Beyond Words - Jacob Diaries

13th June, 2011: NAME

It was my birthday. In the afternoon, I went out with my friends for the birthday ritual where you treat them for lunch, and are in return given presents.

I hardly had few friends. I had it worst in 5th and 6th grade, where I was bullied by my classmates for being timid. They used to hide my spectacles in the girl's toilet, and beat me up for no reason. I was easy to fool and dumb enough to not react against them. Maybe that's the reason, when I later changed schools I never went on to interact with others- as a defense. Resulting in my loner life during middle school. My days were peaceful, but had nothing memorable.

When I became a high school student, I was different and more confident. I had decided to make the best out of it. Well.. you can't expect a loner to suddenly transform into an extrovert, but I did manage to make two friends- which I was quite proud of.

Kiran, my best bud, was around 5'10", slim to an extent that his BMI would be 17, with wheatish skin. He was a God-fearing Hindu, with a caterpillar looking moustache as his characteristic trait.

My second friend, Ashutosh, was shorter, 5'7", tanned, well built and was more sports-oriented, unlike us studious guys.

Kiran handed me a gift wrapped in a piece of newspaper.

Ashutosh chuckled, "Such insincerity! Atleast could've wrapped it properly!"

I opened it up, only to find a condom. Well, I had never seen one in my life. Seeing my stumped face, both of my friends cracked up.

"It was Ashutosh's idea bro, but hold on to it well, okay?"

I glared at them with a hostility they had never seen before, "How do you expect me to keep it? What if my dad sees it, he'll burn me alive then!"

"I think we should've gifted him a girl. Not that someone will be ready, but the condom is pretty useless. He's going to die all alone... and the name on his tomb would be VIRGIN JACOB FRANCIS!" My friends laughed and continued with their mockery.

"Why does it even matter? It's none of your business." I snapped.

"Hey, he's not denying it!" They laughed to their heart's content and then handed me the real gift, which happened to be a chess set. That was a relief.

After having lunch and roaming around with them, I headed back home by the evening. My mother was preparing pork fry- my favorite- for dinner. She enquired about what I had for lunch and how my friends were doing.

"Do you happen to know a girl from our Parish, named Sanika?"

"Nope. Why?"

"She was with you in St. Joseph's school too."

"No idea."

"Oh... It's just that her mother had called, she got my number from Aunt Rose. That girl has cleared the required test for your school and was inquiring how your school 'Ryan' is, compared to Joseph's."

"Oh.."

Then I headed straight to my bed, tired from stuffing up all those pizzas for lunch. As I was laying, I thought about how the name Sanika seemed familiar.

Wait.

Sanika Mathew? Is it her? The girl, I saw a few days back at the park! Her name was Sanika right... well... why am I getting excited over it, I should just sleep.

That's when I remembered, the first time I had met her.

I was in 9th grade and was attending a Math lecture. She entered our class with a packet of chocolates, wearing a red top and black jeans.

My classmates beside me were whispering among themselves, "Isn't that her? The scholar who has had top score for past two years. I heard she was unbeatable."

Her hair was short then, just reaching her shoulders. In our school, we had this custom where the birthday student distributed chocolates to each and every teacher in school, and could also wear an attire of their choice. So even the most average girl does manage to stand out on her birthday, as everyone else wore the boring uniforms.

Our Math teacher wished her, "Happy birthday! What's your name?"

"Sanika"

"That's a rare one, what does it mean?"

"It means flute."

"Wow! That's a beautiful name you have. May God bless you."

She smiled and her cheeks turned red. After handing him a bar of chocolate, she left the class.

As I remembered this incident, I thought to myself,

Her name sounds nice...