Chapter - 13 (Akanksha and Anushka 2) 

" I don't want chicken tonight. We seem to have nothing but chicken, chicken and chicken these days. And I don't want any private Maths Teacher either, " Anushka was fuming, when the family was at the dining table later at night. 

"But why? " asked her mother, while removing the lid of the pot to put the content of the bowl with the chicken back in it.

"Maths is a very important and scoring subject. If you want to opt even for the Commerce Stream after X, you simply can't do without a Maths Teacher." There was a tone of finality about the topic in Mrs. Sonia's voice. 

"You know how my previous private Maths Tutor was. I think it's best I try to be more attentive in my Maths classes, and that's all there is to it. In case I need any help, Akku is there to help." She continued arguing with her mother while Mr. Rajan smiled at his elder daughter with a look of admiration on his face. The chicken tasted simply delicious. 

"I know Akku is there. But she is gonna be in Standard X in a few months, and will be busy with her preparation for the Boards the entire next year. That way she can't really help you as much as she'd  like to. I heard a lot about the boy being a Math genius of some sort. That's why we thought of him." She said. 

"Ma I told you how my previous Maths Tutor used to teach me. But when do you have time to listen to me? I don't think Bro Jishnu will be any different either, " she concluded.

A few weeks before her Mid-year Examination, Anushka told her mom how one day, after she had informed Mr. Dey, her tutor, about the problem she faced while trying to solve a sum, he asked her to come after sometime. He told her that he was busy waiting for an urgent call. Anushka went back to her seat, chewed the end of the pen for sometime, found him still fiddling with the mobile before taking her own out quietly.

She spent the rest of the class watching another episode of TVD, the episode where Damon, by courtesy of his brother Stephen, gets introduced to Elina, who, till then, was completely unaware of her boyfriend, Stephen having a brother. Anushka from then on, found Damon irresistible and preferred him over Stephen. She even felt that the former was the perfect guy for Elina. 

That evening in the Coaching Class, Anushka switched off her mobile just on time to find the girl, sitting in front, getting up, putting her notebook inside her bag and walking past Mr. Dey towards the door. Anushka did the same but as she was getting out of the coaching class, she didn't forget to wave a quick "Good night, Sir," to her tutor! 

Her tutor, surprisingly, didn't bother to look up from his mobile! Mrs. Sonia, having heard this from her daughter that very night itself, decided to talk it over with her husband, 

Anu was like that. She was different from Akanksha, who, rarely, if ever, criticized or spoke ill of others. Thinking about her elder daughter, Sonia was reminded of an incident that seemed to have happened years ago. 

That day, she was waiting for Akankska to be back from school. Though Anushka was home as soon as school got over, Akanksha came late. On asking her about her late return home, Akanksha simply told her mom that she, along with some others were kept back by their Class Teacher for some gardening work.

Some ten to fifteen minutes later, while Akanksha was changing, Mrs. Sonia chanced to notice the red bites on her cheek. She was surprised and asked her daughter how she had come by those marks on her cheek. Akanksa kept quiet and told her mom after much promptings that she had no idea about how she had got them. 

Mr. Rajan was back home from High School just then. When Mrs. Sonia brought Akanksha to the other room and pointed out the marks on her cheek to him, Akanksha kept looking down. 

Mr. Rajan had had a tiring day at school, so he was in not exactly in a happy frame of mind. He asked her daughter roughly about the marks. Small as Akanksha was, she just kept quiet. 

Soon, Mr Rajan's voice started rising.

"How did you get those marks? Tell me, you, dumbie." Akanksha kept looking at the floor.

"Are you trying to tell me that something or someone bit you there, and you have no idea about it? "

The silence in the room was deafening. 

SMACK! The sound of something across the little girl's other cheek, brought his wife rushing into the room. 

"Raj, don't hit her. It might have been a bee or something. Can't you see that she is too scared to speak." Mrs. Sonia tried to plead with her husband.

"Too scared? Leave the matter to me. I told you long ago that the girl is not normal somehow." He told his wife. Then turning to his daughter, who had tears running down her cheeks, her eyes red, her little hand rubbing her cheek. 

"Do you have a mouth? Can you speak, you stupid girl?" and finding the girl as stiil as a statue, there was the sound of another SMACK. 

It took one more to get the kid talking, crying all through. It transpired that while she was coming out of her class, a friend had pulled her inside and kissed her on the cheek. Not once, but thrice! 

Akanksha stayed outside the door, crying. She lied to her mother because she knew that she couldn't escape from her Mom's probing eyes.

Mrs. Sonia found the memories of what happened afterwards, gradually fading from the mind with the passage of time. How Mr. Rajan had run, carrying his daughter all the way up to the Lower School after the disclosure, and how the Vice Principal of the school, completely taken aback by his furious narration of the incident, had remarked casually in the end :

" But the boy is a kid in Standard-II! Sir, don't take it so seriously." Akanksha hadn't changed much over the years since then, while Anushka was a league apart.

One day  the very year she came down to Kolkata, the sisters were going to the market. As it was getting dark, they decided to take the short cut through the dimly-lit concrete path. 

The sisters noticed the boy then forcing the girl down! They couldn't believe their eyes! Unknown to the boy, they had got closer when they hard the girl pleading :

"Let me go. Please, let me go." She was crying hysterically. 

Things started happening too fast and before Akanksha knew what was happening, Anushka pounced on the boy like a tigress and slapped him hard across the face. Anushka would have torn the boy but for the presence of her sister, Akanksha that day.

Akanksha was afraid for months afterwards that the boy would find them out to harass them. He had even followed them for sometime while they were coming back home.

It was a Saturday evening. Akanksha had gone down earlier to prepare something. The girl was turning out to be good at cooking. She would go through the recipe of an item online and try it out at home. 

That evening she was roasting marinated chicken with fried tomatoes while Anushka was lying in bed listening to one of the popular numbers of India's latest craze, Arijit Singh. Anushka heard her mom calling out to her.

She came out the door and saw Akanksha at the door. She had the apron round her chest with a little bit of a white, creamy stuff sticking out of her hair above the right ear. She looked very cute and reminded Anushka of a scene from a movie called "Bobby".

"Hi, " Anushka saw her sister greeting someone. But she couldn't tell who the visitor was due to the loud music coming out of their room. Taking the caller to be the Maid, Anushka, had hardly retired to her room, when she heard her sister's voice :

"Anu, come down first. Your Maths Tutor is here." She cried out smugly. Then turning to the visitor, she said, " Your student is up there in our room. You wanna go up or should I call her down?"

"I just wanted to talk to your sister before deciding on the tuition days, " Jishnu replied.

After Jishnu had left, Anushka turned to Akanksha and hissed out at her. 

" So that's why my smart sister has been making the chicken item since returning home. Your Jishnuda couldn't praise you enough. Could he?" Anushka asked her sister bitterly.