THE CLOUD'S CHARM

CHAPTER 24 - part1- THE TWO SISTERS

CHAPTER 46 THE TWO SISTERS

After a rather exhausting double period lecture, Megha exited the first year class and hurried to the nearby staff canteen. Her throat felt raw, her body needed to be charged and she desperately craved some solitude for sometime. Unfortunately, Ruchi spotted her in the canteen and joined her table. And hence, with each mouthful of food, she had to swallow Ruchi's gossips too.

The new students seemed to have complained to their Head of the Department regarding Ruchi's inefficiency. Megha had never heard Ruchi taking class even once, so she felt she should keep quiet on the matter. Quite unperturbed by Megha's lack of response, Ruchi kept on her tirade against the students and their disobedience.

Megha gradually tuned out Ruchi's monologue as she remembered someone else, teaching her little Nanhi yesterday evening. It was certainly difficult to make people understand one's perspective, especially to curious children who have a hundred questions. Yet, Mohan didn't lose patience; he explained the weeding process quite thoroughly. Megha realised that knowingly or unknowingly, Mohan was speaking about his original job as he described his cover-up job: the metaphor didn't escape her, the English Lecturer. The description perfectly fit his actual job also. Wasn't he fighting to control the spread of weeds in the society? It seemed to her that each day revealed a new, admirable quality in Mohan to her...

After finishing her lunch and shaking off Ruchi near the office room, Megha went to her tiny room. She didn't have any class during afternoon and thought to finish the remaining paper-work related to the newly admitted students in the class assigned to her.

Someone knocked on her door when she was almost half-way through the work. She looked up and saw that it was a fashionably dressed young woman.

"Come in." Megha said pleasantly.

The woman smiled pleasingly and entered the room. Her short hair was styled neatly and subtle make-up adorned her face. Megha wondered how many stares she might have attracted on her way here because of her short sleeveless blue dress. No one in their rather conservative college wore dresses ending above their knees.

"You are Megha Ma'am?" She asked, scrutinising Megha doubtfully.

"Yes, I am. Please take a seat." Megha replied and gestured her to sit down.

"When the peon told me to meet Megha ma'am, I thought I'll be meeting a bespectacled, sari-clad strict-looking lady, but not a pretty young teacher like you. " She said with a heavy accent.

Megha smiled politely at her complement.

"I'm Rashmi Mishra by the way, your student Shilpa Mishra's elder sister. I came to you to discuss her." Rashmi said on a serious note.

Now that she mentioned it, Megha noticed that Rashmi indeed had great resemblance to her student Shilpa in first semester English Literature.

"Yes, Shilpa is in my class. And I'm also the staff counsellor assigned to them. So, please do tell me whatever you came to discuss. " Megha urged.

"Okay, let me explain in detail." Rashmi said. She leaned forward in her chair, looked straight at Megha and started explaining:

"Papa had raised us since we lost our mother when I was fifteen and she was eleven. I joined a fashion designing course as soon as I passed out from school and am now working for a new fashion brand."

"Shilpa has got my looks but she's a typical mediocre in school, maybe even below that. But we can hardly let other people see that, can we? It was with so much difficulty that Dad obtained a seat here for her. But she didn't want to come. Somehow we convinced her to come and take at least a look at the college. Luckily, she liked it here at the first sight itself and gained a few friends in the first week itself. After all, who wouldn't want to befriend her, the pretty daughter of Lokesh Mishra even if she's a bit empty-head?"