Chapter 8
Anokhi couldn’t decide if she should call him or not. Her heart was saying yes but the logical side of her brain was saying no.
'I have the perfect excuse to call, at least I think it is perfect. So I should call…...Or maybe I shouldn't, I mean he could think I am disturbing him and he could get mad at me for it. What to do, what to do??'
'Only to hear his voice, am I willing to take the risk of him getting mad at me?'
She did not want to make him mad but she also really wanted to talk to him, hear his voice.
After thinking back and forth back and forth she gave into her heart's desire and decided to call him. A part of her was scared so she decided to first apologise for disturbing him and then discuss her problem.
Finally deciding that she will call him, she dialed his number.
"Hello!" Anokhi said timidly once the line got connected.
"Hello Anokhi!" He knew it was her as he had her number saved.
"Uh...I am sorry for disturbing you during the holidays but I needed to ask you something about my project!" Anokhi quickly blurted it in one go.
"It's okay, no problem!!" He calmly replied. Then he surprisingly asked
"You are working on your project??"
"Uh yes, should I not be working on it?" Anokhi confusingly asked.
"No no, of course you can work on it. I just thought you would be enjoying your holidays without working!" Shaurya quickly replied.
"Oh i am enjoying the holidays.....I just came back from grandma's house a few days back!"
"Oh okay! Here in the city? Or somewhere else!"
"No, not in the city, she lives in Punjab!"
"Oh, so you went to Punjab?"
"Yes I did! How are your holidays going? Did you go anywhere?" She asked hesitantly.
"Yes I did! I went to Shimla for a few days with friends!"
"Oh Wow, it's a lovely place, especially in summer time!" She dreamily replied.
"Yes it is! Have you been there?"
"Yes, many times! Actually my aunt is from there so I have gone there many times with her during holidays!!"
"Oh okay! Nice! So what's your question??" He asked, coming back to the reason she'd called for.
"Well, I have collected material on all the zodiac signs and typed some too and Meenu has written some code but we are stuck and unable to figure out how to continue…"
"Okay tell me where you are stuck?"
Then they discussed her problem and Shaurya solved it...
"Thank you so much!" Anokhi happily thanked him.
"You are most welcome! Btw don't worry about the project too much, you have lots of time to finish it, enjoy your holidays!"
"Ok sure, I'll try!"
"U'll try?" He smiled, shaking his head. "Hmm ok! If you have any questions feel free to call me up since you're gonna keep working!!"
"Ok, thank you!! Bye!"
"Bye!"
Shakhi thinking after the call
Anokhi - Wow finally I heard his voice, after so many days!! He recognised my voice, wow! Waise zyada khush mat ho, ho sakta hai mera number saved ho unke paas...chal koi baat nahin, phir bhi khush hone mein kya jaata hai, haina!!
Shaurya - She is sooo dedicated, even during holidays she is working!! Waise mere liye to acha hi hai isi bahane uski awaz sunne ko to mili!! Talking to her is such a stress reliever...so much is going on in my life nowadays, too much stress. Anyway, only a week more and then school and tuition would start again. I'll get to see her regularly, until...
A week later school started and of course Shakhi were happy to be back!!
In Computer Lab
"So how were your holidays?" Shaurya asked everyone.
"Very good Sir." Everyone replied.
"I guess you all must have finished your project!" He casually commented.
Everybody got shocked and looked at each other horrified.
Shaurya laughed seeing their faces. "Don't worry, I was just kidding!! But I do know some who did work on their project." He said while looking at Meenu and Anokhi.
"Anyway, now you all need to start working on your project and if you have any questions please feel free to consult with me."
In the next few weeks Anokhi and Meenu almost finished their project and now they were working on the typing part of it so they can see if the program is running properly...they both divided the program and both typed half half.
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There was a Science and Information Technology fair in school.
Shaurya was supposed to get projects ready from class 11th and 12th including all sections!!
Shaurya had already gotten kids from 11th grade to volunteer for the project.
Shaurya to Anokhi's class
"I have to get at least 2 projects ready for the fair so let me know who wants to volunteer. These projects will be displayed in school where you will have to demonstrate how your project works and how it will be useful in future and few will be chosen for state Science and Information Technology fair.
So, who wants to volunteer?"
Nobody said anything and just looked at eachother...nobody volunteered.
Shaurya noticed that Anokhi was particularly trying to hide.
"No one wants to volunteer??" He asked again.
After getting no response he said "Okay you all can think and let me know tomorrow!!"
Shaurya thought to himself that first when I was talking about the fair Anokhi seemed quite interested but later she was looking down and trying to hide from me...probably thinking I don't ask her to participate. But why?
