Batch Mate

“Aunty, please ask him to join the class from tomorrow. I know that vacation is going on but I don’t want to take an off from English class. Madam said that she would not start the batch at least without two students. She will put us in other batch for now, but will soon form a new batch as soon as other students join in the next month.” Maya described the situation in one breathe.

“Why do you not ask others also to join the class? Why Mishuk?” Mrs. Chandra, Mishuk’s mother asked Maya.

“Because he is a topper. Only a serious student continues study during vacation”, Maya promptly replied.

“You are also serious”, Mrs. Chandra replied to Maya’s innocent answer.

“Well I don’t know. I just don’t want to miss literature class; because I love it and aunty I think we should start taking preparation for our next year board exam a little prior, right? It will be helpful for us. You see…” Maya went on explaining.

“Okay, okay, enough of convincing. I will ask Mishuk to join the class from tomorrow. Happy?” Mrs. Chandra gave Maya an indulging smile.

“Thank you, aunty”, Maya’s face blushed with gratefulness.

“And also don’t forget to breathe while talking, Maya”, Mrs. Chandra teased Maya.

“Umm… oh!” Maya gave an awkward smile, “okay, bye aunty”.

“Bye, Maya”, Mrs. Chandra closed the door. Mishuk was standing behind the door assuring his invisibility to Maya. He heard the whole conversation and was waiting for Maya’s exit.

“You here!” Mrs. Chandra found Mishuk overhearing the conversation, “Why did you not speak to her?”

“Such opportunist girl she is!” Mishuk said with disgust.

“She is a sweet girl. Why are you calling her an opportunist? You don’t even speak to her”, Mrs. Chandra defended Maya.

“You don’t know her Maa. Why should I join class during vacation? If Madam won’t allow only one student, that’s hers and Madam’s problem. Anyway I am not opting for Literature after my board exam”, Mishuk sounded more defensive.

“Now you are sounding so selfish Mishuk. Whatever she said, was right. I think you should start going to the English class”, Mrs. Chandra tried to conclude the conversation with a casual approach.

“No, I won’t. I don’t want to do anything for that arrogant, snobbish girl”, Mishuk replied angrily and went to his room.

“But Madam I asked him to join the class. If he does not, what should I do?” Maya almost broke down. She felt pretty humiliated. Mishuk and she were batch mates since class VIII. Now they were awaiting a promotion to class XII.

“But I need at least two people to invest my one hour Maya”, Madam Rita said.

“But… but… I want to join from now. Which is more important to you Madam, number of students or an interested candidate?” Maya put an argument.

Madam laughed. Maya had been her favorite student since she joined her coaching centre.

“Maya why don’t you take a break and let me take one? Come after a month, no!” Madam replied.

“I will again go today to Mishuk’s house and will drag him till here”, Maya sounded rigid.

“May I come in Madam?” Mishuk was at the threshold.

Maya almost skipped a heartbeat. She did not fear Mishuk but it was that they had negligibly a very few formal conversations in last four years. They were not even friends. They were mere batch mates. Maya skipped her heartbeat for two reasons. First of all she, inside her mind, really did not expect Mishuk to join the class so soon and secondly she was blabbering about Mishuk to Madam that made her feel awkward.

“Oh! Mishuk, you have come. Maya was just talking about you. Yesterday she went to your house, talked to your mother so that you join the class early. See, how much effort she put to bring you here”, Madam was trying to make the ambiance informal.

Maya agitated, “I did not do anything for him. I just wanted to join the…”

Oops!  Mishuk would think her so selfish and opportunist, Maya thought. She skipped the last word hence.

Mishuk did not seem to care. He was busy with his notebooks. Tossing notebook was a clear indication for Madam to start teaching. Mishuk was just like that, a very less but hard spoken boy. To Maya he was just a small boy whose body seemed to forget developing after 10 yr, a thin, pale, short heighted, a head full of curly haired boy. But he was the topper of his school. He was so studious that other toppers from other schools also considered him as their only eligible competitor. But Maya always scored higher than him in English. Toppers from every school considered Maya as their eligible competitor particularly in this subject.

“You ruined my vacation. But don’t think that I have joined the class early because of you. It was for my mother”, Mishuk slammed Maya after the class got over.

“And I asked aunty to send you in the class”, Maya reminded him. Maya was frivolous, easy going, talkative kind of a girl who was a typical teenage girl in brief.

