Zindagi Gulzar hai - Life is a Flower Garden

09 September-Kashaf

Today was my first day in Government College. I wasn't worried about searching for classes because my roommate Farzana was in the same department as me. She's quite a bold girl. Maybe all the people who live in big cities are as bold as her. When I reached the college this morning, it was raining and such weather is not good for studies but still, there were quite a lot of people present. Only sir Abrar took the introductory class today. No other teacher even bothered coming to class. I had heard from many people that he was a strict and punctual man and I was a bit scared but he proved to be quite kind after I met him.

There were very few students in my class and the number of girls was really less. There were two more girls along with me and Farzana: Asmara and Arzoo. Both of them belonged to a high-class family. I probably wouldn't have introduced myself but Farzana walked towards them. She knew them quite well because they had graduated together from "Queen Merry". Because of her I had to greet them too. During their talk they completely ignored but this didn't hurt me at all. Of course they couldn't treat me as a VIP after looking at my average face and cheap clothes. And this wasn't new for me anymore.

Sir Abrar asked Asmara to introduce herself first.

"My name is Asmara Ibrahim. I have graduated from Queen Merry college and passed in the first division. I like to participate in all kinds of co-curricular activities and will prove a valuable addition to your class."

She was such a confident speaker. Could a person talk just as confidently with neither beauty nor money?

After being introduced to Asmara, Farzana and Arzoo, Sir Abrar turned towards me. He didn't tell me to introduce myself but stared for a while and then smiled, "Are you a student of this class too?"

I was surprised at his question. "Yes, sir."

"I asked because you look a bit small here." He replied, still smiling.

"No sir, I'm not small. My height is 5'4"." I replied quickly without thinking. Sir Abrar chuckled at my response and two boys sitting in the front row turned towards me. There were big smiles plastered on their faces. Then one of them said to Sir Abrar, "Sir that is the right height for a girl. Neither too tall, nor too short."

The whole started laughing. Sir Abrar coughed, trying to hide his amusement. Then he turned towards the boy, "No Zaroon, don't try to embarrass her." Then he asked me my name.

"My name is Kashaf Murtaza. I have come here from Gujarat." I introduced myself shortly. After my introduction Sir Abrar asked the boys to introduce themselves. When the boy named Zaroon spoke, I commented on him in the same way he had commented on my words. I wouldn't have said anything but I hated his style and way of speaking so much that I spoke without being able to stop myself. I'm not here to involve myself in such matters. I'm here to study and I won't repeat my mistake again. I hope the rest of my days here, pass without any problems