CHAPTER 2

First things first, I have never really been scared of any teacher as such in my life. But there’s a first time for everything, right? The Head Of the Department (H.O.D.) had always been an intimidating person. The first time I saw her, my knees turned to jelly and I’m usually a very strong person. Mentally, at least. The hem of her neatly tied sari was enough to start the shivers. You can imagine my reaction when she walked into our class on the first day and announced that she would be teaching us for an entire semester.

English and Psychology had always been favourite subjects and after two amazing teachers in English, I was really looking forward to a fun semester. Our teacher walked in a little late but being the kind, caring class that we were (keyword : were), we forgave her. She introduced herself to us as Petunia Casper. When she started talking to us about what she was going to do this semester, I looked to my side and saw the entire class staring and sniggering at her feet. Curiously, I looked down to see her sari tied a good three to four inches above her ankles. A muffled giggle erupted from the row behind me. Petunia, thinking it was me (Shocking!), frowned at me. I sighed. This year was not going to do much for me at all.

Psychology class progressed quite calmly. Our new teacher, Mahi, seemed to be a rather nice person and was probably one of the few teachers we were happy to have. Thankfully, our new Hindi teacher didn’t turn up for her hour Not wanting to prolong an intensely painful day, I caught an auto and went back home.

As I sat at my desk doodling aimlessly, my sister walked in with a freshly prepared illogical tantrum. This time it was the ‘She has better stuff’ tantrum. My father, following closely on her heels, gave in and promised to buy her the latest Barbie doll she had seen on TV. Shaking my head disapprovingly with wisdom beyond my age pouring out of my ears, I turned back to the picture of a sun with glares and decided to add a few more finishing touches.