TRING TRING TRING

“Questions 11 and 14 are based on the angle of elevation. Take them as your homework. Two triangles are forming in both questions. Apply the correct trigonometric ratio and find out what is asked.”

THANK YOU, SIR!!

“Hey, did you bring lunch?” Anirban asked.

“Yeah, I brought one today.”

“Whoa, cool, what did you bring? Lemme see.” Koustav’s eyes glinted like an animal.

“I don’t know either. I forgot to ask Mom.”

“Don’t worry, we will handle that job,” Anirban tapped on my shoulders.

“Now let me see…”

I pulled out my lunchbox from my bag and put it on the table. I unwrapped the cloth and placed it back in my bag.

“Open it! Open!”

“Wait for a moment, you sound like you haven’t eaten in a while, Koustav,” I said.

“Well, last time I ate was in the morning.”

“We all ate in the morning,” Anirban said.

CLACK

As I opened the lid of my lunchbox, a green dish accompanied by a few Ruti was at our sight. Koustav’s excitement was now turning into depression.

“WHAT?! You have brought bitter gourd to school? You have committed a crime today, Ahan.”

“Hey, it’s not like I brought that on purpose.”

“Do you hate bitter gourds?” Anirban asked Koustav.

“Hate? Man, I despise them. They must be the work of some devil to taste this bad.”

“Don’t react to food like that. Be grateful for it,” I explained to him.

“Whatever, enjoy your lunch,” Koustav said before putting his hand into his bag to take out his lunchbox.

“Good, I have my lunch too.”

CLACK

CLACK

Koustav closed his lunchbox immediately after opening it.

“What is in there?” I asked while munching.

“Bitter gourds,” he said, making a dead face.

“I guess they are selling them for too cheap these days,” Anirban brought out his lunchbox, too.

“You better not have bitter gourds too,” Koustav’s eyes felt glistening again. Like he is holding onto his last hope.

CLACK

“Oh,” Anirban gasped.

“Whoa! Not bitter gourds. Give me the first bite.”

Anirban has brought just four Ruti without any Torkari. They looked like they had fillings inside. Koustav tore a big piece from the Ruti and put it in his mouth.

“Mmmm, what is the filling? Argh-”

KOFF KOFF

Koustav brought out his water bottle and drank half. We both stared at each other for a moment and took a bite ourselves.

“It’s bitter gourd, isn’t it?”

“Seems like it, Ahan. They are selling them for cheap indeed.”

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“I am going to the toilet. Want to come?” I stood up and put my lunchbox back inside my bag.

“No, take me to a graveyard.”

Is he crying?

“Come on, you cannot die after eating them,” Anirban said.

“But my mouth tastes like I have taken some poison.”

“How did you know what poison tastes like?” I asked.

“If this feeling is not poisonous, I don’t know what else might be.”

“I am taking him to the canteen for a change of taste. You have to go alone,” Anirban said.

“Okay.”

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ZZIPPP

PSSSSHHHH

Aaaaah. Feels so great. Koustav sure was overreacting. It must not be the first time he has eaten bitter gourds. I know they taste bad. But it’s bearable. One definitely won’t die eating them. Though we somehow managed to finish all of our lunch boxes. Bitter gourds are not that bad when you are hungry, huh?

I finished my business and came out of the washroom. I took out my handkerchief and dusted it off before wiping my hands.

“Hey! Mr. India. Did you wash your hands properly?”

A familiar face showed up at the door of our washroom. She rolled her eyes here and there.

“Don’t you know it’s bad peeping at the boys' washroom?”

“How unfair. You boys peep into ours a lot, so I thought I would return the favour.”

“We never do that!”

“Oh, you don’t?”

“Why are you surprised at that?”

“Well, I was wondering if someone could deliver my homework to Joymala mam during class.”

She changed the topic.

“You know I need to attend the club after lunch. My comp is getting closer. So-”

“Sure,” I cut her in the middle.

“You mean you will do it? Okay, so that would be the… ummm… what numbered instalment?” She looked at the ceiling and put a finger on her chin. She forgot how many instalments I have paid so far. I have paid her ten, half of my promised instalments, already. If I were her, I would have used them more wisely than waste them on modest tasks she could do herself. Rich kids need to be taught financial management better.

“No need for wasting your instalments on this. It’s something I could even do as a classmate.”

“Really? You mean it?”

I nodded lightly in response.

“T-Thanks,” she averted her eyes and began walking off.

“...”

“Before I head back, I wanted to ask something,” she said, still facing away from me.

“What?”

“Back in the maths class, why were you staring at me while explaining?”

She continued in a grumpy tone.

“Sure, I might not be good at Maths, but that does not mean you can stare at me while explaining. What might others think if they saw you like that? They would think you are directing your explanations specifically towards me, right?”

WHAAT?!! I didn’t think about it that way. She is actually right. Man, what an awkward thing it was to people who saw me staring at her. People would be making all sorts of assumptions. This is bad, this is seriously bad.

