The Best Friend - Chapter 4

The morning of the first exam is hardest for any student, because they are for first time they are not competing against the students in their class or school, but against each and every other student in board, which can vary from one state to multiple states. The representation is deemed true and results a parameter for true strength of a person. The scores in exams would not have been such a big deal, had the population of country been under control. The reservations for each section of the society made it more tough for everyone to get into field of their own choice. Even the easy things are scary. The pressure of parents to fare well in this type of situation is questionable.
"Mummy, who is  going to drop me for the exam. The school bus is not plying.", to which mom replied, "It's gonna be your daddy, honey. Who else kid". Diepti got ready for her exams, which are supposed to  start in few hours. She gets ready and as she is all set , her father was nowhere to be seen. He had gone to police station to enquire about her brother, leaving the girl alone and with a way to find her way on her own. Diepti ran to her mom ,"Mummy !!!! This is not fair , how do I go to examination hall now". Mom was quiet, took out a couple of hundred INR from her shelf and asked Diepti to take the auto. I can go to auto but this is not the way, I was promised I will be dropped off. Mom took Diepti to the auto station , where she saw Simmi,  the smile on her face was wide , as wide as if she saw her daddy. With a plastic bag on the side, she asked her mom if she can go with Simmi, who was going all by herself. It was possibly the first time, and the farthest distance Diepti would go all alone without her parents for the first time.
They sat in auto , and Diepti was all ready to start talking , as Simmi saw her excitement , and reminded her, "Dips , we have an exam today, and we are expected to be talking about it. Did you prepare well for the exams , do you think it will be hard exam".
Diepti was silenced, and then realizing the ground situation she started saying, my brother is missing from our house, since a few days. There is a lot of tension, and my daddy is just so frantic looking for him. I have tried to cover everything I could, Anuj was a big help in getting me started. I just hope the exam comes from first half of syllabus, I would at least pass." The auto was going at its snail pace, going up and down the cracks on the road. It was not before they reached the destination , showed the examination card , and zoomed in for the exam. The exam was hard, it came from the first half of the syllabus , but still very hard. The pen was not working properly, the tip of pencil broke more often , the diagrams could not be made properly and the margins were shaky. Diepti was not finding answers to the basic question, and requested for a restroom break, hoping for a miracle to happen. Nothing too enthusiastic, and a certain failure seemed evident two hours down the clock.
Diepti went straight inside the restroom , the security is very high in such places, but girl's restroom is a place no one can go in and check. Simi saw Diepti, and could tell in an instant, she is not well. Simmi took Diepti by the hand, put a finger on her lip to be quiet , and went in the far corner of ladies restroom. They went inside the same cube, and as if magically , Simmi put her hand outside the window, grabbed the textbook ,handed it to Diepti , smiled and went out. The front page of book read , "Answer all the questions , and write at length even if you dont know the answer, and if you want to know the answers, you have 2 minutes , do it quickly and keep the book back at the window for next person."
Diepti just read the answers, and went straight back to her desk, happily finishing her exam , and expecting good result from this one. Her smile could not be hidden, and her thankfulness to Simmi not expressed in words. The friendship grew stronger by a mile today

The Best Friend - Chapter 3

The Exams

Diepti who used to sleep by 9 PM was in such a deep thought. For first time in her life, she had a mission. Her senses became sharp. It was already 30 minutes past midnight, and she was buried in books. Each problem in every subject which earlier would have either made her yawn, or sleep, or switched the subject altogether was made a friend. Problems eased out. The dinner was cold and bread was hard by the time she went to take the food. For first time in her life, she was sleeping at 3:30 AM and studies was a reason. She was glad, she completed many parts. Next morning she was first to wake up. Being Sunday everyone was lazy in waking up. Diepti went right upto calender and stuck off previous day. She went and did started off with English. The zeal died down, and she started memorizing the essays. She called up Simmi, once she was done memorizing the essay. "Hey Deeps, you sound so tired. Is everything ok. ".
"Yes, it is . I just feel like studying nowadays. I think its the right time to do it,".
Laughing and nearly in tears, laughing, Simi replied, "that's so wise. But what do you do just 20 days from the exams that everyone looks upto, go play boyfriend-girlfriend with Anuj". A pause followed , and an immediate laughter. The things are not getting easy for Simi, who is having troubles in her own family. Her side of story was always unknown to Diepti who found the amazing company of Simi as her turning point in getting to exams.
Diepti has never been more confident in her life, Maths was a cakewalk for her, and for first time, she was confident going in the exams. Three days before the exams started, an unusual incident happened. Her brother went missing. His class XII boards expected to start in a week. Diepti's parents were devastated. They had no clue of what would have happened. His brother was an intelligent guy, who spoke too much. He was verbose and very strong in academics. There was no reason to assume he would have left the home for fear of exams, as the inspector mentioned. It was a clear case of kidnapping, and Diepti was all in tears. She could not help but keep on looking at the hanging keychain, which was gifted to her by her brother.
The only source of Deepti's inspiration was missing. There was a big void in her life. She had gone blank on hearing the news. She lost count of time. All the efforts for the exams were lost, only her brother's face was in her mind all the time. Times when she did not fare well in exams, and her brother used to defend her to the time when she had midnight craving for Ice-Cream would he jump back from the backyard, run out to get an ice-cream. He is now gone, and two days of search didn't bring any results. Simmi came and met Diepti couple of times but didn't spend too much time. Exam time is pressure time for kids.
One day to the exam, and the ground reality hit hard on Diepti. There were no last minute revisions, she had done an effort of lifetime, and it is all going to go down the drain. She was sad, but still can't get off these exams.
Concentration was not the only thing missing, every small thing needed next day seemed to be lost. The admission card to the gate pass, everything comfortably strolled to the corners of room. Sleep also evaded Diepti, and she was hardly slept before her first exam.