"I will ask her in the evening when I go to her house for tution." He decided.
In the evening Shaurya reached her house a few minutes early so that he could ask why she didn't want to participate in the fair!!
Shaurya went straight to the point as he knew soon Meenu, Jassi and Niti will reach "I wanna ask you something!"
Anokhi got startled and nervously asked "What do you want to ask??"
"At first you seemed so interested in the fair and later at some point you were not interested anymore, so what I want to know is why?? There has to be some reason behind it and I wanna know what it is??"
"Umm...uh...no reason"
"Of course there is. What is it??" He asked impatiently.
"I...uh...can...cannot give presen...presentation in front of people?" She wanted to say it as a statement but it came out as a question.
"What? Really!! You have a stage fright??" He shook his head in disbelief.
Anokhi nodded her head in a yes!
Shaurya was surprised thinking that someone so chatty and lively could have issues speaking in front of people. He kept staring at her in disbelief making Anokhi more nervous.
"Okay so I'm choosing you for this project and you will do it!" Shaurya suddenly announced.
"What? No no no I can't, I just told you I can't! I won't participate, no way!" Anokhi stubbornly denied.
"Yes you will!" He firmly replied with no room for argument.
"But....I can't "
Seeing Anokhi uncomfortable he tried to convince her with a compromise. "Ok how about if I find a partner for you, who will give the demonstration and you just stand there, will that be okay?"
"You mean, I make the model and everything ready but you get someone else to do the demonstration?" She questioned.
"Yes, the other person can do the demonstration and you just be there."
"Ok sure. I'll make it and I don't need to be there. The other person can take over." She casually replied.
"What do you mean the person can take over?? If you work on the project then why let someone else take the credit...you have to be there yourself!!"
"Okay fine! But I will just stand there, won't give any demonstrations."
"Okay!" Shaurya relented seeing her stubbornness.
Soon the class was over and Shaurya left!
Anokhi thinking to herself 'I like the idea of spending more time with him while working on the project but I am dreading the demonstration. I hate giving presentations and stuff!'
Shaurya thinking on the way 'I can't believe she is scared...I have to make her get over her fear, it's not good for her! When she goes to college next year she will have to be bold and all this fear is not good, she was willing to make the model and let someone else take the credit for it...people will take advantage of this behaviour of her's!!' He felt frustrated with her behavior.
Next day Shaurya asked who else wanted to volunteer? Gurvinder, another student from Anokhi's class, agreed to do it!
Soon they started working on the model. The project was to show how the IP technology works and uses internet to make international calls (softwares like viber, WhatsApp, etc we use nowadays)
Gurvinder was very good at wiring and stuff! Anokhi and Gurvinder worked in their free periods and soon the base of the model was ready and only the finishing needed to be done!
For finishing they asked Shaurya which colors and decoration he wanted to use?
"I don't know, you guys choose!" He replied.
"I'm not very artistic and don't know much about color combinations and all" Anokhi replied.
"Neither am I!" Gurvinder also shrugged.
"So what should we do?" Shaurya asked.
"I have a friend in the Maths section, her name is Jasleen, she is very good with drawing and colors and such things. Should I call her??" Anokhi suggested.
"Even Ritu from our class is good in art." Came Gurvinder's suggestion.
"Okay call them both and four of you can work together on the model, that way it will be done faster as anyway we have less time left!" Shaurya instructed.
Anokhi and Gurvinder went and called Jasleen and Ritu and all of them started working together.
As it was already Friday and by Tuesday they had to submit the model...Shaurya asked if they should meet in school tomorrow (Saturday) and finish it so that they have extra time for finishing touches!!
All four of them agreed to meet in school the next day at 10.30 am so that they can work till 1pm and then go home for lunch!! And Shaurya had tutions from 1:30 pm onwards!
Next day everyone met in school around 10:30 am as decided!
All of them went up to comp.lab and worked on the model.
All had lots of fun coloring and arguing which color combination would look good? Everyone had their own opinions and argued like little kids...all of them knew each other since many years so were quite comfortable with each other.
Shaurya was enjoying the fun environment that got created...so much so that none of them realised where the time flew...it was already 1:15 and the model was still not done.
"I have tuition at 1:30pm. Should we leave it like this and work on it on monday?" Shaurya asked.
"We could, but if we paint on Monday it might not dry up fully by Tuesday so I think we should finish painting today only, so for Monday we will only have finishing touches left." Anokhi suggested.
Everyone agreed with Anokhi.
"Ok so what I will do is, I'll go and finish this class as it's too late to cancel it now. I will bring something to eat for us on my way back.
