“You are what?”
“I will explain on the way. Now wash your face quickly.” Sahithi stared at the man for a while before realising she was indeed hungry.
“Where is the washroom?”
“Come with me.” He turned and walked out of the room and despite her misgivings, Sahithi followed him. She was slowly coming round to the fact that everything here was drastically different from what she had seen till then.
“Just like those evil gits to join me here!” she ground her teeth in frustration. “Just wait till I make you pay back with interest.” The man stopped and turned towards her.
“Pardon?” she realised she had spoken her thoughts aloud.
“Nothing. I wasn’t talking to you.” He gave a weird look at her.
“This is the wash basin.” He pointed to her. “The bathrooms and toilets are over there.” He checked his watch. “You have five minutes.” She felt like smacking his head but didn’t. It was not worth it. She quickly washed her face and came out.
“So, what is a Group Lead?” he appeared surprised.
“You really don’t know?”
“Why would I ask you if I did?”
“Alright. It’s very simple. A Group leader is one who leads the group. I am your group leader.”
“I have a group?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“All girls are put in groups of five led by a team leader. That is me.”
“Why?”
“Because girls need to be supervised.”
“Are there any girls who lead girls groups?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Girls can’t govern themselves.”
“That’s misogynist.”
“So? What is your point?”
“It doesn’t make any sense.”
“It doesn’t have to.” They had reached the mess. “Just follow me and do what I say. And don’t contradict me in the mess or it will be bad for you.” He led her into the mess walking towards the counter and took a plate. Sahithi did the same. The menu was mouth watering – liver fry, mutton curry, pulav, curd. She filled her plate with those dishes and walked to the table.
The problem was that for a girls boarding school, there were a fair number of males as well in the mess. And each male student was sitting with at least five female students. The male who had brought her to the mess was sitting in the centre of the hall. She joined the others at the table.
“This is our new team member, Sahithi.” The male introduced her to the other three girls, who responded enthusiastically,
“Hi. I am Sharona.”
“Hi. I am Supriya.”
“Hi. I am Amulya.”
“Hi all. I am Sahithi.”
“Welcome to The Mad Hatters.”
“The what?”
“The Mad Hatters. That’s the name of our group.” The girl named Betsy explained. “We shall be together when we are in the hostel. For everything.” The way she said it made Sahithi suspicious that it was not so simple.
“What does our group do?”
“Let’s eat first. We are already late.” He said starting his meal. “We will talk after dinner.” The five hungry students attacked their dishes with gusto making short work of them in no time. Soon, the table was full of empty plates.
They put the plates in the dish-wash area and went out chatting to their dormitory. “Sahithi.”
“Yes?”
“This is your schedule. Don’t be late.” With that the team lead walked away towards room. Sahithi couldn’t help notice that the room had a door and a handlebar. Her face turned red when she saw the lack of any door to the big hall they were going to share.
“That is your bed.” Amulya said pointing to the only unoccupied bed in the room. Sahithi found the bed quite comfortable though it was nowhere as luxurious as the one at her home. School hostels were not made for luxury. She quickly arranged her things; the photo frame with the family picture was placed on the study table along with the alarm clock. The blanket was placed over the pillow neatly while the clothes went into the wardrobe.
“You are very organised. Have you been studying in boarding schools?” Amulya asked sitting cross-legged on her bed.
“Yes. I spent 9th and 10th class (9th and 10th grades) in the Adarsh Gurukul Vidyalayam, Hyderabad.”
“Wow! That’s one of the best residential schools in the country! Why did you leave that school?” Amulya seemed impressed.
“I lost my parents in an accident.”
“And you still managed to come here!” Amulya seemed surprised and for once, Sahithi did not mind the apparent lack of sympathy at the tragic news. “You must be really rich.”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“You don’t seem happy about it.”
“The greatest wealth for a person is to have loved ones around. Not materialistic riches.”
“That’s deep.” remarked Betsy. “You can count on us. We are family now.”
“Thanks.”
“Have you seen your schedule?”
“No. Why?”
“Read it aloud. Let’s see if we are in the same class.”
“Okay.” Sahithi opened the printed schedule the team leader had given her. “English in the first period, followed by Hindi, and a free period. Then, commerce, followed by lunch. Then History, Economics, games.” She frowned. “I never wanted to take HEC.”
“Really?”
“Yes. In fact I never even knew I was coming here till last morning.”
“That’s bad.” Sahithi sighed sadly.
“I don’t think I have any say in the matter. I have to make the most of my time here.”
“Well, it won’t be that bad. Cheer up.”
“Yeah. We will be together in the English and games periods.” Sahithi looked at her inquiringly. “We are in the MBPC batch.”
“Lucky guys!”
“Oh, not so lucky when you have to face a dragon, a tiger and a ghost!” Sahithi’s eyes went wide in shock.
“You don’t mean that do you?” she asked with a twinkle in her eye. “Sounds like fun!” The others burst into laughter at her words.
“Too bad you are not in our class! We might actually enjoy the classes then.”
“Don’t worry. Who knows what will happen tomorrow?” They talked till lights out and slept, waiting for the new morning and a new day in their life.
