Us │✔

30│Remember Me

Jivika~

"Come on children, I'll be reading out the questions and you'll be answering them. Your prelims are round the corner, just a quick revision."

Simultaneously listening to Suganthi ma'am and studying for my Math test, I pushed my Statistics notes further under the desk, away from the prying eyes of the Biology teacher. It's true. Our pre-boards were approaching and the school teachers as well as Jyothi aunty, our tuition teacher, were chasing us with sticks, quite literally in fact. Tests after tests, but still our Science marks did not see any improvement. This was quite a worry, not only for us but for them too. That one subject was ruining the result of the school this year, mark my words.

"Now, come on. One word. It is the enlarged voice box or larynx which gets enlarged and visible from outside at the onset of puberty. What is it?"

We were fifteen-year-olds, not first graders. The concept of raising hands could be shoved into the gutter cause screaming out the answers loud was one privilege we earned as we grew older. And so, before the teacher clad in the peacock blue saree could protest, Shreyansh Jha screamed out 'Adam's apple', much to her agony and our amusement. He had to be courageous to do that, even after so much embarrassment, I mused.

And true to my expectations, the whole class burst into fits of laughter. Inside jokes let me tell you, inside jokes.

"What's so funny children?"

Faking a cough, the root of all her problems spoke up, taking a deep breath in.

"Ma'am it's because of me."

"You Shreyansh? How come?"

"Ma'am when we were in eighth grade, learning this same reproduction chapter, I was the one reading out in the class as per our teacher's instructions. And this word, 'Adam's apple', I had read it out as 'Adaam's apple'. Till date, these people can't get over that."

Suganthi ma'am, the Science teacher who was not really a Science teacher, had her eyes bulged. It was no hidden fact that she was an M.A in English but taught Science from sixth to the tenth standard, just because she had a B.Sc degree. This very fact could be the reason why we were not scoring well in Science as she was only bothered about the spellings and the structure of the sentences, rather than the Science content.

"Adaam's apple, like the way it rhymes with Badaam?"
[Badaam: Almond]

"Yes ma'am."

"Good Lord, may he bless your soul young boy."

Piercing our ears, the Vice-Principal's announcement rang throughout the school, asking us to assemble in the ground. Right. The school was conducting some counseling session, calling a psychiatrist to give a lecture and all. Walking towards the hall where the event was to happen, I watch Kiara give out a yelp, swatting away a neon green butterfly.

"Really dude?"

"What? I am scared of anything which breathes and flies."

"That's a shame, your mother being a pilot but her daughter ... tch tch. You wanted to be a pilot too, right?"

"Exactly! A plane does not breathe Jivika, common sense."

Before I could retort, a shrill cut through. Smashing a four-hundred-page notebook against his head, Joey, the curly-haired guy who went to the same tuition as ours, let out a cry of desperation. Amused, I smiled. I was not the only one who was struggling, clearly.