Anyone Else But You... (12 page)

Sahana couldn’t really care less about a person who when repeatedly being warned about something didn’t listen. Yes, it was true that she had once made a mention of how Rishav should judge from her response and should stop and see whether the joke is being taken sportingly by her or not, rather than continue with his incessant blabbering. She was the type who’d rather stay away from such people.

But, on the contrary, Rishav cared of course. He did. And right now what mattered was the apology to be accepted. Why?

For Rishav it was
need
and Sahana saw that to be
his ulterior motive
. That day was supposed to be their first unofficial date and being the despo he was, he badly hoped that Sahana would not let this bizarre incident ruin his much worked out plan, but to his chagrin – she kind of had already got a feel of how much he wanted the day to work out. She was smarter than what Rishav perceived her to be. And not
being
aroun
d many intelligent girls, numbe
d Rishav’
s sense
of judgment of
whether the girl in front of him was a step ahead of him or not.

Sahana came under the category of girls who didn’t like guys who tried too hard. And it would take time for Rishav to realize that - and that too, the hard way. And according to her, their date now stood
officially cancelled.
The news had a bad effect on Rishav. With a sunken heart, he insisted that Sahana reconsider her stand. It was a stupid incident after all but she felt otherwise.
He better get used to it
, she thought.

And the day passed with nothing much as Rishav decided to just let it go. He had apologized and there wasn’t much that he could do. Maybe he didn’t know why that name might have offended her, but then to his defense – how would he if she never shared? For the first time, Rishav got the taste of a colourless day. And the missing colour was Sahana who refused t
o talk to him, his
feelings
for her
were getting stronger – something that he realized quicker than he
should have
.

ELEVEN

Jai
Chauhan
appeared to be the typical villain
,
like in every story but there existed a good-side to him that Rishav badly wanted to discover.

Situations had made
Jai
what he was. He was not the one
who
would express love or emotions to people because he had been taught to remain calm, composed and focused towards the task at hand at all times in life – to be successful in every situation that faced him. This was something that he learnt from his father apart from the glorious pieces of advice and anecdotes that the senior
Chauhan
often shared with him
.
But i
t was
actually
the missing love of a separated mother that made him realize that human emotions were worthless or as he called them –
a bag of crap
that pulls you back
!

He walked towards the Audio-Visual Room with his usual long strides, covering as much ground as possible. On reaching the room, he knocked on the door twice. Without any further wait, he pulled the door towards himself and slipped into the room.

A little away from the Audio-Visual Room, Muskaan Kaur accompanied by some of her most trusted aides waited outside
Bindu
Kalsi
’s office. They had sought an appointment with the Principal and since it was Muskaan, an appointment was more of a formality.

The buzzer went off, indicating that
Kalsi
was ready to meet them. Muskaan was the first to pop her head in, “May we come in ma’am?” she spoke in a tone that was loud enough to make
Kalsi
lift her eyes up from the circular she was reading.

Kalsi
smiled, “Muskaan, please come in…”

Muskaan walked in first, closely followed by her two colleagues.
Kalsi
folded the circular and put it inside her drawer. “What brings you here?” She asked.

“Ma’am, my colleagues and I intend to begin work for
Socialact Wave
as soon as possible,” Muskaan replied.

“
Socialact Wave?
So early? Isn’t it a good couple of months away already?”
Kalsi
’s glasses rested on the tip of her nose. She read each face present in the room carefully through the deep shades of kajal that
underline
d her eyes.

Socialact Club was one of the most popular clubs around in Delhi High School. Its membership was only restricted to the popular ones who had fathers with heavy pockets. The entrance criteria was as simple as it could get – be cool, hang around with the right kinds, talk of big stuff and whollah, you are in! Muskaan Kaur and her colleagues (the couple of them who were present in the room) were jointly responsible for running the club and making it what it was; with a little bit of luck and a whole lot of contacts! And Socialact Wave was the Inter-School music fest that was held every year under the banner of the Socialact Club. It was one of those events which witnessed a lot of money splurging, shady sponsorship deals, consumption of alcohol by minors and usual murk expected in a high-society co-ed school in the suburbs of Delhi.

“It’s been five years since we’ve had it outside on a grand scale, we intend to do so this time,” said Muskaan convincingly.

“Outside?”
Kalsi
asked.

“By outside, I mean outside the Auditorium. In the school ground preferably. Five years is a long wait and we do not intend to wait any longer.” The other two people present in the room shook their heads in support of what Muskaan just said as though their life depended on Socialact Wave going outdoors.

Kalsi
remained silent for a while till she herself broke the silence, “You do know Muskaan and let me mince no words, we would be requiring triple the funds for organizing such an event on a grand scale. Where would you gather such huge amounts of money?”

“Sponsorship…” Muskaan began.
Bindu
Kalsi
for the first time got visibly impatient, “What sponsorship are you talking about? The sponsors previous year had paid one-third of what they’d be expected to pay this year and every time we can’t expect overwhelming support can we?”

“Yes we can,” Muskaan said. “We have internal support this time and with your permission we can convert that into an overwhelming support system.”

“What do you imply?”
Kalsi
took off her specs and rubbed her temple.

“Compulsory sponsorship from students will really help the cause…”

“Are you out of your mind Muskaan? We are answerable to the parents!”
Kalsi
raised her voice.

“Tch tch…
Bindu
, I agree we
are
answerable to the parents but not when the Parents’ Association representative is on our side,” a smile lit Muskaan’s face.

Kalsi
raised her eyebrows in inquisitiveness.

“Yes, you heard it right. Veer
Chauhan
is ready to support our demand for compulsory donations from students. And if he does so, I doubt it whether parents
would
disagree. Jolly old Veer,” Muskaan smirked.

“Veer
Chauhan
…? You mean
Jai
’s father?”
Kalsi
replied.

“Yes and he has also agreed to make 75% payment for the setup costs of the entire function’s infrastructure with the help of his Telecom Service Providing firm.”

“That is interesting, how did you convince him?”

“It was simple, Socialact Wave this year shall be the grandest Wave ever and it shall so happen under your leadership. Isn’t that a proud occasion?” Muskaan ranted.

Bindu
Kalsi
’s chest puffed up with pride, “Yes indeed.”

“Veer
Chauhan
has agreed to provide unconditional help in the form of cash and kind but in return all we need to do is tweak the rules a bit.” Muskaan paused. There was silence all around.

“…
Jai
Chauhan
needs to be made Secretary of Socialact Club despite not being of the
permitte
d class and…” she spoke in a low tone.

“And…?”
Kalsi
moved a little forward.

Muskaan took in a deep breath, “…and
Jai
also has to be given first choice preference when the Council is nominated and the Head Boy is selected.”

Kalsi
looked at her in disbelief, so did the accompanying teachers who had no inkling of what Muskaan had to say.

Muskaan
got
up from her seat,
Kalsi
still hadn’t spoken a word. “We need to decide on this
Bindu
,” she said. “…we need to decide
on
it soon. You are on the path to becoming the greatest Principal in the history of DHS and all that separates you from that tag is a petty post that needs to be given to a boy whose father….erm, whose father
is perhaps one of the most generous people you’ll ever come across
.
And he doesn’t really demand much in return and it’s nothing that you
can’t
provide.
” Muskaan
curtly nodded as she rounded off her sentence and got ready to leave.

Bindu
Kalsi
pushed herself back on her reclining chair.
In a contemplative mood, she thought of all that Muskaan
had said. Some things made sense while others still remained ambiguous in her head. On one side she had her principles while on the other side she had instant success. She lifted her intercom and dialed for her secretary. A couple of rings later, the secretary was on the line.