"Katyayani Sreenivasan",the bespectacled physics teacher thundered at the top of her voice and with no response coming from the other side ,she was about to click an 'X' mark on the attendence webpage on her laptop for absence,when a meek voice erupted...
"Yess...che..Present Miss"!
The whole class burst into laughter as if someone had cracked the joke of the century.
It was the first day of class for the year 2020 batch of eighth standard students at the prestigious "Chettinad Vidhyashram" and the teacher patiently took time to correct the poor little girl who had joined their school only that day.
She said.."Katyayani..Don't feel shy.Here at Chettinad,we don't call the teachers as Miss.You need to address us as madam!So,from hereon you should say 'Present Madam'.
Continuing with her exercise of attendence call,the teacher called out the next name in the register,with her tone exhibiting a tinge of bewilderment as she screamed..'Katyayani Shriram'!There was 2 responses of 'Present Madam' this time and one of the responses was from the earlier 'Yess miss' girl who thought the teacher was deliberately calling her name again to check if she responded correctly.
This time the whole class went reeling into uncontrollable laughter with even the strict madam succumbing and joining the 2 minutes of adolescent euphoria.This was followed by all the kids staring at both the Katyayanis and whispering ..
'Hey..2 girlsaa?same nameaa?sooper la??'...
The teacher pressed the buzzer which made a noise akin to banging a wooden duster on the desk and the speaker atop the LCD projector screen behind her, sounded an alarm with a flashing sign "Please maintain silence",bringing the class under control and she asked..
"So,2 girls with such a unique name??Where are you both from and do you 2 know each other?"
With the girls nodding their heads indicating a 'No',Katyayani Shriram spoke in her heavily americanised accent...
"Ma'am,I 'm called Kate by my friends and I'm kinda new to this place.I did my schooling till my 7th grade at Phoenix,Arizona and my dad's come back to settle in India,which made me join Chettinad.Its really amazing to find another girl with the same name,but I don't know her!"
Now,as everyone turned towards the other Katyayani,it kind of shocked the poor little girl,whose mother had just moved from Trichy to Madras for personal reasons.She opened her mouth very reluctantly and said..
"Madam..I studied at R.S.K in Trichy.My mother got transfered to Madras and so I joined Chettinad!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was lunch time as the highly sophisticated speaker system played the school jingle and greeted the students..
"Dear students.The time is 12 hrs and 0 minutes.You have a break of forty-five minutes for lunch.Kindly close your laptops and head to the Cafeteria.You have a wonderful lunch.See you at 12.45 p.m for your Biology class"
As all the students headed to the lunch area,the class was filled with the phrases "Today only Upma..cha","My mom made sandwich..cool","Just curd rice dude..It sucks".
As expected both the Katyayanis gathered together for lunch,as one of the self-assumed 8th std romeos remarked.."Birds of the same feather flock together and girls of the same name flock together?huh?" with a dirty smile,which was greeted by a look of nonchalance by the girls.
Upon a full 5 minute silence,Kate opened up the conversation between the 2 ..
"Hey...Kaats...Hope U dont mind me calling U Kaats!whats that you have for lunch?"
Kaats spoke timidly..
"Thats Ok ya!Thats what my amma also calls me....umm..I am eating my usual 'Thayir Saadham'(curd rice) with Uurga!You?"
Kate didn't seem to enjoy her newfound friend's food as she exclaimed.."eeksss..You just eat plain curd rice??Oh my Gawd!I don't like that stuff at all yaa.I ve brot Pasta and Zuchini.Wanna taste?"
Kaats continued..
"No..Thanks yaa..So you have come from America right?How was it out there?Do you find it different here?".
The next 10 minutes Kaats didn't get a chance to open her mouth,as Kate stole the show explaining her highly modern life in the U.S and the troubles she has been forced to put up with,at her current residence,which in itself was a 5 Bedroom Bungalaw worth 2 crores on the Mahindra City Highway.
To be continued..
-Raapi
Posted by rajesh | 
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