“Hey now. Answer already, I am getting late,” she turned around, facing me.

“A-Ah, actually, they say that when you cannot focus on stage, you can pick one person and keep your focus on them. It’s like a trick to stay calm and focused on stage. I-I didn’t mean to direct my explanation towards you. I was just trying to keep my calm there.”

“Oh,” she smiled at me and continued, “So you picked me, huh?”

“Yes, I mean- What?!”

She turned away from me and didn’t say anything.

“Listen, Ishika, you have got this wrong. This is not what you think-”

TRING TRING TRING

“Oh boy! Look at the time. I am getting late. Make sure to deliver my homework. See you later, Ahan.”

And she went off. What a clumsy person I am.

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“So you have an answer now?”

“Yes, sir.”

School was over. I was again visiting Tarak sir today. It was time for me to give this thing a proper closure.

“My answer is inside.”

I put out the same envelope he gave me a few days ago on his desk. He stiffened his posture and picked up the envelope.

“You gave me that empty envelope stating that inside it is my future, right? Well, guess what, it’s not empty anymore.” I said.

He stared at me briefly, but I didn’t waver my eyes. They were fixated on him.

“Interesting,” he said before opening the envelope.

“...”

“A photograph? Hmph. Stars?”  He pushed his glasses and stared at the photograph for a while.

“It’s my passion, astrophotography. And it is what I am going to pursue from now on. It might seem frail to you to cling to something like this. But to me, it’s something that has kept me awake every night. It makes me dream all the time. For a normal person, it might be another starry night. But I have learnt that those stars bring us a ray of hope. Those stars are not just any stars. Those are the stars I captured myself. They are a part of the sky, but they are now a part of my photograph, too.”

“...”

He kept silent and stared at the photograph. After a few minutes, he put the photograph back inside the envelope and slid it onto the desk.

“I am glad that it’s not empty anymore. Take this back and keep it safe with you.”

His glasses slid on his nose, and his naked eyes stared at me. A man of few words, he is. I picked up the envelope from his desk.

“Your future is in your hands now. Keep it safe.”

I put the envelope back in my bag and nodded lightly to him before leaving the staffroom.

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I headed towards the parking.

CLICK CLACK

I unlocked the only bicycle in the stand and pushed it towards the main gate. It appears even the club members have left already.

Well, I expected this career counselling session to take a lot longer. I knew he didn't like wasting time, but it seemed like he didn’t even use any of it today. He did seem satisfied with my answer, though. Good thing, I managed to end this well. Guess he won’t drag my parents into this now.

“All right.”

As I crossed the main gate, I sat on my bicycle and put a foot on the pedal.

“OOOIII!! ASSHII!”

Mishti? She has not left yet?

“WAIT FOR ME!!”

I turned back and saw her driving her bicycle towards me. Why is she still here? I thought the clubs were over for today. She drove closer to me. Hey, wait, she is not stopping.

CRASH

“Hey, don’t you have brakes?!” I said, picking up my bicycle. “And why are you riding inside the school? Isn’t it prohibited inside the ground?”

HUFF HUFF

“Ah, sorry, sorry. I was in a hurry. I forgot applying them,” she said, almost out of breath.

Forgot applying? Who forgets that? I moved my bicycle a distance from her and parked it there.

“Ah, haa, take this.”

“What is this?” I asked as she handed me a pamphlet.

“Read it, huff-huff.”

“You okay? Want some water?”

I passed down my water bottle to her.

SLURP SLURP

ARGH, she drank it, touching her mouth.

“Aaaah! Feels so good. Thanks a lot, Asshi.”

“Madhyaswapno photography competition?”

“Yeah, it’s an astrophotography competition. You could participate in it. The rules are very simple. You need to submit a photograph of the night sky. It’s a very beginner-friendly competition”

“Only a camera and a lens between 35mm and 105mm are allowed. Telescopes, tracking devices, guides, and controllers are not allowed. Only standard tripods are allowed. Also, colour grading and contrast adjustment are the only post-processing tools you can use. Stacking is limited to only 30 photographs. Looks like a lot of limitations.”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s so that pros with high-end equipment don’t get an upper hand in it.”

“Where did you find this?”

“Ah, well, you see. I happen to be familiar with one of the judges. So, I came to know about it that way.”

“What?! You sure know a lot of people in the city.”

“Ah, haha, you can say that,” she said, rubbing the back of her head.

“I will think about it, thanks, Mishti-Di.”

“No need to thank me, though. And best of luck!” She said, slightly crouching and giving me a thumbs up with her other hand on her waist.

I bowed lightly and went to my bicycle. I lifted the stand and began pedalling away.

“Bye! Asshi. See you tomorrow!”

I waved back at her and drove away from the school.

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“Do you think it was a good idea to invite him to the comp?”

“Why do you think it wasn’t, Isshi?”

“Paak will be there too, right, Mishiti-Di?”

“That’s exactly why it was a good idea.”