They all lie, from the top man down to the bottom. If their lips are moving, a lie is unfolding.
~William Rivers Pitt

Jagruthi

"I think we are going to be loners forever." Manjula sighed sitting beside me for lunch.

Kajal and Randhir bhaiyya went out for lunch and the same goes with Nidhi and Samrat.

"Hey, we are not loners. You have me and I have you." I said looking at my sad Rasam rice.

"Don't I look good? Am I that ugly?" Manjula asked me.

She has been on the emotionally low side ever since a stupid man child named Vikas in her class told her that he would never partner with her in front of her whole class.

What was his whole agenda to call her that and make my friend doubt her self worth?

I agree that she has an angry face, but she is beautiful. She about as tall as me and has the most prettiest eyes in the world. But that doesn't give him that right say that to my friend. I'm planning to kill him for making her into this sulking girl.

"Manju listen to me, you are the prettiest girl in the world. My friend Manjula once told me that men feed their ego's by suppressing women. That's what Vikas did, Show me a guy you like and I well get him to your knees." I told her and she laughed at me.

"We have Aarthav, I could just kidnap him and get him for you. You erase his memory and make him however you want." I said to her and she laughed.

"I'd rather die than have him in my life. Erasing his memory sounds good though." She laughed away her pain.

"You know what, we should make a pact like in F.R.I.E.N.D.S. If you dont get married by 30, we both will marry each other and stay as roommates forever." She asked in a super excited tone and I agreed with her.

Gay marriages are legal in India, and staying forever with Manju is better than a life with any dude right?

Why did Devansh's face pop up in my mind when I thought of forever with a guy?

When Devansh told me that he likes me, I felt so ecstatic at his revelation. I really like him a lot. I was skeptic about his niceness towards me, but if I look behind at our interactions there was some kind of pull between us all the time.

That moment in his arms, was like heaven. When he pleaded me to give us a chance. I wanted to ignore every word my dad said and stay with him forever. I wish I did, He is like a fire to my soul which I cant have with me. When I'm around him I feel like a completer different person, I feel like I can be me.

Stop with your filmy dialogues, you did good by listening to me.

But I don't want to listen to you, I want to be with him.

No Boys rule! Remember.

I hate you and my father for putting me in this situation, I can't tell him the truth about me or stay with him. I just can't resist him anymore and you know it breaks my heart to see Sahastra holding my man.

I hurts to see her walk along with him, when I should be the one doing that.

Sahastra might not me by your friend, but you can't snatch her boyfriend away from her. The closer he gets to you the more dangerous his life gets into.

I know, I remember everything that happened to me. You don't have to remind me, that's why I said that it was just attraction between us.

But I wish I can have him in my life, staying away and avoiding him feels like a sin.

"Let's go." Manju said and pushed her plate away breaking me from my thoughts.

She looks sad, I am going to freaking kill Vikas. I have to find a way to cheer her up. Maybe I could talk to Aarthav to cheer her up.

"I know no one says this, but It's okay to feel sad Manju. I know you want to feel validated and cherished like every other girl in the world and I honestly get it. I don't know how to make you feel better more than saying this, YOU are the prettiest and kindest person I've ever met. You are the reason I'm enjoying my life here in college. Don't ever think low about yourself." I told her my true feelings.

I wish that jerk didn't hurt my friend, she hugged me in tears as we walked out of the dining hall.

"Let's go, we are late for class. I have communication skills. What about you?" I questioned her walking to the college.

"I have Mechatronics Lab. Have fun playing Bingo. Bye Janu" She said and ran towards the Mechanical wing.

That's what me and Nidhi do in that communication skills class. We play Bingo, Dots and boxes tic tac toe and some many other games.

This communication skills class annoys the crap out of me. Why do we need a class on how to do group discussions, debates, and some times she makes do play's, like it's a freaking drama class.

I walked to my class sulking at the thought of another horrendous crap which we gotta do and found Nidhi was waiting outside with Samrat. I talked to them for while and the bell rang, so we went into the class and settled in.

"Hello people, what fun activities should we do today?" Our teacher Shradha Mam asked everyone coming into the class.

"Can we skip activities today and have fun instead." Some back benchers mumbled and even begged her to not make us do anything today.

"Fine, be quiet and do your work."  She said and sat in her chair.

Me and Nidhi started played tic tac toe and dots and lines  for a good 30 min of this 1 hour class and started on Bingo.

An attender guy walked in the class and talked to Shradha Mam.

"The Dean is coming for rounds, lets stop with the fun and do something productive for the last 30 mins." She said looking hopefully making everyone sigh and groan.

"Let's divide the class into 2, girls vs boys. What about a debate?" She said with enthusiasm.

All the boys cheered at the debate, I don't care. Its not like I'm going to participate in this kind of stuff, so started drawing out my boxes for bingo.

