Monday, February 7, 2011

The Nerd Who Got A 6

The Calculus class taught by Mohammad Ali during the second session on Mondays and Wednesdays took an oath before the start of the Fall semester 2009. This oath was one which had been taken many times before – but never before with so much dedication and commitment. The oath that bound the students of the Monday-Wednesday Calculus class was that this time, be it night or day, come hail or storm, Khurram Raza or no Khurram Raza – We were going to pass this course this time! As most of us had been repeating it for the second time. This was serious stuff.

This story involves several of my friends as we all shared Calculus together: Saba Bilwani, Usman Siddiqui and Danyaal Balkhi.
Danyaal is your perfect matching cap with every outfit owning, Canadian Orbit chewing, barely uttering a word, Toshiba laptop owning, Indie music loving, displaying maturity of a 60 year old kinda guy. You know, like one of those exchange students? This one’s from Canada. Therefore; the annoying accent and the annoying “I love Canada and maple syrup diets” outbursts.
Anyway, Danyaal took this oath more seriously than the rest of us. Here’s where this story begins.

On the morning of the Quiz, there was evidence to suggest that Danyaal had been up all night studying. His perfectly outfit color coordinated cap was tilted on his head, his white face was whiter, his beard: all over the place and he was NOT chewing Orbit. Like I said, this was serious stuff.
As I sat comfortably in the student lounge painting my nails, he walked up to me looking like a mad scientist with bloodshot eyes. Like an addicted gamer playing video games all night. We went to class together and gave the quiz. I copied two questions off Danyaal’s paper thinking that the Canadian kid had it covered.
The next class arrived and we got our quiz marks; we were nervous of course. The teacher then started calling out our marks:
“French Kid…9! French Kid’s Friend…9! Tareq…9! Saba…9! Rida…9! Tall Guy With Sissy Voice…9! Tall Guy With Sissy Voice’s Girlfriend…9! And Danyaal Balkhi…6!
There was silence at the Canadian front. We all sneaked a peek at Danyaal from the corner of our eyes. It was the same look Shobi had when had found out Mischa Barton’s new show was cancelled after just one episode. The same look everyone else had when Usman Siddiqui had told us his IBA story. The same look Saba had when Abeer’s Pet Society score went ahead of hers. The same look Nadir had when the CBM guards took away his camera. Yes, it was a look we all have had at some point in time. It was…pain. It was painful to watch too. First his eyes went wide with shock, then his mouth formed a small ‘o’ and then finally anger:
“How is this possible?!”
“I got a nine I got a nine and I cheated off you…”
“Yes! What?! NO! How can someone who was painting her fingers nails before the quiz get a 9?!”

So we waited patiently after class for our friend till he talked to the teacher for what seemed like years. It was probably the only time Danyaal uttered sentences; normally it’s either a nod on a good day or simply the blinking of the eyes to let you know that he heard you. We were good friends, Saba, Usman and I. We waited patiently, nodding encouragingly whenever necessary. But then Nida texted and said she was hanging out in the Student Activity Centre so I had to jet. But Daanyal was lucky; lucky to have friends like us. That is what this entire story is about: friendship and how it can make a difference in a person’s life…just like it did for Danyaal. That is what this story is all about and not about The Nerd Who Got A 6!

1 comment:

  1. umm..unless you friends helped him change his grade to a 9 this was pretty much about the nerd who got a 6!

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