The Boy Who Never Spoke

The First Times

It had been ten minutes since Dr. Solomon had begun speaking when he was interrupted by a soft knock at the door.

"May I come in,sir ?" Lok stood at the door, looking apologetically in to the classroom.

"Yes, come in. You are late by twelve minutes. Next time, be careful or you won't be let in.", he said, staring at him with wide eyes from behind his spectacles. He rushed his way through the alley and sat in the nearest empty seat. It was one of the first few times that he was late in a class. A wave of guilt crashed against his heart as he cajoled himself to look forward to what was going on in the room.

"Yes, you gentleman, the late comer." Lost in his thoughts, he had been barely aware of the round of introduction that had been going on. Professor Solomon looked at him like a hawk and the whole class looked eagerly to him. He hands and legs shook as he stood up to speak.

"My name is Loknath Jagmohan Sricharan Das. I secured 93% in my board exams..."

"What a long name he has ? Even our roll numbers seem shorter than his name" Someone giggled from the back. He continued but he was uncomfortable. The first brush with the bold world was never going to be easy. No one in the family had ever ridiculed him for the length of his name. in fact, it was a music to their ears especially to that of his mother. "Repeating the name of god and remembering one's traditions are never something that one can be tired of doing" - she used to say. May be those kids weren't civilized enough to understand that - he reasoned to himself. Just as he was setting again, he realized that he had seated himself right on the border between what seemed like two unlabeled factions. In front of him, were seated a group of girls who barely were aware of what was happening except for the lecture. Few of them smiled while stealing a quick glance around while the rest fiddled with their pens, highlighting sentences in the book with seriousness of an archer aiming at the bullseye. First two rows housed all of them yet the one in the centre caught his attention. She glanced at him when he spoke though he pretended not to have noticed. But now he had been watching her intermittently. Her shiny black hair cascaded on her shoulder like waterfall on the rocks every time she turned around to talk to her talkative diminutive neighbour who hardly could stay quiet for five minutes at a stretch. Her calm demeanour was punctuated by occasional half laughters with the hand shielding her expression from the professor. He turned few pages yet his eyes could barely miss her.
Hey, what are you doing ? Are you here to study or stare at girls? Don't you remember what father said the last night?
He rebuked himself in his mind while professor Solomon drew free body diagram of a load suspended by a fixed pulley. He wondered his state of mind then too resembled it in few ways - on one end was Dr. Solomon's words while on the other end was her expressions that had now become more vivid with the class approaching. He felt like being suspended like that load hung by the pulley except for the fact that his father's words that pulled him slightly to one side. "Son, you are the pride of our family. Live up to the expectations." First time experiences are always nervous ones. Anything you do whether right or wrong is under spotlight of the history that walked behind. Starting right from making a dashing entry into the classroom to thinking about her, it had been a first of its experiences. Staring at a girl like that-seriously? Was that my kind of thing? No.No, can't afford that. Focus,Loknath. Focus. Don't get distracted.

Ringing of the bell announced the end of the first ordeal of the day. Murmur descended into the hall that had been sitting in pin drop silence till then. The loudest chatter came from the back bench marked by high pitched giggles now and then. The alley was throttled by the crowd that moved slowly yet the front row was quick enough to move out. That included her as he watched her walking away with her gang.
He whispered to himself, " I will talk to her"