down at my sandals with utmost despondence as they tapped against the thin blue carpet.

"You're not doing well Aqsa. I may be forced to call your parents in."
I rolled my eyes underneath my dupatta so that she couldn't see my primitive attitude. My parents finding out would only cause more problems then it was worth. All of my teachers called me a hopeless case, now I could see that they were all right. "How do you think your father would feel if he found out he raised a stupid, un-marriageable girl? Education isn't free, Aqsa."
"Education isn't just the foundation of marriage, either."