Part 9

After a rainy night, the sun beams filtered through the crevices in the wooden panel of the glass windows with a layer of grill and disturbed the peaceful slumber of the girl dreaming about a faraway land.

"Uth ja behen...aaj tu kitni der tak so rahi hai! Roz toh mujhe kheench taankar uthati hai...aaj mujhe mauka mila hai", Preeti had an upper hand for once to pull away the blanket from over her sister's head.

"Kya yaar Preeti...tu bhi na..." Naina tsked but woke up rubbing her eyes against the bright light illuminating the modest dwelling.

"Aaj na meri parlour ki chutti hai...toh hum kuch mazze karte hai", Preeti was already looking forward to a fun-filled holiday.

Just then, Naina's eyes fell on the clock that chimed eight and her eyes widened in horror. "Chutti teri hogi bewakoof, main toh late ho gayi...." and she jumped out of the bed and raced towards the bathroom.

Preeti hollered from outside, "mujhe laga itni der tak so rahi hai toh chutti hogi...par aaj toh Saturday hai. University mein toh chutti hoti hai na?"

"Haan...par hamari field trip ke lecturer, visiting faculty hai...toh woh sirf Saturday ko hi free hote hai...main late nahi ho sakti..."

She was out in 10 minutes flat and was completely ready in another 5. "Preeti, meri pyaari behen...mujhe jaldi se drop kar de campus... bus ya auto ke liye ruki toh pakka late ho jaungi..." Preeti didn't seem interested, so she cajoled her one more time, "plzzzz meri pyari behen".

"Tune toh puri chutti ka plan barbaad kar diya...chal...chod deti hoon..." she still agreed...

Naina hugged her tight and on her way out grabbed two bananas as breakfast. She ate one while feeding the other to her sister who drove her at breakneck speed and landed at the door of her department at 8:30 sharp.

Naina hopped off quickly and muttered a hasty thank you and was about to rush off when she remembered something and came back, "main 12 baje tak free ho jaungi...fir jo tu bole..." she smiled at her sister and hugged her quickly before dashing off. Preeti smiled at her retreating figure, "pagal kahi ki...padhayi ke aage toh baaki sab fail".

Naina clambered the theee floors as it was faster than the age-old elevator that could get stuck at anytime. She hurried to the class that had almost begun when she asked permission in panting breaths to enter, "May I come in sir?"

"Who are you?" She received a very hostile response.

"Sir, I am Naina Agrawal...", she introduced herself to the new faculty.

Dr. Tripathi was an advanced age professor with salt and pepper hair, deep wrinkles on the forehead and corners of the eye and very prominent laugh lines. He was dressed in a very crisply pressed beige shirt and mud brown trousers and the ugly rain sandles for men. He picked a sheet of paper lying on his table and lowered the glasses perched high on his nose to read clearly at a close distance. The class was only half-full as some student's idea of a Saturday was not boring classes, that too so early in the morning. She still waited by the door for permission to enter and started svourging her brain for all possible pleadings she might have to make if he drove her away for being 3 minutes late. He didn't seem to belong to the generation of fuhrer Adolphus but definitely came across as a no-nonsense guy.

Then he found her name on the list, he looked up at her and addressed in general to the class, "weekend classes are not mandatory. However, they still affect your performance and attendance. If you wish to attend, I expect you to be punctual or please don't show up in the middle of an ongoing class and cause disturbance". The last part was directed to her and she looked down murmuring an apology. She didn't think it to be right to dig into the reasons for late arrival, she was late, and thaw was it.

He only nodded and gestured her to enter the class. She quickly spotted Swati and took a seat next to her as usual.

"Naina Ageawal kaise late ho gayi?" Swati whispered and teased.

Naina glared at her and gestured to not talk but pay attention in the class. Seeing that it was one of the few times that the topper Naina might be reprimanded or scolded in public hadn't gone down particularly well with the girl, Swati didn't disturb her and braced herself for an onslaught of boring instruction until noon as the professor was famous to continue talking for several hours without a break.

"Students...as you all know, this is a new course introduced because of growing interest in the field of history and archeology. However, this batch will be a trial run. The first 6 months, you will have lectures and theory and field assignments. At the end of semester you will be evaluated and if you cross the bench mark, you continue as a full-time post graduate student or else you leave with a Diploma. Now the caveat is, to conduct a full-course, which will be largely funded by ASI, at least 10 students should qualify or else everyone goes home with a Diploma. So, all your fates lie in each other's hands. If you do not do well, your neighbor or friend might also be affected and vice versa". Dr. Tripathi announced the latest rules ascribed by the government body.

