Exam days.
Especially finals.
They are
brutal,
unforgiving,
and
tiresome.
But usually
I can ace them
or at least
I could
in FIS.
In PPS
I really need to try hard
and float above
the drowning ocean of academics.
But
for once
today’s History and Civics exam
was super easy.
Easier than
Maths 2 yesterday,
which most of my friends
discussed
while clapping their hands to their heads
in frustration.
Today
the discussion of the paper
is cut short
by other topics.
The bus students
including me
are much more jovial today
and decide to talk about other things.
Suddenly,
Amaradhevan
somehow
lashes out or something
at Aadita.
She moves to stand near the school building
by a big window
and she notices some bags stacked
in a corner.
Her eyes quickly change
from puzzlement
to excitement.
I move to see what she’s staring at
and my jaw drops.
In one of the bags,
pink powder
fills it to the brim.
Pink powder,
which I now remember
is used to mark the lines
for warmup sessions
in the ground (where we are now)
during hybrid classes.
I don’t really see
Aadita’s devilish grin
due to her mask covering her face.
But I bet
she has it
when she scoops up some powder,
and yells,
“It’s Holi today!”
She holds up her hand towards me
I cry out
and run as far as I can
away from her chalky-pink hand.
Everyone sees what is going on,
and soon
Ekampreet and Maadhavi jump out of the way
and Oditi shouts for mercy
and the boys go haywire.
But soon
someone gets caught
pink-handed
when I see that
Aadita dabs Manit on his forehead
colouring it a bright shade of magenta
which makes us all
erupt in voracious laughter.
But she is not done.
Soon
I get a handful on my cheek,
Ekampreet gets some on her wrist
and everyone else
is hit.
But then,
a worst hit arrives for Aadita herself.
Amaradhevan grabs more pink
and as we head for the gate to wait for our buses
he comes running
and literally throws
all the pink
at Aadita.
The powder stains her face,
her hair,
her shirt.
I might be ruining fun
by fuming at Amaradhevan
for trying something
so idiotic.
Maadhavi and I check on her
as the other primary children arrive.
A teacher notices Aadita’s disarray
and looks to Ekampreet and I
for explanations.
I expect a response about Aadita
so I say
that Amaradhevan’s stunt
caused the distorted bright-pink handiwork.
She then asks Amaradhevan what happened
and he responds
that Aadita started it.
As the teacher gives them a talking-to
The little kids ask Ekampreet and I
about what happened.
I grin
and pull down my mask to show the colour on my face
while Ekampreet narrates the incident.
I turn to talk to Oditi and Manit
the latter trying to furiously wipe the colour.
He asks us if it’s gone yet
and I suppress a smile and pull on my mask,
while Oditi remarks that he needs a mirror to know.
“I still feel bad for Aadita,” I say to Ekampreet.
“She just wanted to have fun,
but then that Amaradhevan literally ruined everything.”
“True,” she remarked.
“He threw the colour.
She dabbed it.”
“In which is a stark difference,” I remind her.
“Dabbing is harmless.
Throwing…”
I sigh.
“It was chalk.
What if
it went into someone’s eyes?”
Oditi says to me,
“Maisha, you should write a blog post about this.”
I grin and nod.
And I have.
This adventure
is the post which she was talking about.
I hope you enjoyed it.
Signed,
Melody Vega
(As Maisha Saighal in this chronicle)
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