THE GIRL OF DREAMS
CHAPTER 3: THE FOundation
It is June 1st, and after a two month long vacation, she is all ready with a new black and green bag that she picked herself because it had more than 10 pockets, a bright pink basket with a brand new lunch box in which mummy had packed yummy Indian food. She knew from the very beginning that her mom’s talent to cook would earn her loads of friends. She gets dropped to school this time in an auto. The auto uncle was old but sweet and calls her beti.
This time more
confidently, she enters her school and loves the place instantly. She looks
around and does not find anything weird this time. She knows exactly what to
expect. There is a big gang of 4 girls who are giggling away to glory. She goes
towards them and giggles along with them. That’s it, she is a part of their group
now onwards. Again begins the process of eating together, playing together and
giggling together. As she starts growing up, she starts getting a little irritated
by the giggles. They are now coming at unnecessary times without reasons and
she doesn’t like it much. Everyone in the group starts finding their best
friends. One day, this cute silent little girl in the other corner of the class
comes up and speaks to her. Apparently she is very fascinated by her long hair.
(Oh I forgot to mention, the girl in my story has really long hair made into 2
neat plaits which formed the foundation of her strongest friendship till date)
Now these two girls get along in an instant. They are so different yet so alike
in their own ways. They don’t know that they are forming a bond which can’t be
broken for life. No one knows that these same girls will grow up together as
best friends and they don’t realise that they will never find anyone who can replace
the other in their lives.
These are
brilliant days of her life. These are the days she learns how to shape up her
dreams. She dreams short and fulfills them. She loves her books, she loves her
sports and she loves her friends. She tops each and every class; she wins each
and every heart. She gets used to winning.
Every day she
fights with her bench-mate about who is occupying more place on the bench. They
draw lines on the desks to clearly mark the boundaries of their places. They
push each other with bags. She finds him very mean and irritating but whenever
he doesn’t come, school is not as interesting. Only she is allowed to push him
or hit him. No other person can dare do that to him in her presence. They don’t
know that they are the friends who fight the most and yet care the most.
(The best part about those years is you form deep bonds without intending to and thinking about it and thus avoid all complications and expectations that come with those bonds.)
She makes many
more friends, that is something she is best at. Yet, her closest friend remains
the cute and quieter girl. She doesn’t know why people think that the girl is
quiet, because when with her she can’t stop talking at all.
She learns how
to love her life. She does not miss school for even a day.
Time passes, she
grows up: old enough to feel new things, but not old enough to understand the
reasons behind those feelings. She doesn’t care much though because supposedly
everyone around is feeling such weird things. Suddenly, friendship means more
than before. Suddenly, boys look cuter than before and suddenly, talking on the
phone with her best friend for hours together seems so necessary.
She starts to
hate a few subjects but at the same time, she also develops more and more
interest in few other subjects. Not to forget that even then, her choices, her
likes and her interests lie in fields that were worlds apart. The only thing
common in them was her. On one hand, effervescent chemicals in the lab get her
all charged up and on the other hand she finds some kind of bliss in reading
sonnets. Physics seems as interesting as history. She loves giving science
seminars because of two reasons. She loves the logic in science and she loves the
science of public speaking. She doesn’t know that her passion for almost
everything will make her fall into dilemmas everyday. She doesn’t know that
when she grows up, she will have to choose between Arts, Science and Commerce. She
doesn’t know that the flexibility of having contrasting dreams won’t be
available.
She grows up a
little more. Filtering is the process that is going on everywhere. Interests, languages, and friends are getting filtered. Some bonds are
strengthening whereas some are just being left behind. There always is that little
place for new bonds, new friendships. She finds some terribly amazing friends.
I say “terribly” because it’s almost the end of her school life and it is such
a wrong time to build new relationships but that always happens to her.
It’s now the
last year at school, and she has established a few lifelong friendships. (I am
not going to say “she doesn’t know” anymore.) Now she knows these are the
people she will miss, she knows these are the friends who will stand by her
throughout her life. She thinks
that distance and time will never affect these relationships (whether she is
right or not, we’ll never know) but yeah these are the people who will talk to
her like they meet everyday even if they are meeting after a whole year.
It’s the last
day at school; there are tears in some one’s eyes. She notices that and “oh”,
she realizes, “it is infectious”. She is crying too and so are most of the
others around her. It has been 10 years of being together after all and
suddenly someone is just changing their entire life. The school had always kept
them away from the outside world and they don’t know how to react now that they
are stepping out of this school. They are too young to realize that the world
outside is going to be entirely different, but they are too old to believe that
there are going to be no differences at all. They know their life is going to
change, but no one knows if it’s going to be for the better or not, no one knows
the magnitude of change this event will bring to their lives and no one knows
the consequences of this change. All they know is that there is no option and
here is when they get divided, when they choose different roads.
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