This is a blog post from
Oct 11
Dear Diary,
Everything has changed.
Sandeep and I can’t exchange notes on our favourite Bond book anymore.
We definitely can’t steal all those mini samosas and quiches from that idiot Rohan’s lunch dabbas.
We can’t even just say hello in the corridor anymore.
Actually, we can. We just have to be prepared to be teased for the whole day. Over a simple hello. And that too for the stupidest reason. Because he is a boy and I am a girl.
Aaaargh!
Growing up is such a pain in the buttock. (Pretty cool line! Must trademark it.)
During lunch today, Sandy and I were sitting in our usual spot near the mango tree, discussing our favourite Ruskin Bond horror story. He voted for ‘The Boy Without A Face’. I voted for ‘Night of the Millenium’. He laughed and said that I was such a scaredy-cat because it seems he found the story more of a comedy than horror. I punched his arm. And the music began.
“Nila and Sandy sitting on a tree. K I S S I N G.”
It was all so wrong at so many levels. First of all, it was fully false. We were sitting NEAR a tree. Second of all, we were fighting, which is the exact opposite of kissing. And third of all, that idiot gang of Swine and Piglets had no business eavesdropping on us, let alone tease us like that. I was just about to punch Swine on his face (not friendly but proper-proper) when Sandy pulled me back saying it wasn’t worth it. I made a face but Sandy was right. Nothing about Swine is worth it. Even his lunch dabba is always just curd rice and brinjal curry. No pickle also. Maybe that’s why he is such a pain in the buttock. (Ha! At least the phrase works.)
Then in fifth period, they started making fun of Rohan because he bumped into Poo while entering the classroom. It would have maybe made a little sense if Poo and Rohan fell on top of each other like those Bollywood movies but this was nothing like that. And the Swine and Piglets band starts off its song again. There wasn’t even a tree nearby in this case. Someone should teach them how to write lyrics. If they are anyway going to keep doing this, we might at least get some variety of songs instead of the same old one.
Poo’s mood was off the rest of that day. Luckily next period was library and Sarala Ma’am was absent so we sat in our favourite reading nook and talked about how growing up is such a pain in the buttock. (Rads and Poo like the line too.)
Rads told us about her Hyderabad cousin, who was teased with one of her classmates for two whole years because they played the main leads in their Christmas play. She was Mary. That boy was Joseph.
You can’t escape this nonsense even if you are God.
We met Zoya didi during the second break. She said ‘What’s up, gals?’ I think she expected us to say ‘What’s up, didi?” and get going. Instead, we gave her a ten-minute reply about the pain in our buttocks. (She giggled at the phrase. It’s a HIT! Some relief.)
Zoya didi said that it’s all going to change from now on. That if we do want platonic friendships, we should keep them a secret or be prepared for many many replays of the ‘Sitting on a tree’ song. I asked her to explain ‘platonic friendships’. The bell rang. She said she’ll explain later.
Last period was Geography. Danny Sir conducted a class quiz. Usually it’s Row A vs Row B. “Let’s shake things up a bit,” he said, trying to be all cool but sounding like a fool. “This time let’s make it boys vs girls quiz.” Swine and Piglets hooted with excitement. Girls won. But you should have seen the competition. So much yelling and screaming and arguing over every quarter point. This is the first time. I’m sure it’s all because of ‘boys vs girls’.
Zoya didi is right. Everything is changing.
On the way back, Sandy sat on the other side of the bus instead of his usual seat behind mine.
Everything has changed.
With a heart full of sadness,
Nila
