THE UNBARRED CASEMENT

 “I’m Keerthi’’, introduced Keerthi to Bathma Priya. She too introduced herself, as she arranged her cupboard. Keerthi’s hometown was far away from her hostel. That was the first time in her life as a hosteller. She came early in the morning and finished her arranging works. She came there for her higher secondary schooling since it was a pathway for a person’s future. That school was well known for its reputation for sending good doctors and engineers every year. It had a high standard of coaching and training. Students were forced to study and they were tortured. After a few minutes, Bathma Priya asked “what’s your percentage in high school?’’. Keerthi replied in a feeble voice “91 percent’’. She didn’t ask her back since she knew that most students admitted there at that school will be more than 97 percent. Then came Keerthi’s other two roommates. After a long and detailed introductory conversation, they slept at 12:30 am. Keerthi couldn’t sleep all night yet she woke up soon to get ready for her first day in that school. Most of them were new students. Keerthi checked the notice board to see which section she belonged to. There she got many new friends one among them was Pavithra. She became a close friend of Keerthi. She was from the same place where Keerthi came from and also she was next to Keerthi’s room. A week went by and all newbies were sent home for two days. All of them returned from their homes. From the next day, started their daily tests. Keerthi had to start her hard work since she was not as efficient as other students. She planned to study during the night as she found that comfortable. It was twenty minutes past eleven when she was successfully revising her first answer. Everyone was fast asleep as she was studying. Suddenly she heard a feeble sound beside her, it didn’t seem like Bathu’s voice but it came from her. So she went near her to know what if she was reading since she finished studying during the evening itself. They were in their eleventh grade but Bathu was having twelfth grade’s book. She was reciting the Ohm’s Law. Their school had a practice of making eleventh-grade students study twelfth grade portions a year earlier that is on their eleventh grade itself since they had to face the board exams successfully. But, that too they’ll start only after finishing the half-yearly exams in the eleventh grade. It was just a week after joining that school and all have to study the eleventh-grade syllabus at that time. “Meera” was the name written on the first page of that book. Bathu became very angry with Keerthi as she grabbed her book and was continuously questioning her. Unknowingly she lied down and fell fast asleep. Thinking that she would have done that unconsciously, Keerthi went to sleep as she couldn’t continue studying. She studied only one answer so she couldn’t write the test well the next day. Keerthi became more frustrated as she couldn’t concentrate on her studies as she had disappointments with her marks. Moreover, she had nightmares like being unsuccessful in life. A week passed by. One night there was a heavy sound. Everybody woke up and peeped out of the unbarred casement. Everybody was shocked. Monica, one of Keerthi’s roommates fell unconscious as soon as she saw that. It was Bathu, who fell out of that casement. She committed suicide. She was dead on that spot since their room was on the fifth floor of that building. They immediately reported to their warden and seniors meanwhile, also took care of Monica to recover from her unconsciousness.