However, there was a
narrow golden line to remember during the third grade. Like every
storyteller started the story in the olden days, it was a cliché start. He
started opening the concentric memory circles one by one. First, the bigger
circle of memory, then the next circle, jumped from one to another. Once upon a
time, while in 3rd grade, Linsa was the best student. That was always the case
during those days. Someone alerted him, “Not those days, that’s the case
always.” Girls outscored boys. Ether, a Linsa, a Princy, a Jincy, and the
endless list goes on. Maybe that was only prejudice Lona acquired during
his childhood days. He accepted that as inherited prejudice, though never
announced it as prejudice. He was comfortable with reality.
One day, it happened.
It was a big compliment for him. Nobody knew it was a big compliment. During
the class break, the best student Linsa stole his notebook from his school bag
without telling him. There were three or four good studious girls and boys. He
was not sure why she had to steal his book. The topper of the class need not
take notebooks from such a low-scoring person. He was proud that she took
his notes.
But the story took a
turn. A naughty boy Yohannan found out about her stealing act. He came near
Lona, “See Lona, she has stolen the book from your bag. I have seen with my
naked eyes. This is not right. She could have asked you.” Lona kept silent as
if he did not hear, though, from the school veranda, he noticed Linsa stealing
the book. It was fun to watch her childish smartness. Lona continued the
silence. After some time, the same naughty boy came again with four other
naught boys to question her actions. “After all, she is a girl. She should have
asked you before taking the book.” Lona kept silent like former Indian prime
minister Manmohan Singh, not any sign of maturity, but boys never knew, the
class topper stealing his notebook was like getting a special jury
appreciation, nor those boys would understand that feeling.
They kept on
pressuring Lona to question her uncultured act. “After all, that’s not right.”
After continuous pressure, Lona acted angry with the iron slate in his hand
swinging above her head, as if he may hit her anytime. While speaking about
something, the thin edges of the slate made a blood-red mark on her forehead.
Suddenly the scene changed, she started crying loudly. Celia-sister came into
the class, Lona started arguing about the accident. Somehow she escaped from
her guilt by crying out loud at Lona’s mistake.
After a few days, a
quiz competition was conducted in the class. The batch was divided into two
groups. One person from a group can ask a question to a person from another
side. The tactic to win that game was to ask a question to a weaker student
from the opposite group. Sister Celia gave Lona the chance to ask the first
question. He asked one of the easiest questions on the planet and selected
topper Linsa to answer the question. He pointed the fingers in her direction;
she jumped out of excitement and answered the question, scoring a valuable
point for her team. Sister Celia looked at Lona’s face. The meaning of glancing
was evident. “Are you stupid to ask such a silly question to Linsa?” At that
age, he could not make her understand the happiness of his heart. But after a
minute of sarcastic look, it seemed sister Celia learned the naughty trick of
innocent love of making another person happy, especially after a hitting
incident.
The notebook incident
repeated after many years. This time, it was the tenth-grade topper. But she
asked that politely. There was no stealing. She wanted the notebook from
him for the days she missed the classes. He reminded her to get it from two
other usual toppers, if she wanted to get good notes instead of his notebook,
his handwriting was never better than a medical prescription by most doctors he
had seen. But she was sensitive in asking for his notes. Somehow she was clever
and found out a confidential way to request for his notebook in a place that
nobody in the school would notice. He was happy about that great achievement.
But, Lona was surprised, why she took the difficult route of finding him alone
in a place where he never expected her to find him. The answer to his question
was simple. One word. “Paparazzi.”
