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She pushed the last hair clip into its place and paused for a second to admire the effect. Presentable. Clean...!!! Good.
Keeping the comb back in its proper place, she picked up the kajal pencil and lined her eyes with deep, black kohl.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see her roommate taking out the foundation to apply it. She sighed mentally. God... Was this a college or a party avenue.??
Shaking her head, she quickly capped the kajal and placed it back in the almirah. That was the only thing they had in the room where they could keep their things.
Two almirahs, one for each occupant. The other things were a bed, a study table and a chair per student. How was she supposed to arrange everything??
Resolving to look into the matter later she picked up her book back, glanced one last time at the small figurines of Radha Krishna occupying her table and left the room, throwing a "come soon sheena" behind her.
She could hear her room mates screech till the far end of the corridor.
Taking out her cellphone, she dialled a number as she walked the few steps towards the college.
Her mother's soft voice hit her ear drums... "Yes Jhinuk... How are you?"
"You had been crying, right mom??"
"Who me?? No ways."
"Don't lie, Ma. I can know it from your voice."
A minutes silence greeted her, before her mother sniffed and replied... "I cannot help it dear... But don't worry, I will be all right. Are you ready for your class?"
"Yes mom, in fact, m in the college building now. Just locating my classroom on the chart..."
She continued speaking on the phone as she quickly glanced through the chart. And then walked towards the lift.
"The first class is going to take place in Lecture Gallery 3A." she announced in a theatrical voice.
Her mother burst out laughing. It wasn't the usual jovial sound, but atleast it was a beginning.
She smiled as her mother bade her good bye and disconnected the call.
Flipping the cover of the cell phone shut, she walked out of the lift and went in search of her classroom.
#@#
First accounting, and then finance... First two classes of the day. She sighed mentally. The professors couldn't have chosen a worse combination.
As the teacher walked into classroom with a jovial 'Good Morning Class' on her lips, she didn't know whether to laugh or to cry at the start of the class.
She watched from her place as the lady gave her introduction and then went to climb the podium, tripped on an end of her saree, and clutched the bench in front of her to stop her fall and then literally leapt on to the dais.
She tried to stifle her laugh by hiding her mouth behind her dupatta.
Sheena, sitting on her left side giggled, and the professor threw her room mate a dirty look.
"Oh baby... You are marked." She thought sadly.
She hoped that Sheena would not land up with this teacher for the rest of this semester.
The lady started speaking and soon, they were deep in the mad, mad world of credit, debit and journal and ledger entries.
First day... First class... N she was utterly lost...!!
#@#
"Do we have finance after this??" Sheena groaned.
"So it seems." she muttered.
"Wasn't accounts enough for first hour?? Do we need to face dual torture... And that too on the first day??" Sheena complained loudly earning a few laughs from her batchmates.
"Seems like we are in the torture chamber sweetheart." she quipped.
And a deep, grave, male voice answered her comment.
"And the name of that torture chamber is MBA, my dear girl."
And as the man, who was in his mid-fifties climbed the dais with an easy grace and stood facing the class, she knew she was now in the hit range of her finance teacher.
*@*@*
"Hello everyone, and welcome to International Institute of Management and Technology."
A chorus of mumbled thank you's and good morning's greeted the professor. He waited for a few minutes to let the students settle down and then introduced himself.
"I'm Prof Shekhar Kumar Bhatt, senior lecturer and head of Finance Dept. And, as a rule, I normally don't take preparatory classes. I prefer to wait for the students to choose their specialization before I interact with them in the classroom... This would be in your second year. But then, right now we have a staff shortage and so here I am to give you the basics of finance."
His eyes roamed over the entire class, taking in the faces of the 40 odd students. As a teacher, he was an expert in reading the faces of the students. There was complacency and fear, confusion and pride... Well, all of it would have to go.
His eyes fell on the girl who had dared call MBA a torture chamber. She was looking straight ahead, nibbling her lower lips. He could read her nervousness even from 5 feet apart. Well, she would have to lose it if she wanted to do well in MBA.
"So how about you give me your introductions and then we begin??"
A few heads nodded and he picked up the 'torture chamber' girl.
"Let's start from you my dear girl. Give me your introduction and in a proper way so that I don't have to ask any more questions about you."
She stood up and met his eyes calmly. If he had not been adept at reading body languages, he would have failed to notice the way she balled her left hand in a fist before letting it go.
Hmmm... The girl was nervous, but knew not to show it. Impressive...!!!
"Hello Sir, My name is Devyanshi Mukharjee. I have done my Masters in Political Science from the West Bengal University. Along with that I also have a diploma in Computer Systems Engineering."
"Hmm... not bad... an amalgamation of Arts and Science... What about your hobbies? Your interests? Tell me, since you are from Political Science background, do you have any interest in politics?"
"Interest in politics in what sense, sir?"
"In the sense that would you ever consider being a politician for your living?"
There were faint murmurs and giggles in the class but the girl remained silent for a few seconds. And when she replied, her face was a study in concentration.
"I would prefer to be a statesman rather than a politician, Sir."
And Shekhar Kumar Bhatt had to smile at that. But he still ploughed on, for the girl intrigued him and he wanted to know more about her.
"Hmm... What are your hobbies?"
"Nothing related to politics?" he joked.
She cracked a smile at that and said. "Not exactly. But I am associated with an NGO."
"What kind of NGO."
"Suraksha... It's a Delhi based NGO whose aim to support those families who are worst affected by terrorism."
The silence in the class was absolute. Her classmates were impressed as well as awed. She could feel the undercurrents and that was the reason she had not wanted to divulge this much information about herself. But well, how long could she hedge when her teacher was hell bent on questioning her?"
The introductions were quite lacklustre after that. The only other person who garnered some interest was Aniket Singh Rathore - a PG degree holder in Finance from Delhi.
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