The Best Friend - Chapter 2

The need for boy friend was overcoming Dipti's thought process. She was never in topper, and strived to get across 60%. The sudden influence of Simi was evident in her pre boards, in which she managed to scrap through the pass line. This was significantly lower than expectations. Her friendship with Simi was questioned in home, and she looked upto Simi to help. Simi knew Anuj, one who topped in Maths. The subject which would hallucinate Dipti for ages. Anuj, like most guys was more or less into girls, but his intellectual excellence would give him an edge over the others. Simi arranged Dipti to get some lessons from Anuj. Even though hesitant in first place, she enjoyed Anuj's method of getting around problems. He would give each number a relationship of his own. He would use the numbers as friends , and his 10 friends helped him. These 10 friends were 10 numbers whom he used to talk to. No wonder diepti thought he was genius. He can make out the mistakes even before Dipti could try to do them. The exams were getting closer, and the friendship with Simmi getting very close. She would seek her notes from Simmi every now and then. She was not very confident types. Simmi sat with Dipti and told her," it requires each teacher to glance through your exam result sheets, dont worry about anything else. highlight the important words, and you might just strike gold."

The words which Simmi said would take Dipti a long way in future. Her mom was one figure who used to worry a lot about Diepti but that would be still a backlog since she used to worry a lot more about her daughter'a marriage. Sometimes she would go upto Diepti and say," Look , get good score , so that you can take science as a subject. Taking science as a subject would help you get through good college, and then you can find a boy for yourself. So please concentrate and get good marks in the board exams in couple of months". Diepti heard her mom for a while, paused and shyly said," So I should study more so that I can find a boy to marry me and you dont have to pay dowry. Is it all about my studies, this is where it boils down to mumma. Boys are found everywhere, they are roaming at all the places, there is no big deal to find a boy to marry," the conversation reflected a part of Simmi in Dipti'c conversation. She was herself not sure what she said or how she got courage to do it.
The exams were getting closer, the pressure was mounting.
Each passing day would Dipti get closer to Simmi, appreciating how well she manages everything. Sometimes she wanted to ask Simmi, if she also had same 24 hours as Diepti did. Then one day, when Diepti was smiling on her way back home after understanding the solution to a critical problem of Mathematics from new colleague-cum-tutor, Simmi asked her,"So, how is your English coming along, and social sciences". Diepti remained silent for sometime and then said,"I dont know. My mathematics is fine now. But then I completely forgot about other subjects.", and for no apparent reason both of them started laughing. When they regained normal sense, Simmi told Diepti, "we are in trouble as the subjects are not getting easy. Don't know why this class X is so important, all the world is after the life of my poor friend,"she satired. "As if you will pass just like that, and I only work hard".
Simi told, "the problem with you is you now think Anuj loves you, and you want to have him as your boyfriend", Diepti was taking her eyes off the conversation, but smiling. "Don't you understand you have years left, and in next 20 days you have your exams. These exams are going to be your test. You want to be an engineer, but thats fun. Boys are just a part of life, and dont get serious with anyone so soon. Have you seen Anuj, he is intelligent, will get a job and go to usa. If you want to be with Anuj, you will have to score good in each subject, else he will be in science, and you will be in arts." The words made smile disappear from Diepti's face, and she determined to work hard. The time was too less and the work demanded was too high