Tanhayee..

Kavitha loved being with people.. She was scared being left alone. She always did things to make people around her happy.

It was her 11th birthday. When she reached out to keep her bag in that old bench- she saw a gift and a card. She opened the card
A big red heart with "I love you" written in golden ink popped up. No one had signed the card. She loved the fact that someone was interested in her and was going through all this pain to get the card and gift. She knew that it was from Sudhir. She wondered how Sudhir would have saved so much money to buy the card and the gift. As usual Charu sat next to her. She told her it was from Sudhir. The guys in the class had been talking about it. She didn't know what to do. She knew lots of people were looking at her. She just tore the card and left the gift untouched. She wondered if she should have even opened the card. Did that make her look like she loved Sudhir?

Though she had matured a few months back , she was a kid in an adults body. She was really confused and her confusion showed. Sudhir followed her from school to home, from her tuition's to home. She really thought that Sudhir loved her - otherwise who would waste so much time? Sometimes when she came home late, she would be really scared. She wanted to tell all this to her parents, but was scared that mom would beat her. Mom would stop all her classes.

Since this was in 1990's people were really shocked that a kid could think about anything other than her Math/Science homework. Abisthu abishthu. Though she didn't go anywhere close to being in a relationship with the guy, suddenly the entire world was gossiping about her - her teachers, students around her. People called her immoral.

Chetna stood first in her class and Kavitha third. They hated each other and always tried to group against each other. This seemed a great opportunity for Chetna to mock Kavitha. It was the first day of school and everyone was trying to get a place. Radha and Kavitha fought for the second bench. Kavitha loved second bench- first bench needed too much attention and in any of the other benches she could not listen to the teacher well. As usual, all the girls came together and try to resolve the fight. Suddenly Chetna seemed to assume to role of the Judge - she said why should we believe you - You are a characterless girl. Kavitha was in tears. She decided to sit in the fourth bench. She was stuck there for a year.

Suddenly girls stopped talking to her. No one was ready to go to school with her. Most days she would cycle all alone to school with tears in her eyes looking at that beautiful bridge and the trees across the water.

Kavitha cried at home against that yellow wall for many nights . Even her parents didn't trust her.

Offlate she was not doing good in Maths. She decided to start attending some tutions. Ruchi Mam was cute. She said her satisfaction comes from helping people pass - not making people get centums. Kavitha just loved her teaching style. She started getting better and better in Maths, but her sadness and tension was always visible. One day Ruchi called her -It was the tenth test she had written in the tution and had got the tenth consecutive centum. Ruchi told her that its difficult to change perceptions, but not impossible. Believe in yourself and Work hard. The entire world will be behind you.

From that day onwards Kavitha became extremely focused on Math. She was the best student in Maths now. Everyone wanted her homework book, to copy answers now even Radha.

She was very lonely, she longed for company. The only way that seemed to be working was getting good marks. She worked hard and she was the topper of the class finally after 10 long years. Suddenly the entire world started considering her to be a role model. The person everyone wanted to be...

Life kept moving.. When she was 25, she got married to Ram. Her parents found Ram after extensive matching of horoscopes. They liked each other, both of them worked in Bangalore and so everyone felt it was a perfect match. They got engaged in Feb and got married in May. This time again she made her parents happy ...