“That I know, you opportunist”, Mishuk said and whisked.

“So, how are you all feeling?” Madam asked everyone on their last day of coaching center. Final board exam was knocking at their door. After two months they would be called college going folks.  Everyone became very emotional. It was the place where they had been studying since they were in class VIII. College and different courses would separate them. No one knew how would be their new big life. Everyone committed to each other to stay in touch. Some even had decided to take admission in the same college, but still they knew that nothing would be the same. Equation was bound to change.

Maya was returning home with a heavy heart. She did not know how much she would miss her batch mates but she was sure that she would be missing her Madam for sure. She tried to convince her Madam to start a batch for under graduate students who would pursue English literature. But Madam did not agree.

“Hey wait! How is your preparation going on?” someone asked Maya.

Mishuk! What on earth made this chap suddenly feel concerned about Maya! Maya sensed some conspiracy. This topper was trying to track her preparation so that he could beat Maya at the last moment. Poor boy! No matter what Maya was going to top in the subject that she knew.

“Well final has time. I have not started following any structure yet”, Maya tried to avoid.

“You liar! You scored highest in the test exam. You are already prepared. If you don’t study for one month, still you will score the highest”, Mishuk said.

“Thanks for keeping undoubted faith on me. But I really have not started preparing for the final. What’s about you? Forget it; tell me what made you talk to me on the final day?” Maya asked.

“Why? What’s wrong in that? We did not talk much; does that mean we will never talk to each other?” Mishuk said.

“No, but why this thought never came in your mind before?” Maya counter questioned.

“Maya! You skeptical girl!” Mishuk said.

“How much is it necessary to always put an adjective before my name?” Maya asked.

“Can we talk something else?” Mishuk insisted.

They had a good conversation beyond studies for the first time. From then Maya and Mishuk regularly met each other, sometime with reasons like group study or exchanging notes and sometime with no reason, just to have chitchat to refresh their minds. Everyone was a little shocked seeing their developing friendship.

Board examination was over. Mishuk’s English paper did not go well. Maya was expecting highest score as usual. Mishuk wanted to pursue engineering after that, while Maya English literature. Now they had enough time to roam around and spend time together. Maya and Mishuk, both could never imagine of such promising friendship between them. Maya and Mishuk kept visiting each other’s house often.

But something else was destined perhaps. Maya sensed it when one day her phone stopped working and entire day Mishuk could not reach her. In the evening when they met, Mishuk burst into anger. He shouted at her for being unavailable all the day.

“But my mobile is not working. What am I supposed to do?” Maya said.

“You could have come to my place immediately. Why were you waiting for the evening?” Mishuk replied.

Maya was dumbfounded. Who on earth does so!

On other day Maya was busy with her other friends in her kitty party. She invited Mishuk also, but God knew why Mishuk never appeared in public. Maya always found him a socially awkward person. She thought that he might feel shame with his body structure. Maya did not contact him throughout the day. In those days missed calls were considered as the gesture of remembrance. So Maya forgot to give him missed calls which meant she did not remember him throughout the day. She did not even check her mobile. At night when Maya was going to her bed, she checked her mobile and she found forty six unread messages and thirty two missed calls, all from Mishuk.

“Hey! I am sorry. I was so busy today that I could not text or give you missed call. You should have come you know! Everyone was talking about you” Maya texted. Maya thought that Mishuk was in sleep but her mobile beeped within a few seconds as if Mishuk already knew what Maya was going to text him and he prepared a draft for that.

“Did you miss me?” Mishuk’s reply came.

Maya was a bit shocked. “Well all our old friends were together after such long time. It has been a month that we spent time together. You should have come, Mishuk”, Maya replied. Maya unintentionally skipped the direct answer. In fact that’s how she wanted to reply.

“Did You miss me, Maya?” Mishuk’s reply came. Now Maya started feeling uneasy. Still she replied, “Of course I missed you. If you would have come, our get together would have been a complete one”.

“Why did you not contact me, Maya?” Mishuk replied. Now Maya literally wanted to avoid such conversation. To conclude the conversation she texted, “Okay from tomorrow onward I will give you sixteen missed calls in a day”.

