37+ Grace Marks

About the author

Vishal Anand is the author of a bestselling short story collection, Emotions Unplugged. His book has not just carved a niche in the readers’ hearts, but has also remained popular since its release.

After completing his schooling from Ranchi, he received his undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering from Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Engineering, Pune and his post-graduate degree in Business Economics from Department of Business Economics, Delhi University.

Vishal works with a talent consulting partner to several domestic and international companies. Currently, he lives in Bangalore.

To know more about Vishal, visit www.vishalanand.co.in or email him at [email protected].

Praise for Vishal’s work

‘... real and inspired by people and their experiences.’

– The Pioneer

‘Numerous emotions make Emotions Unplugged a thought provoking journey.’

– The Asian Age

‘...bring rays of hope, sweetness, positivity and reasons to be together.’

– Dainik Jagran

‘All stories from Vishal’s books are full of emotions.’

– Dainik Bhaskar

‘Sip it up for an evening of emotions & nostalgia, coupled with a bite of humanity.’

– Indiareads.com

‘Very real to life.’

– Anand Neelakantan, bestselling

author of Asura and Ajaya Series

‘Vishal’s writing touches every heart.’

– Ajay K Pandey, author of bestselling

You are the Best Wife and Her Last Wish

37 + Grace Marks

...because life is beyond numbers!

Vishal Anand

Srishti

Publishers & Distributors

Srishti Publishers & Distributors

Registered Office: N-16, C.R.Park

New Delhi – 110 019

Corporate Office: 212A, Peacock Lane

Shahpur Jat, New Delhi – 110 049

[email protected]

First published by

Srishti Publishers & Distributors in 2017

Copyright © Vishal Anand, 2017

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This is a work of fiction. The characters, places, organisations and events described in this book are either a work of the author’s imagination or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to people, living or dead, places, events, communities or organisations is purely coincidental.

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Publishers.

Printed and bound in India

To my mother, for teaching me

the first few lessons of love.

Acknowledgements

It doesn’t really matter how well an individual writes. A successful book is a combined effort, involving a host of people. In particular, I would like to thank:

Priyanka Lal for giving the manuscript structure, substance and sharing her storytelling methodologies. Without her repeated editing, I could not have presented my work as proudly as I do now.

Anurag Mishra, Himani Arya, Hiren Kava, Kota Sandeep and Varsha Vairale – crazy friends who read the first draft of the manuscript and gave their honest comments even at two in the night.

My father Deep, mother Binita, brother Sumit and sister Shruti. Thank you for bearing with me and all my tantrums.

My cousin Devashish and his beautiful wife Rakhi, for letting me use their laptop to complete the last few pages of the manuscript when I had damaged mine.

My friends at BVUCOE – Pushkar, Prakash, Suraj, Neeraj, Namrata, Mayank, Anuj, Atul, Malvika, Rishi, Varun, Sachin and all others for being part of my engineering journey and making it memorable.

Ajay K Pandey, a dear friend, for helping me with this novel to the best of his abilities.

Ashwani Singh and Mayank Barnwal, wonderful friends for making the arrangements for the photo shoot and author photograph at such a short notice.

Ravinder Kaur, for making such a beautiful teaser for promoting the book.

My heartfelt thanks and gratitude to the entire Srishti team, especially Arup Bose for believing in the story and my storytelling abilities. Stuti Sharma and Jayantakumar Bose for their hard work and help in making me reach the readers.

Lastly, you – for holding this book. Thank you!

Prologue

I stood on the cliff. Tiny droplets of water glistened on the green grass that covered the hard black rocks. The city of Pune appeared minuscule. The sprawls looked like ants. The vehicles honked hard, but the distant noise was all I could hear. The sky above was darker than ever. The black clouds appeared as giants, resembling the black pages of my life – ugly and dark. The ground below called out to me. I was sure if I jumped from here, I would have only one destiny. I would end up in hell .

I reached the ledge’s end. My legs shivered. I knew, one more step and I will be lost forever. But I had no choice. If I lived, I would have to be answerable to the world, to my friends, relatives. If I died, it would be an end to my pathetic life. I was better dead than alive. I was not brave. So if being a coward rid me of all my pains, I was prepared to be one.