"What's the topic going to be?" Shradha Mam asked everyone, while I penned all the numbers into the boxes.

"Fine, if no ones want to give out a topic. I will give it for you guys, now that most of you are eligible to vote this year, Let's discuss about Politics. The topic is Should we vote for the same Chief Minister Mr. Dhanraj or against him." She said and my heart stopped for a second.

The topic for the debate is whether to vote for my dad or not? This is going to be sensational. Lets see what the world thinks about my dad.

"Boys are against the CM and the girls speak for CM. Start the argument." She said and walked to  her chair to enjoy the movie.

"I personally and fully support voting for the same Chief Minister again and again. Mr. Dhanraj bought so many revolutionary changes, like the SocioEquality bill he passed benefitted so many people in this state.." The class topper Archana started supporting my dad, before she could complete her words she was cut off by Sharath.

"SocioEquality Bill the worst Bill ever passed in this country's history. Do you know how many people had to relocate because of that?" Sharath gave her a loud reply making everyone in the class quiet.

SocioEquality bill is the bill which almost killed me and my mother, which gave me the scars I can't seem to get rid off on my body and mind. The bill which my father fought for risking everything he had.

I looked at Archana to support her argument, instead she kept quiet.

"Every Bill has its ups and downs, but I still think that SocioEquality Bill is the best one. The traffic fines increase he started reduced so many accidents.  His Stree act which is helping many woman who are being abused and the look at the number of females walking on the roads every single night, working night shifts, His woman patrol, SWAT app personally gave me so much confidence." Sanjana another girl got up and explained.

"Do you how many people suffering to pay such high fines? And I've seen women walking alone every night even before he came into existence. He is an uneducated rich brat who got this position because of his father. He ruined our state for good and now it's our turn to change that. He made English a mandatory in all school and so many kids quit school because of that." Karan said and it made me furious.

Why is no other girl arguing with this jerk? Why is everyone quiet? How dare he call my father a brat? No one can say bad things about my father infront of me.

"If ruin means he made the state better then I agree with you. The states literacy rate went up 15%, when he made English as a mandatory language in every school. Why disobey the traffic rules when you can't pay the fines? Rules are there to scare people to drive cautiously. Those high fines gave us cleaner and better quality roads to drive on."

Before I knew it I stood up and opened my mouth standing up for my father, who thought the state was more important than his own family.

"It's not for us, the government is using them and for their own personal purposes. The Stree act just gave more leniency to women, every girl is now filing complaints against men without any reason. The divorce rates went up because of that act. India is country known for its low divorce rates and now he is ruining it." Karan talked over me like Sharath did with Archana.

"Do you know the difference in our state before and after the Stree act? They used be 4579 rapes against girls every year and now it's 1086. I'm not saying they completely stopped but it's getting better. And do you really support domestic violence and abuse?" I argued my points, I've seen my dad juggle through all these things last summer.

"That's great improvement and I don't support abuse. But, The change started when Mr.Dharraj issued shoot at sight order on the accused. He was accused of rape not guilty of rape. He disobeyed the orders from the higher up and killed a person. If he can't obey the rules why should we?" Karan questioned me enunciated the last part.

"The girl who got raped has a name, Simran was a 7 year old, and she herself identified the victim. If you still say he was accused I don't know what to say. Why would any one want to protect a child rapist? Him disobeying the order showed us that he doesn't care who the offender is or what his status is, you have to pay for the crime. If you ask me personally death should be the penalty for any kind of Sexual abuse." I told him feeling sad that he supported a rapist.

I remember that day, I was 13 year old when my dad came home and cried with my mom. He said that he failed as a chief minister when he couldn't do anything to protect Simran.

He got orders from the higher up to not file a complaint against the rapist who was another politicians son. He completely ignored them and issued a shoot at sight order, knowing that would cost him his job and life.

"What about the SocioEquality Bill then? Many lower caste groups moved from the state because of it. Is this state just for higher caste people? How is that a good Bill to pass?" Sharath questioned me.

"Do you even understand the SocioEquality Bill? It is to provide chance for lower income families. This gives more chance at equality, now people are getting equal benefits irrespective of their caste.You get the benefits if you can't..." Sharath interrupted me again.

"How is that fair? Lower caste people have been getting the benefit from so long. Don't you think they have suffered enough. The lower caste people were treated as untouchables and they deserve that much." Sharath supported his argument.

"An upper caste student with 5000 rank pays extra money to get into a university, but at the same time with the same rank and lower caste student gets in on scholarship irrespective of their financial situation. Is that fair?

We are not living in the 50's or the 60's where we treat people based on their caste. We are in the 21st century and we can't live of the same old rule book written in the 60's. Do we bother knowing the caste of billionaires or the celebrity we like? That's because money and love triumphs eve..."