Several sighs were audible, but there was nothing much anyone could do to oppose except focus on the work and give it a best shot. Then, Dr. Tripathi went on to explain the schedule of field trips, folllowed by elaborate lecture for sample collection, data recording, tools, equipment, etc. non-stop until it was noon.

However, although Naina tried her best to be attentive, inadvertently her thoughts kept drifting back to the stranger or more so the voice in her head. She kept trying to pull herself back to present, but something kept pulling her back.

Sameer's eyes were closed and he was trying hard to drown out his friends' chatter and also blank out all thoughts from his head when a voice suddenly popped in, "kya hua? Kyon baar baar mujhe distract kar rahe ho?" She sounded a bit annoyed.

His brows furrowed when he projected in response, "main tumhe distract kar raha hoon? Main aisa kyon karoonga? Maine kuch nahi kiya?" He seemed offended and became defensive.

"Aur nahi toh kya? Main kabse class mein dhyaan lagane ji koshish kar rahi hoon par tum baar baar mere dimaag mein ghuss jaate ho! Dekho, main maanti hoon ki uss waqt tumne meri madad ki aur meri jaan bachayi, par iska matlab yeh nahi ki jab tumhara mann kare tum mere dimaag mein ghuspainth karo! Din dahade tumhe aur koi kaam nahi hai kya?" Since childhood she was a focussed person and never appreciated disturbance, especially when she was in full concentration mode regarding studies. And she didn't appreciate this intervention even if it was the guy who had saved her life, nevermind that this time she was adrift and he hadn't initiated.

Sammer was irritated too. Here, his world had just changed overnight and instead of showing some empathy, she was behaving like a thankless person. "Mujhe na kahi bhi ghuspainth karne ka shaukh nahi hai. Aur tum jaisi ehsaan faraamosh ke dimaag mein toh bilkul bhi nahi. Toh tum apna yeh attitude na apne paas rakho. Aur haan...mere paas bahut saare kaam hai, faltu nahi baitha hoon aur na hi tumse baat karne ke liye mara ja raha hoon! Aur waise bhi main anjaani ladkiyon se baat nahi karta!"

He didn't realize but he said the last sentence out loud and both his friends's whipped in his direction and were surprised to see him blabbering to himself.

They both disconnected at the same time without even knowing who had connected first. The dull ache had gone away abruptly but since he was a bit furious, he didn't even acknowledge the throb. He couldn't believe he had just exchanged words, correction thoughts, and picked up a fight with a compete stranger who he had never met or seen; hell, he didn't even know her name yet. He was angry and wanted to discard all thoughts and memories of their brief acquaintance and direct his energy into finding Nanu and more about himself and his mother's past.

Naina was furious too. She didn't understand what triggered the fight but for the moment, she was annoyed as hell. No one barged in on her, absolutely no one. She hated been startled and surprised. An unknown panic settled in when someone surprised her. But this stranger had just barged in on her and taken control. And up until now, she had never felt threatened, so why now? Was she panicking coz she didn't feel threatened when she should have? Uff, those were some bizzare theories she wondered where they originated from.

She suddenly felt that Swati was nudging her since a couple of seconds as the professor was calling out her name as leader of one of the groups of five members based on her academic record. She was at a loss of words and truthfully, she hadn't registered the happenings in the class of the past few minutes. So, she just stood and nodded in agreement to whatever she was being assigned.

A moment later, Swati was exuberant when she sat down, "mazaa aayega Naina, tu aur main ek hi group mein".

So, indeed she hadn't registered anything...her multifunctional multitasking brain had ditched her and was focused on some stranger's voice floating around in her brain at all times, even when they weren't actually connected. She sighed and took a deep breath, "Swati, class ke baad mujhe achche se batana ki sir ne abhi kya kya bola selection ko lekar".

Swati squinted, "tera dhyaan nahi tha class mein? Kya hua?" Swati was surprised at Naina's lack of focus.

"Thodi der ke liye bhatak gaya tha, ab wapas focus aa gaya hai", she explained and resolved more so to herself than Swati. She was losing herself in him without realizing snd getting distracted. This had to stop, he was a stranger, she didn't know him, had never met him, or didn't even know his name...for all she knew, he could be an illusion of her brain or her alter ego. She had read about Bipolar or Split Personality disorder snd though almost sure, she wasn't suffering from either, the symptoms would actually be ascribable. She decided that an illusion couldn't be a friend...it just had to stop snd she had to get back in groove, period.