Chapter - 3 ( Anushka - On the Brink of Adulthood) 

Anushka finally knelt down in bed before stretching her arms and sitting up. It was a childhood habit of hers to sleep with her face buried in the pillow. The shape of her body somehow presaged the woman that she was going to be. Only 13 days to her 18th, she thought to herself. She found Akku, that is what she called her sister, still lying on her side of the giant sized bed and drew her face closer to Akanksha's to implant a kiss on her cheek. Akanksha opened her sleepy eyes and went back to sleeping, smiling. 

Anushka walked up to the dressing table and leaning over, pulled aside the cream white curtains of the window behind. Finding the world going about its daily chores busily, she looked at the wall clock on her right. It was 11.23 a.m. The next half hour or so, she spent grooming herself for a shower. She brushed her long hair for long, arranged it in a bun, took a quick look at the dressing mirror and pulled the bathroom door open with a smile still hovering aroung her mouth. The bright sunlight flickering in through the window, promised a beautiful day. 

Anushka switched the gizzard on, made sure that cool water was flowing smoothly out into the tub and tiptoed out of the bathroom. It would take at least ten minutes for the water to be warm. She put her hand in the drawer of the dressing table and brought the file out. Her mom called out to her sister at that precise moment from the kitchen downstairs. 

"Coming, Mom. Give us half an hour more. By the way, Akku is still in bed. " She shouted back at her mother and walked back to the bed. She shook her sister by her shoulder. 

"Good Morning, Akku. Time to wake up." she wished her. 

"I'm not done with my sleeping yet, " Akanksha murmured dreamily, turning on her side on the left.

"You can have your breakfast first and get back to sleep afterwards. Don't make Ma angry so early in the morning." Anu tried reasoning out with her sister. 

Half an hour later, the three women of the house, were gathered at the dining table. Anushka, sat cross-legged on the chair, having placed the plate comfortably on her lap earlier. The maid turned the TV on at Mrs. Sonia's request. The newscaster was reading something about the outbreak of an incurable disease in many parts of the world.

"Why don't you switch the channel, Ma? " Akanksha, from the chair next to her sister's, asked her mother irritably. "This news channel is always full of war and crime and **** with all their gory details, and what not! Why can't we have something serene, something peaceful for a change?" She sounded upset really. She sauntered around the table, picked up the remote pressing the numbers at the same time. There was a repeat of a crime serial being displayed on another channel. The sisters had watched it together earlier. The open neck of the beer bottle stopped spinning and pointed to a girl. She was seen getting up from her chair then hesitantly, to face the boy sitting all by himself on the table opposite.

"Hi, My name is Sonam, What is yours? " she introduced herself to the youth, beaming.

The boy showed little interest in her and told her to go to hell. The girl was seen picking up a samosa from the boy's plate next before taking a sip from the open, untouched bottle of Coke, unasked! The girl was visibly getting into the boy's nerves by her desperate act. 

Anushka spooned the last of the scrambled eggs in her mouth, her mind racing. She also made friends with Jishnu, her senior by five years, at school in a similar manner… … .. 

"Look how Jishnuda is hitting it up with sis Akanksha, Anu," Shreya elbowed Anushka, standing next to her amidst hordes of other students at the back of the auditorium. Anushka had already seen the handsome youth whispering something to her sister on the stage. The boy was a looker and seemed a class apart from the other toppers lined up there. 

Soon, Mrs. Roy, the English Teacher of the senior classes and MC, was heard reading out the names of the students and the sitting arrangements. Right then, Anushka heard Jishnu's name being called out. He came running down and headed towards Table Number 13. Rima as the overall topper from all sections of standard VII, was to join him at the table. 

"God! " Anushka whispered to herself. "Ms. High and Mighty is absent today. This has to be a Godsend. " The next moment, she was seen hurriedly making her way to Table-13. She knew she was taking a calculated risk. Her name was yet to be called out as the second topper. She was to sit at the tables arranged next to 13. She walked up to the table along with some others, trying to find out their assigned seats. 

Jishnu was already there, looking intently at a bouquet of roses in a flowervase. Anushka sat down on the chair next to Jishnu's. She confronted Rima's name tag in front. Two other toppers of XI and X were also there. They seemed surprised to find Anushka joining their group. Anushka sat straight up. She had chalked out everything in her mind. Principal was seen coming up to take his seat along with the rest, at the tables. Fortunately, he was to sit on the other side on Anushka's right.

"Hi, Anushka. Congratulations." He looked in a happy frame of mind.

"Hi, Sir, " Anushka replied tentatively.

"Why is your plate still untouched?" Principal wanted to know and went on to greet the other toppers in their group, one after the other. 

No sooner had he removed the lid of his cup of steaming coffee when Anushka pretended to notice the nametag in front of her seat. 

"Oh,Goodness me! I am not supposed to be here. I was meant to sit at the next table." saying so, she got up from her chair, her face down. 

"What's the problem? " Principal Dev Barman asked her, with a look of utter bewilderment on his face. Once the mistake (intended, of course) was disclosed to him, he solved it within no time by asking Anushka to grab her nametag from the table next and rejoin them. Principal picked up Rima's then and kept it upside down in the vase. 

Anushka thanked God silently. Soon Principal had to leave them on an urgent call. The group members became understandably relaxed after his departure. 

"Don't look so shook up, Anushka. Mistakes like the one you made, happen all the time, " Jishnu was Friendliness personified. Anushka and Jishnu spent the next half hour, heads together, chatting about their aims and aspirations. 

That Prize Distribution Day was to be an important day in Anushka's life. It also marked the beginning of a lifelong friendship.