Reborn to love

First Spat

Part 9

After a rainy night, the sun beams filtered through the crevices in the wooden panel of the glass windows with a layer of grill and disturbed the peaceful slumber of the girl dreaming about a faraway land.

"Uth ja behen...aaj tu kitni der tak so rahi hai! Roz toh mujhe kheench taankar uthati hai...aaj mujhe mauka mila hai", Preeti had an upper hand for once to pull away the blanket from over her sister's head.

"Kya yaar Preeti...tu bhi na..." Naina tsked but woke up rubbing her eyes against the bright light illuminating the modest dwelling.

"Aaj na meri parlour ki chutti hai...toh hum kuch mazze karte hai", Preeti was already looking forward to a fun-filled holiday.

Just then, Naina's eyes fell on the clock that chimed eight and her eyes widened in horror. "Chutti teri hogi bewakoof, main toh late ho gayi...." and she jumped out of the bed and raced towards the bathroom.

Preeti hollered from outside, "mujhe laga itni der tak so rahi hai toh chutti hogi...par aaj toh Saturday hai. University mein toh chutti hoti hai na?"

"Haan...par hamari field trip ke lecturer, visiting faculty hai...toh woh sirf Saturday ko hi free hote hai...main late nahi ho sakti..."

She was out in 10 minutes flat and was completely ready in another 5. "Preeti, meri pyaari behen...mujhe jaldi se drop kar de campus... bus ya auto ke liye ruki toh pakka late ho jaungi..." Preeti didn't seem interested, so she cajoled her one more time, "plzzzz meri pyari behen".

"Tune toh puri chutti ka plan barbaad kar diya...chal...chod deti hoon..." she still agreed...

Naina hugged her tight and on her way out grabbed two bananas as breakfast. She ate one while feeding the other to her sister who drove her at breakneck speed and landed at the door of her department at 8:30 sharp.

Naina hopped off quickly and muttered a hasty thank you and was about to rush off when she remembered something and came back, "main 12 baje tak free ho jaungi...fir jo tu bole..." she smiled at her sister and hugged her quickly before dashing off. Preeti smiled at her retreating figure, "pagal kahi ki...padhayi ke aage toh baaki sab fail".

Naina clambered the theee floors as it was faster than the age-old elevator that could get stuck at anytime. She hurried to the class that had almost begun when she asked permission in panting breaths to enter, "May I come in sir?"

"Who are you?" She received a very hostile response.

"Sir, I am Naina Agrawal...", she introduced herself to the new faculty.

Dr. Tripathi was an advanced age professor with salt and pepper hair, deep wrinkles on the forehead and corners of the eye and very prominent laugh lines. He was dressed in a very crisply pressed beige shirt and mud brown trousers and the ugly rain sandles for men. He picked a sheet of paper lying on his table and lowered the glasses perched high on his nose to read clearly at a close distance. The class was only half-full as some student's idea of a Saturday was not boring classes, that too so early in the morning. She still waited by the door for permission to enter and started svourging her brain for all possible pleadings she might have to make if he drove her away for being 3 minutes late. He didn't seem to belong to the generation of fuhrer Adolphus but definitely came across as a no-nonsense guy.

Then he found her name on the list, he looked up at her and addressed in general to the class, "weekend classes are not mandatory. However, they still affect your performance and attendance. If you wish to attend, I expect you to be punctual or please don't show up in the middle of an ongoing class and cause disturbance". The last part was directed to her and she looked down murmuring an apology. She didn't think it to be right to dig into the reasons for late arrival, she was late, and thaw was it.