A Jar Full of Candy...

This story is about the most flavourful and fun class in the school…or at least the corridor…or at least for the student themselves. This story is a journey of a class whose students are like different flavours of candy. But this story will be in perspective of four friends who are like four different pillars but in the opposite directions. Join this nostalgia filled ride to bring back your sweet memories…

Sejal, Aishwarya, Anjali and Sunny are the clovers. Like the candy flavours each of them are different in their own ways. Sejal is a soft, sweet, humble character…until she opens her mouth. She is the loudspeaker of the class who keeps on saying anything that comes to her mind even if someone is criticising her. Then comes dear Aishwarya. She is an open well of emotions. She loves anyone and everyone in this world. She is a chirpy and open girl. Anjali is a dear for whom all the three of the clovers fight for attention. She is fun, friendly, caring but most of all very studious.

Then comes Sunny. Like the name suggests she is often mistaken for a boy. She is the most ill- tempered clover. She is an open-minded person. She shouts at everyone for which she has gone into serious trouble. She shouts so much that teachers appoint only her as the class leader. She has an irritating and nagging character. But with closed ones she is the most humorous and engaging of them all. Our clovers don’t plan for the future tour that is about to come. They plan for future tests. From this description, you would have found that our clovers are the studious bunch. Let’s get to the first day of the school.

It was their last year of middle school and their last year to enjoy a bit. The one topic that was prevailing in the school was IPL. People were talking non-stop about this until… a teacher came and announced their educational tour dates. People were controlling their happiness to show it towards their intensive planning. Sunny, who does not care about this stuff was still talking about IPL. She asked the score of previous day’s match to Rahul. He was in so much shock that his face turned pale. He asked Sunny “Do you watch cricket?”. Sunny was angry with this question so she said “Yes. Doesn’t your mother watch cricket”. Rahul replied “NO!”. The boy next to him also gave a confirmation expression to Rahul’s answer by which Sunny understood that in his home women do not watch cricket. Sunny wanted to shout at Rahul but, lucky boy mam came inside the class the same time.

When she said this to the rest of the clovers they too were irritated. This situation proved that there still are myths around female gender in this class. After summer holidays, again in the school, students were met with a shock. This class was shuffled to the extreme. People were coming in and out of the class confused and students who were originally in the class in April were angry. But most of all our clovers lost Aishwarya. Aishwarya begged, gave a letter to principal stating that she wanted to be in VIII-A. Then with great effort she came back to the class. The clovers were happy but the other students who lost their friends to other classes were very angry with the clovers and often talked about them in the back. In such an incident Sunny slapped a boy and was standing out of the class for half a day. This distracted people from their exams. This particular exam was very important because if they don’t get a good rank among the other sections their tour would be cancelled. 

This news hit the students two weeks before the exams. Students were all over the class asking doubts and discussing how to at least pass in this exam. Students were said to study in pairs for mutual benefit. Likewise, our clovers were assigned with the four most rowdy students of the class - Sudeep, Ranjith, Nagaraj and Tharun. Sejal was paired with Ranjith, Aishwarya with Tharun, Anjali with Sudeep and Sunny with Nagaraj. Science period was allotted for group study first. All the four pairs sat on the dais for some space and comfort. Anjali started dictating Sudeep’s timetable who was the most interested among the other four. Aishwarya was already shouting at Tharun who was very annoying and irritating. Sunny started with teaching first. She took a look at the other pairs and started laughing silently. But the fun was in the pair of Sejal and Ranjith. Sejal started answering to Ranjith who was talking to his girlfriend in a true 90s way – sending notes. Sejal was blindly answering when the teacher caught Ranjith for passing notes.

Ranjith was irritated and didn’t even care about Sejal. Aishwarya who was still shouting at Tharun started getting irritated very quickly so she went to the restroom to calm down. Sunny was teaching biology which was apparently Nagaraj’s favourite subject. Sunny was laughing again at the struggling Sejal who was saying the answers to herself and reading quietly and calmly. As the period was over are clovers sat for a talk about their sessions. Sunny asked Sejal “How in the world did you tolerate Ranjith and his girlfriend?”. Sejal smiled and walked to the restroom. All the clovers were confused yet they found their answer. Two days for the exams and clovers were a little panicking. They were playing the nerdy version buzzer rounds in lunch breaks.