"So you are saying that now that a few lower caste people are in high positions, they don't need the benefits anymore?" Sharath interrupted me with his pointless remarks.

"Talking over people is really rude. Don't interrupt me when I'm saying something, Just listen completely and then reply." I snapped at him and he looked speechless.

"You still can't understand it, anyone can get the benefits if they are below the average income line. If you are eligible you get the benefit, no matter what caste you belong to. It's not about caste anymore, it's about how much help you need from the government to get a better life.

Caste is not the barrier these days money is, so we have to work on that. This is our first step towards equality, this bill shows that every caste and group is equal. Isn't equality what we wanted anyways? Isn't equality the reason all those reservations were introduced? This bill is another big step towards economical equality." I said looking at him and Sharath hung his head low not able to counter attack my words.

"Mr.Dhanraj is not uneducated, he went to the same college as us. If he is uneducated so are we." I said and ended my argument and sat down quitely.

I won this argument, no one can say bad things about my dad, When he did nothing but serve these people. He was ready to send me away for them and they think he is bad and undeserving.

The numbing silence bought me back to reality and I looked around.

Why is everyone sitting still and staring at me like that? With a confused and shocked face, with a their mouths hanging down. Nidhi tugged my sleeve and I looked at her direction. She moved her eyes to the door and I found our Dean standing at the door with a amused face.

What did in the fudge did I do? I was so riled up at them I stood in front of the whole class and started talking. All of a sudden I'm feeling so hot, that I started to sweat.

You made me proud for the first time in your life.

It's weird to listen praises from you, and wasn't the other rule to not grab attention. You say no when it comes to Devansh but with this you are proud of me. So unfair!

I looked at Devansh, He has a proud looks on his face and assured me that everything is okay with his eyes and comforted me for a mere second.

"She is right Mr.Sharath. Jagadeesh and Sruthi are my students, I taught them. In fact Jagadeesh is the best student I ever taught. Learn your facts." The Dean said supporting me.

"You, Ms." Dean asked looking at me.

I just ruined everything. I am going to die, my parents are going to take me back home, this is my last day in college. I will definitely miss this.

"Jagruthi." I answered him in a quiet tone.

"Walk with me Ms. Jagruthi." He said and turned to the other side, I looked at Shradha Mam and she nodded giving me permission to get out of the class.

I'm doomed, is he going yell at me?

I looked to my right and found Nidhi and Sammy looking at me with the same panicked face as me.

"Call Karthik and tell him that I'm in trouble with the Dean." I said to them walking towards the Dean.

I could feels everyone's eyes on me. Is this what it feels to have attention? If it is I don't want it. I walked to the Dean who's standing by the door waiting for me.

As soon as I reached him, he started walking in the corridor. He looked around and opened his mouth to say something but I beat him to it.

"I'm sorry sir, I didn't know you were in the class." I told him and bent my head looking at my shoe.

I am so not sorry about that argument.

Really! What if he suspends me from college.

"I met your mom and dad the day before inauguration. I'm sorry it took me this long to find you." He said looking at me with a smile on his face.

What does he mean by my mom and dad? That's weird.

"I think you are mistaken sir. My parents don't know you." I said lying through my teeth, fisting my sweaty palms.

He chuckled at my reply

"I saw Sruthi in you, when you were arguing. You don't have to lie to me anymore. Sruthi challenged me that I wouldn't find you but I did. " The Dean said feeling proud like a child.

Is he really the super strict dean my parents told me about?And most of all they told him that I'm alive.

"I'm sorry sir, she didn't do anything. It's me, punish me." Karthik jumped in and gasped for air.

Wow! that was quick even for Karthik.

"I know she didn't do any Mr. Karthik. And why do you want to get punished instead of her?" Dean questioned Karthik.

"Karthik is my cousin. I thought I was in trouble and asked him to come." I told feeling embarrassed by my actions to the Dean

"Kar, he knows about me, Mama and Papa." I told holding his hand and he relaxed.

"Wow! That's a surprise. I didn't know you were related. You guys should come over to my house for dinner this weekend. I have so many stories about your Mom and Dad" The Dean asked us both.

Karthik and Me looked at each for second and said yes.

That's the end people.

These are sensitive topics and people might not agree with me. All these bills  are just fiction and my very personal opinions. Do tell me if you have different experiences which can change my mind?

Every state leaders should react to rapists, if you ask me kill them. I found a a few instances in which they really did, I am freaking proud of them.

I'm sorry if I offended you in anyway. I am not trying to demean or disrespect anyone.

I also wanted to show Jagruthi's personality, and how her life doesn't revolve around  Devansh, He is just a part of it.

Anyway, It's going to be all Jagruthi and Devansh in the next chapters.

Don't forget to Vote and Comment.

Love,
Sneha