Us │✔

22│One Jump Ahead

Jivika~

"Children note down: The resistance of a conductor depends on its leng—"

Her shrill voice paused abruptly. I looked towards the door, expecting someone's arrival to be the cause. Only to watch her looking towards the door, just not the one I was looking at. The mint green doors of the cupboards attached to the wall at the back of our class. That stole her attention.

Or perhaps, it were the students facing those shelves, which got her looking at them as well.

"Why are you all looking towards the back?"

A confused Manjusha ma'am. An avatar of hers which I had not seen. Hell, the only expression caught on her face was nothing. No anger, no happiness. Just, nothing.

The question from the Physics teacher, did not generate any reply. No words exchanged. Everybody went back to work. Just when she was about to continue with the next chapter, the bell rang, signalling the end of the period. Cursing us, the distractions, she wasted no time and left the class. 

Grabbing their orange books, Kiara, Maahi, Lavanya, Laysa, Amaya and Rhea left for their Sanskrit period. That left me and three others, the only girls who had taken Hindi. I had always wanted to attend Prasad sir's Sanskrit lectures. Not because they are good. No.

Rather because of the interesting things which happen during his periods. Anything ranging from him throwing his slippers at a student to the principal's unannounced visits in their classes. He was a man who had no control over his class, or even himself.

And his paper checking? Every time I found Kiara lamenting over her paper, I could only wonder how a person can exist without knowing Math. Fun fact: You cannot  ask him to give you the marks you deserve, cause no worries, he will definitely increase your marks for that particular question, but decrease more than the few increased marks for the whole paper.

And for that, I was glad that I picked Hindi. Agreed, that it might be less scoring as compared to Sanskrit. Agreed, that you might never finish in time. But at least, you get what you deserve. Thanks to Sejal ma'am.

Walking in and placing her bag, she walked out again, not before asking me to keep an eye on her things. I guess, it would not be wrong to say, that I was her favorite student. She was our class teacher last year. Watching her favor Hindi students, used to leave the Sanskrit ones fuming behind. Except Maahi and Lavanya, the former being her ex-favorite while she was still studying Hindi, and the latter who was her colleague's daughter.

"Chaliye, aaj shuru karte hai, 'Lucknouwi Andaz'!"
["Let us begin with 'Lucknouwi Andaz'!" (Name of a chapter, meaning: Lucknow's style)]

Maahi who had just entered the classroom again, retrieved her forgotten pencil pouch, and raised an eyebrow at me. "Lucknouwi Anddaaz, really?" she mouthed, before rushing out of the classroom, smiling at Sejal ma'am.
[Lucknouwi Anddaaz: Lucknow's eggs]

As ma'am started explaining the chapter, I felt my shoulder getting poked. Turning behind, I saw Sachin pointing at Pratham, who in turn pointed at Shreyansh, who pointed at Parth, and just as he was about to point at another one, Sejal ma'am intervened.

"Ye kya tamasha macha rahe hai aap, Jha ji?"
["What are you doing, Jha ji?"]

In the whole pointing the other person game, Shreyansh was the one caught. Standing up to defend himself, his eyes zeroed at the particular creature flying in his direct line of sight. The class turned hysteric, assuming it to be a honeybee, as we ducked and stayed hidden under our seats. But on not spotting a honeybee, rather just a mosquito, I eyed the petrified boy with a whole new level of skepticism.