The whole class was playing this game. This became an “eighth A” game. And the day of horror began. “People who are very studious start their day by studying” says a famous quote but I say that students who have exams all crash study in the morning. Likewise, people were studying literally everywhere- bus, class, dais and even in the restroom! People brains were going nuts by this insanely pressurising exam. Then the exam began. Our clovers were one of the first to finish the exams except… Sejal. She finished by the last minute. The clovers gave a free thirty-minute lecture and discussed the paper. Sunny, who doesn’t like revisiting the wrath of exams twice, does not join this session. The rule book of the clovers the week after exams is free week. So, they started chit-chatting and gossiping. The clovers favourite topic to chit chat was the love stories of their class. Three weeks went by and the day before the tour the sections A, B, C started planning for not a Ooty tour but a bank theft. There was so much planning that the teachers gave up the period gave up pretty quickly. Excitement filled the air of VIII-A.

Next day all the clovers packed except our Sunny. She was chill and packed an hour before going to the station. She put on churidar which was the dress code of the school. Sejal and Anjali were familiar with this type of dress code. But Aishwarya and Sunny were very uncomfortable. This brought back their memory of the tour meeting. A few days back, sections A, B, C were taken to the tour meeting. Students were very excited about this and were very keen on the start. After hearing the rules and dress codes students were very sad. But the highlight of this is the separate instructions for girls. Boys were sent out of the room to the classes while girls stayed startled. Teachers spoke a whisper of instructions about… “periods”.

Some girls were confused while others didn’t even pay attention. While our clovers -Aishwarya, Sunny and Anjali understood this topic, Sejal was perplexed about this topic. Then Anjali explained it to her. She who had no idea that this topic was even true was still perplexed. Then the girls were sent to class. Apparently, the boys too were perplexed about what the girls were doing. A lot of boys asked what they did in the room. Girls shut their mouths by saying nothing. When a boy asked to Sejal, she told every detail that Anjali told her. The boy too was now perplexed about this topic. Sunny came back to senses. She traveled all the way to the station dreaming this memory. Then the clovers met, sat in their seats and then ate dinner. When they were about to sleep, the clovers discovered why all the other girls hesitated to pick these seats. They were sitting next to boys of section B. Sunny was playing with one of them.

Then when they were ready to sleep. Aishwarya called the others close to talking. She wanted to sleep in the upper berth so that she is away from the boys. They slept in their respective beds when Vishal started making funny noises to annoy Aishwarya. This is because they both shared hatred from the starting of the year. This is why Aishwarya opted for the upper berth as Vishal is sleeping in the lower in the next compartment. Then teacher scolded Vishal for this noise. By the time this was over, the train reached Coimbatore from where they will go to Ooty by bus. They did their breakfast in the nearest hotel to the station. Then they boarded the bus. Everybody was sleepy. But the girls from the back shouted “SONGS!”. Then the teachers without a choice played some songs.

The girls started to dance. So, technically all the girls started to dance except…Sunny. She does not like dancing in front of people but she wanted to be participative. So, she copied all the steps Sejal did. Then bored she sat, when a teacher grabbed her and made her to dance. She was shivering throughout. Then as a distraction, the bus that the boys boarded was crossing them. Sunny saw Ranjith and Nagaraj who were booing the girls along with the other boys. Within a second, the girls and boys started booing at each other. This whole thing happened within seconds, but the reactions were vivid. Our brain suddenly works as new when there is a competition.

Crazy body! Finally, they reached Ooty. The boys and girls were separated immediately and taken to their rooms. It was a small hostel with ice cold water! Everybody jumped when they washed their face. They took their sweaters and jackets to keep themselves warm. They went out to do their lunch. It was warm and cozy in this small restaurant. They had their meals and returned to their rooms. This day was allotted for some rest. You would think the girls played and danced and sang. NO! The girls started with truth or dare. The first person was asked to tell everyone her crush. But she refused and left the game. The clovers found it very irritating. Especially Aishwarya. She doesn’t like intervening in others personal life. So, she advised the person who asked the question. The clovers already knew how it was going to end. They shut Aishwarya’s mouth before she could speak anything. The others took the other girl to the other end of the room. This somewhat looked like a boxing club to Sejal. They took Aishwarya to the next room were VIII-A girls were majority to calm her down. Then they slept to wake up to an icy morning. Nobody could keep their legs on their clothes which were inside the suitcase! The oil girls brought had become solid. This was bewildering to these girls because in their life they have seen solid oil only in the internet.

