Jivika~

Frustrated.

That's my middle name.

Let me give a better explanation.

How does the Vienna Congress's demands affect my life? Does that panel decide whether I get into a good engineering college? Or without memorizing those demands would I be kicked out of this country, huh?

Or worse, if I don't know what happened to Prussia, would my Aadhaar card be terminated? After all, a single piece of 'kaagaz' (paper) is more important for this nation!

Even if it were some sin theta's and cos theta's or even any x and y's,  I could have dealt with it.

But this is unbearable.

Well, I hope that at least Metternich is getting entertained in hell.

"Yaar! Why does this Lata ma'am keep board tests?!"

"Maybe you should be studying now, right Lavanya?!" asked Lata ma'am with her sickeningly sweet voice, along with her customary style of stretching our names.

God, this lady gives me chills.

Lavanya, on other hand, is suffering from a massive heart attack.

Hah. Lavanya shocked, Lata ma'am rocked.

Groaning, she buried her head into the book for the umpteenth time while I close my textbook, stretching my arms and limbs which had gone numb.

I watch the librarian driving the children away from the untouched book shelves. Libraries where we the books are kept for display rather than reading. I run my eyes over the dictionary at one corner, the Biology books misplaced in the Philosophy section and the Enid Blyton books in the other corner of the room.

I settled for Tagore's Gitanjali and ran my fingers over the cold sepia pages, old and torn that even the librarian did not mind me taking it.

Giving up on the history test, I settled at a corner and in a few minutes the poems swallowed me in their world.

And that's when the bell rang.

My fingers lightly scratched the blue cushion of the chair. Staring intently at the fan above me, moving round and round at an extremely slow pace, I pushed myself away from the jet black granite countertop on which my hands were rested, and after a few lazy minutes, headed towards my class where I was awaited by my History test.

"You had time to read Gitanjali ?"

That was the only accusation I faced.

Giving a wistful smile, I replied, "Had to make sure that Metternich did not get into my head!"

We hid our books, careful not to remind Lata ma'am about the test by removing and destroying all the traces. The whole class watched through the window, as she talked with the other teachers and walked down the stairs in slow motion. His hand at his heart, Shreyansh screamed out.

"Dil mai dak-dak horela!"
["My heart is beating like crazy!"]

On seeing the unusual stillness spread over the class, being a dutiful monitor, I urged them to make more noise. Our silence would only make her believe that there was something wrong with the class today.

Had it been that easy.

"Children, wasn't there a test today?"

Earning our response through our groans, we saw the white board being divided into four vertical sections.

Lata ma'am, ready as always, with four board markers, all of different colours, red, blue, black and green inked.

"Children, close your books, let's start with the test," instructed Lata ma'am.

"Kesh—"

"Ma'am I don't know!" he said, tearing the page of his notebook, ready to write the imposition. She was surprised but smiled and asked him to move forward with the imposition.

"Lavanya, explain Napoleonic code, Aayush, interpret Sorrieu's painting, Jivika, explain the unification process in Britain, Amaan, state demands of the Vienna Congress."

She spoke in a single breath, picking the first four victims and pushed us towards the board.

And now starts the journey to hell.

While writing about the Protestants and Catholics of Britain, almost filling half the board, I heard someone mumble my name.

"Psst, Jivika, answer!" mumbled an impatient Amaan, stuck on a single point.

Should I? 

I should.

But I was about to finish off with mine, then I would be sent away. So I would not have enough time to give him the answer.

Calculating the chances, I turned to the table, grabbed the duster and wiped off a large portion of my answer, so that I had more time to stick around the board.

I could feel  Lata ma'am giving me questioning glances along with Kiara and Maahi.

"Why should I?" I asked, not giving in easily.

I am Jivika Mallik.

And if you want 'easy', find someone else.

"Please," he whispered, stretching the word and scrunching up his nose.

Cute. Almost like a monkey!

Wait, so monkeys are cute?

I heard a cough, from the teacher behind me as well as my neighbor.

Never mind. I have someone to tell an answer to.

Writing out my answer again, I simultaneously whispered his,"The thirty nine states created by Napoleon remained untouched, the territories ...."

Five minutes later, after all of us successfully attempted our questions, we were sent back.

A wave of relief swept over me. We escaped that, unscathed.

"I am not writing an imposition! Yes!" shouted Lavanya, her glee worth the watch.

The class laughed, watching her fist up in the air accompanied with her victory dance.

I felt someone tapping my shoulder, impatiently.

"What is it Parth?"

"Thanks," he replied, drifting his eyes back and forth between Amaan and Lata ma'am, the latter standing few steps away from us, eyes which held experience busy in observing our interaction.

"You're welcome!" I grinned, looking straight at the boy behind the messenger, who stood with his head ducked.

Watching him facepalm, I chuckled at his poor attempt of expressing gratitude without letting her know.

Only if he had a mother as a teacher, he would've understood. I knew that Mrs. Lata Nair's grey hair strands was the price of invaluable wisdom and experience.

Watching the grimacing boy, Parth and I let out a laugh.

Annoyed Amaan was fun.

I looked.

He looked.

We looked away.

And we looked back again.

~

Glossary:-

Aadhaar Card: The Aadhar card is a biometric document that stores an individual's personal details in a government database. It is an important document to be proved as an Indian.