‘What do you mean, go back?’
‘You’ve thought this through?’
‘Good idea. Go for it!’
I stared at the three faces before me and the very different expressions on them. Ma looked faintly worried but was smiling bravely; Papa’s eyes were angry and Dips just looked thrilled.
Ma sat with her elbows on the table staring at me with her large, thoughtful eyes, carefully studying my face. There was a small frown on her forehead. Of the three of them, I trusted her the most because she never gave a suggestion without giving good reasons. Ma was logical unlike Papa who would come up with a dozen ideas a minute none of which made any sense.
She said in her quiet way, ‘I have a suggestion.’ That’s the way she always starts a discussion. ‘Give it a few days and think it over. You’ve had a few very . . . ummm . . . exciting days.’ There was a ghost of a smile around her lips. ‘And you need to calm down.’ I saw both Papa and Dips nod in agreement. ‘I’m not saying your decision is wrong. As a matter of fact I have no problem with it at all . . .’
‘Really?’ I asked, a bit surprised.
‘Yes, because I trust you. You are sixteen and I know you think things through before you decide . . . just give it a couple of more days, okay?’
‘Okay.’ Then I looked at Papa. He had not said anything so far which is very unlike him. ‘Do you agree, Papa?’
‘I do.’ He nodded. ‘But you are sure the reasons you gave are enough to make you go back to your old school?’
I was ready for that. ‘You said Aryan will have better teachers. Well, a few are very good, a few are okay and the others are pretty bad—the usual mix that we also have at KV. I don’t think just the teachers will improve my results. It all really depends on how hard I work for the Boards.’
‘What about the facilities? I remember the computer room, and that huge auditorium and the labs . . .’
‘Yeah, they are very good, and I’ll miss the library but that’s not enough reason, is it?’
‘No it’s not,’ Ma joined in. ‘Ultimately it depends on the quality of teaching and the attitude of the student. Think of the Super 30 kids from Bihar. They are all from poor families and study in bare-brick classrooms, and they still clear the entrance exams.’ She spoke with the confidence of a teacher.
Dips leaned forward to look at Papa. ‘What Akash is saying is that he’s not happy there. He’s not comfortable, he’s finding it difficult making friends . . . and that is affecting his studies. Friends are important in school, Papa, you know that.’
The moment Dips began to speak I got worried that she would bring up the whole ‘better class of people’ topic but luckily she did not and I sighed in relief. That would have been a real bad strategy because then Papa would have lost his temper and started to argue, and I know from experience that once the family gets into an argument the results can be highly unpredictable.
‘Okay, I’ll go to school for a couple of days and think it through.’ I pushed back my chair. These family discussions could be endless! ‘But I don’t think I’ll change my mind.’
‘If you don’t,’ Ma said, ‘I’ll come with you and we’ll sort things out at KV and Aryan together.’
‘But you have school,’ I protested, ‘I can do it myself.’ She shook her head. ‘I’ll take leave, this is more important.’
I realized that Papa had not offered to come with me and the way Dips glanced at him I knew she was thinking the same. As she and I cleared the table, he went off to the living room to watch the news. He had a weird blank look on his face that made me nervous.
‘What’s he planning to do?’ I asked her.
‘I don’t think he’s planning anything.’ She was stacking the steel plates beside the washbasin. ‘He had the same look after I sent that email when that whole rock climbing thing happened . . .’
‘When he became Papa, the cruel dictator?’
‘Riiight . . .’
Ma had come into the kitchen and heard us. ‘The problem with your Papa is that he never expects his plans to go wrong. He is an eternal optimist. So when things fall apart he gets a bit dazed. Don’t worry, he’ll recover.’
‘It would help if he got a new idea in his head and got another idea attack,’ Dips said hopefully. ‘Shall we suggest something? Pottery? Playing the sitar . . .’
‘Attack?’ Ma threw back her head and laughed. ‘Is that what you two call it?’
I was still not convinced. ‘I don’t want him going off to meet Mr Trivedi or something,’ I said worriedly. ‘He could say something about me and Shantanu bhaiya and I’d be in trouble . . .’
‘He will not meet anyone. He won’t go to your school, I will,’ Ma said firmly and left the kitchen. I sighed in relief. If she said so, it was so.
Should I tell Shiv and Durga? That was the main question running through my mind as I entered the school today. I felt so unsure and confused about everything. I may have sounded very confident before Papa but the truth was that I wasn’t sure at all. I did want to go back to Kasturba Vidyalaya but was that going to be a mistake?
