Chapter 11: ‘Song&Dance’ Battle!!

Aanya smiled wryly at her son. “They snuck out with the harmonium of our music teacher.”

“They performed with...a harmonium?” Aarav looked shocked.

“What? No!” Aanya burst out laughing. “They snuck it out during the lunch break when Ma’am went to have her lunch with the cultural dept. teachers in the dance room. The dance room was nearby so she didn’t lock her own room’s door. Our music period was right after the break and Ma’am, who treasured her harmonium very much, went crazy trying to find it. And then...”

*****

The five boys rushed into the music room a little later than their classmates. Their music teacher, the elderly Veena Ma’am was in a state of panic.

Everyone else was also quite surprised because the teacher’s harmonium was missing. It was well-known that Veena Ma’am loved that harmonium more than anything!

So much so that she had her son, who studied in the same school, carry it home every day rather than locking it in the cupboard of her room.

Students often joked that if the whole building was falling around her, Ma’am would still try to run away lugging the harmonium rather than saving herself.

A kid suggested that she might have forgotten it at home.

As this period was after the lunch break so, the teacher snapped at her, “How would I’ve taken the classes before this if I left my harmonium at home! Absurd!”

She never even lent that instrument to anyone...

...Leaving only one possibility. Someone had pulled a prank on her!

Just as she realised this, five youths rushed into her room and addressed her very quickly. Their words were all over each over and so, she couldn’t make head or tail of what they wanted to convey.

“Wait!” She banged the table in front of her. The boys quietened down. “That’s more like it. Take a few deep breaths.”

After the boys were done regaining their breath, she asked, “Now speak.”

Just as all of them opened their mouths again, she interjected. “No! Wait! One at a time. You,” she pointed to a boy with spiky hair, “Speak.”

Harshil, for that’s who he was, stepped forward, “Ma’am, we were coming to the class when we saw five boys bringing up a harmonium. There was a girl with them, too! Well, just as we were coming down, we heard...”

“Them say that it’d be fun to scare you by hiding your harmonium. So, we ran to tell you.” The chubby Cabir finished.

Ms. Veena rubbed her forehead and said, “And did you leave anyone to follow them?”

“Oh...uh...that-” Aakash began to speak but then hung his head as if ashamed to have forgotten to do that.

“It’s okay.” The teacher let out a strained smile. “You’re just kids. What did those students look like?”

“They wore our school uniform!” One of the five boys, a guy named Jatin said.

“Uh-”

“One had hair like me and one was fat. Like Cabir!” Harshil said.

“I’m not fat! I’m chubby!”

Ms. Veena looked at the boys who were grinning or glaring at each other. But all had one thing in common, they were huffing and puffing.

“It’s okay. You kids rest. I’ll go and find it. If I catch those brats-” She gnashed her teeth.

“We’ll go with you, Ma’am!” The boys said. But they were breathing heavily so Ms. Veena’s gaze softened and she said, “No need. You rest here. I’ll find it myself.”

“Ma’am, our Class Monitor is very good at running. She’s a nice friend. She’ll definitely help!” Harshil panted out.

“What?” The Class Monitor was so shocked that she couldn’t immediately grasp the situation. But to her credit, she regained her bearings quickly. While narrowing her eyes at Harshil, probably thinking, “What’s he planning?” she also spoke to Ms. Veena.

“I’ll try my best, Ma’am.”

“OK.” Without further ado, the teacher rushed out to find her precious instrument.

But just as the Class Monitor was about to walk out, Harshil slipped between the other students and grabbed her hand outside the door. The wall hid them from the students inside the music room.

He whispered to her matter-of-factly, “The top floor. The Multi-purpose Hall. That’s the location of the harmonium.”

“What?!” She whirled around. “You knew-”

He clamped a hand on her mouth and smirked before removing it and whispering again, “Duh! We hid it!”

As the girl stared disbelievingly, he continued urgently. “Now, you can go to Ma’am and tell her. But if you tell her that I told you, do you think she’d believe you? And we already said that there was a girl with the kids who took the harmonium. She’ll think you were feeling bad and so told her now! Even if it’s a light one, you’d still be punished!”

She glared.

“You can’t tell her that we hid it. If you do it now, she’ll believe that you were a part of it too. And if you tell her about us later, you’ll have to also explain why you did not inform her even though you knew.”

“I’ll just say that you lied! And that I was scared that Ma’am would think that I was involved in it when I wasn’t!”

“You know how much Ma’am loves her harmonium. Even then you kept it secret from her. Plus, you can’t even keep your classmates in line. On top of that, in the time you took to find the harmonium, the students also used electronic gadgets of the music room. Sloppy Class Monitor, right? Won’t you be replaced?”

“What gadgets?!”

If looks could kill, Harshil would be dead ten times over. Even a girl in Class 3 could figure out that he was blackmailing her.

Harshil just smirked and walked away.

The girl looked close to slapping him. Then she too suddenly smirked. “I bet you said it without thinking. Just to make me run around and tire myself out. But, it’s actually true!”

Harshil turned around.

The girl said, “I’m very fast at running! And I know just the thing to find the harmonium quickly without being caught!”

Just then a shout echoed down the corridor. “Janya!”

“Coming, Ma’am.” The Class Monitor yelled back. Then flashing a wicked grin at Harshil, she raced off.

The boy stood frozen for a second before darting back inside the room.

“She’s actually good at running. She’ll be back quickly. Move it!” He yelled.

Then, he, Jeet and the third boy called Jatin closed and locked the door. Aakash and Cabir brought out the sound system from the corner of the room that Ma’am didn’t allow the children to touch.

The classmates looked surprised and began to stand up. Harshil yelled at them, “Don’t you want to watch the ‘Song&Dance’ Battle between these two? If you do, just enjoy it. Don’t move!”

Most of the students sat back down but a few moved towards the door. A number of them were friends with the Class Monitor.

“Open the door. You’re not allowed to use the system. We’ll tell Ma’am when she comes back. Stop.”

Harshil leaned easily on the door, not budging an inch. “We’ll be done by the time Ma’am comes. And everyone else will say we didn’t use it. Right, everyone?”

The seated students heartily cheered.

Harshil raised an eyebrow, “Will Ma’am believe the majority or the minority?”

Before the kids could answer, Cabir made an irritated sound. “There are only retro songs here!”

Aakash looked a little stumped for a moment then said, “My parents listen to a lot of retro songs from time to time. I can sing them.”

“Same here.” Cabir sighed.

“Then, what’s the wait for? Let’s get started!” Aakash looked over the collection, chose a song and pressed the button for the music to start before launching into the song while Cabir took his stance!

*****

“Whoa! So cool!” Aarav looked stunned that his elders had pulled stunts like that in their school days. “How did you even plan something so deviously in Class 3?!”

“We just added inputs. Harshil planned most of it. He was the prankster! Devious from birth, I bet!” The men started nodding their heads righteously but in the end, couldn’t help succumbing to laughter.

“What did you sing?” The boy asked curiously.

Aakash burst into song with a snicker, “Badan Pe Sitare Lapete Hue...”

“Seriously, Dad?!” Aarav raised an eyebrow.

“Well, it seemed like a good choice. But your Uncle Cabir picked a slow, romantic song! That’s what I had to dance on! I wasn’t even that good at dancing. I just thought Jeet was exaggerating about Cabir so I accepted the challenge! Plus, I was good at singing.”

“We were competing. Why would I give you something easy to dance to?” Before Aarav could ask, Cabir answered the boy, “I picked Lag Ja Gale. You should have seen your Dad’s face! He was so shocked!”

“Who won?” Aarav demanded at which the two best friends both let slip doleful expressions.