Chapter 6

Shivangi

"Shivu!!" I wake up hearing my mom incessantly shouting my name. Still groggy, I turn to my right and try to muffle the sounds using a small pillow. When that doesn't work, I finally open my and get up from my bed. "Shivu! You lazy cow, get up. Don't you remember what day it is? It's going to be 10 soon. Take bath, have breakfast and get ready." my mom hollered.

I am not a morning person, so obviously my brain wasn't working in its optimum speed. It took a few seconds of hard thinking to remember what day it is. As soon as I did, my thoughts flitted to the person who monopolized my mind for the last two weeks- Krish. Even thinking his name, I felt my heart beating faster against my ribs.

For past 14 days, no matter how much I tried to control my thoughts he still dominated them. A small voice in me warned me against getting hurt but my mind seemed to be in a rebellious mind, because the more it warned the more my mind remained fascinated by him. So much so, that I, being agnostic, prayed to God to let him get into VISCOM.

Today, was the day my results were going to be published on the college website and I could feel anxiety rising in me. To distract myself, I proceed to finish all the chores and see that the time is 9:45. 15 more minutes for the results to come. I felt myself getting nervous again and closed my eyes to calm down. But like everytime in the past 2 weeks, as soon as I closed my eyes Krish's face appears. This time, it's him telling me to distract myself when nervous. I feel relaxed, a little and go to my room and pick a book from a pile of books on my desk and plop onto the plush sofa.

Unlike most avid readers, I didn't have a traditional introduction to reading through classics or Enid blyton and neither did I start in my childhood. In fact, I started reading in my teens, eighth grade to be precise; my first being an Agatha Christie. Though it took me 6 months to finish my first book, it soon turned into a habit and passion. So much that, now my reading a book calms and distracts me from nervousness.

Just as I was about to open the book to read, the landline phone starts to ring. "Shivu, pick up the phone!!" my mother hollers from the kitchen a second after the ring. I get up and pick up the phone. "Hello?" I say to the phone and am rewarded with my dad's precise words, "I will check your results, text me your registration number." Before I can respond, the call was disconnected and all I could hear was the dial tone.

I sigh. Oh well..

I quickly text him the registration number and proceed to read the book.

A few moments later, the landline rings again and before mom can yell, I pick the phone.

"You didn't get into VISCOM but your name had made the list for Animation course" he said, without expressing much emotion.

I felt numb, though I wasn't really fond of VISCOM, I would have preferred the former over the later. But what dampened my spirits above all else, was that I couldn't be Krish's classmate. For the past two weeks, I have been consoling myself, telling myself that at the end I still get to meet him again. I hoped that I could get to know him better, to see him everyday. But now..? My mind was still reeling with all these thoughts that my father's next words didn't register in my head until he repeated.

" Why are you silent? Even my influence can't get you a seat in that college for that course. You better go for English literature." He finished, smugly.

"Father father father, even you know you're lying. Your influence can get me a seat but you will never do it, so you can force me to go your way" I think to myself.

All my life, my dad has always tried to force his opinions on me and control my choices. And though, sometimes I am left with no choice but to let him win, most times, I take my own decisions. This time was not going to be any different. VISCOM and Animation are part of the same department, which means there will be a lot of possible interactions between the two classes. Which also means, that I will get to meet Krish on a regular basis without being his classmate. Besides, my grandmother always thought I will flourish in a field like Animation, so I might as well give it a shot. My decision made, I take a deep breath before replying, "I will do Animation."

"What? Why do you want to do animation, all of a sudden?" he asks agitated. Before I can reply, I hear someone knocking on his cabin door through the phone. The guy said something to dad, who disconnected the call without a word. I look at the receiver and sigh with disappointment. "We can't even have a disagreement without your work interrupting us" I thought to myself before placing the receiver to the cradle. I go to the sofa and continue reading.

Evening came faster than I anticipated and I spent most my time reading while waiting for dad to return from office. It was going to be 6 in a while, I close my book and open internet on my sister's laptop. I search about animation courses and it's syllabus at various universities but fortunately, St. Joseph had their syllabus on the website itself. As I went through it, I realised that the syllabus for animation and VISCOM were similar, the only difference being certain core subjects. Satisfied and armoured with the information, I close the laptop and resume reading the book.

At sharp 6 pm, I hear dad's car entering the garage downstairs. His car has a distinct vibration that I am accustomed to hearing every day. I close my book again and wait for him. He walks in few moments later and walks by me without sparing me a glance. He looked irritated and I wasn't surprised. I waited him call me into his room for the discussion, as I knew it was going to take sometime.

"Hey, dad call you in, yet?" I turned toward the voice to see my sister, Shivakari enter the house. She works in a television network in their marketing department and often runs half an hour late while returning from the office and ends up coming after dad is already home. Today was one of those days and she seems to have hurried upstairs. Her dark brown hair was a mess and she was sweating profusely. Though we are sisters, we couldn't be anymore different, looks wise and character wise. While she was obidient and overly emotional, I was rebellious and rational. While I was fair skinned as our mother, she had a slightly wheat-ish complexion as our Father. But we both had equally huge chocolate brown eyes and full lips, the difference being that her eyes are covered with her glasses and I don't need glasses. Yet.

"Nah! He just came in. You know how it is, he will take time to think it over first, before he calls me in, to look for a way to override my decision."

"So... are you going to let him?" she asks as she plops down on to the sofa chair opposite to me.

"Hahaha... you should know better than asking me that." I tell her as I shake my head. "You know I am always prepared for any of his arguments."

"Shivu!" my dad's voice floats to the living room before Shivakari could reply. I get up, walk to his room near the dining area and enter dad's room.

Few moments later I come out of his room and see my sister sitting at the dining chair, waiting for me. "Well...?" she asks.

My lips curve up a little and I say, "I won. Animation it is."