Anyone Else But You... (8 page)

“What’s wrong?” Hardik asked.

“Shhh….” Jai replied. He went a little closer towards the door so that he could get a better ear to what Madhuri was saying.

“It’s over Sir…” came the voice. “…
I have had enough of this place
. It’s time I go
Sir. I am not required,” Madhuri fell silent perhaps while hearing out the reply.

“You knew I was the best person for the job but you didn’t intervene. You robbed me off this opportunity not once but twice,” she seemed agitated. “I am done for good Sir. For good. That woman kept me on the tenterhooks for weeks together and this is what she says in the end? It’s a big joke, that’s what it is.”

She went silent again, some more explanations were coming from the other end.

Madhuri heard him out and regained composure, “What’s done is done Sir, you’
ll get my papers b
y today afternoon. I don’t want to stay here a minute longer. Thank you for your support, duly acknowledged.”

Jai was stunned to hear about the latest developments but he didn’t dare to utter a word to Hardik who was stan
ding just behind him, a little
away. Madhuri ended the call and dialed another number, as it seemed from outside. “Forward me the resignation letter I typed last night,” she said and hung up.

Jai turned around shell shocked. With Hardik’s question-marked expression, Jai couldn’t really keep this thing to himself. He walked along with Hardik slowly towards the ground. “Looks like your jinx isn’t broken yet…” he said.

“Why?”

“Madhuri is being replaced. And not just from late-comers’ responsibility; but for good,” Jai finished his half sentence.

Hardik stared at him with an expression similar to his when he heard the news first. No-one knew what to do and how to react. But it was in
their
best interests that
t
he
y
kept the news to
themselves
.

SEVEN

Happy Birthday to you, Happy B
irthday to
you…Happy Birthday to Sahana, Happy B
irthday to youuuu….!” There was a loud round of clapping and hooting after the chorus got over.

The knife ran through the delicate, creamy chocolate truffle cake and Sahana broke a piece of it and popped it into Vanya’s mouth.

Vanya took a huge piece of cake and made Sahana eat half of it and rest of it went on her face.
Sahana groaned as her best friends covered every inch of her face with chocolate cake.
Others laughed as they watched both of them fight and laugh. They too fed her cake and of course rest of it went on her face.

Rishav stood there in one corner watching as a perfectly edible cake went on to spoil Sahana’s pretty face. He didn’t know whether to go and wish her among her old friends.
He was awkward when it came to
these things. He didn’t know what to do in such situations.
 
He had just talked to her for approximately half an hour
,
that too
,
a week ago. He wasn’t sure whether this was enough to give her a card.
 

He had gone to
a sector nearby,
for running an errand for his m
om when he remembered it was her birthday. He wondered what would be
the appropriate gift for a person whom you had talked to for a little while. He ran his fingers through the categories of an array of cards in the Archies gallery. He looked for something that was not too expressive.
Just a simple birthday card
. He chose a simple card with cream background with a small blue bear on the right hand corner with a little bit of sparkle on it. It had no double meaning whatsoever. Just a cute little wood creature.

He took a black felt tip pen and wrote:

Last week, a candle factory burnt down and everyone sat around it to sing Happy Birthday. Well I really don’t need to wait for something like that to happen to wish you a really HAPPY & AWESOME BIRTHDAY Sahana!
 
Best wishes, Rishav.

The next day he was standing with the card in a yellow envelope clutched tightly his hand. He was wondering when her friends would leave her side and give her a moment alone so he could give her the card. He didn’t want unnecessary eyebrow raising by her friends. That’d be just too much.

He waited for nearly an hour or so when Sahana was finally left alone by her friends. He quickly walked up to her and handed it to her. “Happy Birthday, I hope you like it,” he said, looking down at the card and avoiding looking into her eyes.

“Wow, thank you. It’s really nice of you to give a card to a person whom you’ve barely talked to.” She smiled.

Rishav smiled, nodded and turned around and went to the bathroom since he had nowhere else to go.

After a few hours he
found himself
sitting near the windowsill, on the other side of the classroom, watching his new interest of sorts.
He had had many interests in the pasts but this one was particularly intriguing. Sahana was talking to her friends,
sitting on a desk
with her back facing him
. He sat there with a sadness. What kind he didn’t know. There was this weird need to get up and go sit next to her. Obviously he wouldn’t do that. But his mind was so restless, insistent upon doing so. He again opened his book to read. As he began to read, he forgot all about the classroom. All noise dimmed, people around him seemed to disappear as he was transported into the world of mystery, deceit and murder.

He was imagining the horror of rats cutting into the wounds of his legs when he was startled by the noise

“You want some cake?”
Sahana asked him, with a box of chocolate cake in her hand.

“S
ure,”
Rishav picked up a small piece, and smiled up at her.

“No. Take a bigger piece,” Sahana said.

“How was your birthday?”

“You mean how
 
is
 
it?
Because it still is April 29.”

“Yeah yeah. So
how many gifts? Party tonight?”
Rishav asked inquisitively.

“No party. I don’t live with my parents. And the people whom I live with aren’t you know…”
Sahana said without completing the sentence.

“They are conservative?”
Rishav asked
; glad to know some private detail of this complex matter sitting in front of him.

“To say the leas
t. Anyway
, I don’t want to talk about it. Party in school is good enough for now.
Chalo
, I will talk t
o you later. I’ve gotta go. Bye,”
she sai
d
, getting up and waving her hand.

“Bye
,
”
he said -
which was too late since she was already too far to hear that.
 

*

Hardik and Jai huddled up near the corner of the basketball court. From the onset of it, it appeared to be an intense discussion of what strategies they were going to implement while play was on. If one managed to get closer, apart from the smells of sweat and stale breath, what one would get to sense is the amount of restlessness that had taken over His Highness
Jai
regarding the incumbency of his Head Boy’s post.

“Dude, why are you worried?” Hardik asked.

“Man, Madhuri Singh was a pet of mine…” Realising his mistake although it came from the interiors of his heart, he corrected it, “I meant I was a pet of Madhuri. The reason I could go about doing anything was because Madhuri was there. Now if she goes, there’s a
big
question mark over my application dude.”

Hardik nodded. “She was a support you know, a huge one. She could single handedly get me this post but now with
Bindu
around; I doubt what’ll happen to me.”

“New Vice Principal, you think?” Hardik asked.

“Not really. Considering how autocratic this lady is, she’ll keep the group as core as possible. Maybe a promotion here and there but I doubt it whether we’ll get a new VP” Jai’s concern was evident in his mellowed down tone.

“Dude
tera toh katta ho gya
!” Hardik started laughing loudly.

“Motherfu*cker, shut up!!” Jai barked. “We need solutions here, not problems. You think I could get someone to side by me?”

“Veenu?” Hardik suggested.

“Veenu!” Jai exclaimed.

They knocked on the door. Veenu replied, “Come in.”

Jai and Hardik walked into her cabin with their hands at their back.

“Morning ma’am,” Jai said. Hardik mumbled.

Veenu nodded with a smile.

“What brings you here Jai? Missing me? Hehehheheheee….” The laughter seemed more of an afterthought.

“Ma’am actually I was inquiring about the Council and…” Jai started speaking.

“Wait, wait, do you know this boy?” Veenu interrupted the royalty even before he could complete his sentence. There would have been a million Hiroshimas happening within Jai at that moment.

Veenu pointed towards a boy whose presence wasn’t noticeable as such, at least not to Jai and Hardik – the moment they entered.

“This is Rishav Sen, he’s a new student. Your batch mate,” Veenu introduced.