The girls who were brave or else stupid (can’t differentiate) bathed. There was no heater and they even washed their hair. Our clovers weren’t that brave or that stupid to bath. They brushed their teeth, washed their faces, got dressed, combed hair and were ready for some breakfast. But, the other girls in the room had to do a two-hour makeup routine. This made their room the last to eat breakfast. Student had great plans for their first day of sighting Ooty. But Ooty’s weather had some other plans.

It rained the whole day. You can say that they could have gone by bus. But, for a kilometre the teachers thought not to waste the fuel of the bus. Instead, the plan was a walk. So, after an hour of waiting and boredom, the students headed to the Ooty lake. Our clovers brave and stupid, removed their jackets on the word of Anjali and headed literally bare body without no warm clothes. Five minutes it was very enjoyable but after that they had to go on the boat. The chillness was like a steel knife piercing their skin. They had to grab their dupatta as a scarf all around the body to at least not faint and fall in that glacial lake water. They ran immediately to the bus before going to a thread garden to survive and not embarrass themselves. They headed in and the garden was beautiful. After their sighting girls sighted some more - the boys. Apparently to a group of girls, boys in normal clothes other than uniform were “nice”.

Our clovers who were single and very much hate the topic of sighting the boys were annoyed. Sunny who was talking to a boy just when the girls whispered about it. She felt uncomfortable and cut the conversation with an apology and was back with the clovers irritated. They were shopping when this all happened. A lot of people got extra money beyond the limit. They were very happy having extra money and were “showing-off”. Sunny who finished her money for buying everything was jealous. Aishwarya tore her shoes so, bought a new pair. Sejal and Anjali explored the other parts of the place with a snack. Everyone enjoyed the shopping and the warm and tasty dinner and slept like a baby. The next day everyone were woken up at 4 a.m. to get ready. They got ready like zombies. They headed to breakfast when the teachers announced that this will be the last day of the tour. Due to the decreasing temperature students were asked to come to home. The students were very silent till they reached their trains. They were picked by their parents from the school. That’s to whom student showed their anger on - their parents. The next day in the school was their paper distribution in other words – The horror of marks.

Due to their tour the paper distribution was postponed. Since the came back, they decided to ruin some students’ life. The paper distribution started with a haunting speech and warning. When then distribution started, everybody was chanting prayers and crossing their fingers for some moral support. When the papers were finished distributing, everybody in the class were wearing a disappointed face. Their class got very bad average marks due to this. But not all were sad. The clovers were the toppers of the class with Anjali on the top, then Sejal, Aishwarya and Sunny. This apparently saved their class from embarrassment said the coordinator of eighth standard -Veena mam. Due this immensely happy news, the clovers were too busy being the saviours of the class than studying for the next exam which was in two weeks. They were delusional that their exams were far off. When the second exams finished, Sunny came running out of the class murmuring “I am going to fail this exam”. It was not that dramatic but, all four lost their ranks and posts of saviours and were hit with the reality of studying continuously by Veena mam. She gave them free advice which burned the fuel inside the clovers to study harder.

Then the half yearly exam arrived. The clovers prepared really well. On the last day of the exam, Sunny was hit with a rumour about her and her friend Aditya. Some girl came and asked Sunny if she was loving Aditya. Sunny blanked for a moment. Then she answered with a laugh “NO!”. Then she said this to the clovers. They all had a hearty laugh. Sunny was a little desperate to find Aditya and say the truth if he was delusional that she was loving him. But, as friends of Sunny he didn’t think it that way. She then said it to her two other friends- Sasi and Jayant. After that entertaining gossip session with the boys, she headed to the bus. They had a nice and relaxing ten days of holidays waiting for them. After the holidays and the paper distribution (all was well with the marks), they had their sports day. The class usually compares as boys and girls. Apparently, boys think girls would not get that many prizes as boys. But, for the past two years in the batch, the girls were the majority prize winners. Still the boys of VIII-A underestimate their girls. Another fight was the section-to-section fight. This was very brutal between A, B, C and D. The first day itself was beautiful… with chaos.

