CHAPTER 7
Bella
had not forgotten that Mahir was doing her a favour by tutoring her and so she
decided to reach his place early. She had reached the Sehgal Mansion at 7:45 PM
and had rung the bell expecting some servant to open the door. But the door was
opened by Sumitra. Bella was shocked to see that Mahir's mom was home. She had
not expected that Sumitra would be home. Had she known, she would have dressed
a little differently. Her kind of dressing did not sit well with moms. It
always earned her disapproving glances and looks. Also she did not know whether
Mahir had informed his mother that she was coming. She had seen Sumitra's
photographs multiple times, and Sumitra always looked kind of stern and very
dignified in the photographs. So when she saw Sumitra, her smile faltered a
bit.
Bella:
Hello... ummm.. Mrs. Sehgal I... ummm
Sumitra:
Hello! You must be Bella. Come on in. Mahir was not expecting you this early.
He is having his dinner.
Bella: I
will wait for him outside.
Sumitra:
You can wait for him in the living room. Come. Sit. Bhushan... Get a glass of
water for Bella.
Bella:
Thank you Mrs. Sehgal...
Sumitra:
Stop calling me that. You can call me aunty.
Sumitra's
easy smile and warm voice had begun to put Bella at ease. Also Sumitra had, not
even once looked at her shorts and crop top in a disapproving manner,
Bella:
Oh! Okay fine. Janvi gets offended if I call her ma... So I thought..
Sumitra:
Janvi?
Bella:
Oh! Janvi Sharma. I am her daughter. Although please don't tell her I told you
this. She will die of shame.
Sumitra:
Oh! So how did you meet Mahir? I mean he has never told me about you.
Bella:
Well aunty, we met quite accidently. I needed help to pass my maths KT exam so
he offered to tutor me. We have not known each other for long. Maybe a couple of
days.
Sumitra:
Okay dear...Ahhh here he is.
Just
then Mahir had come of the dining room.
Mahir:
Come on let's get to work. I hope you have brought the text books. We will
start with simple sums today. Let's start with arithmetic mean, median and
mode.
Sumitra
was rather shocked to see Mahir talking in such a dry tone with Bella. She was
about to say something when Mahir subtly shook his head and she closed her
mouth. Meanwhile Bella had been looking at Mahir like he had spoken in
gibberish.
Mahir:
What? Why are you string at me like that? Come on, let's go.
Bella
meekly followed Mahir to his room. He made her sit there and went back to where
Sumitra was standing.
Mahir:
Ma, please come and join us. I cannot stay alone with her. She is a terror.
Please ma.
Sumitra:
But how can I join you guys? And I am sure she is not so bad. And if you are so
uncomfortable, why promise her your help in first place? She could have managed
on her own. Go Mahir deal with this. She will not eat you.
Saying
this Sumitra walked away from there. Mahir thought to himself.
Mahir:
Come on Mahir! You can do this. She is on your turf. You lay the rules here.
And anyways it's a matter of only two weeks. You can handle her.
After
this really motivating prep talk to himself he went back to his room to find
Bella plopped on his bed with her textbooks.
Mahir:
What are you doing on my bed?
Bella:
Studying?
Mahir:
The study table is right there...
Bella: I
study on bed.
Mahir:
That is my bed...
Bella:
But... Okay fine... Can I at least sit on the floor? I can't study sitting at
the table.
Mahir
nodded his head and Bella proceeded to sit on the floor and pulled out her
books. Mahir was horrified seeing the condition of her maths book. It looked
old and battered to the extent that the binding hardly held the pages together.
A couple of pages fell as she pulled out the book. She handed the book to him
which he took gingerly. He turned the pages to the concerned chapter. Once on that
page his cheeks turned red and he shut the book with a snap for he had found a
note that was exchanged between Bella and Yuvi.
Mahir:
Umm... we will study from my books. And... ummm... this is yours I think?
Bella
had been observing Mahir's expressions change from neutral to disgust at the
condition of the book, to shock at something which he had found to embarrassed
to downright blushing. She understood the reason when he handed the note over
to her. Her eyes widened when she read the note and guessed what Mahir had
thought and the reason for his embarrassment. She decided to pull his leg a
bit.
Bella:
Wow that was some night you know. I don't remember screaming or sweating so
much ever before. What fun me and Yuvi had! My word! I guess I burned a lot of
calories that night.
Mahir: I
don't...
Bella:
Well it was kind of embarrassing when
the neighbours dropped by because of the amount of racket we were making. You
see I tend to scream out real loudly when I...
Mahir:
No! I don't want to know the details...
He had
covered his ears and was looking genuinely horrified. Bella laughed at his
expressions.
Bella:
No hear me out. I tend to scream VERY loudly when I hear songs of my favourite
rock band. Yuvi knows that, and so he had arranged for my favourite music and
that is how he got me screaming and sweating. I burnt a lot of calories by
DANCING. What did you think, huh?
Mahir
was supremely awkward by then. Bella was eying him very mischievously and her
expressions told him that she had guessed what was going on his mind. He tried
to answer her but could not think of anything.
Bella:
Tell me, did you think of THAT? OMG!! Mr. I Am Very Decent just had such
naughty thoughts? I don't believe that.
Mahir:
No useless talk now. Come on let's start. And I am not using your books. I
cannot see books getting disrespected in this manner.
Bella:
Mahir, you are no fun.
Mahir
just gave her a stern look and she reluctantly got her notebook out. She went
and stood far away from him.
Mahir:
How will I show you how to solve these sums if you stand so far from me? Come
near me.
Bella:
Rule number 1. You WILL stay AWAY from me. Like five feet distance at any given
point. Understood?
She
imitated his stern voice and Mahir rolled his eyes even as he couldn't stop a
smile from spreading on his face. He controlled the smile with great difficulty
and motioned for her to join him on his bed. He spent the next few minutes
explaining the sums to her.
Mahir:
So the formula for median is {(n+1)/2}. Got it?
Bella:
This is for grouped data right? Where n' is the number of examples in the
given set. We studied this in school right?
Mahir:
Yes we did. So you solve this exercise based on this formula. I will be right
here, okay?
Bella
nodded and sat down to solve the given exercise. Mahir had simplified the whole
thing for her and she found that she could solve those sums quite easily if she
concentrated. Mahir sat in a reading chair quietly reading a book. He looked up
when she was done. She took the notebook over to him.
Bella:
Mahir sir, there you go. I solved the whole exercise.
Mahir:
Very good. Now we will cover mode...
Just
then Sumitra knocked on their door.
Sumitra:
Do you know what the time is? It is nearly 10PM.
Mahir:
Is it? Then well Bella we will continue tomorrow.
Bella
went and collected her things.
Bella:
Bye aunty! Mahir tomorrow if that's okay with you and aunty, can I come a
little early? Say at 6:00 PM? That way we will be able to cover more things.
Mahir:
Sure. Fine by me. See you in college tomorrow.
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