mad about becoming his friend.
And me? I was consumed by my own guilt. Sorry seemed a tiny word, but it had a new weight now, and had to be said never-the-less . . .
CHAPTER-13
T he terminal examination results were out and Kabir had passed. More than him, I was glad. I recall perfectly that day when Dev had come up to me to return my old notes which I had lent to Kabir for studying.
“Here. He sent them for you,” Dev had placed the bunch on my table.
“What, that’s all Dev? Din’t he ask you to convey his thanks to Riya for lending them to his majesty?” Anjali spoke up. I shushed her and replied instead, “It’s ok Dev. Say congratulations to him from us.” I spoke politely.
“From her only . . .” Anjali muttered under her breath and bent her head into her books again.
I saw Dev walk to Kabir and convey my message. I knew Kabir would turn my side and he did. I just smiled. He remained completely aloof.
As the day progressed, a storm in the staff rooms blew up. Apparently someone had questioned Mrs. Ratna Dhir’s answersheet checking abilities. There was some talk of someone’s marks been wrongly calculated. It was later that we realised that it was none other than Tejas, much to my relief as I was only getting to relax about Kabir’s marks.
“But that’s impossible! I know how much I calculated! There was no error!” Mrs. Dhir was hysteric.
“See again Ratna.” It was the sound of our Vice-Principal. At this point we were shut off from the conversation as Mrs. Ratna left the staff room to fetch the paper in question and the Vice-Principal left for her office.
There was a fast exchange of words in quick succession and by the end of the next period the entre senior wing was aware that Mrs. Ratna Dhir had wrongly evaluated Tejas Ahluwalia’s Geography formative answer sheet.
Tejas was like the crown prince. Surrounded with curious ears, he was relishing narrating his tale to all interested parties, over and over again.
“I knew I had scored more! That’s why I looked very carefully and there . . . in the maps section, I found she had forgotten to check my work. And know what . . . all answers were correct too!! I scored a complete five points!! And my grades have changed because of that.” Tejas was bellowing with self—righteousness.
I myself was bemused. We all had studied under Mrs. Ratna Dhir,the previous year as well and I was of firm opinion that she was very meticulous in such evaluative tasks. Her skills for this, data processing were quite fool proof. Yet, the teachers too remain over loaded with work and there was a tiny possibility that she missed it this time. However, Anjali was not convinced and asked all to await the final result of re-evaluation.
“Let’s show some faith and respect guys . . . Ms. Ratna has never fouled up data before!” Anjali spoke.
“Of-course, you will be calm since it’s not your grades getting affected Anjali!” Tejas replied.
“Sure Tejas, I would be concerned only if my A2 was becoming A1. I would not even bother if a meek C2 was converting into a C1.” Anjali replied sharply.
“Well it matters to some of us!! Ask Riya . . . It matters to her too doesn’t it?” Tejas nodded in my direction.
“Riya? Well Tejas, have you gone cuckoos? Riya is all Ai student!” Anjali asked surprised.
“I know darling. I meant it would now have begun mattering to Riya since her dearest Kabir is in this range as well.” Tejas mocked.
“Shut up Tejas!! Don’t be a fool and you dare not say things like that!! Don’t forget she is a house prefect as well!” Anjali fumed up.
“Ok I won’t. But truth hurts darling, doesn’t it,” Tejas smiled mockingly and got buried amongst the few more gossip seekers. Ayesha was his prime target, fascinated as she was by the concern he was bestowing on her and Madhuri.
It was really a shock to me when Ms Ratna did actually increase five marks in Tejas’s maps.
But as the day wore on, I detected something
And me? I was consumed by my own guilt. Sorry seemed a tiny word, but it had a new weight now, and had to be said never-the-less . . .
CHAPTER-13
T he terminal examination results were out and Kabir had passed. More than him, I was glad. I recall perfectly that day when Dev had come up to me to return my old notes which I had lent to Kabir for studying.
“Here. He sent them for you,” Dev had placed the bunch on my table.
“What, that’s all Dev? Din’t he ask you to convey his thanks to Riya for lending them to his majesty?” Anjali spoke up. I shushed her and replied instead, “It’s ok Dev. Say congratulations to him from us.” I spoke politely.
“From her only . . .” Anjali muttered under her breath and bent her head into her books again.
I saw Dev walk to Kabir and convey my message. I knew Kabir would turn my side and he did. I just smiled. He remained completely aloof.
As the day progressed, a storm in the staff rooms blew up. Apparently someone had questioned Mrs. Ratna Dhir’s answersheet checking abilities. There was some talk of someone’s marks been wrongly calculated. It was later that we realised that it was none other than Tejas, much to my relief as I was only getting to relax about Kabir’s marks.
“But that’s impossible! I know how much I calculated! There was no error!” Mrs. Dhir was hysteric.
“See again Ratna.” It was the sound of our Vice-Principal. At this point we were shut off from the conversation as Mrs. Ratna left the staff room to fetch the paper in question and the Vice-Principal left for her office.
There was a fast exchange of words in quick succession and by the end of the next period the entre senior wing was aware that Mrs. Ratna Dhir had wrongly evaluated Tejas Ahluwalia’s Geography formative answer sheet.
Tejas was like the crown prince. Surrounded with curious ears, he was relishing narrating his tale to all interested parties, over and over again.
“I knew I had scored more! That’s why I looked very carefully and there . . . in the maps section, I found she had forgotten to check my work. And know what . . . all answers were correct too!! I scored a complete five points!! And my grades have changed because of that.” Tejas was bellowing with self—righteousness.
I myself was bemused. We all had studied under Mrs. Ratna Dhir,the previous year as well and I was of firm opinion that she was very meticulous in such evaluative tasks. Her skills for this, data processing were quite fool proof. Yet, the teachers too remain over loaded with work and there was a tiny possibility that she missed it this time. However, Anjali was not convinced and asked all to await the final result of re-evaluation.
“Let’s show some faith and respect guys . . . Ms. Ratna has never fouled up data before!” Anjali spoke.
“Of-course, you will be calm since it’s not your grades getting affected Anjali!” Tejas replied.
“Sure Tejas, I would be concerned only if my A2 was becoming A1. I would not even bother if a meek C2 was converting into a C1.” Anjali replied sharply.
“Well it matters to some of us!! Ask Riya . . . It matters to her too doesn’t it?” Tejas nodded in my direction.
“Riya? Well Tejas, have you gone cuckoos? Riya is all Ai student!” Anjali asked surprised.
“I know darling. I meant it would now have begun mattering to Riya since her dearest Kabir is in this range as well.” Tejas mocked.
“Shut up Tejas!! Don’t be a fool and you dare not say things like that!! Don’t forget she is a house prefect as well!” Anjali fumed up.
“Ok I won’t. But truth hurts darling, doesn’t it,” Tejas smiled mockingly and got buried amongst the few more gossip seekers. Ayesha was his prime target, fascinated as she was by the concern he was bestowing on her and Madhuri.
It was really a shock to me when Ms Ratna did actually increase five marks in Tejas’s maps.
But as the day wore on, I detected something
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