Jivika~

"Amaan no!"

Half of the class yelled at him, screeching their lungs out. And that half included me. But the rest of the population cheered on him, overtaking us through their screams of, 'Yes Amaan, yes!'. It was bad enough that I had a cold and my japan-attack together, but now my head was throbbing as well.

Who would want the fan on at full speed in this month of December? Not me, definitely not me!

Clad in our school's uniform hoodie was Amaan, everything except for his face covered up. He had the hood on, and a tight knot to make sure that it wont come down. And then there were us, who had our hoodies tied to our waists, almost acting like a skirt over our kurtas. Not to mention, playing the perfect role of a stain-shield during our periods.

"Twenty-three degree celsius is not winter Jivika!"

"It is Amaan. Please stop the fan."

"No it is not. Wear your sweater. You are a Delhiite! You know what winter is!"

"Amaan why are you wearing a sweater and then putting the fan at high speed?"

This time it was Kiara. My best friend was agitated. And I could see that. The whole class had taken their stands, it was a fifty-fifty. Amaan glared at Krish who was constantly putting the fan at zero. Swatting away his hands, he stood waiting, demanding an explanation.

"Why are you glaring like that? She took my sweater, not my fault!"

Saying so, he pointed at the girl sitting next to Maahi. Head rested on the bench, she let out loud snores, sleeping to her heart's content. Lavanya had disappeared inside Krish's hoodie, and that too, quite literally. Surrounded by comfort and with the fan at full speed, she had drifted off to sleep, accompanied by the soft and slow pats on her head by Maahi.

Maahi had tried her level best to make Krish do what she was doing. But when the latter took up the job, he knocked on the Lavanya's head, making her wake up for a second or two.

The arguments regarding the fan came to an end, when Lata ma'am walked into the class. On her asking, all of together started off quaking about the problem, an utter chaos generated. Asking us to stop screaming, she asked Maahi to explain the situation. That soldier was on our side.

"Ma'am fifty percent of the class, specifically the ones who are secured in the luxury of their sweaters, have been in constant demand of the fan at full speed. However, the other fifty percent, the ones deprived of the privileges, have put forth their humble opinion on why the fans should put off. And due to the disagreement among the two strata of the society, I mean class, we also conducted a poll. Unfortunately, both the parties did not cross the majority mark because of the unprecedented result of majority votes going to NOTA."

As her speech came to an end, I stared at her dumbstruck. What the hell did she say?

A smile playing on her lips, Lata ma'am asked Krish to switch on the fan, at the speed of one. And soon after, the ticking sound of the fan at slow speed irritated the whole class, much to the satisfaction of Lata ma'am. Smiling, she proceeded to count the notebooks submitted for correction, and announced in her usual sing-song.

"All my heroes, please move to the back of the class. Sachin?"

"No ma'am, please."

"Sachin."

She stretched her call, as he stood at his place reluctant to move. I don't know what hit me but all of a sudden, without any warning, I, the ideal student and a sane human being as well, started slamming my desk chanting, "Sachin! Sachin!". And following me by two claps, the whole class yelled out, "Sachin, Sachin! Sachin, Sachin!".

With our cheers, he sighed and walked towards the back of the class, head held high as if he were to play a world cup final innings. And with that we erupted into cries of victory, as our dearest Social Science teacher still tried to figure out what was happening.

"Guys, after boards party. How about we go to Wankhade for MI versus anyone match? It will be April with IPL on the way!"

"I'm in."

"Me too."

Expectantly they looked at me. Waiting for the 'Me three'. But giving false promises was not something I was used to. How could I agree, when most probably I wont be there? I would be probably shipped off to Dubai.

Better tell them now. More time to process, the better they'll feel.

"Guys, about that ... uh ... I might be getting transferred to Dubai. Like ninety-nine percent sure."

They stared at me, eyes not daring to blink. That silence among us was rare, abnormal even. Ten seconds of a staring contest, and they burst of laughing. All three of them, Lavanya, Maahi and my best friend Kiara.

"Nice prank Jivika!"

"Agreed. Tujhse maine expect nahi kiya tha."
["Agreed. I did not expect this from you."]

Laughing five-minutes straight, they stopped on seeing me not respond to that. Lavanya asked me to drop the act, but I could only think about how to convince them. At this rate, I would probably have to call my mother and make her tell them. Kiara spoke up at last, she was the one who knew me the best.

"You were not joking, right? Now that I think of it, you have been transferred back to Mumbai and stayed for almost five years. And darn, that's pretty unusual for you bank-folks!"

That's right.

Growing up in Bombay, I had lived here till I was seven. Before I could enter second grade, we had transferred to Delhi. And I was fine with that. No problems. Did not have many friends, not counting Amaan. In fact, I was happy to shift to Delhi, living with my big family, the one which had my aunts, uncles and cousins who pampered me to death. And my grandmother, not to mention. Everything was going well. And we had to shift to Mumbai, back again.

