Period : Summer Vacations.
Ever since his vacations began, 9 year old Karthik was waiting eagerly for the arrival of his friend. His neighbour - Preethi akka* . He had sorely missed her , since she had gone away to study at a hostel in a college. He secretly pitied her. From what he had heard, he had formed an impression that hostels were better only to central jails. He wondered why she ever went so far away to study.
His neighbours were exceptionally good people. Since his mother had to go to work, she would often ask the aunty to take care of him, in spite of his protests. Not that he resented. The aunty's fridge was home to lots of sweets, chocolates and juices, and he marveled at Preethi akka's abstinence from such nice things. He usually went to play at their house. Akka had always been helpful- she had taught him the basics of Hindi, she used to narrate to him marvelous stories of Harry Potter. Harry Potter forced him to accept that stories other than comics could be interesting too. She was his official translator, whenever they watched Hindi/ English movies on the TV.
All this 2 years ago. Last year, she had been increasingly busy, going to coaching classes for about 4-5 "entrance tests", right from 5 am in the morning. It would be around 10 pm when she came home. He had overheard aunty pouring out her worries to his mother as to how Preethi would fare in the board exams. "Board Exams? Do they write questions on the Black-board?", he wondered. It meant a hectic schedule for akka, who was quite remarkable in taking up the challenge. This was not the first time he had heard about the Boards. Come April-May, all the news channels would carry the interviews of the toppers. It was quite another matter that all of them stated the same thing. To him, they appeared quite supernatural, being interviewed by the same people who usually interviewed the President or Rajni Kanth. It was an achievement in itself.
Akka soon completed her exams and was free as ever and their ramblings continued. She, just like him, had no friends of her age in the neighbourhood. Soon, her results were announced and to Karthik's greatest joy, she had stood first, not only in her school, but also in the entire district, scoring a staggering 97 point something percentage. Their locality was a flurry of activity. She was interviewed, her photos flashed across the TV channels. Suddenly, he felt insignificant. He had never expected her to be so brilliant. After all, shd did everything that he did. But then, he thought that you could never judge people on their face value. He added this to his list of random Philosophical Principles that he made from time to time.
Akka did not feel the same way though. She continued playing with him and telling him the movie stories. His first ambition was fulfilled. He had not only met one person whom they interviewed on the TV, he was also her friend.
She went to the college shortly after, a college in Goa, and was returning only that day. His wait soon came to an end as Akka arrived at home. The first few days were spent in an usual routine. He gathered various insights about college life. He learnt that hostels weren't like jails after all and that you could wear any dress you liked to the class. This thought excited him.
There was one thing though that depressed him. Her big fat books. He could not see how he would ever lift those books, leave aside studying them. They had a use though. They would often double up as hard pillows whenever he was at their place and was too tired after watching TV. Akka graciously allowed this. Sometimes, her friends used to call her on her new mobile phone, and she would go on talking for at least half an hour. He did notice that her way of speech had certainly changed. Her talks were now punctuated by "Cho Chweet", that it almost became a distraction.
Akka's college was one of the best in India, his parents had told him. He wondered if he would ever get an admission anywhere. He had thought that he would become a Bus-conductor or a traffic policeman, after all they held the power to scold people, and none would ever retort. He had considered being a teacher, but found that he would have to force children to do homework and cane them if necessary, and this was against his conscience. So he dropped that idea.
Recently, he had added software engineer to the list too. He had been to Chandru Anna's company the previous week and to his amazement saw almost everyone there playing Minesweeper in the AC room. But he knew that there were the frightening Board Exams, that he had to face if he wanted to make any of his dreams a reality. He grew worried for some time.
Soon he came out of his depression as he remembered Preethi Akka telling him something from a Harry Potter book- " What would come, would come and he would definitely have to meet it when it did." He only hoped that he would well at that point.
Ever since his vacations began, 9 year old Karthik was waiting eagerly for the arrival of his friend. His neighbour - Preethi akka* . He had sorely missed her , since she had gone away to study at a hostel in a college. He secretly pitied her. From what he had heard, he had formed an impression that hostels were better only to central jails. He wondered why she ever went so far away to study.
His neighbours were exceptionally good people. Since his mother had to go to work, she would often ask the aunty to take care of him, in spite of his protests. Not that he resented. The aunty's fridge was home to lots of sweets, chocolates and juices, and he marveled at Preethi akka's abstinence from such nice things. He usually went to play at their house. Akka had always been helpful- she had taught him the basics of Hindi, she used to narrate to him marvelous stories of Harry Potter. Harry Potter forced him to accept that stories other than comics could be interesting too. She was his official translator, whenever they watched Hindi/ English movies on the TV.
All this 2 years ago. Last year, she had been increasingly busy, going to coaching classes for about 4-5 "entrance tests", right from 5 am in the morning. It would be around 10 pm when she came home. He had overheard aunty pouring out her worries to his mother as to how Preethi would fare in the board exams. "Board Exams? Do they write questions on the Black-board?", he wondered. It meant a hectic schedule for akka, who was quite remarkable in taking up the challenge. This was not the first time he had heard about the Boards. Come April-May, all the news channels would carry the interviews of the toppers. It was quite another matter that all of them stated the same thing. To him, they appeared quite supernatural, being interviewed by the same people who usually interviewed the President or Rajni Kanth. It was an achievement in itself.
Akka soon completed her exams and was free as ever and their ramblings continued. She, just like him, had no friends of her age in the neighbourhood. Soon, her results were announced and to Karthik's greatest joy, she had stood first, not only in her school, but also in the entire district, scoring a staggering 97 point something percentage. Their locality was a flurry of activity. She was interviewed, her photos flashed across the TV channels. Suddenly, he felt insignificant. He had never expected her to be so brilliant. After all, shd did everything that he did. But then, he thought that you could never judge people on their face value. He added this to his list of random Philosophical Principles that he made from time to time.
Akka did not feel the same way though. She continued playing with him and telling him the movie stories. His first ambition was fulfilled. He had not only met one person whom they interviewed on the TV, he was also her friend.
She went to the college shortly after, a college in Goa, and was returning only that day. His wait soon came to an end as Akka arrived at home. The first few days were spent in an usual routine. He gathered various insights about college life. He learnt that hostels weren't like jails after all and that you could wear any dress you liked to the class. This thought excited him.
There was one thing though that depressed him. Her big fat books. He could not see how he would ever lift those books, leave aside studying them. They had a use though. They would often double up as hard pillows whenever he was at their place and was too tired after watching TV. Akka graciously allowed this. Sometimes, her friends used to call her on her new mobile phone, and she would go on talking for at least half an hour. He did notice that her way of speech had certainly changed. Her talks were now punctuated by "Cho Chweet", that it almost became a distraction.
Akka's college was one of the best in India, his parents had told him. He wondered if he would ever get an admission anywhere. He had thought that he would become a Bus-conductor or a traffic policeman, after all they held the power to scold people, and none would ever retort. He had considered being a teacher, but found that he would have to force children to do homework and cane them if necessary, and this was against his conscience. So he dropped that idea.
Recently, he had added software engineer to the list too. He had been to Chandru Anna's company the previous week and to his amazement saw almost everyone there playing Minesweeper in the AC room. But he knew that there were the frightening Board Exams, that he had to face if he wanted to make any of his dreams a reality. He grew worried for some time.
Soon he came out of his depression as he remembered Preethi Akka telling him something from a Harry Potter book- " What would come, would come and he would definitely have to meet it when it did." He only hoped that he would well at that point.
* Akka - A common term used in south india to address one's elder sister.
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