The Window Seat

Chapter 2: The Shared Tiffin

The college gate was crowded.

Aakay got down from the bus first. He was still holding the half paratha Isha had given him. He did not know what to do with it.

Isha got down behind him. You didn't eat it?

I was saving it, Aakay said honestly. No one ever shared their tiffin with me before.

Isha smiled. My mother says, food tastes better when you share it. She wakes up at 5 AM every day to make this. I help her before college.

That was why she was late every day. Aakay understood now.

They walked together towards the BCA department. Everyone was looking. The boy who always sat alone on the window seat, was now walking with a girl.

So, we are in the same class? Aakay asked.

Looks like it. BCA First Year, Section A. I checked the list. Your name was just above mine. Aakay, Roll No. 22. Isha, Roll No. 23.

Aakay laughed. So we are roll number partners too?

And window seat partners. And tiffin partners,Isha counted on her fingers.

They reached the classroom. The professor was not there yet. There were two empty seats in the second row.

Aakay went and sat on the window side, out of habit. Isha sat next to him.

Why do you always fight for the window seat? Isha whispered.

Aakay looked outside. The college ground was visible from there.

Because from here, it feels like I am moving even when I am sitting still. Like I can go anywhere, he said.

Isha looked at him for a second.

Then from today, we will go anywhere together,she said.

She opened her tiffin again and kept it in the middle of the bench. Between them.

Not his, not hers. Theirs.

And that is how a common boy who counted bus tickets in coins, found a common girl who shared her 5 AM paratha. No luxury. Just two tiffins becoming one.