The U-turn in Life

DISCLAIMER

This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents in this Story are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and unintentional.

Sheetal Mehta, the young and pretty cashier at 'Tasty bites' looked across the fast-food joint, lowered down her cap with 'Tasty bites' written on it calligraphy, and started concentrating on her accounts.

Trying to overcome the dread of the students scattered across the fast-food joint, eating away, munching away, who thankfully were either busy with their food, friends, or pre-occupied with their thoughts.

And did not give her much of a glance.

Many pretty girls would have been disappointed, even disheartened at the sight of so many young and handsome boys looking at her and not noticing or admiring her or even giving her a second glance.

For Sheetal was worth a second glance and more!

She was pretty, fair-skinned with dark black almond-shaped eyes, supple soft skin, and with a head full of curly hair which she had to tie in a ponytail and hide inside a plastic cap. Over this plastic cap, she had to wear the red cap with 'Tasty bites' written on it and had to forever wear the 'Tasty bites' red and black uniform and an apron, though she was the cashier and had nothing to do with the cooking.

Months ago, when Sheetal had approached 'Tasty bites' for a job, the Manager was a bit skeptical when he went through her resume.

It was a long two-page resume, which listed her innumerable certificates, awards, and prizes along with her 10th and 12th standard marks and the Manager Mr. Rakesh Shetty stopped at that. He did not go further. For here was a girl who had scored perfect marks in mathematics in 10th standard and had scored near-perfect marks in mathematics and physics in the 12th standard!

And he looked no further.

But looked questioningly at the bright young girl sitting across from him, hoping for a job as a waitress or a cook in the kitchen.

When she had it in her to make use of her brilliance in mathematics to do something more!

"With these marks in mathematics, you are capable of becoming something more than a waitress or a cook" Rakesh Shetty remarked naturally.

Sheetal did not smile.

Because she had heard these lines so many times in her life that now she had started to feel that her mastery over mathematics was the real reason for her distress and her current situation!

Rakesh was thoughtful for a while and said "We have a job as a cook and two vacancies of a waitress, but with your qualifications, I will consider you for the job of the cashier. While the current cashier, Mangesh, a 12th dropout, will be shifted to the kitchen."

Sheetal nodded her head into a 'yes'.

For she did not have much of a choice or rather was ready to do any job, that of a cook, a cleaner, a waitress, or a cashier, any job that she could lay her hands on.

But her reason for desperation was not just money but something more.

Which few might understand and even fewer would sympathize with.

But not all may have the guts to do what she was doing. So Sheetal was not just a brilliant girl but also a very brave girl.

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At 'Tasty Bites', it was the busiest time of the day.

The time of the day between breakfast and lunchtime, around 11 am to 3 pm.

When almost all the tables and chairs are taken and people (mostly students) are waiting outside, hoping to get a vacant table in this famous restaurant which was a bit expensive and was hence catering to the upper-middle-class or upper-class students only.

Today as always, the restaurant was 80% filled with college students, girls and boys, who had left their hometowns and got admission in reputed coaching classes in this city and were staying in rented rooms or hostels which had cropped in the city for this purpose alone.

Naturally, they missed their regional home-cooked food and would flock to 'Tasty bites' which offered a small but satisfactory variety from all the regions of India.

Though the restaurant was mostly filled with college students, there was not much chattering or cheering or laughing in the air. All that could be heard was the munching of the food, the sound of chairs and tables being pulled or pushed, and the bustling sounds of the waiters running around with steel trays full of various dishes.

The atmosphere was also somber and far from youthful or jolly, which it out to be.

It was quite gloomy and tense.

Because it was the month of February and all the students were in dread of their fast-approaching entrance exams and no matter what strategy they tried, almost everyone was lagging far behind.

The scene in 'Tasty bites' was the same every day.

Many students were sitting and eating but were not talking much to each other and were mostly silent, for they were thinking, planning, scheming, and worrying about how to crack the entrance exams. While few others loved their short time in 'Tasty bites' because that was the only time of the day when their minds used to switch off from the 'examination and preparation mode' and go into the 'hungry mode'.

They were obviously the lucky ones!

For others, even that was not possible!

Hence, that they never enjoyed the food (and some didn't even notice it) and they just satisfied their hunger, filled their empty stomachs, and left, so preoccupied were they.

With worry.

Which had ballooned and had acquired the role of a 'shadow' and an 'aura' surrounding them and following them anywhere they went.

Though they used to feel suffocated because of it, there was precious little that they could do about this monster which they had themselves created and which was now consuming them. Mercilessly.

For students studying here, this was a common symptom.

The other problem that the students were up against was the highly discriminating system prevalent everywhere.

Students were identified based on the food joints or canteens in which they ate. They were those 'Pizza  and Pasta types' and 'Canteen types' and 'Mess types' and more recently the 'Tasty bites types'.

The division or discrimination of students just doesn't end here.

It continued to the hostel rooms that the students lived in.

