Damsel to the Rescue - the finale

It may have been about 10 minutes for the bell, signalling the end of the exam. I had completed my paper  save for one lone question that I wasn’t sure about. I looked up and as I surveyed the classroom, I beheld many of them writing furiously onto their sheets and maybe a couple of them like me doing a survey.

It was then my gaze fell on my bench-mate, a pretty lass from 10th grade. She had finished her paper and had neatly put that on her desk, front page down. Her pen and pencils neatly tucked back into her pencil-box. Very meticulously as if unconsciously, she patted down her skirt as if to shoo away any eraser crumbs, of which there were'nt any. She beheld me surveying and as our eyes met, she smiled. Pleasantly surprised, I smiled back. Maybe it was her pair of spectacles, I felt a warmth gushing in. Shyly, as I roved my gaze away from her, my thoughts quickly changed to how best to answer that lone incomplete question.

It was then that  I espied Bala (Balasubramanian) seated in the next column of benches, immediately next to my friendly neighbour. Bala too had apparently finished his paper and was surveying the hall and as we met, he bent low on the desk and enquired how I fared with the paper. I put my head on the desk and replied, ok. Next he enquired motioning with his fingers, if I had got Question 2. Q2 was a fill in the blank with 4 sub questions a to d. He was enquiring about Q 2.a. I replied in the negative, as I too was mulling over a probable answer to that.

Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, English, Tamil and Sanskrit languages were taught in our school, but in addition we all picked Physiognomish too, on our own, the art of communicating by using the, eyebrows and lips and hands….This was a most useful tool, except in a dark room. In evolution theory, a concept wherein a species adopts traits useful for its survival, was very easy to comprehend when seen against one's own experiences.

I turned back to my paper little realizing that my conversation with Bala had aroused an interest in my friendly neighbour on my difficulty. She peered into my paper and read the question that was left blank and signed if that was the one for which I sought an answer. I nodded. She immediately try to spell the answer, silently of course,  but I just couldn’t read her lips. She tried again, but I could not get a clue.

The next moment, she gently snatched my sheet and started to fill in the blanks of that question. I did not know how to react even as I could not believe my eyes and a series of loud thuds pounded my ears, as I quickly realized that it was my heart beating… The supervisor had her back to us and was a few rows ahead and even as my heart raced, I could glean an element of extreme pleasure, mixed in with fear. A part of me did want to stop her from going any further, but she seemed to be hell-bent on giving a helping hand to an unknown boy, I simply did not have the heart to refuse that damsel's overture.

Even as she finished filling in the blanks, the bell rang. It was probably an ominous signal. And as she slid the paper back to me, the supervisor turned, taking in that sight and she divined that something was not right. My face would have been a dead giveaway, as quickening her pace, she came straight to my desk and promptly appropriated my paper. . Even as I whimpered, 'I did not do anything miss', the supervisor walked away briskly, announcing the pupils to stop writing and put the sheets on the desk.

My eyes had already welled up and I had half a mind to run behind the supervisor, but chose not to and as I turned my gaze to my friendly neighbour, she just dismissed the whole thing, with an expression that said everything is going to be all right.

I do not know if it was the fear of my name being associated with law breakers or simply her casual dismissal of my angst, that sorrow and fear gave place to an indignation; after all I never solicited her help. I just knew that all eyes were on me…and that added to the humiliation and soon, the room and the folks inside blurred away from view, as my field of vision got veiled by the cataract of my tears.

As I barged out of the room and went towards my own classroom, Sundar came from behind and confided in me that my friendly neighbour was none other than the sister of Sandhya, a back bench beauty of the class. Oh how I wished the ground to part and the earth take me in her grasp rather than trumpet my humiliation to all and sundry.

As we reached my desk, Sundar and I worked on what measures were to be taken. 'You did not ask her for help, and she helped on her own volition, so you are good', was Sundar's considered pronouncement .  I knew that but what if the girl simply refutes that and says that I was the one to ask her for help. We decided that it would be good to check for ourselves. So after washing my face, I went back to her classroom, there she was standing with her class mates in the corridor, it was the recess,  I hesitated as there were a lot of girls with her. She saw me and came forward separating herself from the group.

I went up to her and asked her, point blank,  'in the event I get hauled up, would you support me that I was not in the wrong'? To this she said simply, yes. No worries it was I who helped you…. As I heard this, my distress dissipated and I found a new respect for her, here was a beautiful being, beautiful from inside out.

I muttered my gratitude and as I regained my colour, I retraced my steps back to my class and as I looked back, taking one final look at that lovely girl, she was standing abutting the corridor wall, specs on her eyes, jimki on her ears, anklets on her feet, smiling back at a foolish kid….

And just as she had reassured me, on that day in the exam hall, I never got called by the class teacher or the principal, the matter seem to have got buried.

A few days later as our class teacher handed over the test papers in class, I was keeping my fingers crossed, it was that paper where my pretty bench-mate had dispensed unsolicited aid. As she announced my name and my marks, I had to pinch myself lest I be dreaming. I had scored full marks …..with a little help from an alluring angel and a forgiving invigilator.

Concluded