“Self-actualization is the goal of every individual…” a voice droned on in my head. Stifling a yawn, I struggled to keep my eyes open and concentrate at least on the numerous drawings that decorated the margins of my page. Tia stretched her legs, a look of pain on her face. Sanjana and Aditi kept up a long conversation using a series of badly torn chits. Kalyani stared into space, a glazed look in her eyes and Zaara had dropped off to sleep.
Mahi rattled on about the goals of self-actualization while I tried to figure out how she could talk so fast and still manage to put an entire class to sleep. A few murmurs rose from the perfectly still figures in front of me. Class was up. Mahi picked up her books and skipped out of the room while a group of disillusioned students spilled out rapidly after her.
The six of us clustered together. “And I thought psychology was interesting. What was I thinking?” announced Sanjana. “Hmmm…” said a groggy Zaara. “OK, I have a call to make so I will catch you guys later. What’s our next extremely boring class?” asked Kalyani, reaching into her bag. “French, man. I don’t want to go!” said Aditi, pushing a few non-existent strands of hair back into place. “Yeah, whatever…” Zaara was still groggy. “For God’s sake, Zaara, go get yourself some coffee, you sound stoned!” I said, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes as I waved to Leena, a hostelite who was walking back to get her books. “But I don’t like the coffee here!” whined Zaara. “Yeah, it tastes like metal. It’s not worth the money.” added Sanjana.
“Whatever,” I said, sighing as I stood up, “well people, it’s time for me to get to Hindi. I shall see you later.” The group waved back lazily in reply. Picking up my bag, I walked out of the room, my head bent down. A few minutes later, I found myself sitting in the classroom, studying the tiled floor beneath my feet while I listened to Mercy by Duffy.
"Hiiiii!!" yelled a boisterous voice from behind me. Startled out of my wits, I turned to see Sania walking into class, a large multi-coloured bag dangling from her side. A bright smile lit up her face as she plonked herself down heavily next to me (the word "plonked" is used because I can't find a better word to describe the action). I smiled back at her and turned off my mp3 player. "Met our new teacher yet?" she asked. I shook my head in reply and said, "I hope she's a little nicer than the last one."
-"Yes, may the last one rest in peace."
-"Hey, she loved you from the bottom of her heart man!"
"Of course," said Sania with a wacky accent ("wacky" - again due to the loss of words), "she loved me from the bottom of her ice-cold heart!"
A meaningless conversation thus ensued as the rest of the class filed in slowly. An unknown figure suddenly strode in authoritatively. My eyes popped at her bright green saree and contrasting bright orange slippers. I stared back in shock at Sania whose face held a priceless expression. She walked upto the front of the class, carelessly dropped her register on the desk and greeted us nonchalantly. "Dude, she looks scary." whispered Sania as everyone sat down. "She reminds me of one of those jailers from a Tamil movie!" I whispered back. The teacher informed us in her very smooth yet very South Indian-like Hindi that she would not be taking class for us today and that she would start tomorrow.
The hour passed with our new teacher shooting menacing glances everytime someone whispered and issued threats to every girl who dared to talk any louder. The bell rang and the entire class relaxed a little as she picked up her books and walked out. Well, almost the entire class. Sania and I remained glued to our seats in shock. "You know what?" I said. "What?" asked Sania, as she finally found the power in her legs to stand up. I pulled myself up using the chair in front of me and turned to her, "I miss the old one already, man!"
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