So I decided to keep quiet for the time being. Classes were back to normal though Shehana was still sitting alone in the back row and the seat next to me was still empty. In the English class I wasn’t really listening to the teacher (he was really boring) because I was thinking about all the angry and critical things I had said about my classmates to my family. I realized I had been rather unfair to them.
Yes, my experience with Shaurya and his gang had been pretty awful but it was not the fault of my other classmates. Many of them were not bad and some of them had been quite sympathetic when I was being bullied. Two guys had come up to me separately saying they had faced the same treatment and that it would pass as soon as Shaurya discovered someone else he did not like. I’m not a very easy person to get to know either and by the time you get to eleventh grade you have your own group of friends. Yes, it was true that they had not welcomed me to join them. Maybe that’s because I was so different from them all. Also, why should they bother?
At lunchtime Durga, Shiva and I had half an hour to spare, so we hung around in the sports field. I looked at them and thought of how much I’d miss them.
Durga glanced at me. ‘You’re very quiet.’
‘I was thinking about something . . .’
‘What?’ Shiv asked rather indistinctly.
‘We did something . . . Vipul and I . . .’ And then I told them about what happened at Sangam Vihar and as they listened their eyes went wide in surprise.
‘You guys found out everything like detectives?’ Shiv’s face was flushed with excitement. ‘Oh man! It’s you who saved that driver! Wow! Akash, what a brave thing to do!’
‘And you kept quiet about it and never uttered a word . . .’ Durga protested, ‘you sneaky thing!’
‘You guys have to promise me something, you’ll never tell anyone about it.’ I glared at them. ‘Or I’ll get into real trouble.’
‘Of course!’ they said together.
‘I could get expelled if Trivedi sir found out that I was the one who spoke to the press. He said so at assembly that day. Then if he found out that I went off to meet Chander’s family, he would go ballistic.’
Durga zipped her lips shut.
Shiv shook my hand. ‘You saved an innocent man, how can talking to the press be wrong?’
I told them about Shantanu bhaiya but I just couldn’t tell them about my going back to KV. I knew they wouldn’t understand.
When I was in the physics lab later I stopped feeling sorry for myself and thought, ‘Shivani ma’am is so much better’. Then I compared Mohite ma’am with Sehgal sir and decided they were equally good. I decided that I had to talk to Vipul before making up my mind.
We met at the wall in the evening. I had a packet of fried snacks as a bribe. Vipul held it up and read, ‘Healthy Soya Bean Snacks?’
‘Something Dips got,’ I explained, ‘they’re not bad.’ He tore open the packet with his teeth, munched a handful and said, ‘Hmmm . . . . spicy! So how’s school? Anybody get drunk?’
‘We heard Shaurya got bail but he’s been expelled, so he wasn’t there. Tarun’s parents are shifting him to a boarding school. No news of Gaurav so far and he wasn’t in school today.’
‘What about those two guys in hospital?’
‘I went to ask Mohite ma’am. She said one man had been allowed to go home, the other one who had the head injury has gained consciousness but will be in hospital for a while.’
‘And Chander is home.’
‘Yeah.’
Vipul said thoughtfully, ‘You realize Chander may have managed to escape going to jail but he’s still going to lose his job?’
I stared at him. ‘Why?’
‘What do you think? You imagine the Dewals will let him go back to driving their car again? They wanted Chander to take the blame and go to jail and for his family to take the money and keep quiet. Instead they fought back . . . now the Dewals will make him pay. I guarantee Chander is jobless.’
‘So he’s still going to suffer for no fault of his own. Shaurya is home after getting bail; he spent just one night in jail.’
‘We were talking about it last night and Papa said that now the Dewals will try everything to get the case against Shaurya thrown out. They’ll hire the best lawyers and then try to bribe the police, the government lawyers, the judges . . .’
I thought of the family in that half-built home in Sangam Vihar and the two office workers from Nehru Place crossing the road to catch the metro. They never had a chance.
‘Justice isn’t quite blind, is it?’
‘Yeah . . . you’re right.’
We sat and munched in silence for a while and then I said, ‘I’m thinking of going back to KV.’
He turned to stare at me. ‘You’re sure?’
‘Of course I’m not sure, you ass! It’s scaring me to death. Ma says I should think about it a bit and Dips agrees.’
‘What about your father?’
‘He’s been a bit quiet.’
‘Uncle quiet?’ He laughed. ‘That I have to see!’
