Chapter - 11 (Akanksha Finds A Friend)
"Rowling is one of the greatest of contemporary writers. In a world being torn apart by civil, communal and nuclear wars, J. K. Rowling has brought the much needed peace and happiness through her immortal works", Akanksha paused here looking around at her opponents at the other three tables for effects. She then looked in front at the mass of teachers and students of some of the most renowned schools of the city in the packed auditorium. She continued on:
"That's wherein lies the greatness of Rowling. If we are thinking of a world free from all conflicts, confrontations and corruption in the future, we have to invest big time to instill the fast eroding values in our students, who are our future. Rowling, in my humble opinion, is THE ONE to lead them to such a world."
As the audience clapped tumultuously to show their appreciation for this young, fearless speaker from Calcutta Public School, Jishnu, sitting next to Akanksha, cast a sideways glance at the youngest member of their group. He felt proud of this gifted speaker from his school. He was very correct in requesting Mrs. Roy, their English Teacher cum Literary In-charge to give this ninth grader, the latest arrival at CPS, a chance. He had heard her during the Intra-Club Extempore Contest. Though there were forty three members in the Club that day, she was justifiably selected as the Winner by the Club In-charge.
She was a fabulous speaker. Jishnu wanted to congratulate her. He got up from his seat at the right of the table and walked across to the left to congratulate her.
The Chairman stopped in the middle of highlighting Akanksha's speech and asking a member of Delhi Public School, speaking against the proposition, to present his views. Then finding the Leader of CPS getting up and walking on her left, she looked askance at him.
There was a pin drop silence in the auditorium. Everyone, including Akanksha, was looking at Jishnu. All on a sudden, Jishnu realized what he had done, unmindfully again. But there was no way he could retrace his steps and sit back on his seat. He decided to carry on with his intention of patting Akanksha on her back. He stopped behind her chair, put her head down to her ear and whispered :
"Congratulations, Akanksha. You've been outstanding today.."
But then the girl in the next table from Heritage, started giggling and the noisy boy from the opposite side picked up the hint. Soon the whole auditorium was laughing over the strange behaviour of this seemingly love-smitten boy from CPS.
Jishnu felt really uncomfortable like never before. Never before had he done anything so silly. He broke into a sweat as Ritu, the girl from XI, began pinching on his back. Jishnu tried to shake her hand off him. He didn't care anymore. He was thinking of doing the unthinkable, when he heard a lovely voice poking into him:
"Jishnuda, thank you very much. Madam Roy told me about my selection this morning. I could never have made it to the school team without YOU."
It was Akanksha, who, standing in front of him in XII Sc A, brought him out of his reverie.
"Hi, Akanksha," Jishnu mumbled out, looking quite stupid in the way he looked up at her. One by one, the two other representatives, Ritu of XI and Shaunak from X, joined them. They had hardly taken their seats on the frontt row when they saw Mrs. Roy heading towards the room from outside.
"Good Afternoon, Ma'am," all four of them chorused, standing up.
"How's the preparation going on?" She asked them, and noticing Akanksha, she queried next,
" Akanksha, isn't that what your name is? The girl who studied in the beautiful country of Bhutan, right?" Mrs. Roy welcomed her to the Debate Team and asked her to approach Jishnu or Ritu, if she (Akanksha) had any problems regarding the topic, rules of the contest or anything else. She also told them that on the following Monday, she would listen to two of them speaking for the proposition for five minutes each. She would listen to the representatives of IX and IX on Wednesday next.
Mrs. Roy also told the two senior students to include as many points as they could during their preparatory presentations. The participants from the Junior standards, she said, were to collect their own points as well and strike off the common ones while listening to the seniors during their presentations on Monday.
Having taken a form out of her bag, Mrs. Roy then asked Akanksha, smilingly "Do you have any experience of participating in a debate before? Do you know how to introduce yourself and all that? "
Akanksha smiled back and replied very politely, " I took part in different litersry events at my previous school but I was never asked to participate in a debate. Debates in my previous school, were meant for the senior students, Ma'am. Luckily, I do have an idea about how to introduce, conclude and most importantly, about the rules of debating by attending those debate sessions at CCS, my previous school. "
Mrs. Roy liked the girl for her good manners. Besides, she also spoke flawlessly. Jishnu had selected the right girl. She then asked Akanksha a few more details to make sure that she was eligible for the Competition. Mrs. Roy left after a while as there was a visitor waiting for her in the Visitor's Room.
"Jishnu, let's see if the new girl can speak in a similar manner for 3 minutes," Ritu told Jishnu, with her eyes firmly fixed on the new member of the CPS Debate Team.
"I don't really think that is necessary, Ritu. Why don't we put our heads together to discuss the points related to the debate topic instead, like Ma'am suggested?" Jishnu responded casually.
Ritu kept quiet as Jishnu was the Literary Captain of the school.
"I'd really appreciate that opportunity, Jishnuda," Akanksha cut in. "I haven't taken part in any literary programs since I left my previous school. I feel I'm rusty. This way I'll have some serious practice for the contest," she concluded.
Both Jishnu and Ritu seemed surprised by Akanksha's willingness at giving some sort of a demo of her speaking skills, and Godness Gracious, weren't both of them pleasntly taken by her oratory power?
" You're good, Akanksha. But as a senior, I'd request you to tone down your voice while speaking. And one more thing, Mrs Roy told me once that really good speakers very seldom speak haughtily. I thought your haughtiness showed through your speech. Hope you'll take my feedback in a positive manner. "
Akanksha was not exactly stunned. Ritudi seemed outright offended with her for some reason. She thought of asking Ritudi if she (Akanksha) had said anything wrong. But she was sure of that. Besides, no one, other than Anu, had ever called her haughty. Anyway, she was smart enough not to point out all this to Ritudi, and asked her instead:
"Was I speaking too loudly? I'm sorry then. And let me apologize if I sounded haughty as well. "
Jishnu told her as they were leaving the Hall afterwards that he didn't really think that Akanksha was speaking quite loudly. Then stopping at the top of the staircase leading down to the first floor, he turned to Ritu and exclaimed:
" I liked the way she spoke on the topic. What say you? "
Both Akanksha and Ritu were completely taken aback by Jishnu's out of the world effort at defending Akanksha in that manner. Ritu was to tell Saunak, the other member from X, during the Tea Break the next day, "I think Jishnu's fallen flat for the new girl. I happened to look at him once while the girl was speaking. My, My My! The Prince Charming couldn't take his eyes off Ms. High-nosed! "
Back home the same evening, Akanksha got into her pajamas and pushed her hair back. She was happy looking at her reflection in the mirror. What was more, for the first time since she left CCS, she thought to have found a mentor and friend in Jishnuda. What was that he told Ritudi?
"I really like the way she spoke… " Did he not? Did he simply like the speech, or did he like Akanksha? That was what she was dying to find out.