Chapter - 5 (Anushka - An Early Bloomer? ) 

"What was he talking about? " Anushka asked her sister in what seemed like a rather hot evening in their otherwise cosy room. The sun had long gone down in the horizon, leaving the sky a crimson glow.

Akanksha smiled at her sister indulgently. Though she was elder to her sister by two years and two months exactly, the sisters were the best of friends. Both had a lot in common. Both the sisters loved Western and Indian music. "Summer of 69" cast a spell on both of them in their primary school days. They simply couldn't have enough of "Twilight" and kept humming the tune of "A Thousand Years" for as long as they could remember. Aditya Roy Kapoor, the latest Bollywood sensation at that time, stole their hearts from the time they watched "Aashiqui 2". Both enjoyed watching the Korean dramas as well. They must have watched "Boys over Flowers" an umpteenth number of times. In fact, they couldn't stop talking about Lee Min Ho, who played the lead role in that soap opera. 

"When I am done with my studies, I'll get married to a Korean." Both sisters were often heard uttering such statements in those days. "The Titanic" was another heart-freezer of theirs.

Both were good students, not so good in Sports and Games though. Avid readers and good in languages both, the sisters could pick up any foreign language as easily as a duck takes to water. 

They had a lot in common yet they were as different from one another as a house cat is from a lioness. If Anushka loved denim jeans and expensive shoes, Akanksha's preference was more for colorful clothes. MSD was the one who made Akanksha fall in love with the game of cricket. Once she bought a ticket from the black market just to watch MSD play for CSK against RCB! She also obtained her swimming licence right after she had completed her ISC examination. She loved making friends and travelling. Bangkok and the Maldives were the only places yet to be struck off of her "To do List" before she turned 21!

Anushka, on the other hand, loved cracking jokes, pulling others' legs and being the eternal family prankster with the most innocent face. She would find Akanksha lying in bed with her eyes closed, and straight away try to drive sleep away from her sister's drooling eyes by pulling the clips out of her hair. 

"You shouldn't go to bed with the clips still tucked into your hair like this, Akku." She would admonish Akankshka pretentiously. 

"Let me be, Anu. Don't disturb me. " Akanksha would turn to the other side and bark at her sister. 

Unperturbed, Anushka would try to force a clip out of her sister's hair. The whole household would experience a tremor with Akanksha's blood-curdling screech the very next moment! 

It was their differences that Mr. Rajan found so difficult to fathom. He worried more at the fag end of the year when there came a slight dip in Anushka's performance in Standard-VII. Consequently, she started being more hyper-animated, even desperate to some extent. Mr. Rajan felt that he needed a serious one-to-one with his younger daughter at the earliest. 

"You didn't answer my question," Anushka said to her sister again. "What was the Prince Charming of CPS whispering in your waxy ear this afternoon when you're elbowing past others to be near him? "

"He said 'Congrats'. That's all." Akanksha replied. "But why are you so interested in him? I saw two of you putting your heads together and chatting like you were two lovey-doveys!" There was a sharp edge in her voice. 

"Nothing like what your evil mind is always after. When I told him about my weakness in Maths, he just told me that he wanted to be a doc and of all Science subjects, he liked Physics more, " Anushka replied looking at the round ball of silver sinking in the vast, navy blue sea overhead.

"Don't give me that, Anu. I know you were trying out your charm on him. As your sister, I'd just ask you to keep your distance from Jishnuda. Inspite of the boy's goody-goody reputation, he is a first-grade flirt," Akanksha warned her sister, panting almost. 

"Thank you, my mother, for all your concern. " Anushka told her sister tauntingly.

"Let me also remind you that I am gonna graduate from high school in a year. Naturally, I have seen more of his kind than you will admit." Akanksha continued speaking in an emotionless voice. 

"Enough of your lecture, Mother dear." Anushka was hissing now. "In case, you've forgotten, let it suffice for you to know that I'm almost 15, quite capable of taking care of myself." Anushka was clearly losing her cool.

Akanksha knew when not to prolong their conversations. She swang her legs out of the bed and trotted up to the shelf above their study table. The sisters had always shared their study table since their childhood days. She was about to put her hand into the gap in the wooden rack behind the dictionary. But sensing her sister's eyes on her from her back, she withdrew reluctantly. She would take out her diary later, once she was sure that Anu was asleep in bed, after dinner.

Akanksha turned back abruptly but found her sister browsing through something on her mobile. The girl was crazy about Hindi movie stars. She thought the world was nothing but an en masse of the glitter and glamour generally associated with the life of a filmstar. She sighed thinking about what the future had in store for Anu. She grabbed her earphones from the drawer of the table and said to Anushka:

"I'm going over to Sana's. Maybe I'll be late for dinner. You can go ahead without me if you want." 

"I'll wait for you all right. Have fun." Anushka shouted out from behind her mobile. But as soon as Akanksha left the room, she put the Android down and cast a glance at the gap behind the dictionary.

The foolish girl thought that she (Anushka) was oblivious of her (Akanksha's) diary. She had already read last night's entry about how she was looking forward to being photographed with the toppers (she meant Jishnu of course). 

DD, 

I'm happy that I'll be standing with the toppers on the dias today. I've worked very hard throughout the year to be standing next to with them…..

(She meant Jishnu again!) 

Anushka was dying to see what her so-called brainy sister had to write about her long encounter with the heartthrob of CPS.