The sky thundered. Soon, fat droplets hit my face. I closed my eyes. Streams of water trickled down my ears to reach the hard surface under my feet. A cold breeze chilled my face. I felt cold inside. I was not hurt, neither in pain. I just could not feel, could not think. The incidents that had brought me to this day flashed before my eyes. It was the last day of my engineering…and my life.

The memories erupted from every part of my brain. I was lost.

Let’s Begin

It is said, behind every successful man, there is a woman. I have coined something new. Behind every hero, there is a heroine who will knowingly or unknowingly create circumstances that will force a worthless, stupid or even a simple boy towards ‘heropanti’ . I’m not sure if you will think of me as a hero, but the story definitely has a heroine. So I better start with her entry.

It was the 18th of September. I sat on the second bench of the second row in my classroom, a huge room allocated to Computer Engineering students. I was with Praneet, the boy from Begusarai who found first spot as a friend in the ‘engineering-days’ memoir.

The Physics lecture was only halfway through, with Prof Jhon busy imparting her knowledge of Physics. Thoughts of the remaining thirty minutes were making me restless. Why did authorities of this college assign an hour for one lecture?

A sound at the door relieved all the students, pulling me out of my musings. I cannot erase from my memory the voice and the girl to whom it belonged, for as long as I live.

May I come in, ma’am? the sweet voice asked.

The professor nodded.

I am a Computer Engineering student. I could not attend any lectures until now since I had met with an accident. I have the permission to attend lectures from today, the girl explained softly.

The room that was allocated to our course was almost full. Starting with Aarav and Vijay who sat in the first row to Shivam and Shubham on the last bench of the last row, there were just a few vacant seats, mostly uncomfortable ones. And with the din we created, our classroom could challenge a fish market.

Prof Jhon questioned, Is this the class allotted to you? You can see the strength...

Before the professor could express her concern, the now attentive students chorused, Allow her ma’am, please…

The poor girl has already missed so many important lectures ma’am, where will she go….

She can sit anywhere! Here, she can take my seat… Shubham sacrificed his coveted last bench, moving to one of the uncomfortable seats. Grudgingly, Shivam followed him.

Similar voices filled the classroom. The newcomer had already won over the crowd, most of them being boys.

I did not believe in love at first sight. But as soon as I saw her, I knew it exists. And her name was different from all the names I had ever heard – Nimisha.

This girl was taller than the other girls in our class, at least five inches taller than the five-footers. I measured her with my eyes. She was fair to the point of being white, with just a touch of pink. I had never seen such stunning blue eyes on Indian girls. They were so deep that I could have happily spent all my life trying to find their depth. Her lips appeared soft, rich pink in color. Nimisha was wearing a half-sleeved shirt with grey and green squares. The sleeves were turned up a couple more times, exposing most of her slender white arms. Blue jeans frayed at the knees gave her a sporty look.

Seeing her delicate frame trying to project a tough image, complete with a black sporty watch and a pair of brown canvas shoes, worked a charm. They made her look different from the most beautiful of girls I had seen, in my so-far-eventless life. In my school days, I was a bookworm…studious, uninitiated towards female of the species created by god.

Nimisha chose a seat. A while later, clang of the bells announced recess. Everyone jumped out of their seat, in a hurry to escape. I too sauntered out of the class, but not before I had taken a long glance at her.

Students trickled in one by one post-recess. I had been among the first ones inside, and I had managed to change my seat. I now occupied the bench behind hers. Praneet entered, his eyes scanning the classroom for me.

Why are we changing seats? he inquired.

We have been occupying the other one for over two months. It’s time for change or our butt will get stuck to it, I replied lightly, avoiding his eyes.

Ass, your butt didn’t complain for these months and now they are turning sticky? Let’s move to our old seat. It has the perfect view of the outside, he picked my rucksack and started towards our old desk.

Just for a couple of days. Then I promise we will move. I snatched my rucksack out of his hand, returning it to its initial position.

