“So the rate of diffusion is more in the particles of hot food because the kinetic energy...... Anjali! Pay attention here! Anjali, I am talking to you”
Despite her teacher calling her name twice, Anju gave no notice. She sat still, her eyes stuck far beyond her class window, to a cloud which was floating alone in the blissful blue sky. She had framed a story in her mind about how the other clouds loathed this one cloud for its peculiar shape and went away leaving it alone with nobody to socialise with. “ They shouldn’t be mean to him just because he is different from them”, she thought. Amused, she let out a small chuckle which moved her head a little, drifting her vision towards the smirking faces of her classmates. Though initially clueless, she figured out that they were laughing at her and she got to know the reason why as soon as her eyes met her teacher’s, which by then were fuming with anger.
Soon Anju was standing out of the class, staring down the deserted corridor of her school. “Why wasn’t the corridor empty like this the day I fell down the staircase? Everyone laughed at me. Ugh! I was so embarrassed,” she said to herself. Anju had always been the object of ridicule and mockery for all of her classmates. The first day of her school this year just made it worse. Her fall from the staircase became a standing joke ever since that day. “And, once again I’m going to be the talk of the town. They’re all going to call me a loony daydreamer ”she sighed, “I wish I had friends like others do.” Tears started rolling down her cheeks as she said that.
Right from her childhood, Anju had kept blaming herself for not being able to socialise. Her every attempt to mingle with others had ended up in her being bullied and ridiculed. “Maybe I just don’t deserve friends,” she said with a whimper.
Suddenly her sobs and whimpers were interrupted by a dull thud. Anju, startled by the sound, wiped off her tears and rushed near the staircase to check. She saw a ten year old boy down the staircase, mewling in pain, with one hand covering his elbow. “Probably he fell down the stairs, “she thought “Are you okay,” asked Anju. “Yeah,” came a feeble sound from the boy’s mouth. Anju helped him get up and guided him to the infirmary. “Thank you”, the boy said with a grateful smile. Anju said nothing but just smiled back.
The smile stayed on her face the entire time while she was walking back to her class. There was no teacher in the class when she entered. She could hear whispers and giggles all around her as she sat on her desk. But all of it did not seem to bother her anymore. She felt elated, she felt proud, she felt positivity gushing down her veins. She looked out of the class window once again and saw that the cloud was still alone in the sky but it had increased its size and had become more widespread. “Perhaps, being alone isn’t as bad as being unhappy. The cloud is happy now,” she smiled again as she thought this. It was a smile of triumph, a smile of realisation, a smile of satisfaction.
By Nisha
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