You all stay here in the lab only, don't go roaming around the school." Shaurya instructed them and left.
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"Let's finish coloring quickly so we can leave after eating. By the way, any guesses what Sir will bring for us for lunch??" Anokhi asked others.
Jasleen - "I don't know but whatever it is I'll eat...I'm famished."
Gurvinder, Ritu and Anokhi said in unison - "Me too!"
Soon they finished coloring the model and were waiting for Shaurya to come back.
Gurvinder stood up and said "Yaar am very thirsty, I will go drink water and come back."
"No no wait, let Sir come back then you go. He specifically asked us not to leave the lab and roam around in the school." Anokhi, the goody two shoes, quickly spoke.
"But yaar he will at least take another 15-20 minutes to come, I can't wait I'm thirsty." Gurvinder argued.
Jasleen and Ritu also started saying they are thirsty as well.
"Guys I'm thirsty as well, but…."
Jasleen interrupted Anokhi by saying "Come on yaar, let's all go together, we will quickly drink water and come back before Sir comes. He won't find out about it."
"What if he came back early?" Anokhi tried discouraging them.
Then Gurvinder spoke "How will he come early? After finishing the class he will go to get something to eat, that will take him extra time. So no way he can come early. Don't worry, let's just quickly go."
Anokhi agreed as all of them insisted. They went to the water place near their class.
After they were done drinking they started having fun ringing the school bell which was usually used to let everyone know of the period finishing.
"Come on guys, let's go back, we came to drink water and you guys are screwing around. Let's go quickly before he comes ba….."
But before she finished her sentence she saw Shaurya entering the school gate on his scooter.
"I told you guys to hurry up. Marwa diya na!" Anokhi panicked.
"What are you all doing here??" Shaurya surprisingly asked.
All of them spoke in unison "We were thirsty so we came to drink water."
"You all are drinking water here in the Garden?" Shaurya asked as his eyebrows rose higher up.
"We were on our way back only…" Anokhi tried to cover up.
Shaurya smiled at their naughtiness, shook his head and said "let's go and eat!"
After they all finished eating, Shaurya asked "How will you guys go home??"
Gurvinder - "I'll walk, my house is just 10 mins from here!"
Ritu and Jasleen - "We will take a rickshaw together as our houses are in the same area."
"I will also take a rickshaw." Anokhi replied.
"But your house is a bit far from here, will the rickshaw even go there from here?" Shaurya inquired.
"Ya ya they do!" Anokhi quickly clarified.
"Your class is the next anyway, so you can go with me on my scooter and inform Meenu, Niti and Jassi to come 1/2hr early." Shaurya suggested.
Anokhi's mouth dropped open and eyes got wide listening to this.
"Uh but I don't remember their number, how will we inform them to come early?" Anokhi tried to get out of the situation.
Ritu interrupted saying "I have Meenu's number so I'll call her and maybe she has Niti and Jassi's number so she will inform them.
"Ok then!" Anokhi smiled tightly and cursed Ritu for giving this idea.
They all left the school and walked together till the outside main road to get a rickshaw for Ritu and Jasleen!
Anokhi panicked while walking 'OMG I have to go with him on his scooter?? It's going to be so awkward.'
Anokhi was not able to decide if she was happy with the chance to ride with him or scared?? But she did not have much of a choice so she just went along.
After everyone left, Shaurya asked Anokhi to sit behind him.
Anokhi sat and held the scooter tightly as she felt awkward holding him.
Shaurya felt very happy having her sit behind him.
He started driving while thinking, 'Aaj pehli baar koi ladki mere saath Raju(he called his scooter Raju) pe baithi hai aur wo bhi Anokhi!!' He smiled to himself.
As for Anokhi, she felt so conscious that she couldn't even enjoy the ride.
They both were so busy thinking about their feelings that they did not say a word to each other the whole way which was about 25 mins or so!!
They reached Anokhi's house and after giving him water she went to change clothes as she was wearing school dress while Shaurya waited in the room for everyone to arrive.
Soon everybody came and the class started!
Everybody left for their respective houses afterwards.
Shaurya and Anokhi were both thinking about how the day turned out.
They had lots of fun together, got to know each other more and SHE sat on HIS scooter behind him.
Both had become very friendly over time.
Dynamics were shifting between them. Feelings were getting stronger.
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Ok guys, here's the next chapter. Sorry for the delay. Yesterday my IF account had some problem and I was unable to post anything.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Do like and comment 😊
Thanks for reading.
Love Preet ❤
Chapter 9👇
Kumkum Bhagya
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