‘Last night when I told them, I got a feeling he doesn’t agree with the rest of us but he’d promised me that I could change my mind, so . . . what do you think I should do?’
‘Whenever I buy a new shirt I imagine me wearing it and walking into a party with lots of girls . . .’
‘What the hell are you talking about?’ I snatched the snacks packet from his hand.
‘Imagine yourself going to Aryan Academy for the next two years and then going to KV instead.’
‘Vipul, the philosopher . . .’ I said, irritated, but he had a point. ‘You know, in KV, when I got ready in the morning all I’d be thinking about was studies—the tests, projects, what Sehgal sir was going to teach that day . . . here I’d worry about Shaurya’s gang and plan ways in which I could avoid them . . . worry about what they are planning . . . hide in the library or sit near the staff room . . .’
‘Well, the gang won’t be there anymore.’
‘True.’ Still, I thought, for the first time in my life, most mornings I do not look forward to school. ‘Also they don’t have an ice cream walla outside the school, so no orange bars.’
‘Then come back to KV and for a week the orange bars are on me.’
I laughed.
As we were wandering back home Vipul asked, ‘Have you noticed that both of us always discuss important things with the family at the dinner table?’
‘Funny, we do.’
‘I’m sure Shaurya does not. If his parents don’t seem to know what he was up to then they probably don’t talk much to each other.’
‘Durga once said that the brothers were really brought up by servants and the parents are often travelling and have a very busy social life. His mother seemed pretty clueless about Shaurya’s life and was in fact asking Shehana about what they did every evening.’
‘Exactly! See, if we are out at a party, Papa or Mummy would be up when we got back. They’d know if we were late or if we were drinking. But if their parents are never home and never talk to their kids, how will they find out anything?’
‘I don’t think anyone’s asked Shaurya what he wants to do with his life. It is sort of taken for granted that he would join the family business. When he used to talk to me while giving me a lift he said he wanted to design cars. He’s fascinated by them. He’d point out the new models on the road and he told me how one day he was going to own a Jaguar, a Maserati and a Lamborghini, names I did not even know.’
‘You liked him, didn’t ya?’
‘In the beginning I did, quite a lot. He’s not stupid, he can be very charming and he talks in a very interesting way.’ I brooded for a moment, remembering Shaurya’s cold eyes and expressionless face as he watched Tarun and Gaurav bully me by the swimming pool. ‘He has two faces . . . ’
‘He’s a really messed-up kid and you stop being all sympathetic to him, dude. He doesn’t deserve it.’
I nodded, thinking of Shaurya sprawled on the grass in the football field with Shiv and me, making us laugh.
Today at eight o’clock in the morning I was still floating around the house in my pyjamas when the doorbell rang. I opened it to discover Shantanu bhaiya standing there in his usual gear—vest, tracksuit bottoms, grungy rubber chappals and uncombed hair.
‘You’re up early.’ I grinned at him. ‘It’s only eight o’clock!’
‘Don’t be rude. Show some respect,’ he muttered, slouching in as Dips saw him and asked if he’d like some coffee. ‘Will it come with toasts?’
‘And an omelette.’
‘Done! This is a house I like. You all believe in good, oily food. Where are your parents?’ he asked as I stood over the toaster and opened the butter dish.
‘They sleep late on holidays.’
I was wondering what could possibly have made him get up early and come to our house. Of course it was useless asking him because he would tell you only when he was in the mood.
He sat cross-legged on the sofa with the plate of food balanced on his lap and said, ‘I had an interesting visitor at office yesterday.’
‘Who?’
‘Your school principal.’
I sat down in front of him with a thump, all the breath leaving my lungs in panic. ‘Mr Trivedi? You sure?’
‘Yeah. He first met my editor and then insisted he wanted to meet me. He marched up to my desk and then did quite a bit of yelling and threatening.’
‘Why?’ By now my heart was thudding.
‘Why do you think?’ he mumbled, his mouth full of food. ‘First I got a long lecture about how reporters should leave school kids alone and then he wanted to know who I had spoken to.’
‘Oh lord! What did you say?’ Dips asked anxiously. ‘He’s threatening to expel students who talk to the press,’ I added.
‘I guessed that. So I said my sources were confidential and I won’t tell him anything. That made him lose his temper and he threatened to file a case against the newspaper and me and marched out.’
‘Can he do that?’
‘He can but he’d lose. What we reported was correct. Reporters talk to people all the time, that’s how we get information. Also, we expected trouble from the Dewals, so the report was cleared by the newspaper’s lawyers.
