An attempt
Though the literature professor was teaching with much fervour, Titikshya's mind hovered somewhere else, all she heard were unlinked words that didn’t make any sense at all. She vacantly observed the professor jolt the duster, making specks of chalk dance in the sallow light, her eyes floated to gaze at the paint-peeled walls, an old copy of the periodic table limply hanging down. She absorbedly stared at a line of boys stacked clumsily on the wooden stools in front, she felt a sudden heaviness in her lungs, a weakness surfaced, she couldn’t do it, just couldn’t. Unwilling to dwell on her feeble mood, she hauled back her thoughts to something else, but she remembered her first day at school when the girls had gravely told her, "We don’t talk to boys, not unless it is very very necessary", without a slight titter. She came from a girl's school, taciturnity with boys wasn’t much of a disappointment, rather it saved her, she had no idea how one interacted with the opposite sex anyway. But in order to sound concerned, she had asked, "Really? But why?" "It’s a tradition", one girl had slurred sarcastically. "The boys are conservative, and they want to fit into their own circle, they mock anyone who is friendly with the girls", another had added in a solemn tone. "They think they are great, they dominate everything here………..ego problem! Why should we talk to such people?" someone had ferociously divulged. The discourse had been followed by examples of several inequitable treatment flaunted by the boys, and how the girls believed it was time to take a stand, yet how impossible it was, and other such futile talks. Few days ago, the girls had mentioned the cultural program that was taking place next week, trying to decide which song to dance on. "How about singing a song?" Titikshya had suggested fervently with a trace of prominent ardour in her eyes. Her eyes, with the colour of sandstone and moist clay, had glistened as she had thought of voicing her favourite tune on stage, singing healed her soul, and it appeased her inner core. But the girls had simply laughed at the idea, "We don’t sing, it is the boys who do. Since they play the instruments, they sing!" "But we could always ask them to play for us", she had merely stated, not understanding their argument.