One with the first crush

It was first day of the session and we were waiting for the assembly to end. It was, kind of, a special excitement because for the first time, in eight years, our classes were reshuffled on the basis of two of the core languages: Sanskrit- The pundit group and Hindi – The rebellions group who hated Sanskrit. Fortunately, this time, the top two sections were appointed as Sanskrit sections. And the icing on the cake part was that I was in the A section. It was a bit awkward at first to get used to the fact that I was no more in the same classes with same classmates with whom I spent around eight years of my schooling. The assembly was over and we headed towards our respective classes. It was a matter of luck that most of my close friends were in same section. The moment I entered the classroom, the first words I heard were:

“Abe oye, idhar aa….B row me, fourth bench….jaldi, tere liye seat rakhe h”.

The strident voice in typical jharkhandi-hindi style (yeah, that’s the language we speak here) pierced into my ears. It was Avinash, one of my very close friends since sixth standard. We were bench partners for last two years and promised each other that we will always be till anyone of us leaves the school.

“Haan bhai, aa rhe”, I said and sat next to him on the fourth bench”

We both took a glimpse of the new class and by the new class I mean, the new classmates. Except our friends, the whole scenario was like “where in the world are we?” and will we ever get used to this new environment? These question kept up popping in my head until the bell rang and first period was about to start. We heard the rumors that our new class teacher is a very strict one and one should be their limit when talking against her as she was strictly against arguing.

She entered the class holding an attendance register. Everyone, including me, started staring and checking her out her with sparkling eyes. The stylish haircut, the stunning makeup, from clothing to earrings and sandal, everything matched with each other. No one could ever tell that she was in her mid forties by seeing her.

“Good morning ma’am”, the class stood up and wished her.

“Good morning everyone”, take your seats, a typical roted reply every teacher gives.

“I am Neeta Srivastava, your class teacher for this session and I’ll be teaching you physics.”

She wasn’t like I thought about her. If you call being smart, confident and stylish as “Rude” and “Strict”, then there’s nothing I can say. Everyone has their own opinion.

“I am assigning you all your roll numbers so listen carefully. I am not going to repeat it more than once”, she said, waggishly.

“Apurva Raj, Roll number thirteen”

“Present ma’am”, I stood up and said in a fumbling tone. (It’s natural, especially for me, to hesitate in a class where everyone is new to me.)

The glee was that I didn’t miss my attendance and the first obstacle was cleared! So, I started watching the new faces around me and remembered some of the names.

“Pragya Singh, Roll number twenty seven”, ‘present ma’am’, a dulcet voice of a girl heeded into my ears. I quickly turned around and followed the voice in search of her face and finally found her on the second bench of our adjacent row. Though I missed the chance to see her face but her cute ponytailed, mid-length hairs and her euphonious voice made me even more anxious to get her glimpse.

“Excuse me ma’am, there’s something I want to talk to you about”, sunil sir said as he stepped inside the classroom.

“Yes sir, what’s the matter” Neeta ma’am asked.

“Actually, a student from my section wants to change his subject from Hindi to Sanskrit and B section is already full with sixty five students. A section has only fifty students, so I thought adjustments can be done here”, he asked.

“There’s no way I’m taking one more student in my class. I have already admitted two students and the strength have already increased to fifty two. Sorry sir, but there’s no chance”, she replied with an audacious tone.

This boldness and fearlessness made her different from any other female teacher in the school which, our seniors termed it as “being strict”.

While they both were busy in their talks, I got some more time to explore the new faces. Suddenly, she (pragya) turned her face around, looked toward me and waived her hands. I was stunned!

“What in the world just happened now?” I very shockingly asked myself.

“Why is she waiving at me?”, “She doesn’t even know me”, “Does she know me?”, “Is she hitting on me”………More than a dozen of question like these popped up inside my head.

I didn’t know how to react. It never happened to me before that a girl ever waived me. I. Somehow stood my hand a little up from the desk and waived her back with a smiling face.

“Bhai kya hua, itna hass kyu raha hai?” avinash asked.

“Dekh na, wo bhi toh meko smile karte hue ‘hi’ kr rhi hai” I said.

“Abe oye dhakkan! Apne peeche dekh, wo manas ko ‘hi’ kar rahi hai” he laughed howlingly with a full burst.”

I didn’t know what to do. I just swiftly put my hand down on the desk, grabbed the nearest notebook and started flipping through the pages in a sense that nothing just happened!

“What if she saw me and think how stupid I’m!”, a continuous thought kept running through my head.

“Oh, just forget about it”, the inner-I appeased myself.

It was third period and I was already kind of, exhausted by sitting still at the same place for around forty minutes, listening to one of the boring lectures of chemistry. (Chemistry and I never made a stable bond)

“The hot sizzling food reaches you several meters away, but to get the smell of cold food you have to go too close”, Can anyone of you explain why? Haripriya ma’am asked.

I didn’t know the answer but the “food talking” made me even more impatient for the lunch break. I started waiting for the bell to ring and stared outside the window, enjoying the nature. (Haha, this was the best thing to do at DAV during the tiring lectures, especially if your classes were on the top floor of “A” block)

“You, B row, fifth bench, on the left side, stand up and answer this question”, a voice came as avinash bumped my right arm. (Yeah, I was still in my own thoughts, enjoying the nature.)

Everyone’s eyes turned toward me. The moment I stood up, a continuous sonorousness of bell relived my ears as the lunch break started.

“We will continue this chapter in our next class and your homework is to find the answer of this question”, ma’am said and departed.

“Boys, get out of the class quickly and reach the ground.” A prefect came clamoring toward us.

One of the many pointless rules of D.A.V was that boys can’t have their lunch in classrooms or the corridor. God knows who made this rule and what the reason behind it was.

We quickly kept our science books under the desk, took out our lunchboxes and headed toward the gate in a hurry that I didn’t even care about the schoolbags, lying beside the benches. Before I could clutch avinash’s warning, I already bumped my left leg into one of the bags and toppled on the floor.

“Oh god!, are you alright?”, the same “silvery” voice drove through my ears. It was Pragya. I quickly stood up and patted my uniform.

“Yeah, I’m fine, It’s nothing”, I replied.

“I’m sorry, I should’ve kept my bag on the bench”, she atoned.

“Hey, it’s not your fault. I should’ve watched my steps while walking” I said.

“Okay, if you say so”, she replied with a smiling face.

“By the way, I am Pragya from eight ‘F’ and you?” she asked.

“I am Apurv from Eighth ‘D’’, I replied.

“Wow! Eight ‘D’. The class full of bright minds”. I think that’s the reason, I haven’t noticed you till date.

“Hey, just because nearly twenty seven students got ten C.G.P.A from a single section doesn’t mean that we were geeky and unnoticeable or we don’t know how to enjoy. After all, we all are humans and it’s natural to get attracted toward the opposite sex. You can’t just mix-up biological things with grades and intelligence.”, I prospected in my mind.

“Haha, it’s not that. I don’t belong to one of those ‘nerds’. I didn’t even score ten C.G.P.A.”, I replied after the pause.

“Oh, well, nice to meet you Apurv”, she en routed her right hand toward me and our hands grasped each other for a handshake. It was the first time I touched a girl’s hand in my life, that too, in school.

“How was the school”, mom asked as I reached home.

“Awesome! You know what, It was the first time in my life, a girl introduced herself to me and we shook hands.” I murmured in my own.

“What?”, She asked.

“Nothing, it was great, the new class is fun”. I replied with a blushing yet smiling face.