The day was bright and Sahithi was in great spirits as she took in the benefits of the morning sun. Since childhood she had been rising up early in the day to watch the sun rise and as a result she received plenty of Vitamin D that those orange rays of the sun. She was ready to face a new day with renewed vigour. She went on a tour of the washrooms, finding no one there. However, what struck her odd was the lack of separate bathrooms. It was obvious they had to bathe in the hall like area. She took a deep sigh and got ready before anyone else woke up. “Hey, when did you get up?” Betsy asked as Sahithi came in. “An hour ago.” “Ah, I see. As you fall into the routine you will not be able to get up so early.” Sahithi smiled and started reading the Bhagavadgita. It was her habit to start the day with at least a few slokas from the Gita that gave her enough mental strength, vigour and energy to face the day. Betsy stared at her for a long time before getting ready. “Why? Is the schedul
This time Sahithi was better prepared as she knew the only way to escape was to bite down her pain and do what they told her to. Her best chance lay in following their words to the letter. She prepared herself mentally for the stroke that was about to come but despite steeling her mind she still could not help crying out in pain at the sting on her bottom that brought tears in her eyes. "One." she said gritting her teeth to shut out the pain. "Thank you sir." "See? It was not so difficult after all!" she ground her teeth at those words but what could she do? The second stroke was even harder than the first one and she wiggled her ass before managing "Two. Thank you sir." The teacher came near her and placed his hand on her ass cheeks and she jerked involuntarily. "Enough!" he said. "Leave her." she got up grateful for the reprieve. "Tell us about yourself." She had by then lowered her skirt and restored her dignity. with a face red as a beetroot she started introducing herself. “I
Sahithi felt her bum burn and snapped out of her thoughts. The teacher was staring daggers at her sending chills down her spine. It was obvious he had spanked her but she couldn’t understand the fear she felt with this teacher. There was something odd about him that rang alarm bells in her mind.“First you insult me with your insolence. Then, you start day dreaming. Who do you think you are?” she gulped at those words.“Sorry sir. I was distracted.”“Oh yeah?” he sneered. “Solve the problem on the board and I will let you be ‘distracted’.” He stressed the word ‘distracted’ making her blush in embarrassment. This had never happened before so she was a bit ashamed. Still, she gazed at the board and was a bit shocked to see what was written there. “Move to the teacher’s table and explain your solution.”There was only one word on the board – Ca
What had started as a bright had become a nightmare for Sahithi as she sat through the post lunch classes. The word had already spread about her rebellious attitude and the teachers seemed determined to snuff it out as soon as they could. Her bottom bore the marks of discipline meted out to her for outrageously silly reasons. As she listened to the lectures her mind drifted to her experience in the previous school. “Varna system was explained by Sri Krishna in the Bhagavadgita very clearly dispelling the doubts of Arjuna that are unfortunately the doubts of most of the people today.” Her Sanskrit teacher had said. As can be seen in the slokas 1.39 through 1.44, Arjuna talks of caste purity, a fear of inter-varna marriages, change of one’s varna, etc. He appears to be afraid that the society will be spoiled if people change the varna of their birth and appears to be advocating a varna based on birth.”
Sahithi lost count of the time as she stared at the book, turning pages without really reading anything. She just wanted to get this over with.“Tell me,” the professor asked suddenly. “what the author says in the first page.” She was startled by the sudden question. “Do you think you can fool me by turning the pages?” he was far more perceptive than what she had given him credit for. “Read the pages aloud from the beginning.”She knew there was no escaping this time. As she read the words aloud her eyes grew wide in shock at the blatantly negative portrayal of the varna system. It was worse than what was given in textbooks prescribed by the board of education. “India is divided into four castes which are based on birth.” The book started. “It is a rigid system which cannot be changed. Lord .... was responsible for challenging this system and the Indians should be grateful that he removed o
“Where were you the whole night?” Amulya demanded as Sahithi walked in tired and hungry. She was fully dressed though only she knew how much she had suffered the previous night.“Don’t ask.” She said with a low voice. “It was a nightmare.”“Take my advice, never raise your voice or say anything against the teachers and you will be fine.” Sahithi’s eyes flared up in anger.“And stay a mute spectator to the atrocities of these horny, sadistic maniacs?”“Do you have a death wish?” they turned towards the door and saw the group leader looking very serious. “Not only did you not inform me about your detention, but you stay away from the hostel the whole night. I had to face the scoldings of the warden!”“So that is my fault? I thought you were all well informed about everything that happens around here.”“That doesn&rsqu
The Annual parade was a big event where all the staff and students were involved. This was the first cultural event in the year that aimed at bringing the best from everyone. Since Sahithi had decided to put her head down, she tried to gather some information about the mega event.“What is this parade the principal talked about?” she asked Amulya who was sitting beside her.“It is a mega event that kick starts the academic year.” She replied. “It is divided into two parts – outdoor event and indoor event.”“The outdoor event is done by the selected members from the staff and students.” piped in Betsy. “Since you are a transfer student, you will be in the indoor event.”“Selections are done based on how well the staff and students have performed in the previous year. This is usually done at the end of the academic year and the selected members get practice sessions before
The excitement of the Annual parade soon gave way to more serious school activities – activities that boring yet unavoidable. The academic schedule had already been given and the teachers started taking classes with full zeal. The schedule was so jam packed that the students didn’t have much time to think. The parade brought one change in Sahithi – she stopped contradicting the teachers and her punishments got reduced. The teachers also seemed to think that she had been broken enough to be brought in line with the others. That was far from the case.The whole campus had 10 classes – 8th class (grade) to final year post graduate class. All the students stayed in the campus. All the students were divided into four houses – Dasi, Sevaki, Kamini, Mohini. Sahithi was shocked when she saw the names of the houses. Since all the House Masters were male, she didn’t have to guess much about the choice of name