I turned, and froze. Nimisha had just entered. Praneet eyed me, amazed. Suddenly the scene dawned on him. Nimisha sat right in front of me. I could touch her glossy hair if I moved my fingers.

My mouth worked better, Hi! I am Viraj, were the first words we shared.

Hi, she said and smiled.

You are really late for the course. Yes, she had entered my life so late! I mean, it’s nearly the end of this semester.

I had met with an accident. I was travelling in an auto. It hit a pothole, and overturned. I hurt my hands, legs... these were horrible months.

She was chattering, but I was not listening to her. My senses had concentrated on her face, her expressions, and her juicy pink lips. Why was she having this effect on me? Only my eyes seemed to work. Was it her breathtaking features? Or the way her eyes looked at me? Was it because of the way her index finger was moving against her lower lip? I wished she’d stop doing that!

My wish was granted as Prof Patil entered the room. Nimisha turned around to face the professor. The rest of the day passed with my eyes exploring her at every chance I got.

Two days later, my visit to Praneet’s place left a bitter taste in my mouth.

I like the new girl in class, he mumbled in the lowest voice he could. She is the first girl I have ever liked, he threw another bomb.

Really! I felt sick with his revelation.

Yes buddy. I can’t tell you how it happened, but I am unable to eat these days. I don’t sleep. I lie awake because her face smiles at me. What should I do?

I felt like catching him by his long hair and repeatedly dunking his head into an overflowing commode until he swore that Nimisha was his sister. The noise from the washroom was inviting, but it was just a thought. After all, he was a good friend of mine. I steered the topic away from Nimisha, though I was really upset with Praneet.

We sat in a room surrounded by giant machines. Their black, blue and yellow colours were the only aspects we were familiar with. We didn’t know whether we would ever touch any of them, but still we sat there.

We were there to take the Civil engineering test, for the purpose of which, we were not allowed to sit in our regular classrooms. This place was new to us. There were no chairs, and the stools provided were very short. But like devoted students, we adjusted ourselves on them. Prof Patil stood in front of us.

The test will have four questions. You can refer to your book for answering, but no discussions. Otherwise I will throw you out, he instructed as he picked up a chalk and started writing on the board.

Did you bring the Civil engineering book? I murmured in Punit’s ears.

Nope. What about you? he replied with another question.

I stand with you man, I replied and meant it.

Punit, from the capital city of Bihar, had taken some months to bond with me. The bonding took more time than quick fix which fixes stuff, but it was a fix stronger than any of these super-glues. We leave our homes to study at far off places, where there are students from all parts of the country. Yet, we make friends with ones who stay nearest to our hometown.

So, we will be the only ones to fail…in an open book test, Punit declared.

Naah! There will be others who join us, I responded, ducking to escape a piece of chalk that was about to hit my forehead.

You have to spread out in the lab. You two move to that corner. And, the pair there to the other corner, Prof Patil’s fingers travelled to various corners of the room in fractions of a second.

Thankfully, Punit and I landed in the same corner of the lab. For the next few minutes, we studied the other students who were busy writing.

You should have cared to bring your textbook with you, Punit admonished.

I can advise exactly the same to you, I pointed out.

I looked around, trying to peep into Nimisha’s answer sheet. I could manage to see only her, while her answer sheet was beyond my eyes’ reach. On concentrating, I saw ant-like figures running on her notebook. She grinned when she noticed me scanning her notebook. She was so sweet. I smiled back.

One of the students, Manan, went to Prof Patil, handed over his answer sheet and moved out of the lab. Punit looked at me once, and then went to the professor.

Submit your paper first, the professor replied when Punit asked for his permission to go out of the lab.

Sir, I am not done yet. I have plenty left to write, Punit said sincerely.

Finish it, and then you can leave.

It’s urgent. Please try to understand, Punit spoke as if he was suffering great discomfort.

Fine, go! But better be quick, Prof Patil allowed.

Punit sprinted out of the lab. I felt like submitting a blank answer sheet to the professor. He may give a few marks for cleanliness. Sitting alone with nothing to write was killing me. So I got up.

"Sit down. Here’s