In .....Between..............

Saturdays at U.A have always been colorful and eventful. Students are allowed to wear colorful clothes instead of their uniforms and they utilize this opportunity to the maximum to be at their best. Classes begin late by half an hour since it is the marketing day in Punakha. And this is the only day in U.A when no one notices even if you are absent but everybody targets you just because you are present.

Once you step into U.A, you will find that everyone knows something about everyone and everyone will have the same question about something. Do not be surprised, it is not our unity, it is ( at least for me ) the slavery. There is no policy like ‘the survival of the fittest’ but you can survive in a better way if you know how to nod your head according to the punctuations of ‘certain voices ‘from certain corners.

We, the ‘lady birds ‘of U.A know all the tricks of how to make the little things incredibly important. We have no kisses for cowards! Saturdays are days of laughter for us. We gathered in the library during the recess.

“Hey, where were you yesterday evening….you bunked the staff meeting eh..? “ Susan shouted at me in her screaming voice.” You are asked to report to the Boss.”She continued.

I smiled asking myself is he so dared that he issued such an order….

We started our ‘light weight’, harmless and nonsense talk.

“I want to get married….I am looking for an old rich man and when he dies I will have one of my choice, provided he knows how to cook and wash for me…”Susan announced.

“I really want to see Susan with her three months old baby.” I said loudly.

“Oh God, I know for sure,Susan will go mad….” Barati added.

Our conversation flowed effortlessly and endlessly from one topic to another.I was about to flip through the pages of ‘The Week’ lying on the table. Suddenly Barati grabbed it and threw it to the other side grumbling “You are always with some books,go to hell with all your Paulo Coelho, Murakami, Krishnamurti …. Now turn this way and reveal the secret of your glow.”

“Hey….don’t you know that the Sun far away is so bright for me?” I laughed. “You Tho-tha-re,always have some answer for everything…”She interrupted . Any ways …she continued “you look different with this new pair of ear rings.” I could not control my laugh. “Yes, yes somebody even said it looks like a key chain….” I replied.

“Ya la ma, who is that, might be Mr.James… “Not this time huh...” I shouted from the corner.

“Shhhh, Boss” Dhan Maya warned us. Suddenly Boss barged in. He looked at each and every one of us with a skeptical astonishment on his face. He pressed his spectacles back and pulled back his ‘baku’s sleeves. Rarely do we realize that we are in the midst of extra ordinary people and I did realize it when I started working under our boss!

I saw madam Sarika’s face muscles dancing up and down while she was struggling to control her laugh, as Boss was talking to the new teachers at the other corner in a Canadian tune. Even our Boss is influenced by Mr.Daniel’s English!!

We became active again as soon as the Boss left the place. And this time we tried to imitate Mr.Daniel, putting extra effort on each word to make his accent. Poor Daniel! He will have a tough time in U.A. Because our experience taught us that people who really value time must have more tolerance to kill their time just waiting for the arrival of our Boss for our so called meetings. And you are compelled to pack up and throw the image of ‘self dignity’ and the great feeling of ‘being yourself’ the very moment you step in to U.A. But any ways we hope Mr.Daniel will have better ways with all his intuitions and inexplicable positive presence.

‘’Boss may come again ‘, said Salina.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Boss has always been the uninvited guest in our conversations who ever talks ,never minds ,smiles not at faces but at facts….who humbles himself as ‘ a man of little knowledge’ but knows well how to beat someone up by his weakness. (There lies the secret why I always win over him)

He is a man of power, believes in his own religion if at all he has one, an unbeatable strategic an,ever known diplomat with whom none of your ‘isms’ work! And when you are with him, you are left with only two choices either you like him or hate him; there is no way you can ignore him. (And believe me,if you can, you are blessed to see the real Boss ) But I would like to say this too,if ever I get a chance to choose an enemy, I prefer our Boss as the one not that I want to keep an enmity with him but I believe in equal strength to fight with !

We were still on our talk and were aware of our ‘sound effect’ only when the new teachers from Kerala came out from the other corner with a discomfort in their eyes. Dinesh ,who believes himself to be the most handsome man in this world, fixed his eyes on me .( Brutus you too ) Poor chap!

Our attention drifted from all nonsense stuff when Kuenley, our librarian played the song ‘ Jai ho…..”from Slum Dog Millionaire. Susan and I started arguing again…. But this time in a sensible manner about the movie and A.R Rahman.

“Though the name of the movie is Slum Dog Millionaire, I could not find a single dog in that movie as the title carries...ee nah….? “

The comment terrified us more than death itself. It was Hema who said that.

None of us could lighten the gravity of that moment. We were afraid to look at Hema.

And this was the only occasion our Saturday ended up with a long silence.