Strings Of Love

Chapter 3

"Hii!" Vicky, another waiter, entered Sprinkles.

"Aunty do din ke liye bahar gayi hai, varna abhi class lag jati teri late aane ke liye." Shehnaaz replied.

"Oh bach gaya mai! Acha hua chali gayi, chhuti mili!" Vicky said, walking out of the bakery.

"Oye! Kaha ja raha hai, vapas aa!" She shouted to call him back but the boy ran away like a child running out of school. She laughed at the kid, he was a college student working at the bakery to make some cash. She unwillingly sat back on the counter, nervously looking at the pen and paper kept on the table.

The reason behind such a behaviour was her discomfort in writing, since childhood she was comparatively slower than the children of her age in studies. She had this difficulty since her early elementary school, only she knew about its hardships. Her letter formations were odd, for example, the letters she drew were likely to be large and if no lines were provided, the writing would look like a cross-country ski trail. She mostly held her pens and pencils with a death grip, she would press so hard on the pencil, that they leave engravings on the desk or take surface beneath the papers. Spelling inconsistencies were a hallmark of her notebook among the entire class. It was so hard to put into words how she felt being so academically slow in the entire class, to realize that she was not meant for the appreciation her friends received from the teacher just because she saw the world differently than others. People always tried to oversimplify things for her, making her learn what she had to write to pass the exam with flying colours but what they didn't understand was her having trouble in processing those multiple commands at the same time.

She clearly remembered the incident that took place when she was in her sixth standard, her primary school teacher had asked her to stand up and read a paragraph. 'Page 3 Paragraph 3 Line 5.' Shehnaaz began to look for page 3 in the book from the content list and hurried up when the teacher asked her to, but it took her some time to get to paragraph 3 and then finally to line 5. It went like that, taking some good amount of time from the class while the little girl felt her throat drying out of nervousness when the actual part of reading began. It was one terrible experience, she was embarrassed out of the constant interruptions her teacher made to rectify her pronunciations. And today it was something she still had.

"Hi, excuse me." A voice broke her out of her reverie.

"Hanji?" She got up to greet the lady customer with a smile.

"Ek cake ka order dena hai. It's a birthday cake for my daughter." The lady said.

"Hanji, ho jayega. Aap choose karlo." Shehnaaz forwarded the menu on the counter.

"Here, pineapple vala. 3 pounds ka rakhna aur uske upar flowers se decorate kar dena thoda. Aur likhna happy birthday Akanksha." The lady began with her order.

"Aunty, rukiye rukiye. Thoda slow." She requested and grabbed the pen tightly to scribble everything she heard. As much as she tried to mask her discomfort, the lady had a lot of things to ask for.

"Aunty, spelling bataiye Akansha ki." She mentioned.

"Akansha nahi, A-k-a-n-k-s-h-a aur suno 12 number ka candle bhi. Upar do yellow flowers bane hone chahiye, leaves bhi thode se aur simple hi rakhna cake." The lady instructed and kept waiting for the girl at the counter to respond.

"Samajh aaya na tumhe?" She asked.

"Ha, ha aunty. Will that be all? Birthday party ke aur kuch, decorative items? Balloons, party poppers, birthday sachet, crown aur bhi bohot kuch hai." She showed the customer around the shelf to pick something. The lady left once she bought a bundle of stuff for the party and paid the advance and Shehnaaz walked into the kitchen to inform Bindu about the same.