I Kissed A Girl In My Class by Abhilash Gaur Read Free Book Online Page A

done, but leave the payment part
to me.”
    “Thank you, Papa,”
said Manu gratefully.
    “Hasn’t your rear
tyre been through quite a few punctures? Get the tube changed as
well. We don’t want the air leaking out in a race.” Manu was
delighted with his father’s generosity. Papa had taught him to
cycle years ago, but now they didn’t get to spend much time
together.
    ***

10. Time To
Practise
    Next morning,
Manu stopped by at the mechanic’s to fix his “appointment” for the
afternoon, and told him everything he wanted done. “I have to win a
race,” he said importantly. He rode faster than usual and Sharad
complained, “We’ll reach school in no time. What will we do there?
Let’s slow down and chat”.
    “No, let’s race.
It’s a cold morning and I want to warm up,” said Manu, and they
both started pedalling hard, leaning into the wind. Sharad started
gaining a lead. First by a wheel’s length, then by a cycle’s
length, and it certainly wasn’t a photo finish at the school gate.
Sharad was panting and sweating, but Manu was gasping. He sat with
his head resting on the handlebar, legs spread wide. He could swear
that he had pedalled twice as many times as Sharad, yet lost. He
hated his cycle, felt disgust for the “ladies” model, and realized
that he had got into an unequal match. How much difference would
practice make? He had just over a week to overcome the double
handicap of age and a smaller cycle.
    The friends parked
their cycles and walked to their classrooms. But while Sharad
chattered on, Manu was very quiet. The pain of defeat was hardening
into grim resolve and for the next few days he was a very different
boy.
    In the afternoon,
Sharad found that Manu had left without waiting for him. He felt
bad but there were other friends who used to cycle with them half
the way, and he wasn’t alone till almost his campus wall. As he
turned left off the main road he saw Manu sitting beside the cycle
mechanic on his blazer. “Oye,” Sharad shouted, “why didn’t you wait
for me?” Manu avoided his eyes. He was still hurting from the
morning’s defeat and lied that he needed to get his cycle
repaired.
    Sharad came over
and sat down to see what was going on, but Manu didn’t want even
his best friend to see how he was getting his bike ready for the
race. “Let’s go home,” he said, “this job is going to take a while.
My cycle was in a bad shape”. And then turning to the mechanic he
said, “keep it ready, bhaiya, I will come back for it in two
hours”.
    When Manu didn’t
come to play in the evening, Sharad came to his house and learned
that Manu was already out playing. “Where, aunty? I didn’t see him.
He’s been acting funny since the morning.” Manu’s mother was
alarmed but didn’t show it. She knew her son’s temper. It was best
to wait till he decided to tell her what was going on.
    Without informing
anyone, Manu had gone back to school, and by avoiding the guard’s
eye had brought his newly-mended cycle to the race track. When the
other students finished their sports practice and left around 5pm,
he started riding on the track. He didn’t have a stopwatch but
using his black HMT he timed every lap to the nearest second. At
first, his speed increased with each lap, but as he grew tired he
became slower, and the worsening lap times made him dejected. He
rested on the grass, which had turned cold even before sunset, and
let it dig into his palms. There was no one around and the two old
Bahadurs, both Nepalese guards, who watched the gate were too lazy
to leave their chairs. Only the stray dog that kept them company
came over wagging its tail and sat beside Manu, who patted him
gratefully. He wanted to win, he felt he SHOULD win, but realized
that it wouldn’t happen. Not this year.
    The dog watched
him patiently as he went round the track again and again, now
driven by plain fury rather than strength. But the laps became
slower and slower till finally, boiling with