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Ankit stood in the center of the room. Principal ma'am took a step towards him and hissed: where do
you learn such evil things from?
Ankit looked up then lowered his moist eyes- and kept wriggling his toes in his cheap canvas shoes.
He wanted to say many things, many words: No, Wait, But, How..
And all the words jumbled at the tip of his tongue- like little children trying to squeeze out of the
narrow side gate of Malgudi Primary School at the last bell.
Sanjana sat in the corner at the very edge of a low wooden bench. Yes, the bench meant for children
awaiting punishment in Principal's office. She raised her hand to say- But Ma'am, I was no where near..
But Ma'am raised her hand to silence her...
*
*
*
Yes, that was the biggest scandal of the 1989 in this sleepy little town. Funny, saucy and sad.
This is how this whole thing was related to me during a bus journey. The person sitting next to me, who
had difficulty buying his ticket, opened up when I mentioned that I too some time get stuck on wordsespecially destination. While everyone dozed off as the bus moved through verdant valleys, we kept on
reminiscing about our childhood.
So, Ankit was this little cute and mysterious boy in class 5. Mysterious- because he could tell you the
square of 45 or 65 without pen and paper- but had difficulty telling which city was the capital of India!
Quick witted in the play ground but pretty dumb inside the class room. He had problems speaking
sometime and Jayant was his only friend. Jayant was the only child who intuitively knew when to be
silent so that Ankit could finish whatever he was saying laboriously- and also, when not to look at
Ankit's face! In fact, they were famous as friends in the school. If you were looking for Jayant- just find
Ankit- and he will be close by and vice versa.
Ankit felt confident whenever Jayant was around, no matter what. In fact they both sat in the front row
together. If Jayant was asked a question, Ankit was always able to give him a hint - using his eyes and
gestures. Roll calls in the morning assembly was another situation where the two friends helped each
other- sometime by giving the proxy or by just giving a push. Saying Yes Ma'am was difficult for
Ankit without a helpful shove from his friend- especially when he was distracted in some boyish prank.
That day, Jayant was nowhere to be seen during assembly. Ankit was looking for him anxiously. Roll
call was about to begin. He was not worried so much about himself but about Jayant missing his roll
call. Girls' line stood next to the boys'. He turned around to look back at the line- looking for Jayant. No
sign. Principal arrived. Everyone stood at attention. Ankit again turned nervously to look back for
Jayant and to sign him, to come ahead in the line, next to him. His head brushed the girl standing next
to him. He heard a snicker. He looked back- no sign Jayant- but he saw the wide grinning face of the
class bully.
Someone whispered: He kissed the girl! Did you see?
Just a whisper, some more snickering.
*
*
Did you ever meet Sanjana after that? I could not help asking him.
Well... After I got my first job as a salesman, I met her once. I was showing her this washing machine,
that I was selling those days... she remembered that event and said I learned only that day that you
stammered and that what a big deal it was- Till then, I thought that your blinking of eyes when you
talked was quite cute..
So what happened that day, after you ran off?- the child within me could not be silenced.
Well, she told me that after I ran away, strangely, she suddenly felt very brave and told the principal
that she was nowhere near me in the line and the whole thing was just a bogus story.. and the ma'am
kept repeating like a robot: why didn't he say so? why didn't he say so?..
We both had a laugh- as the bus lurched and moved on like our lives.
And yes, she did buy the machine.. That was my first break!
(This story is pure fiction based on pure facts! I wish to thank Ankit from Malgudi! sachin)