The alarm punctures my deep dreamless REM slumber. It was 6 in the morning. I woke up to M S Subalakshmi’s Suprabatham playing from kitchen. My mother always turns her radio on while working in kitchen. That’s her kind of idea of an alarm clock. I could hear the crackling of utensils , the grinding sound of mixers and on top of that my mother’s wake up call for me. “ Aishaaa… Wake up.. Its such an important day for U and look at U.. still sleeping like a hog.. When are you going to be responsible girl..” My mother’s scorn continues and I really need to stop it . “I m awake Mumma.. I will get ready in a few minutes .”
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My name is Aisha , I am 17 years old and single . Well In a society where kids of 12 and 14 update their face book status as ‘ committed, in a relationship, complicated relationship , open relation…’ it’s actually a shame for me to say I am single.. So it’s better to rephrase it as “Waiting”. That’s kind of cool right ?. So yeah I m 17 and waiting for my knight in an armor. My family consists of four , My father Rajat , mother Kalpana and my elder brother Arjun. I just completed my 12th from a Convent school. I scored well in commerce and got admission in the Daya Barathi Ben College , in short DBB college , One of the top colleges for B. com in my state. And today is an important day as today is my very first day in this college.
I settled on one of my favorite ethnic wear, turquoise Swarovski iced chiffon churidar . It is simple but elegant . After all it is my first day and you see First impression is always the best impression. Since this was my first day my brother offered to drop me in his car. Before I leave the house my mother gave me some gyan on what and what not to do in college. She asked strictly to sit in the first row and not to be over friendly with any boys . (meaning : Don’t cross the line , Be in the limit ) After the moral session we left home to college. In the car my brother divulged all his gay and alluring college life stories which I listened in an exalt admiration. My family has always been adherent to traditional orthodox values But on the adversary my brother is a loyal vogue and I m his devoted sister. I got so thrilled by his stories and I really got excited for my college days.
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We reached college and my brother wished me luck and accelerated away. I felt a kind of nervousness as I was all alone and I don’t know any faces there. None of my class friends got admission here and literally I was like a lost child in a crowd . It was supposed to be an introduction class today and I went to the enquiry office to get the class direction. There was a line in front of the office and I joined it. All were freshers like me. I could read it in their faces. Some were with friends talking and laughing jovially. Some were alone hesitant and shy. All faces were gleaming in excitement . A girl in red embroidered kurti came and stood in my line.
“Hey” I volunteered the conversation
“Hi” she reciprocated
“ I m Aisha , First year B.com. You?”
“Oh ! Wow ..Even I m B.com . It seems we are going to be classmates. I m Pallavi.”
“That’s cool”. And then we talked about each other’s previous schools, the grades we scored, the other colleges we opted and such now irrelevant matters.
“So any of your friends came along ?” I enquired after we collected the college map
“Yes. But not in commerce though. In science stream. I m actually waiting for them. “ Just then the ‘friends’ turned out. Three ‘page 3 model’ type girls emerged from nowhere and called her out.
“Ok then Aisha . U carry on we will catch up in class”. Pallavi said and went to join her friends.
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When I entered my class it was almost empty. Only a boy was sitting there. I sat in the first row , much for my mother’s words , though I really wanted to sit in the middle or the last bench. I have heard it’s always fun in the last row. But I didn’t wanted to disappoint my mother. My eyes soon began to wander around the room and I found him sitting alone reading some book. He was wearing a blue semi formal shirt and a denim jeans. He wore a stud on his ears . He has a masculine structure and was extremely handsome . He has got this bewitching charm which made me gawping at him. And in the next second our eyes met and I m frozen. Literally I was. His eyes has this spell binding effect on me that even I wanted to change my gaze away but I couldn’t. It was really an embarrassing moment. He gave me a quizzical expression and then of a sudden I looked down. In order to cover up my situation I thought of starting a conversation with him.
“hey “ I said loud.
He never bothered to respond it. I neglected the insult and continued
“ I m Aisha . What ’s your name ?”
“ Why should I tell my name to you ?” He retorted.
I was set aback by his hostility. ‘ What a jerk ! He thinks himself to be some prince or what ? ’. I mentally cursed myself for even opening the convo. For the rest of the time I sat there in the rage of humiliation.
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