Why do you think I was up all night? Also this is a free country and people can talk to anyone they like. How can he stop them?’ He laughed at our anxious faces. ‘Stop looking so scared, no one will ever find out! Even my editor doesn’t know who my sources are.’
‘I went to Sangam Vihar with you. They may find that out and make the connection.’
‘You think this Trivedi will go to Sangam Vihar? Not a chance! And why should Chander’s family talk to him? Their lawyer has told them to keep quiet. Also remember, I never introduced you to them by name and I told them you study in a different school. So they don’t know who you are.’
I calmed down. ‘It’s really strange. When he lectures us at the assembly Mr Trivedi never talks about how it’s wrong for kids to drink or take drugs. He only goes on and on about students talking to the press.’
‘As if that’s a bigger crime,’ Dips said.
‘It is to him.’ Shantanu bhaiya was now concentrating on the coffee, slurping it slowly. ‘Ah! Great coffee, Dips. You guys are missing the point. He runs a school that’s built like a luxury hotel and charges fees in lakhs and promises miracles to the parents. He can’t have the school getting a bad reputation, can he?’
‘So I shouldn’t worry?’
‘Nah!’ He got up. ‘Now I have to go to the Mother Dairy booth. Trust my mum. The moment she saw I was going out she handed me some cash and said “two packets of full cream”.’
‘And here you are, a famous reporter!’ Dips grinned. I went into the kitchen and picked up the steel milk can. ‘Great you reminded me. I have to get milk too.’
As Shantanu bhaiya and I walked to the booth I said, ‘That trip to Sangam Vihar was quite an eye opener. I was thinking of the waiters at the party. They probably come from places like that . . .’
‘I wonder too what they think of the world of the rich. Here they are worrying about the price of vegetables, travelling in crowded buses and they are serving kids who come in chauffeur-driven cars and wear shoes that cost more than what their families spend on groceries in a month.’
‘Why is there such a big difference between the lives of the rich and poor in this country?’
‘Because the rich want it that way.’
As we were walking back I asked, ‘Do you think what I did was something a friend wouldn’t do? Did I betray Shaurya?’
‘What you did was what a real friend would do.’
‘Shaurya’s friends called me a rat because I told Shiv and Durga about his plans to cheat. Wonder what they’d think of me now.’
‘If Shaurya’s friends had told his parents about his drinking, two people would not be in hospital. Real friends have the courage to protest like you did.’
‘I have courage, eh?’ I felt quite kicked to hear that. He glanced at me. ‘Don’t let that give you a swollen head but yes, you have courage.’
Ma made an appointment with Mr Trivedi for 11.30 today. We first went to Kasturba Vidyalaya and met the principal, Mr Kaul, who was an old friend of Ma’s. They used to teach at the same school at one time. Walking in through the gate of KV I looked around at the red brick walls, the kids running around the corridors, the droopy posters on the notice board, faces of kids I knew . . . and immediately felt at home. This was my world and I was finally certain I had made the right decision.
Kaul sir’s eyebrows rose when he saw us. ‘Are you coming back?’ I grinned and nodded. ‘You did not like Aryan Academy?’
‘Well, sir . . . it has its good points but I prefer my old school. Here we focus on studies and I like that.’
‘Great!’ He clapped his hands. ‘I want my maths genius back! Go and get your transfer certificate and all your test marks from Aryan and you can join immediately.’ His grin widened. ‘I had a feeling you’d come back. Your father did not believe me when I said so but I know my students.’
Next we headed for Aryan Academy. Ma was driving the car and had told Papa to take an auto to office. He wasn’t pleased. Then I remembered something he said earlier in the morning.
We were leaving and Ma was already out of the door when I turned to where he sat at the dining table with the newspaper and said, ‘We’re leaving, Papa.’
He lowered the paper and barked, ‘If you want to go back to that broken down school, who am I to stop you?’
I just turned and left. In the car I mentioned it to Ma, ‘He’s still angry with me, you know.’
‘Your father is very easily impressed by outward show. He thinks the best restaurants are in luxury hotels, foreign brands are better than Indian ones, kids who study in expensive schools are smarter . . .’
‘Also he’s been telling everyone about the scholarship and now he’s embarrassed I didn’t stay at Aryan.’
Ma shrugged. ‘That’s his problem. No one asked him to start the experiment and you were never keen, he could see that but he did not listen to you.’ When we stopped at a traffic light she reached out and touched my cheek. ‘Stop trying to make everyone happy. You have to learn to fight for yourself.’
