TERA BHI KATEGA/ YOU TOO WILL GET DUMPED (FLASH FICTIONS)

DESK MATES

It was the first day of the new session. Swastik and Ankit were sitting on a desk together and gossiping about everything possible. Class teacher Mr. Sharma came in and looked all over the class. He did not like the sitting arrangement.

"We will not study today," declared Mr. Sharma. "I would like to arrange your seats first."

"No, not again," said Swastik.

"Why don't teachers let us sit with our friends?" asked Ankit.

"We are in class ninth, but they treat us as children," Swastik said unhappily.

The whole class was unhappy but they had to go along with the class teacher. Mr. Sharma asked Niladri to sit with Swastik. Niladri went to Swastik's desk with his bag. Swastik let him sit on the inner side of the desk. Ankit was sent to the other side of the classroom.

It was the first time Swastik sat with Niladri. In next period when the English teacher asked the students to write down the answers Niladri did not take out his note book.

"Are you not going to write?" asked Swastik.

"No. I can't write fast. So it is meaningless to waste my time, pen and paper on that. I would copy it from someone later." Niladri spread his legs under the table and hands on the table. He kept an eye on Swastik's notebook. Whenever Swastik missed a word he prompted it for him. Sometimes when both of them missed a word he looked into other's notebooks and helped Swastik.

After the class ended Niladri said, "Swastik, your hand writing is excellent and your note book is clean and arranged. Would you let me copy from your notebook?"

"Only if you return it before the school is over," replied Swastik.

"I want to do it at home without any disturbance," said Niladri.

"Sorry, I can't let you take it home. Many other people will ask for work once I reach home."

"How would you give many people work after going home?" asked Niladri.

"It's simple. I would click pictures of the pages of my notebook and send via WhatsApp or via Instagram," replied Swastik. "I have been doing it for four years."

"Wow. Give me your number bro," Niladri requested. "I would take work from you starting from today."

The same routine continued for days. Niladri would help Swastik in writing the dictation and Swastik would send him the work after going home. Niladri even behaved politely all the time. The only thing that bothered Swastik was that Niladri's habit of getting out of his seat after every period. Swastik had to get out first to let him go out as the other end of the seat was attached to the wall. During the lunch break he complained about it to Ankit.

"Why don't you exchange your seat with him?" asked Ankit. "Mr. Sharma only asked you to share the desk. He did not mention who would seat on which side."

"I don't want to sit in the inner side of the desk," replied Swastik.

"My desk mate is way more irritating than yours. I would go crazy if I continue to sit beside him for a long time."

"Well, Niladri is not that bad," said Swastik.

In less than two months Ankit complained about his desk mates several times to the class teacher. Mr. Sharma changed his desk mates four times but Ankit did not stop complaining. Swastik did not complain to teacher about his desk mate as he did not think anyone would be any better.

They soon got the summer vacations. After the vacation everyone sat according to their choice. They sat with their friends. Ankit and Swastik sat together again. Swastik missed Niladri in the vacations. He wanted to sit with him but did not dare to say that. Swastik hoped that Niladri would say that he missed him but he did not say anything like that. Niladri was happy as he got the chance to sit with his friends.

Mr. Sharma looked at their sitting arrangement with a disapproving look. He arranged their seats again. Ankit hoped to sit with Swastik but Mr. Sharma was ruthless. Ankit got Dharmesh as his desk mate and became happy. Swastik wanted to share desk with Niladri but got Himadri as his desk mate instead.

"We became desk mates again," said Swastik.

"Yea, you are right. I had forgotten that we sat together in class sixth," said Himadri.

"I couldn't forget that bad experience," muttered Swastik under his breath.

"Did you say anything?" asked Himadri.

"It's nothing. Welcome to our desk and please take your seat Mister," said Swastik sarcastically.

"Thank you Sir," said Himadri.

There started Swastik's bad time. Himadri never stopped moving and the desk kept shaking. Swastik could not write anything peacefully. Whenever he complained to Himadri, he behaved properly for a couple of minutes. But after that he would take out everything from his bag and cover the desk with his belongings. Swastik got a very little space to keep his book and copy.

And the worst part was the dictation time. When teacher dictated anything Himadri missed a couple of words in every sentence. Then he asked Swastik about it repeatedly. Due to his disturbance Swastik missed a lot of words.

Swastik missed the days when he sat with Niladri. He liked Niladri very much but Niladri never showed any interest in him. Niladri only talk to him when he needed the class work. Swastik knew he had to go with time and endure Himadri. He did not ask the class teacher to change his desk mate. Who knew if the next desk mate would worse than Himadri? There was no chance that he could get Niladri as his desk mate again.

Swastik looked at Niladri and sighed. Niladri had spread his body on the seat like he used to do when he sat beside Swastik.