Half Girlfriend (1)

uler today,’ she said.
It is no fun being a ruler when someone else still rules you.
*
The Dumraon Royal School is a twenty-minute walk from our
haveli. I accompanied my mother as we hiked through fields at 6.30 in
the morning. ‘There are three shifts, over two hundred students in
each,’ my mother said.‘7 to 10.30, 10:30 to 2, and 2 to 5:30.’
We reached the grey-and-black school building. It seemed much
older than the last time I’d seen it.
‘Why is it black?’ I said.
‘Hasn’t been painted in five years. Every year, the rains wreck the
plaster even more.’
I wondered how Stephen’s managed to keep its walls a perfect
reddish-brown.
The first-shift kids had arrived. They played in the fields outside
the school. We had two classrooms and a common staffroom. The
staffroom had a long table with several chairs—the teachers used the
room to rest in during breaks or to check notebooks.
‘Why is it so dark?’ I said.
‘Power comes at eight,’ my mother said.
The long table had a stack of files and books at three corners.
‘Akhtar, Tej and I have a corner each. The empty one is yours,’ my
mother said.
She sat down on her end. She lit a candle and opened a file.
‘These windows could be bigger,’ I said.
My mother nodded without looking up. Akhtar,Tej andTarachand
arrived in the next five minutes. They folded their hands when they
saw me.
‘Please treat me as a new employee,’ I said to them.
Amused, Akhtar and Tej collected their books for class. Tarachand
stepped outside the staffroom. He rang the brass bell in the corridor.
The teachers left for their classes. Tarachand came back and spoke to
my mother.