I am in class III and I write with ink pens and at times, I get to use gel
pens. It is a big deal. Till last class we only had pencils. I am not
allowed to write with ball point pens because the GK teacher thinks that our
handwriting will be hampered with dot pens. Nobody writes with a dot
pen but Protiti. She is so cool! She revolts against GK miss and uses dot
pens. Wow!
It just appeared to me that gel pens are costlier than ink pens.
Sapna mentioned it to me. I just have two gel pens, both Add Gels, the coolest
of the lot! I keep one at home and take one at school. Along with two ink pens.
It is also the first time that I understand how money matters. I save the Gel
Pens for special occasions like the classes with Samantha Miss! How much I like
when she praises me.
One day Samantha Miss announces our first term result date. I
dress up in my very pretty new floral skirt and go to school with Maa to
collect the report card. I have stood first in my class for the last 4 years in
all terms; this year would be the same. I will also get to have the BIG cone
from Kwality after the result, like every time. Maa would be there after all to
bring me home, not the bus kaku like every day. I will also eat the kool and
aamshi that all the girls who go home with guardians everyday get to have
because they don’t have the bus kaku stopping them.
I reach up to Samantha Miss, our class teacher and smile a happy
smile at her. My floral skirt looks so lovely! She hands the report card to
Maa, talks something in accented English, pulls my cheek and we come out of the
class. I am just too excited to have the Cone. My first howar instant prize. A
cassette from the most recent movie of Shahrukh will come in the evening. Like
every time. I am just too happy. Maa tells me 'third hoyechhish' with a smile
while we are walking towards the canteen and my heart breaks. It breaks so bad
that I refuse to have the ice cream cone that is so rare and loved. I am
chocked. I am shocked. I just cannot have the Ice Cream today. I am
ashamed.
My first major heartbreak!
