Swimming in the Monsoon Sea by Shyam Selvadurai Read Free Book Online

doing for your holidays, my dears?”
    Mala told the old lady that she would be spending every morning in the parish hall helping Sister Dominica teach English to slum children. While she did so, she glanced anxiously at Selvi and Amrith, who smirked back at her, but did not bring up her ambition to be a nun.
    Selvi, it seemed, had all sorts of plans for her holiday — various spend-the-days at friends’ houses, day trips to a hotel that was owned by a friend’s father, a carnival they wanted to attend. She was a popular girl in school, junior netball star, on the track to house captain and head girl. She was part of a close-knit circle of friends who were also well-liked sporty girls. Suhashini, Nayantara, Otara, and Tanuja — from whose names, Amrith had coined the delicious acronym SNOT. The other students clamored for the attention of Selvi and the SNOTs, and they had received a host of invitations and had been able to choose among them. All her plans, however, would have to be fitted around the private tuition classes she had to attend every morning. Her midyear marks had been terrible, not to mention all the pranks she had pulled.
    Aunty Bundle had been summoned twice to the school office by the Mother Superior. The first instancewas when Selvi, on a dare, rode a cow that had been brought in to crop the grass on the school playground. The second was when Selvi, following a seminar on menstruation by a Kotex representative, had worn the sample sanitary pad around her neck in lieu of a school tie.
    “And Amrith,” Aunt Wilhelmina said, turning to him. “What are your plans, dear?”
    “Um … nothing much, Aunty.”
    “Well, there is your typing,” Uncle Lucky reminded him.
    “And don’t forget your school play,” Mala added.

5
Othello

    E very year, schools in Colombo, and a few in Kandy, competed in the much-anticipated Inter-School Shakespeare Competition, in which each school performed a scene from a Shakespearean play. Since none of the schools were coed, the female roles were usually played by juniors in the boys’ schools, and the male roles played by seniors in the girls’ schools. There were separate prizes for each gender. Last year, Amrith had played Juliet and won the cup for Best Female Portrayal from a Boys’ School. Aunty Bundle and the girls had been ecstatic over his success, but no one was prouder than Uncle Lucky at seeing Amrith win the cup for his alma mater.
    Usually, rehearsals for the Shakespeare Competition began after the August holidays, with the event being held in the last week of November. This year, however, the competition was to be held earlier. The British Council wasbringing over a one-man show by an actor from the Royal Shakespeare Company in England. This actor had graciously agreed to judge the competition. To suit his schedule, the event was going to be held in early October.
    There was much excitement over the prospect of having a real professional actor from such a prestigious company as the judge. An added aura of glamor hung over the competition, and each school was even more determined to win all the cups. The drama teacher and students at Amrith’s school had all agreed that they should meet a few times over the August holidays to rehearse; that this sacrifice must be made to try and win honor for the school colors.
    Rehearsing in the holidays was no sacrifice at all for Amrith. He was greatly looking forward to it, as a relief from the tedium of the empty days ahead. He was also very excited at the prospect of a real Shakespearean actor judging the competition. After he had won the cup last year, he had begun to secretly entertain the idea of becoming an actor. He often fantasized about being in various shows and the numerous curtain calls he would receive.
    He had already got a taste for this applause and what it meant to have a reputation as a successful actor. Before he won the cup last year, he had been the kind of boy that other students ignored. Nobody