PREJUDICE

The summer of 2009 was scorching. Everywhere it was so hot that one could barely see a person out during the day. Even animals won’t come out.

But it wasn’t only the heat of 2009 that makes is why I am mentioning it here. Apart from that, it was the very year when Deepali and her family had moved into the flat next to ours. Rumor was that they had bought it.

The former occupant of the flat was Gavvy, who lived with her parents and little brother. She was my best friend. When they moved away, I prayed to god that the flat doesn’t get occupied since Gavvy had promised that she would return one day and live there again.

Evidently, my prayer went unnoticed. I had blamed the whole thing on Deepali. She was the reason that my best friend won’t ever live next door to mine again.  I never liked Deepali since that day, though it wasn’t her fault,

One week after they moved in, her mom became the best friend my mom never had. Every evening either her mom would come to our house o mine will go to theirs. Earlier I had thought that Gavvy’s mom was my mom’s closest friend, but no. I was wrong again. This made me dislike her even more.

Some days later during dinner, mom said, “Pari, I heard that Deepali is in the same class s you. Why don’t you meet her? You have been remaining upset since Gavvy left. I am sure you both will become best friends. Deepali is a nice girl”

I never meant to be rude, but I couldn’t help it, “mom I don’t like her and nobody can ever take my best friend’s place. “

Mom didn’t say anything after that. Perhaps she thought my thoughts about Deepali will change when I get promoted to class 10^th.

But it didn’t. When school resumed, I came to know that she had joined my school but she wasn’t in my section. She would often try to talk to me at school, or during her visits with her mom to my house. I always kept conversations to a minimum,

I started hating her officially the day when my class 10^th mid sem results were out. Mom went on and on about how Deepali had scored 93percent and I remained at 89 only.

Mom knew I hate the whole comparison thing. Still… she wouldn’t stop.  I quit talking to mom. Because when ever I would talk, she would talk of how good Deepali was, and helped her mom in kitchen, did all her work herself, painted, etc etc.

This has continued for 3years now. No matter how much I tried, mom always thought I can never match up to Deepali. Fact was, I never intended to match up to her.

Things worsened when she came to my section in class 11^th. My hatred for her was like a volcano, ready to erupt.  I noticed that she wasn’t so bright in class. Could do any good in the surprise test we had. She wasn’t brilliant in any subjects, but she always managed to bag a rank during exams.

I thought perhaps she belonged to the special breed of nerds who get activated only during exams and are catalyzed by pressure.

Then I got to know the secret of her extraordinary marks. I was, sitting in the exam hall, appearing first exam of 12^th class. Deepali was sitting right in front of me and I was looking at her secret recipe for ranks.

She had a bundle of papers hidden in her socks and was holding one in her hands and copying expertly.

I had seen many of my friends copying, but I never told on them to the teachers. This time it was different. All the humiliations I underwent coz of this girl were going on in my mind.

The volcano was going to erupt, and it did. I called our invigilator and told her everything. She checked Deepali and found the evidence. She was disqualified from appearing the exam and her parents were called soon enough. They came and apologized to the teachers and took her with them. I came home and told mom everything.  Rather I commented on each and every dialogue she had told me.  She didn’t say much now.

I was happy. Finally I had done something that put my mind at peace.  Deepali didn’t appear the next exams, perhaps due to shame. She didn’t come out of the house either for days. I wasn’t even concerned.

After about 5days since the incident, while I was going to bed, I heard low sobs. Perhaps it was TV. A few minutes later, a woman was shouting, “is this why we gave you all the luxury in life? So that you can bring shame up on us? “

“But mama I didn’t mean to do so”

The voices wee familiar. They were coming through the wall. I never realized in all these years that Deepali’s bedroom and mine just had a thin wall between them.

Her dad came in “shruti, let it be. She won’t do it again”

“I promise mama I won do it again”

“I don’t care. All I want is you to score good marks. Is that so hard to do? Considering the fact that you have no work besides studies…”

“Shruti please”

“You stay out of it! I am talking to her. Just because I am her step mother doesn’t mean I will let her do anything. I never had any children of my own so that you get all my attention. And this is how you repay?”

“Mama you are my mother”

“Thank god I don’t have a daughter like you. I would have killed her”

“Mama please…” she cried. “What can I do to make you happy?”

“I want you to come 1^st in your class. I don’t care how you do it. But don’t bring shame on us. Even if you cheat, don get caught. Another thing till you come 1^st in your class, you will not be going out and no pocket money.”

Door slammed. I was sitting on my bed, unable to move.  Her face came to my mind.  The girl I always hated for being a show off and evil was something else, totally. I had never thought that this might have been her life story. The muffled cries were poking me at the heart. It’s a bad thing to cheat, but did I do the correct thing? She is going through all this only because of my prejudices against her.

I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to do something to make it up to her.

The next day I went to her house to see her. Her mom [step mom] greeted me with smiles. It was hard to imagine this smiling woman shouting so mercilessly on a girl. I went to her room. She was sitting by the window. Her eyes were dark and swollen.

If I had felt bad earlier, it was killing me now. I had caused it. I went to her and hugged her.

“I am really sorry. I didn’t know” I said.

She cried harder.  I held her and when she calmed down, I asked her to come with me. Her mom didn’t deny to me. I took her to a place where I and Gavvy went usually and that was the day I earned a new friend.  Since that day, I have two best friends.

In the next exams, I let her cheat and warned her when any teachers came near. Winning wasn’t important to her, but she had to win to live a life. She didn’t have a choice.

And as far as I am concerned, I started enjoying the comments of mom. I even laughed at few, when Deepali tried to convince mom that I was a good student than her.