The day started with warm up and, by school tradition separating the girls and boys. This time it was for more practicality. And the teacher would use a code language and ask “Is anybody ill?”. These means periods for girls. So, girls with periods will step forward and say some excuse to hide that their periods because they’re watched by the boys. But the funny truth is that boys know. There were two categories – Girls and Boys. Then within them were three – Category A to D, Category E to H, Category I to L for both girls and boys. The first sport (actually it is athletics, sport is more of a common word used) was running for boys and shotput for girls. The boys started shouting and cheering while girls were prepping their hair to throw an iron ball. Life of women is tough! When the shotput selection started, none of them put the shot past the selection line except one or two. Teachers were losing hope until Sri. She is the sport god of eighth. She is from section D. She wins all the events. When she put the shot past the line, every girl after her put it past the line. The clovers all made it to the finals. After the selection it is the distance that determines your place on the top three. There will be two chances and the best will be taken into consideration.

Twenty-five girls made past the line. Our clovers did it very well. But the fun lied with Anjali. Anjali who gets very anxious in these types of situation was in a half dead half alive kind of state. In the second chance, she threw the shot so close to her leg that the teacher next to her jumped. She was taken into the first aid room, was given some glucose. Then she was asked not to run. This came as a boon to lot of girls in the first category because Anjali was first in running race continuously for three years. After the shotput for the girls and running race for the boys, the tasks were switched. Running race especially for boys was the most competitive sport. Hussain from the section B usually wins the race. But the results will not be announced till the end. In the race track first were the four “non- athletic” girls of the class. They usually like being “pretty”. When the whistle was blown, the girls blinked for a moment and then kick started for a rough race. The first two were selected for the semi-finals. Next on the line were our clovers except for Anjali. The extra girl was selected from D section. None other than the athletic idol - Sri. There was a nerve-racking shock and fear on the faces of our clovers. When the whistle was blown, all the four girls raced to the finish line. In this process, Aishwarya’s shoe loosened due to which she slipped and fell to the ground.

Then our other two clovers were on the verge of stopping and helping Aishwarya when the teacher signalled to move forward. Sri already reached there. The next to touch the line only will be qualified. Sejal lagged a bit to catch her breath. In this time, Sunny reached the line. She had a stich on her stomach due to which she couldn’t sit immediately. Aishwarya joined Anjali and cheered the others. After the selections, the semi-finals kind of went…boring. But the semi-finals called for a serious fight between B and C. The one change in the semi-finals was that the first to reach the line only will be selected to the finals. Sunny made to the finals but so did Sri. Sunny had to get on the track with the best athletes of the Category 1. When the whistle was blown, Sunny ran her way through the track like a horse to reach the line. But when she saw the Sri was closer to the line, her anxiety level shot up and she slowed down a bit. VIII-A girls who were cheering Sunny were shocked. Then Sunny ran her way through and reached third…only to tie with another girl. This demanded another round just for them. Everybody from VIII-A were cheering to Sunny.

But Sunny was too tired to run another time. She had a huge stich in her stomach. When the race started, she automatically slowed down to “keep her alive”. Then the other girl won the race. But VIII-A girls cheered Sunny for her try. Sunny who is very into participating rather than winning was happy. They went to their lunch and ate their heart out. The lunch was not that good but for a hungry person, sand too is biryani. After their school, the clovers practiced a bit for their last sport - long jump. The second day was filled with surprises for VIII-A. As the long jump is the only sport left, both girls and boys were made to sit together. This was convenient for the “couples” of eighth and for the friends who were chitting-chatting about the existence of these “lovely” people. When the clovers were doing the long jump, the scene changed. Till that time not even a single girl made it in the finals. But our Anjali made it. The girls of VIII-A burst in cheering. The boys of the class were furious. After the long jump for girls, it was boys time to shine. When the boys started, three-fourth of them made into the finals. All of them flipped or put sand into their mouth to be dramatic in front of the teachers. When everything was over, it was time for the results. In shotput for boys –Category 1, the first prize was for…Rahul from VIII-C. The second prize was for… Aajith from VIII-B and the third prize was for Sanjith from VIII-C again. No prize VIII-A so far.

