“Get out of the class and kneel down in the corridor” yelled the teacher. I proudly stood up and went out. It was a matter of great honor and respect for me to be asked to get out of the class for not doing assignments. Another 2 kids (a boy and a girl) had to do the same. They didn’t seem to be too happy about it and I wondered why…!

It was raining heavily outside and the breeze added to the drama.  Teacher continued with her class as we three kids knelt outside with our hands up (She didn’t really mention about raising our hands but it was understood… Experience Matters…! Those two were “Freshers” in the corridor; so they just followed my lead…!). It was the last hour of the day. The other boy was telling us how he couldn’t find his pencil and how he struggled to complete his homework, but in vain. Although I was a 10 year old kid then, I found that excuse quite childish…! On the other hand, I had a genuine reason for not being able to complete my assignment. I don’t remember what it exactly was but it involved a cycle, ice cream, a horlicks jar and some tadpoles among other things. That was some pretty serious stuff to do back then…!

“Hey… hailstones…!” she exclaimed. All three of us tried to grab that but the only girl among us managed to get hold of it…! Damn… Like two losers we merely watched her play with that hailstone all alone. Kids and Ego doesn’t go very well; so, I finally made up my mind to ask her if she would lend me that hailstone for a while.  Just when I was about to request her politely, I ended up telling “Yuk…. Stop rubbing that on your cheeks… you are making it dirty…!” (Even as a kid I was the same jerk… although… not intentional… I ended up being one…!) I knew she wouldn’t even let me touch it after I behaved like a total jerk. Anyway, I was back being a loser; but, I heard a mellowed voice “It’s melting real fast. Take it if you want this before its just water… and yeah… it is so chilly… rub it on your cheeks… like this” and she rubbed it again on her cheeks. I smiled and took it happily. A life-time of friendship had been established. Among three of us kneeling in the corridor, there was just one loser now…!!!

“What is your excuse for not doing the homework..?” asked that loser. May be he just couldn’t digest the fact that she favored me over him.

“No excuses. I wanted to but I couldn’t” she replied.

That’s weird. What kind of a nerd would “want” to do the homework…? I started having second thoughts about being friends with her….! (Stop judging me…!)  Of course she was lying. May be she was too stupid and didn’t know any answers. I gave a damn about all that and continued to look for some other hailstones. The first one had melted by now. I was waiting for the school bell to ring but the wrong bell started ringing in that loser’s head.

“Why couldn’t you…? You always do your homework and you are our teacher’s favorite” argued that loser. I wondered if any tadpole get stuck somewhere in his posterior? Why was he being such a prick… she obviously didn’t want to tell anything.

I wanted to tell him to just shut up and look down at the floor and think of a better excuse for not doing the homework, at least for the next time; but instead of him I ended up shouting at her “Why don’t you just tell him the reason?” (Oh crap…. Why do I keep doing that…?!!! I was back to being a jerk..!)

“I told you na… I really wanted to but I couldn’t do it… Our shop in the market was flooded with water due to heavy rains from past two days. As my mother was alone there, I went there to help her get all the vegetables to our house. Mother was telling me that if those vegetables get spoilt, then I will have to discontinue the school till next year.”

Whoa… that’s too huge an excuse for a tiny matter like not completing the assignments…!!! I hated that loser for being a prick and forcing her to answer his stupid questions. But from inside, I felt proud that she answered only after my intervention.

She was looking at me and continued to add “Mother was also telling me that they might be closing the market for a week to clean-up the whole place. If they do that then I will not be able to come to school the whole week.”

I could see her looking at me for some comforting reactions. I had neither experienced something like this nor had I heard anything this complicated. I didn’t know how to react; but that loser knew.

“What’s that got to do with you coming to school?” he asked curiously.

She didn’t even turn to him but continued speaking. “Mother has some problems with her hands and cannot go out to the streets to sell the vegetables herself. She’ll need my help to carry them.”

I was getting restless. I didn’t know what to tell her. Even though she spoke those words, she was so casual about it. As if it was a daily routine and there’s nothing new about it. She made even that prick go speechless. I just wanted to find a hailstone and give it back to her to see that beautiful smile I had seen in her just a while ago; I wouldn’t have had any problems even if she wanted to rub that on her cheeks… But, being a jerk, I ended up asking “Your father could do it right?”

Even now I feel like throwing myself off a cliff for asking her that question because I got to know later that her father had expired when she was a baby and her mom had raised her all alone by growing vegetables at a nearby village and selling it here in the market; but she just replied casually “No.”

That was the end of it…! I didn’t know what to say after that one word reply. Just then, another hailstone fell somewhere near her… She picked it up and gave it to that prick; I just knelt there wondering if that tadpole slipped into my posterior from that prick’s…! I ended up being the only loser over there..! A lifetime of friendship established a while back was cut short to just about an hour…!

I was back from my flashback mode now as I sat in front of my computer looking at one particular comment in MasthMysore page in Facebook. Some people had commented on a news item that said “Vani Vilas market and Mandi Market slipping into history”. MCC authorities were planning to renovate these markets. There was one particular comment that caught my attention. One female had written that, more than anything else, she would be concerned about the alternative arrangements for the families surviving solely on these markets. She had written that if the markets are shut even for one week, it will be a huge crisis for the whole family whose daily wage is dependent on that. It looked like any other comment but what left my soul stirred was her name. That was her.

I was again left speechless. I felt a sense of great pride when I saw in her FB profile that she is a Journalist now and just then, I remembered that she had not come to school for a whole week after that breezy day in the corridor.

- Nand Kishore G