For some lived in dirty, shabby rooms shelling out 4,000 rupees per month, and shared it with 3-4 more students. While others lived in huge clean rooms with a rent of 8,000 rupees per month while the rich lived in plus AC rooms with a rent of 12,000 rupees per month.

This division, discrimination continued further………………

It continued in the Coaching Classes as well.

Some students were allocated to study in the 'Topper batch', some in the 'Droppers' batch, some in 'Regular batches' while others in 'Special batches', depending on the results of their entrance exams.

The classification or division or segregation just did not stop here.

Even in each of the above-mentioned classes, there are different batches, like Batches A1, A2, A3, etc., or alpha, beta, and gamma batches and so on, in the descending order of the student's brilliance and marks scored.

So this difference was created, consciously or subconsciously, in the minds of students, teachers, and even parents. And it stuck to their minds more strongly than any man-made glue or adhesive. Since this adhesive was stronger and invisible, hence it could not be fought against!

This classification of students based on their marks had become the student's very identity & personality and it used to be impossible, to shake it off or better it.

So A2 student in a 'Regular batch' was looked down on by the gamma student in the 'Topper's class' or a beta student in a 'Special batch' was considered far superior to an alpha student in a 'Dropper's class'.

So for the student to first succeed or move up the ladder, he or she has to first scale the ladder of his or her class, forget cracking the entrance exams. This could be done only based on the results of their internal exams which are conducted every month or so.

So the student's main concern was not just scoring well in the final entrance exams but trying their best to score in their coaching classes internal examinations, climb up the ladder and once they did reach the top, maintaining themselves there.

Sheetal looked at the far end of the room where a girl student, around 19-20 years of age sat, alone, lost in thought. Sheetal understood the symptoms at once but could do nothing about it. Sheetal used to see the girl almost every day, sitting in the same place and ordering the same dish and eating it with the same feeling of dejection. 'She must be living away from her home for the first time in her life so must be very lonely' summarized Sheetal instantly.

Even if the girl was living with other girls studying for the same entrance exams, Sheetal knew that she might not have made any true friends amongst the roommates for there was simply too much competition.

Plus the students had no time or scope for recreation such as dance or music and they had no way of venting out their frustrations and tensions, so almost all the students had reached a boiling point of pent up anger, worry, loneliness, and most would either be forever enveloped in the feelings of helplessness or worthlessness or fear of letting down their family's expectations. 

Many students were aware of the sacrifices that their families had gone through to put them through these expensive coaching classes. Some parents had even sold off their ancestral land or home to pay for the fees, rent, books, and other expenses thereby directly or indirectly putting unnecessary pressure on their children to succeed.

Plus some of the parents thought that since their children were studying in such prestigious coaching classes, they have automatically become brilliant and are bound to be successful and the children had a hard time maintaining this image. The children had a tough time explaining to their parents that 'You can't expect a gifted painter to be a good mechanical engineer'. 

Sheetal knew that most of the students felt very nervous, worried, or scared, while many were sad or upset for most of the day or for many days at a time, leading to severe cases of depression and in some cases, even suicide.

Sheetal had known of many students committing suicide or at least attempting suicide unsuccessfully.

Because almost everyone was walking a tightrope between success and failure, between cracking the exam and having a nervous breakdown, many knew that they could topple over any side, any moment.

Sheetal looked out of the glass window of 'Tasty bite'.

The road ahead was full of hoardings and more hoardings of coaching classes. It would be almost impossible to walk through the city and not get overwhelmed by the success stories of the Coaching classes.

For advertisements and hoardings were towering over and hovering over each corner of the city.

But they had a catch, which was not understood by the onlookers at first glance.

They only advertised the toppers with their smiling, beaming successful faces pasted across. But this was also an illusion for they did not give any clue or data about the failures (which are more than the successful ones). Hence, the success data was also a bubble, a mere myth.

Sheetal looked around.

From the corner of her cap, which was her veil and her shield.

At the young crowd of students and went over every one of them, screening them with a tense look and then giving a sigh of relief for she had not spotted anyone familiar in the restaurant.

But, her relief was only short-lived.

For in came, a loud group of young students and Sheetal could identify Monica, Tanvi, Ravi, and Abhijit or Abhi amongst the group. Monica and Tanvi had over-pitches voices which they never toned down, while Abhi was the typical rich spoilt brat, who was found of showering his gang with his money and influence everywhere they went.

Even in the 'Tasty Bites' restaurant, he was the one who whistled loudly to call the Manager and asked him to arrange for a table for 12 at the earliest, waving a 100 rupee crisp note which the Manager pocketed discreetly. Abhi and his gang were highly valued and regular customers, who frequently the fast-food joint any time of the day, ordered the most extravagant of fancy dishes more for the status symbols than the taste that they offered and above all tipped the Manager heavily.

As per practice, Abhi and his gang never looked at the menu for the variety or the prices, but straight away ordered whatever they desired to eat that day and used to order food fit for an army. Today also Abhi and his gang had ordered dozens of dishes.

'Phew! That meant a lot of work' the Manager said to himself, as he looked at the long list of orders.