The results of the winners of shotput for girls were about to be announced, when a teacher came running to ground and said something in the coordinator’s ears. They were disagreeing on something. But eventually they came to an agreement and the other teacher said “Those who are interested in dancing for the annual day are supposed to come with me while the others who are interested in being the host of the show can go with Veena mam”. Everybody stood in either of the line. Our clovers except Sejal, who is interested in dancing, stood in the hosting line. Everybody forgot the results for the sports events until a boy shouted “MAM SPORTS RESULTS?”. Veena mam hastily said “Tomorrow”. Dancing line were taken upstairs while the hosting line was taken into the auditorium. There stood the most intimidating teacher for the whole school, not the principal, not even the correspondent but the academic counsellor - Lakshmi mam. Our clovers have a rocky relationship with this teacher. Topping of this anxiety, the clovers were the first to go. Sunny who always stands in the first, regrets her decision for the first time in her life. When Sunny was called to read a script, Sunny’s stomach did a back flip. Sunny started reading the script. She was very good outside, but inside she was catching her heart virtually to save her from embarrassment.

Then came Aishwarya. Aishwarya really wanted to be one of the hosts. Aishwarya picked up some courage and read confidently with pauses, stops, breath and everything you need to be a good “stage reader”. Aishwarya was a serious contender. Next was our Anjali. Anjali was reading…or in other words dictating the script. She was extremely peaceful for a situation like this. On the top floor our Sejal was dancing very hard to get selected. Down back in the auditorium, Jayant was reading. After a whopping three hours of sitting, chatting and starving, they were sent to eat lunch. Aishwarya was now anxious about getting selected in the group. The other clovers were chill about this. The next day, Sejal, Aishwarya and Anjali were called separately by…LAKSHMI MAM! Sunny who was 99.99999% sure they were selected was jealous for few minutes then came to reality. Along with them Aditya and Jayant were called. When all came back to class after an hour, the tall and long Aditya raised his arms in victory to celebrate his success of getting the host position. All the clovers came and said they got selected. Sejal for folk dance, Aishwarya and Anjali for host. The next period, Veena mam announced the winners of the sport events. From A section, two boys got prize in running race and shotput. As for the girls, Aishwarya won the second prize in shotput, Sunny got the first prize and as a surprise Anjali won third prize in long jump! The fact that was amusing was not that Anjali won, it was that Sri, was not a winner of the shotput. Four girls won prizes from VIII-A and technically girls beat boys for third time in a row. The boys in class were like soft babies, crawling like nobody notices them.

But our troublemaker Sunny stopped the challenger himself – Ranjith for some word. Sunny walked up to make a face-to- face contact. Then she backed off and said “Told you we would win more”. Clovers pulled her out of the classroom to the restroom to stop her from making a fight of a mere girls’ – boys’ issue. Sunny, who was irritated by this move tried to escape from the grip of Anjali. That’s when Lakshmi mam came and said “Finish your break and come to ground floor staff room. Tell the other hosts in your class”. Aishwarya who was furious about Sunny’s behaviour immediately ran to class and came back with Aditya, Jayant. She ran with the other three who was running even fast than her. Sunny who was worried about alone Sejal went back to the class to find half of it disappeared. She understood that the dance students too were called for practice. But the hard-hitting part was that science teacher was about to teach a new and alien topic for the students. But she gave it free to the students in the class because she can’t take class for half of it. Sunny was chatting with Shakthi – her other friend who she likes studying and spending time with and Vidya – that one quirky girl in the class.

They drew some cartoons at the back of their common note book when Anjali and Aditya returned back. Sunny asked Anjali what happened and she said “We are not the hosts of the show. We are the announcers of the prize winners of the sport event”. Sunny saw no flaw in this opportunity. So, she asked Anjali “What is the downside in this opportunity?”. Then Anjali turned her finger towards Aditya. Sunny did not understand. Anjali whispered, “He gets more stage time than me. He always beats me!”. Sunny laughed and said “Are you mad? Stage time does not matter. The efficiency matters. And besides he never beat you in anything. You are delusional in that part”. Anjali smiled and continued with her work (studying…obviously). The following day, the dancers and hosts were given a form for an hour of school extra for them. Sunny laughed at the three other clovers, to annoy them. That day, it was just an hour of practicing and skipping lunch for an hour. In the host pile, Aishwarya and Jayant were accompanied by Shreyas and Sathiya from IX-A and Mani from VIII-F. Everybody was … very awkward for the first five minutes. Then when Lakshmi mam announced to them that the script is still not ready, the five ran into the auditorium from the staff room, to see dancers sweat in an air-conditioned room. They ran the whole corridor of the auditorium they could cover.

