BULLY

I frowned as I got out of the lift and banged the doors shut. Never had I hated going to school so much. But school is not really fun when the biggest bully in the class is made to change places and sit right in front of you. I mean, ya he is the brainiest boy I have seen in my whole life, but, so what?

He was a bully. He is a bully. He will remain a bully.

And I hate bullies. Anyone would actually, especially if you are on the receiving end. I mean ya, being a girl, and him being a boy, I didn’t really suffer much. But God! That didn’t make him any less annoying.

Plus I was about as tall as he was. Maybe that is what made him stay at an arm’s distance from me. But still, there are a number of ways to bully someone. And I was seeing them everyday.

Really. Every single day.

Each day, Monish would enter the class, and catch the first person he could see as his first bakra. And the day would begin with getting some homework done. It would be followed by scrawling the black-board with some stupid stupid cartoon which only he found funny. Of course, the cartoon would carry the artist’s name, and that would be his second bakra for the day. In the recess, no matter how much you tried to hide it, Monish would come to know if there was something yummy anybody had got in his or her lunch box. The periods between the first and the second break would go quite uneventful, and the day would again conclude with one of the teachers probably getting her sari or dress wet as she sat on her chair. And finally, as school came to an end, Monish would run down the stairs, pushing practically anyone who came in his way aside, without much caring to see the consequences.

Really, what went wrong when boys came to fifth grade?

Like many other bullies, Monish had a huge gang of boys who followed him everywhere. They would literally lay their lives down for him I guess, if he asked; they all liked him so much.

Puh-lease!

But my guess is, they were all scared of him.

Oh by the way. I guess I didn’t tell you what he did to me.

He untied my hair.

Everyday.

Without fail.

So what was the big issue?

I had hair that came down to my waist. Mamma would braid them and fold them up and tie them so that I had two short plats that just touched my shoulders. And Monish simply loved to untie them. He took care to not let me notice it, obviously. He would just loosen the knot, and the next time I turned my head, my hair would all come loose and fall on my back.

Boys. They can be irritating, I tell you.

I reached school bang on time. I parked my cycle in the parking area and bounded up the stairs. We had a ‘half day’, since it was the last day of the month. My bag was a little lighter hence, and my tiffin a little interesting. Not the regular poli-bhaji. I had corn and potato sandwiches, my favourite! A part of me was happy, and a part of me was, scared. i didn’t want Monish to eat up my tiffin! Please! At least not today, considering he ate half of it almost everyday.

He liked everything my mom made.

I hate bullies.

I HATE BULLIES!

But today seemed different.

The first four periods went uneventful, and I could see the Monish’s impatience build up. All the teachers had come bang on time too, giving Monish almost no time to plan anything. I feared this was the quiet before a huge storm, but prayed for the best.

Recess came, and my stomach sank. Me and my bench partner Kaustubh both took our tiffins out. I looked around. Monish was not in the classroom. I quickly opened my tiffin and started eating.

Suddenly the table shook.

I looked at Kaustubh. He was banging his tiffin on the edge of the table.

“What are you doing?” I asked him.

“My tiffin… it’s not opening,” Kaustubh said, and banged the tiffin on the table again. My tiffin inched towards the edge of the table.

“Arre bang it against the other desk na!” I said. “My tiffin will fall.”

Kaustubh continued banging the tiffin on the table. And with his fifth bang, just as I was about to gather my tiffin Monish entered the classroom.

“Boo!” he shouted.

I looked up.

Kaustubh banged the table again.

And my tiffin fell to the floor with a big clang.

There was a momentary silence, and suddenly everybody burst out laughing.

I looked at the spilled sandwiches.

I looked at Kaustubh. He was laughing. I turned around to hit him, but he quickly got up and ran out of the classroom.

I looked at the sandwiches lying on the floor in a mess. My stomach was rumbling with hunger. I was sure the sound was almost audible to everyone around me. I got down and started cleaning the mess. Suddenly fat tears started rolling down my cheeks. I looked again and again at my empty tiffin and the sandwiches on the floor. The tears kept coming. And just about as suddenly as my tears had appeared, two more hands appeared on the floor beside mine. I looked up.

It was Monish.

I looked at him. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Was he so mad as to eat food off the floor?

He put the pieces of sandwich into the tiffin in my hand.

“What happened?” he said.

I told him the incident.

Within a few moments, his gang had brought Kaustubh in front of me.

Monish got up and hit Kaustubh.

“Say sorry,” he said, and immediately Kaustubh said ‘sorry’ to me. He helped me clean the rest of my tiffin.

My crying still didn’t stop.

“Why are you crying?” Monish asked, after Kaustubh had cleaned my tiffin. He was standing next to my desk, mute.

I didn’t answer.

“Should I hit him again?” Monish asked.

“No!” I exclaimed.

Monish looked at me.

“Then what?”

I looked down at my tiffin.

“I’m hungry,” I said.

Pronto Monish pulled Kaustubh’s tiffin out of his hands and opened it and held it in front of me.

Mooli ke paranthe.

I didn’t move.

“Eat na! He won’t say anything,” Monish said, glaring at Kaustubh. Kaustubh looked down at the floor.

I didn’t touch the tiffin.

“You don’t like it?” monish asked. I nodded. Monish immediately turned the tiffin upside down. The Paranthe fell to the floor. Kaustubh didn’t budge. Monish opened his tiffin and held it in front of me.

“Eat na!” he said.

“What about you?” I asked.

“I’m not hungry,” he said.

I looked at him

What was wrong with this guy? He wasn’t hungry??? What was he saying? How could that be?

“Really, you eat,” he said. I took a bite from his tiffin.

“Thanks,” I said. He smiled.

“Put it back in my bag after you are done,” he said. “I have to go!” and before I could say anything he had stormed out of the room, faster than he had come in.










Nothing altered much after that day. Monish was still his annoying self. But, I had seen the side of a bully which I had never expected to. And Monish now smiled at me every time we saw each other.