Monday 8th of August was the big day. I woke up early, had my bath and stood infront of my cupboard trying to figure out which saree I should wear. I didn’t like any of the sarees Maria bought for me. I picked the light green saree with light pink flowers on it. I opened the saree and tried to wear it. I couldn’t get the pleats right. Every time I folded the pleats, it became either too big or too small. Aparna’s mother was watching me.
“Nina come here” She called
I lifted the saree from the floor and dragged my feet and walked to where she was standing. She was laughing
“You never wore a saree before?”
“only once, 3 years ago”
She showed me how to fold the pleats and helped me to tuck the pleats inside the skirt.
Shylaja and Aparna wore salwars and I didn’t understand why Maria insisted that I wear sarees. Together we walked to the mess hall to have our breakfast. We saw a lady standing near the main door and speaking to someone out side
“Senior” Shylaja whispered
Quickly we placed our hands on the chest and sang
“Oh mighty mighty senior
I am a dirty dirty junior”
The stunned ‘senior’ turned around and looked at us. She started to mutter
“Aiyyo Amma, I clean the rooms here”
Without another word we ran out. Breakfast was poori masala and we found a place to sit. Every few seconds all the juniors would get up and sing the anthem as the seniors arrived one by one to eat breakfast. The messwalah and his assistants were laughing at us. We ignored them.
After breakfast we went back to the room to wear our white coat and go to the class.
It felt so good to wear the white coat. I could see myself being transformed in to a new person. Shylaja was the first to be ready and she opened the door to go out.
“Hurry up guys, we will be late”
I was just about to leave and noticed Aparna bending down and touching her mother’s feet. Her mother had tears in her eyes. I wanted to touch her feet too. I desperately wanted a mother’s blessings. But the thing about life is that, you can’t borrow or buy a mother.
“Bye Amma” Aparna spoke
“Bye Amma” I too said my bye to her.
My mother should have been here, seeing me going for my classes wearing the white coat. Was it my destiny or was it her destiny that it didn’t happen?

There were lots of people outside our classroom. Even the boys were dropped to the college by their parents. Aparan’s family( father, uncle aunty grandmother and cousins) too was waiting for her there. I watched each of them hugging her and wishing her good luck.
Entire morning went with professors introducing themselves and telling us, what they expect from each of us. Finally one professor spoke
“We will begin our dissection class tomorrow. All of you must bring your dissection set with you. Those who don’t bring their set, don’t bother to come for the lessons. Understand?” He screamed.
Shylaja was sitting next to me
“What is dissection set?” I asked her
“tools for Anatomy dissection”
“Do you have one?” I asked her
“yes, I bought it yesterday”
“How did you know, you needed one?”
“They gave the list of all the things you need, when you came right?”
I wanted to kill Maria. She would have known and didn’t buy it, so I would get in to trouble.
“How much is the set?”
“65Rs”
I looked at Shylaja stunned. Where am I going to get 65 Rs to buy the set? I thought of calling Appa and asking for money. But even that would take time. There is no way Appa can send money by tomorrow morning, besides what would I tell him, when he asks to speak with Maria.
There was only one thing I could do. I walked to the principal’s office. He had some visitors in his room, so I waited outside. When they left, I walked in.
He raised his eyebrows and looked at me
“Nina, ‘xyz’s Niece” I hoped he would remember me
“Oh yes” He nodded his head. “What can I do for you?”
“Can I please make a phone call?”
He looked at me trying to figure out, why I came to his office asking to make a phone call, when there is a phone booth in my hostel. I wasn’t going to tell him that, I don’t even have 50 paise to make a local call.
He rang the bell on his table and when the peon came he told him
“Take her to the admin office. Tell Mariappa, I have authorized her to make a phone call”
“Thank you sir” I thanked him and followed the peon to the admin office
I watched the peon and Mariappa talking in Kannada. I didn’t understand anything. Mariappa looked at me and asked
“What is the number?”
“I will dial” I told him
Mariappa didn’t like it. He pushed the phone towards me
“Make it short” he ordered.
‘poda marathalaya..onathinte edela poottu kachodam’. I glared at him.
I dialled the direct line number. I heard him saying
“Hello”
“can I speak to Maria?” I asked
“Oh Kochumaharani! Why Kochumaharani, you called my direct line and pretending that you want to speak with your sister? You missed me, isn’t that why you are calling. By the way from where are you calling?”
I knew he can see the number on his caller ID. His private line shows caller ID. I wasn’t going to tell him from where I called, cause I knew as soon as I put the phone down, he will dial the number and I wanted Mariappa to handle him.
“Can I please speak to Maria?” I asked again
“She isn’t here Kochumaharani”
“I need to speak to her”
“Well, I can’t help you darling”
I moved the phone away from my ears. I didn’t want that ‘darling’ to touch any part of my body. I looked up and found Mariappa staring at me listening to the conversations. I didn’t know what to do.
“I need a dissection kit”
“Oh! When?”
“Tomorrow morning”
“ok. I will send it with one of my officers this evening. Oh by the way darling, I am going to Switzerland next week. I will visit you when I come back by the end of this month. Wait for me. Ok? Oh and wear the blue saree with zari border, I bought for you.”
I quikly put the phone down. I had 23 days to plan my escape.