The whole village of Raghupur was abuzz with the reports of an astrologer's wonderful predictions. I was a dashing college boy then and the best student in the village.After matriculating with 96%,I was doing my intermediate science in our local college. The village people didn't like the idea of a brilliant student like me studying in the local college but I was nonetheless satisfied.That my parents were poor and couldn't send me to a distant and different college was a matter of immense relief to me.
The wise old astrologer examined my horoscope and said a few negative things.First of all he made the prediction that I would marry a high caste Brahmin girl.A thunder fell on my father's head. We were a lower caste of weavers traditionally stigmatised as a class of people predestined to be born without brains.Some old-fashioned teachers even wondered how a weaver's son managed to outdo and excel all other students in the class.Next,the astrologer's forecast was that I could never land a government job...!Those who were listening to him during the forecast burst into laughter out of disbelief.
Everybody thought I would either be a doctor or an engineer. The old astrologer looked at them sharply and mumbled something.
In my childhood,the Revenue Officer's daughter Inna was my classmate till class seven. She was an equally talented student but couldn't score more than I did in subjects like mathematics and science.The teachers called me a genius.But Inna excelled me in English. While I was not very fair,her colour was that of pure gold.She was a covented girl till class 5.When her father had arrived in our locality as the Revenue Officer he couldn't find an English medium school for her daughter.The English medium schools were far far away from my place. So the Officer was compelled to send his only daughter to my local school where she received lessons in the mother tongue. She was a diligent and sincere girl and hence boasted to us that she faced no difficulty in coping up with the other students.The girls admired her guts and determination while boys disliked her wonderful accent and fluency in English. She was my rival in English. After her entry into our class,the old English teacher Rehman showered her with accolades and praised her English to the skies.I and the other boys couldn't bear with all this.She exerted herself to the best of her capacity to outshine me in mathematics and science but she could never do so.But she could beat almost all other boys in science and mathematics.I took due note of this and ensured that on no account must she outdo me in those two subjects. Her father appointed a private tutor but still she never managed to surpass me.Then I would tell the class that mathematics and science were much more important and serious subjects of study than English which was merely a language. I conceived a fierce hatred of the English teacher.Even I bribed him with fish from our pond,clusters of bananas,and ripe mangoes from our garden but the old devil never stopped praising Inn's English to his heart's content.After the class 7 examination,I breathed a sigh of relief because I came to know her father had been again transferred to a small town in another district.So Inna had spent two years with us at school.When the annual and the class 7 results came,I was glad that I had scored better than her in all the subjects except English and I blamed that on the old English teacher's policy of favouritism with her.But after Inna and her little brother had stopped coming to school,I missed her presence in the class. At that time,it was not at all love that made me feel so.It was something which I could never understand.On the other hand,I was at peace with myself being without my all-time rival.
I had almost forgotten Inna.I had plenty of friends who were outstanding students and three years had passed since Inna and her little brother had left school.One day when my mother and I were returning home from my uncle's house on a bus,I was startled to see Inna on a seat opposite ours. Previously she was a mere bag of bones and thin.But now she was a plump young lady and appeared to be enchanting.I saw her face and wondered whether she was Inna or a lookalike of hers.
Inna recognised my mother and conveyed her respect to mother saying,"Namaskar,how are you?" She was rather shy and looked downwards without any reason.Mother was highly talkative and started a conversation with her.She told her that her father had come back again to our division of the district with a promotion as Tahasildar. My mother laughed and expressed her gladness. She enquired about her family members and Inna's grandmother who was a pious lady who came to the temple of Mother Kali every day.Now she was no more. About her death Inna said,"Auntie,she told us two days before her death that she she was going to leave us forever. She was perfectly healthy and had no minor ailments even.As she was approaching her end,she stopped taking food. Our best efforts to feed her failed. She chanted the name of Mother Kali every moment and refused to talk to us.My brought a doctor to check her health status. The doctor who was father's friend found nothing wrong with her.On the day of her prediction,she died in her armchair while counting the beads of her rosary..."
"She was a great soul. She had told me many things about my future.They are coming true.." mother said.
Inna agreed with her and told her that she had some such powers. After a good deal more talking about the old lady,mother asked her about her further studies.She said,"Auntie,I completed matriculation securing 95.6% but I am determined to study humanities. I have an aim to pursue higher studies in English.." Mother might not have liked the idea but she encouraged her saying that one should do one likes the most. She then said,"I think you are going to study in Cuttack or Bhubaneswar..I mean in some good college..?"
"No auntie father is planning to send me to the same college in your subdivision....Moreover I can't live away from my parents..." I was very glad that she was going to study in the same college which was my only option because of my parents' low financial status. That moment Inna and I never talked,nor even exchanged smiles or glances.Now my thoughts were full of the young beauty Inn.The thought that she was going to study in the same college as mine was a source of constant joy.