Skip to main content

The Girl Who Would Not Fail

Part I - The Confession

Jazzy sat alone on the verandah, hugging herself and rocking back and forth. Practically everyone was asleep on this hot summer day, except Jazzy and her mother, Lakshmi. Why wasn't mummy asleep? thought Jazzy and then remembered she was busy getting the guest room ready for the relatives arriving over the weekend. She returned gloomily to her current problem, which was beginning to scare her the more she thought about it. How could I have been so stupid? What will I do now? I cannot fail, not now...I've never failed! 

 Jazzy was lost in her troubles and nearly missed her mother calling her name. She jumped to her feet and walked up the stairs quickly. The maid had just finished sweeping the room when she entered, making her cough a little.

"Where have you been all this time Jazzy? I've been calling you for 5 minutes now!" barked her mom, worried as usual about the impending guests.

Sometimes Jazzy felt like the front door should be replaced by one of those revolving doors for offices, relatives and guests came and went in a procession of sorts.

"I was just thinking about my final exams...." wailed Jazzy and to her mother's horror, fell on the bed and started crying. Lakshmi was quite stunned. Jazzy had always been a straight A student, from her first kindergarten exam onward. True, she tended to stress a bit too much over her studies but this was completely unexpected. She gave her daughter a few minutes to calm down before asking her what exactly the matter was.

"The first year exams are starting in just 3 weeks and I don't know a thing!" Sobbing intermittently, Jazzy poured out her woes. "I hate the boring classes and don't understand anything of economics or law. But those papers are not a problem, I can pass them somehow. What I am really terrified of is the Accounting paper. I'm surely going to fail Amma!"

Lakshmi asked sternly "And why didn't you come to me or your father until now? We could have arranged some tuition or additional help if you had only told us you were having problems in class!"

"I was afraid of getting scolded, what will father say?" Inwardly Jazzy thought 'He doesn't praise me even if I top the class, God knows how he will react if I say I actually failed!'

Lakshmi sighed. Murthy, her husband, was a good man and did everything he could for his family but he was certainly not affectionate towards the children. They were all afraid of him to some degree, even though he never yelled or got angry with them. But that could not be helped right now.

"Well I'm not going to scold you, you are upset enough as it is. But you need to talk to your father about this, the sooner the better. I'll tell him about it tonight but tomorrow you have to ask him for help yourself."

"Do I have to? Can't you just arrange something and tell me what to do?" asked Jazzy hopefully. She really was scared of her father.

Lakshmi shook her head. "No Jazzy, you know he will expect to talk to you about this. After all, it is your problem. You have to take care of it."

Read: Part II - The Arrangement
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Don’t We Raise Our Sons like We Do Our Daughters?

This post originally appeard in Women's Web: Why Don’t We Raise Our Sons like We Do Our Daughters? One of the hot button topics right now in Indian media is the safety of women – or rather how our country doesn't really care about half its population. From rape, sexual assault, harassment (in streets, public transport, nearly every public place) to violence perpetrated on women, Indians are finally getting around to discussing taboo topics. One refrain that caught my eye throughout these debates – both online and off – is the fact that the reaction of the majority of Indians is the same: girls should stay at home, not go out after dark, dress appropriately and so on if they want to stay safe. No one seems to bat an eyelid when laying down these precautions for women. Except that the reality is women would be far safer if all the men simply DID NOT RAPE or HARASS any person that looks remotely female. No one has to stay at home and become a hermit! That got me th...
3 comments
Read more

Arranged Versus Love Marriage

This post originally appeared in Women's Web:  Arranged Versus Love Marriage: Here's Why Things Are Changing In 21st-century India, change is so rapid that we barely have time to get used to something before some new trend is on the horizon. And I'm not just talking about technology here. Whether it is human behavior, relationships, societal or cultural norms, Indian society – along with the rest of the world – today is hardly recognizable to my parents or their parents. It's not a surprise that the institution of marriage and the process of finding a life partner is also undergoing a metamorphosis. Perhaps this is one of the areas where the gap between generations is the most obvious. Almost every day, there is a TV show or media report or blog post talking about arranged vs. love marriages. So I figured I would present my take on it as well! Whenever anyone talks about arranged versus love marriages - I don't know why they are always portrayed as opposing ...
4 comments
Read more

One Step Up

Radha Radha knew that Lakshmi was eyeing her sari, though no expression showed on her face. All the maids thought she was arrogant for not talking to them but Radha had never been one of those people who thought her caste made her a better person. It had just been easier not to talk to anyone when she had first come to the city. Besides, these maids never had anything much to talk about except gossip and no one knew better than her how much damage could be caused when women gossiped! It was gossip that made her believe in Chandrasekhar. That he was a famous author, pretending to be a wastrel and swindler for his latest novel. He had been so charming, she had fallen for him completely. Her parents had died when she was 13 and she had always wanted someone to take care of her. She had been so happy. Until the day she woke up to find that he had disappeared and her house sold without her knowledge. He had turned out to be a swindler, pretending to be a famous author. She had been l...
2 comments
Read more