“Promise?” reply came. Maya did not reply, now intentionally. She fell asleep. Next morning she received sixty four unread messages filled with “promise?”  Maya could not understand what to reply. She dropped a good morning message. Maya gave him missed calls, of course not sixteen. Who on earth followed promise with numbers! At night she got a call from Mishuk.

“You gave missed calls to me only four times, Maya. You were supposed to give me sixteen, remember your promise?” Mishuk said. Maya literally thought that he was joking. Maya laughed and said, “Oh! You literally counted!” Mishuk’s tone changed, “Maya don’t do this to me. When it is sixteen, it should be so”. God knew what but there was something in his tone that petrified Maya.

One afternoon Maya got Mishuk’s call. “Please meet me now. It’s very urgent”, he said.

“But what’s the matter? I am in middle of something. I can’t go out now. Let’s meet in the evening”, Maya said.

“Maya do me a favor, please come. I desperately want to meet you. It’s really urgent. Please try to understand”, Mishuk pleaded.

“But what is it?” Maya asked.

“Come, I will explain you”. Mishuk dropped the phone.

Maya met Mishuk. “What is it?” Maya asked.

“It is you, Maya”, Mishuk replied, “I went for a nap and saw your face in my dream. Since then I wanted to meet you.” Maya could not believe her ears. It was the emergency call! Really!

“Okay fine, you have seen me, now let me go.” Maya literally did not want to extend the conversation any further. Maya whisked and warned Mishuk not to follow her. Maya was so disturbed that she decided to speak less to Mishuk. Maya was feeling very uneasy. Suddenly Maya started analyzing Mishuk’s behavior so far. She found him so rigid, egoist and dominating. He always tried to take over Maya.

The less Maya spoke to Mishuk, the more agitated he was becoming. Final’s result was out. Maya got admission in a good college with her favorite subject, English literature while Mishuk scored miserably. He was rejected by every top notch engineering college. He was even second listed candidate in every general college for honors’ admission. Maya really could not figure out the reason of his pathetic downfall, but Mishuk seemed so normal as if it was expected.

Finally Mishuk got admission in Maya’s college with Electrics. Maya did not like it, but did not express her unhappiness also. Mishuk became such a headache after that! He was becoming possessive and equally abusive by each passing day. Maya decided to confront him. His behavior was affecting Maya’s mental health.

“What’s the matter, Mishuk? Why are you behaving so immature?” Maya confronted.

“Maya I want to tell you something”, Mishuk’s voice became so meek.

“What is it?” Maya asked.

“Maya I feel… I mean I think… I think that I love you”, Mishuk said after overcoming his innumerable fumbles. Maya felt something slipped under her feet. She tried to act normal.

“Maya I tried to tell you this since we met first time in the coaching centre. But see I took five years to express it. Maya I really love you”, Mishuk stopped. He gathered confidence it seemed, but Maya was about to faint.

She straight facedly said, “Don’t feel, don’t think Mishuk. If you want me to respect your feelings, okay I am doing so, but don’t expect anything else from me. I don’t love you.” In fact Maya did not want to respect his feelings also, if someone asked about her innermost feeling. It was just to maintain modesty while disappointing a crazy Romeo.

“You are lying”, Mishuk said.

“Why on earth should I lie to you? It is the fact and it is not necessary to love someone back who loves you, Mishuk. It is not mandatory or something”, Maya tried to appear a bit rude and strict.

“I know you love me”, Mishuk replied. Maya was frightened by his look.

“Bye Mishuk. Our friendship is over. Have a happy life”, Maya tried to make her exist. Mishuk held her hand. “Maya I know you also love me, I saw it in your eyes”, Mishuk said.

“Go and see an optician for your overly powered eyesight, you moron”, Maya finally appeared rude.

“You love me Maya, you love me. I know it. You remember how you used to smile at me, remember how you approached my mother, remember every day you passed by my house returning home from coaching and you still do, remember? What were those if not love?” Mishuk became so miserable.

Maya instantly wanted to die. She shouted, “Are you out of your mind? Where have you kept your brain? Mishuk I smile at everyone, I pass by your house because it is the way to my home and I approached your mother not to marry you, but for a reason. What’s wrong with you? Leave my hand and let me go.”  