Sixth grade and here I was. The same school, the same city, the same air. First day of school, I was the new girl, yet again. With classmates depressed because of the shuffling of classes on entering the secondary sections, I was saved from that misery. Just two-three of them who recognized me, but did not remember much. All the others were new. And then there was Amaan.

He recognized me, and same on my case as well. We talked even. But it was not like before. Things had changed. The awkwardness of entering into adolescence standing out. And it had affected the class as well. Divided into four rows, two for each gender, we stood segregated. A boy and a girl sitting or even talking together was bound to raise a few eyebrows.

And that's how I met Kiara. Dropping next to me with a smile, one could've easily been deluded that she was the most well mannered kid out there. Being an Air Force brat and all, that was the impression she set. Reality was far from delusions. God knows what we both were upto, just at the age of eleven. And at that time, the best friends — Amaya and Laysa — did not mind joining us.

Swept in our seventh grade. The game changing moment. The one where we saw relationships blossom. Kiara and Pratik became the talk of the school. The thing, back then. And twelve year olds, to spend more time together, took the brave step of changing the social structure of our class. Swapping the rows, the unsaid rules of the seating order was broken. No one knew why, but everyone just went with the flow. We still sat together, with Pratik and his friends in the same row as ours, behind and ahead of us. Parth and Amaan being one of them.

Eighth grade. A fight. I thought it was pretty silly, but somehow, Kiara and I were forced to choose sides. Amaya-Laysa and Amaan-Parth had a fight. Something which the latter said, and the former got offended. Pratik had chosen his friends, obviously, since he was not really on talking terms with Amaya and Laysa. But we? Time passed and we did not even realize how Parth and Amaan became a part of our inner circle.

And so we did not pick sides. Amaya and Laysa broke apart from us, joining forces with the new girl of the class, Rhea. The new girl from DPS, the gold medalist swimmer with curly hair and a pretty face, clearly her arrival changed the whole dynamics. Just entering into teens, we were dramatic. Those three became friends and found two new ones as well. Lavanya and Maahi. Two contrasting people together, just like me and Kiara. But Rhea? We couldn't stand her, maybe cause of Amaya and Laysa.

Believing it to be — I don't know — reincarnation of Mean Girls or something?

Then came ninth grade. You see, this group consisting of three friends never lasts. One of them feels left out and, the end. Similarly, years of friendship between Laysa and Amaya started taking toll on Rhea. I don't know whether it was the fact that we four were in our happy phase, that we actually felt bad for her. Slowly she started mingling with us, going to the same tuitions and all. And eventually, after making sure she matched our level of craziness, Rhea Saxena was an addition to our little gang. And without much wait, Amaya and Laysa were back with us.

All this took just one year. How? Other than the seven hours when we slept, I'm pretty sure we all were together all the time. School, tuitions, classes, hanging out and of course, getting rejected by the rickshaw guy together.

But still, the four of us? It was a different bond all together.

"Oye, why are you smiling? Here I'm crying for you, and you? You are smiling,  watching me cry?"

"No, no Lavanya. I was just smiling thinking about us ... how we finally grew up."

"Really? Are you sure of that?"

With a runny nose and tears dropping like rain, she looked at me giggling. Kiara and Maahi shared a look, disagreeing with me through and through. Of course, they were the grown-ups, not us!

"Uh-oh. Isko kya hua?"
["Uh-oh. What happened to her?"]

A worried Krish asked away. Earning attention of many others as well. I looked over the class, foil balls flying all over, some playing cricket while the others playing catch. Boys smacking the asses of their friends, earning a snort from me. Dipali ma'am glaring at our class from her class across the corridor, barely managing to, before she started laughing. 

Are you ready to miss all this? A part of your world?

My brain chided, enjoying my misery. How wrong she was. It was not a part of my world.

This was my world.

"Cant a human cry in peace? Especially when her friend is blown away to a different country? God this world!"

Confused by her statement, they stared at us, as she stayed cocooned inside my arms. Holding onto her I patted her hair, assuring her that I'll call her everyday. Kiara explained to the others how I was going away. I glanced at them, watching how they took the news. Sure, they were not as close to me as those seven, but still.

"Two years only naa? And then you'll be back, I have a gut feeling!"

Shreyansh spoke out, slapping his hands against Amaan, who yelled out an 'ouch!' in response. I was not surprised, owing to his 'matchstick' figure. Swooping down to the level of his ears, Shreyansh whispered something to Amaan, probably trying to pacify him. Amused as always by the chemistry between the guys of our class, I watched them catching a pair of eyes.

I looked.

He looked.

We looked away.

And we looked back again.

~