Then, what felt like five minutes, they were said to “leave the auditorium”. The next day, the important thing was not annual day practise, but their science class. Science teacher borrowed the first period to teach the “awkward lesson” – How babies are formed? People were excited to learn something new after a long time. But the room was also filled with awkwardness. Girls, who were frightened to learn this lesson were very silent that day. The whole class was in pin drop silence when Jothi mam gave the “disclaimer” to the lesson. She said “Anyone who is uncomfortable and is prepared to bully someone with this topic may please… get out of the class”. She waited for a minute or two to let the students who are not interested to get up and walk out. As no one stood up she continued “This lesson should be taught for awareness and well-being of you students. So, listen carefully”. Sunny who wondered of Jothi mam would handle a sensitive topic (maybe sensitive for the narrow-minded people I think so). But she loved the way Jothi mam handled it. She stated teaching animal reproduction. She explained every topic so slowly and clearly that she only completed the first page of the textbook. But after the class, nobody had doubt in those topics she taught.

So, she won in that part. That day’s practise was the hosts worst nightmare – choosing the scripts. How this works is that five of them will read the opening script. By their reading style and voice, Lakshmi mam will pick the part of the script they will be reading. First was Jayant. Jayant had a gentle yet clear voice. He was very casual with his words. When he finished, Lakshmi mam asked him a question away from the other hosts and gave him a sheet of paper. Next was Sathya. Sathya was very confident and expressive of her words. She was the only one to show expressions in her face. Sathya was taken away, given a paper and Aishwarya was called. Not like the others, Aishwarya’s voice was not that clear. She rolled words and sentences. Her voice modulation was flat like a ruler. But her pitch was interesting. It was low for a girl but it was beautiful. Lakshmi mam did not call her separate. Jayant gave a thumbs up for Aishwarya’s performance. Next was Shreyas and then Mani. Shreyas was over excited to the core that he stumbled on the wire of the mike and was about to crack open his head. Lucky he was that day, he didn’t.

Mani’s voice was soft and calm but, in a way, it was creepy. He mumbled words in his mouth due to which he was not very clear. Both were given sheets of paper after their performances. At last, Aishwarya was given her sheet of paper. As expected, it was the script. She got the prayer part. Aishwarya was happy. After that Lakshmi mam came close to the five and said “This script is a secret. You should not show it to anyone. Even your family. It’ll ruin the surprise”. The following weeks were soft on the hosts but rough on the dancers. One day, Sejal was pushed by someone and she slipped and sprained her ankle. Due to this the folk section was missing its main artist. Sejal shouted so badly in pain that the auditorium floor started vibrating. After this chaos was the preparation for the prize winners. That’s when Anjali and Aditya come into the picture. They were called along with Gowri and Sakshi from ninth. Anjali will be reading for the ninth boys and Aditya will be reading for the ninth girls. Similarly, Gowri will be reading for eighth girls and Sakshi for eighth boys. Anjali was asked to read the first. She did great for her first time.

Aditya was a little too loud and too casual to read on the podium. Then came Gowri and Sakshi. Aditya was skeptical on Gowri’s and Sakshi’s awkwardness. Aditya’s eyes see love in everything. How poetic! After the session for the readers, it was the time to rehearse all together. The first script was said by Shreyas, followed by Sunny and the prayer. Then Sathya, Jayant and Mani. The first dance form was Bharatanatyam. The hosts have heard the songs and seen the bits and pieces of the dance. But for the Bharatanatyam, to keep the authenticity the song was sung live. Sunny’s music teacher, Vanitha mam was singing and the instruments where all set. The act was devotional. The dancers were not even missing a beat! This encouraged the other dance forms to perform to their best. Next came the folk. Aishwarya and Jayant said all the best to Sejal. This act too was mind-blowing. After this came the act Sunny and Jayant were eager to see for no reason – the western dance. This was an all-boys dance. The first two was an all-girls dance.