Mishuk started acting like a complete psychopath. He used to embarrass Maya by sitting whole day outside of her classroom, standing outside of her house. Maya did not wish to be rude to him; hence she tried to convince him peacefully but he was in no mood to listen. Maya lost her temper when in front of everyone in cafeteria he cried out, “Who is restricting you to love me Maya? What is it, say? Why are you cheating on me? We love each other since our childhood, now why are you not acknowledging it? Don’t do this to me Maya, please”, he started crying like an infant. Maya stood up and slapped him hard on his face in front of everyone. She did not care for her image, never did she ever, but Mishuk’s craziness crossed its limit.

Now he started chasing her every possible place Maya used to be present. He used to cry, start abusing Maya verbally by trying to malign her character in front of everyone. Maya decided to discuss the matter in her house, later with Mishuk’s family.

Maya’s parents approached Mishuk’s parents to resolve the issue. It was literally embarrassing for Maya to go through all this. Mishuk’s father was regarded as a very humble and polite person. He promised Maya’s father not to let such incident happen again. Everything seemed resolved if Mishuk’s mother did not meet Maya one day on the way to home. Though Maya changed her route to reach her home, for this she had to walk for some extra miles but she was ready to do anything to get rid of Mishuk. Maya’s life became miserable after that. Her brother who was two years elder to her was studying in the same college and became a bodyguard of her. Maya hardly got days to walk impenitently on roads now, her brother accompanied her always. 

Maya could not decide how to react to Mishuk’s mother. She smiled out of courtesy. Aunty suddenly started sobbing. Maya so wanted to be vanished by magic.

“Everything will be fine aunty. I never wished to be so rude to him, but the situation was…” Maya could not finish her sentence, Mrs. Chandra said, “Maya please go and meet him. Talk to him Maya. If you love him why are you not acknowledging it? Are you afraid of your family? I will go and talk to your family. Don’t let my son die, Maya, please.” Aunty started crying loudly. Everyone on the road was looking at them. Maya cursed herself for being unnecessarily modest. She could have made her exist. She calmed herself down and decided to talk to aunty. She described every possible thing and specially those irrelevant points made by Mishuk, basis on which Mishuk discovered Maya’s affection to him. Aunty did not say anything, she just left.

“Maya, Maya”, someone was screaming her name outside. Neighbors came out of their rooms, so did Maya’s family. It was Mishuk! That day was the worst day in Maya’s life. Maya’s family insulted Mishuk’s family by all means. Mishuk’s father was not present there. She could not look at Mishuk’s mother’s eyes. Mrs. Chandra’s eyes were filled with immense pain. God knew what happened, suddenly Mishuk attacked on Maya’s father, “You are the culprit who doesn’t want us together. I will snatch Maya from you.” Maya wished to die instantly. It was getting unbearable. Maya’s brother was not in home. He came from somewhere and thrashed Mishuk falling him on ground. When people stopped him, Mishuk was almost half dead. Suddenly he started screaming in his broken voice, “Maya I curse you that you will never find love. Everyone will leave you. No one will stay with you. Maya you can’t be anyone else’s. I curse you bitch! I curse you. You won’t spend a day without shedding tears. That day you will remember me. You will crave for love, bitch! I curse you.” Maya’s mother took her inside her room. Maya’s brother was also cursing Mishuk, but Maya could not hear anything. She did not know what happened next. She fainted!

At six in the morning Maya’s mother entered hurriedly in her room and woke her up, “Maya, Maya, Maya wake up. Mishuk is no more.” Maya was not in the state to respond. She continued gazing at her mother. “He committed suicide, may be yesterday night. He hanged himself from the fan. His body has just been rescued.”

After a week Maya gathered courage to meet Mrs. Chandra, of course secretly. She was not prepared with her consolation speech. But Maya did not have to struggle, it was Mrs. Chandra who spoke, “How are you Maya?” Maya could make a sign of her well being only by bending his neck one side.

“Maya”, Mrs. Chandra said, “you were the only girl who never made fun of her physical appearance, who was nice to him. He was immature that he took it as love.” Mrs. Chandra paused. She again said, “He was very introvert, socially awkward. He wanted to conquer the world by his merit for he had no other beauty to be praised. It made a huge difference. But you were the first person who treated him normally, accepted him as a friend despite of his all awkwardness. He got emotionally attached to you. I know that he troubled you a lot. Pardon him as no one is left to be blamed.” Mrs. Chandra again took a pause, “But Maya, how much was it difficult to love my child? Was he not worth loving? Was it so difficult?”

A year passed!!!