Chapter 7: The Welcome
I did not see Mallu for the rest of the day. It was an eventful day.
The Athlete took our Gen Test (General Knowledge based though it was all absurd and was no knowledge!!!). Imagine being asked to answer questions like how many tiles were on the bathroom walls (who counts????), how many tube lights in the corridor (does it include humans too???), so on and so forth.
Senorita gave a long sermon on dressing sense and conduct.
Saapy checked us for our musical abilities. Thankfully, one song from my friend Singer spared me of the torture as Saapy sent us scuttling back. He had had enough of Celine Dion's disastrous cover on "I'm Alive" to last him for the entire day. Now you understood why I called my friend Singer??? To even out, she called me Skeleton and I make no bones in accepting that you could pin me on a clothespin then and I could scare the hell out of people with my long hair falling over my face and blowing in the wind (By the way, I have fairly good looks so my face is not scary....ok fine...even one his/her thoughts!!!)
The rest of the afternoon was peaceful. At around six in the evening, Komol came to call me.
"Madam ji, come with me. I will take you to the Room."
"Room No 20???"
"No no, Blue Room."
I quietly followed him to a recently whitewashed room called the Blue Room. I entered and found all my tormentors sitting in a semi-circle. My friend Singer was already sitting in one of the two chairs kept in the centre.
"You are late. Go touch the gate and come back," snapped Mallu.
Singer giggled, I glared. Athlete added.
"You Singer, go join your friend in the run."
Two women in their twenties ran for their lives to touch the gate and come back. One with her dupatta and one plaited rope-line braid trailing behind, a la female superwoman!!!) and the other clad in formal suit like a corporate executive being chased by a dog on her way to work.
Huffing and puffing we reached back. We were asked to sit down. There was pin drop silence. Suddenly, everybody started clapping. We sat numb with shock and confusion.
"Welcome to the gang," they said in unison.
It was then that realization dawned that whatever had happened since the past two days was just a ploy to rag us. Formal introductions followed and tidbits about all those living in Bhairavi were shared. Besides Saapy, Senorita, Mallu, Chow and Athlete, the others who were present then were Brat, Techo and Nasky.
Saapy, Mallu, Chow and Athlete were fly boys. Senorita was a counting machine like Singer. Brat, Techo and Nasky were gadget gurus and I was declared as 10 plus two plus three plus two (do not waste your time in additions. Those who know what I mean will understand and those who can't, it simply means an Educator.)
We found that the director of the two day mini serial was none other than Mallu; others were merely actors playing their assigned part. Singer confessed that she too had cried because Mallu had accused her of lying. She had already nicknamed him as Mr Terror and for her, his terror continued for a whole month thereafter. To rub salt on our wounds, Mallu circulated our photographs in which Singer and me looked like jerks, absolute idiots. We were so embarrassed.
The whole episode had left a bitter taste in my mouth. I somehow continued to nurture my suspicions about Mallu even though all around me were laughing and calling him a genius to have masterminded the ploy. For me, he was one whom I had to be extremely careful of, weigh my words before I spoke, someone whom I should never trust.