This was more powerful dance. Then came the diversity – the Kerala act. This had three parts – the folk, the Kalari and the closing with all the dance forms. This was too beautiful too take in. Then came the prize distribution part. Anjali, who reading in the podium for the first time, in front of others froze to death when she saw Principal mam coming into the auditorium. She gave a smile to Anjali by which she came to earth and started reading the names out. There was no one to rehearse the prize giving and taking. The closing and addressing the chief guest were done by the hosts. Then when all the dancers were gone to their bus Principal mam called all the hosts. As she saw them perform, she wanted to give feedback. To all in general she said “Why are you so…expressionless? Lakshmi mam has prepared a spectacular script. But you are… you are just reading it. Say it from your heart. I’ll call you five separately for a rehearsal. So, prove yourself”. These words pierced the five’s hearts so deeply the nobody talked to each other that day. Even Lakshmi mam didn’t say anything. That evening, Aishwarya was practising in front of her mirror.

She practiced till her throat got dry. The next day they were called before lunch for the “special test”. Shreyas started with his script. He was very good. Aishwarya walked in confidently and started with her script. She was wonderful! With her hand gestures and voice modulation, it was beautiful. She felt good after her script. She prepared with the intro and credits for the dance. This was handed two days ago to the hosts. She was doing the intro of the western dance along with Sakshi and the credits for the Kerala dance – Girls along with Mani who was doing for the boys. She was the last among the hosts to have lunch. She was starving but, she thought about the dancers which… made her feel better. When everything was done, they were sent to the lunch hall so all don’t faint at the same time. When they came back for a prize winner rehearsal, Principal mam stopped each of them to give feedback. They all went silent. Then Principal mam said “Drastic change in all of you. Especially the younger students” and she pointed Jayant, Aishwarya, and Mani. She was so happy that she called them to her office. They were excited with fear added at the top. The following days were big for the dancers. Sejal and the other folk dancers were measured for their costume a while ago. The last rehearsal was supposed to be with the costumes and lights. The most enjoyable months of these students’ life will probably be the practise sessions rather than the function itself. The annual day was a bomb. The best of the year. Shreyas with his excitement, rolled his tongue a lot but it wasn’t noticeable. The main picture was the folk dance. Sejal did a tremendous job, that when the credits were announced there was a standing ovation.

Aditya and Anjali did a great job too. The next day Jothi mam came a little early for the “annual day students”. She wanted to cover the How babies are formed again. Not even a single person who was in the annual day practise understood it (too much of a cost for the annual day). Anjali had million doubts running like horses in her mind but she wouldn’t ask them because boys were standing there (she understood periods in the wrong way). Sunny dragged Anjali against her will to ask the doubt. She asked “How is the embryo formed inside a female’s uterus?” As a surprise Sasi explained it in detail. Sunny was very proud of her class boys. Sunny explained the lesson literally ten times to the other three and still they didn’t get some topics. Hormones was one of them. After this crazy lesson came the other subject revision. Math, Social science and English were good, but there was one subject they spite – Hindi. Durga teacher taught as if she was half asleep. Because of this, Hindi period was branded as the “sleeping period”.

After all these revisions came to the final examination. Everybody was keen on sneaking chocolates than getting marks. The exams were very boring, especially for Sunny. Sunny finishes fast but has to give up good handwriting for that. On English exam day, Lakshmi mam came in rounds to see if the students were doing OK. Sunny pretended like she was writing so that she would not come here. But she took Sunny’s paper and said “This handwriting will not be tolerated in the public exams Sunny. Write neatly”. The clovers laughed after Sunny said this. On the last day of school, the clovers snuck some candy in their socks (as bags and pockets were being checked). After the exams were over, the clover went to the girls’ restroom. Each enjoyed a flavour of candy. Sunny had raw mango, Aishwarya had strawberry, Anjali had grape and Sejal had a mint. They enjoyed every bit of it, feeling exhilarated for no reason. They greeted everybody goodbyes as they would not be knowing who will be shuffled the next year. At last, the clovers said goodbye to each other.

Little did they know that a micro-organism was going to spoil their upcoming year!