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An estimated 2-minute read

Law School Academy University 2

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By lunch time, it was all over the classroom. I had apparently fallen head over heels in love with Rahul Kapadia. This is how it all started:

 

Upon Indrani’s suggestion, we got to class ten minutes early so that we could ‘catch a place’ that was not the dreaded first bench. After much arguing about the virtues of the back vs. middle and suchlike, we agreed that middle row towards the side was a good way to avoid being conspicuous.

 

Once we took our seats, there were the first day hellos and introductions of course. Padmapriya in the front with her vampire-queen eyeliner, electric blue silk kurta, centre parting and ‘I-yamm-from-Med-rass’ accent. “Idly-sambar”, squeaked Indrani under her breath, ‘just like you!’ I rolled my eyes at her. Sweet little Medha in the next row with a charming Assamese lilt, and a serious-looking bespectacled boy in tow. ‘Madhav’, she introduced him. He flashed us a polite smile but was clearly impatient to continue his conversation with her.

 

Behind us, in a very tight, very bright orange shirt, a cap and a careful nonchalant posture was a bulky boy. He was looking at the light-skinned Ayesha with interest. When I turned, he leaped up and said, ‘Hey there guys! I am Rahul Kapadia’ in one of those Sharukh-Khan-in-NRI-movie voices.  He stuck out his hand. To my left, Ayesha had rudely turned away and was regarding her blank notebook with unconvincing interest. To my right Indrani had stuck her hands behind her, and said ‘um… hi’ quite coldly. This strange boy was standing there with his hand stuck out. So I panicked. I shook his hand, smiled and said hello like a normal human being.  Or so I thought.

 

I turned back to rib Delhi-girl Indrani about Delhi boys who called girls ‘guys’, and saw that both she and Ayesha were looking at me like I had coloured my hair neon pink. In the meantime, Rahul Kapadia’s previously silent minions had started whispering and giggling like there was no tomorrow.

 

Class began, class ended. There was texting, emailing and whispering. And as I stepped out of the classroom, a girl I had never met teetered up in her very high heels, caught my arm and shrieked, “so, I heard you are like totally into like Rahul. Soooo cute”.

 

Law School Illusion 2: The law school is a cosmopolitan place where people from different genders will work together in a mature and professional way. Shattered.

Lesson learned: Before shaking hands with strange boys, find out what the cultural code for a handshake is. In some cultures, it is only polite but in other cultures it can amount to propositioning. Just like the question ‘Will you be my friend?’.

 

 

[All characters, institutions and events in this story are fictional. Any resemblance to real persons, institutions or events is purely coincidental]

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