‘Yes, I am.’
At Aryan we headed straight for Mr Trivedi’s office and as we waited in the ante room I remembered the first time I had stood there with Papa and how different it was this time. Last time I was a bit dazed but today I felt oddly calm, as if making up my mind had untied all those knots of worry in my head. Also I always felt happier doing things with Ma.
Mrs Chatterjee smiled at us and even chatted with Ma. That was a big change too! She even got up and opened the door of the office and said, ‘He’s waiting for you.’
Ma walked in briskly, with me sort of loitering behind her. She strode up to the desk, stuck out a hand and said, ‘I’m Mridula Narain, Akash’s mother.’
Mr Trivedi had ignored Papa but now he had to stand up and shake Ma’s hand. He waved us to the seats.
Sitting down Ma said, ‘Mr Trivedi, I’ll not waste your time. I’ve come to tell you that after one term here Akash feels he’ll be happier back at Kasturba Vidyalaya and we want him to go back there.’
He stared at us. I think we had really surprised him. His scholarship boy refusing his charity, how was that possible?
‘Why? What’s the problem here?’
Ma answered for me, ‘He feels that academically Kasturba Vidyalaya is what he prefers.’
‘Academically? Schooling is much more important than academics, Mrs Narain! We at Aryan produce students who become citizens of the world. Clearly your son does not understand the value of a rounded education. We at Aryan . . .’
It looked like Ma’s words had hit a nerve but if he thought he could lecture her like he did Papa he was mistaken. Ma just sat up a bit straighter and promptly interrupted him, ‘I’m not criticizing your school’s philosophy, Mr Trivedi, and I understand what education means . . . I’m also a teacher.’
‘Oh are you? Which school?’
‘Girl’s Senior Secondary School, Sarojini Nagar.’
He shrugged. ‘Oh Sarojini Nagar. What do you teach?’
‘Mathematics to the senior classes.’ Ma was unfazed by his disdain. ‘And to continue with what I was saying before you interrupted me . . . Akash is a good student and for him academics come first. His old school does very well in the Boards and for him doing well . . . academically . . . is what matters. I think he was offered a scholarship because of his academic record.’ She took out an envelope from her purse and put it on the table. ‘A letter from my husband requesting the transfer.’
Mr Trivedi read the letter. ‘Mr Narain was very keen to have Akash here. He agrees with you now?’
‘He does.’
‘Fine.’ He pulled up a writing pad and scribbled a couple of lines. ‘Go to the school office . . .’
As we got up to go, he came out from behind his desk and sort of loomed over me. ‘This is what you want, Akash?’
‘Yes, I do, sir, and I decided by myself.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Does this have anything to do with Shaurya and his friends?’
I was ready for this. ‘No, sir. Shaurya bullied me like he did many other students. I could handle it.’
‘Why didn’t you complain to your class teacher?’ As if that would have helped. ‘I could handle it.’
‘Fine! You can go. And best of luck!’ And he turned away.
As Ma headed for the school office, I went looking for Shiv and Durga. It was lunchtime and I found them in the cafeteria. When I sat down Durga looked up, ‘Where’s your food? Aren’t you eating?’
‘Umm, no . . . I have come to tell you guys something.’ Shiv’s large eyes behind his glasses were studying my face. ‘You’re leaving and going back to KV.’
‘Yeah. I miss my old school.’
‘So did I in the beginning but . . .’ Durga began.
‘You couldn’t go back because your mother didn’t want it. I can. And all my old friends are there.’
Shiv nodded. ‘But don’t forget your friends here.’
‘Of course I won’t! You guys are the best thing that happened to me. And winning that quiz together . . . oh it was quite awesome.’ Durga was giving me a doubtful look. ‘We’ll meet at the mall . . . with Vipul, this Sunday?’
As I walked away I turned to wave. I wasn’t going to let them go. When people chose me as a friend, for me they were friends for life.
Ma and I then met Mohite ma’am outside the staff room. She laughed. ‘I’m not surprised, Akash. You did not need much help from me, so clearly you had a great maths teacher in your old school.’
‘I did, ma’am, but I really enjoyed your classes too.’ Then Ma and she had a long chat as two senior school maths teachers and ended up exchanging mobile numbers. Walking away Ma commented, ‘Her I like. I didn’t take to your principal though.’
‘Hardly matters.’
As we walked out of the gate of Aryan Academy I turned to take a last look.
‘Any regrets?’ Ma asked gently. ‘Nope! None at all.’