And whoever said that only the students worked under pressure and impossible deadlines, had to just once see the scene in the kitchen!

Where the cooks and waitress were working under extraordinary pressure and impossible deadlines.

Sheetal, though not a part of the Kitchen, also hated Abhi's gang. For she knew that she would be asked to deliver the dishes to help out the overwhelmed waitress.

Sheetal dreaded that today might just be that day when she will be ordered by her Manager to deliver the orders to the gang. She just could not let it happen. The gang also consisted of Monica, Tanvi, Ravi, and Abhi who knew her quite well.

So Sheetal tried to appear mighty busy with her accounts and cash collection and calculation.

"Why is it taking so long?" Manager Shetty shouted at the top of his voice, but he already knew the answer.

"The list is too long, Sir!" came the Head Chef's reply.

At the table, the scene was more chaotic than before, for now, the gang was both hungry and angry.

Abhi, who was in the 'Droppers batch' but behaved as if he was in the 'Topper's batch' and his greedy friends who lived off his parties and never missed an opportunity to praise him enormously were getting impatient by the minute.

'Now why would Abhi's family, who was such filthy rich, want their only son to crack this prestigious entrance exam?' One might wonder. His family owned a number of industries, newspapers, and real estate businesses and he just had to head them.

Then why this struggle to get this difficult degree?

It seemed that his educated father, having realized the importance and glamour of clearing one of the toughest entrance exams for graduates in the World, felt that having money is not everything.

He needed his son to earn honor and prestige too (and not just money, for he had sufficient money to last many lifetimes), and cracking this entrance exam was one of the routes for life-long honor and prestige.

So he had sent his only son here for coaching. Abhi used to stay at the most luxurious flat and though he was still in the 'Dropper's batch', he never quite considered himself a dropper and certainly did not behave like one. In fact, he behaved like a very successful student and that is what irritated Sheetal the most!

 "How much longer?" the exasperated Manager Shetty shouted at his team in the kitchen and Sheetal, acting mighty busy at the corner, heard every word of it.

"We are short of both cooks and waitress" came the feeble reply from the Head of Chefs.

Sheetal heard every word of it with a sinking heart, for she knew what was going to happen next.

She will be called on to pitch in for the absent waitress and serve that lousy loud gang.

Manager Shetty did just that. He came towards her and ordered Sheetal curtly "Sheetal, you have to help as a waitress. Right now"

"But who will mind the cash counter?" Sheetal protested meekly.

"I will do it," Manager Shetty said briskly.

So Sheetal took hold of the trays, lowered her cap to the maximum so that no one would be able to see her, and made her way towards the gang.

She strategically placed herself behind Monica and Tanvi who knew her, started to serve the dishes, one by one.

She had finished placing all her dishes and thanked God that no one had recognized her and had just turned back when "Sheetal!" a loud male voice boomed from the gang.

'Who had called her?' Sheetal wondered, terrified at being identified.

"Sheetal!" Ravi shouted again.

Ravi!

The tail!

The one tailing Abhi forever! From one class to another! From one restaurant to another!

He had recognized Sheetal sideways since he was seated on the left of Monica.

"Sheetal! What are you doing here?" Ravi cried incredulously, looking at her in that 'Tasty bite' uniform and apron and not quite understanding what it all meant.

"Sheetal! The topper!" Abhi exclaimed.

"Sheetal, who has made it to the alpha batch in a single attempt," Monica remarked.

"You are supposed to be in your coaching classes" Tanvi whispered surprised.

"Why are you not attending coaching classes these days? We have not seen you for a month" Monica, Sheetal's classmate in the 'Topper's batch' said with real concern.

"But Sheetal leaves for the coaching classes every day at 8 am" Tanvi, Sheetal's roommate announced, confused, puzzled.

Sheetal was silent for a long time.

She could see all eyes were now feasting on her and not on the food placed in front of them. 

So she knew that she had to choose her words correctly. And carefully.

"Mental fatigue!" said Sheetal spontaneously and sighed heavily. "The continuous pressure of studying and excelling in the exams almost killed me and I could not go any further" Sheetal blurted out the truth, which she had kept buried in a corner of her mind for so long, that it had started hurting her now.

"Mental fatigue?" exclaimed Monica disbelievingly "But you are a topper. Studying and Topping for you is the most natural and the easiest of things!"

"Yes! I have the talent for it but not the temperament! Somewhere down the line, the pressure of always being the topper got to me and burst me from within and suddenly……………… I lost the tempo to study ………and the inclination to achieve……….. and the ambition to succeed." Sheetal said and after a long silence added confidently "I feel happier and calmer now working as a cashier! My life has taken a U-turn now"" Sheetal added with a pleasant smile of contentment.

"But you could have taken some rest…………..to reduce the mental fatigue" Abhi suggested.

To which Sheetal smiled in a victorious way and say "That is exactly what I am doing now…… resting, relaxing, de-stressing…………..because a change of work is also rest!"

 

And the city had lost one more bright student. 

This time, not to suicide.

But to excessive pressure and ambition.