Episode 2 : A question of mistaken identities

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I was waiting at the Metro station when I saw a girl I knew from my childhood. I recognised her immediately because of her face. It was supposedly similar to mine. To illustrate that let me bring out a tale from my past…

Tanya and I studied together in the same primary school in Bombay. We weren’t the best of friends, we did not travel in the same bus, and we studied in different sections. I hardly knew her. She was boisterous, smart, and studied well. I was shy, an introvert, and just about average in studies. We had nothing in common, save for a face that most claimed was similar. I didn’t feel it so and neither did she.

It was our 4th STD annual day function. I wasn’t participating in anything because I was too shy. I had resigned myself to be the audience, something that I was really good at being. Though I loved being the audience I secretly envied the boys and girls who could sing and dance and act on stage. I could do all that but only within the confines of my bedroom.

Half an hour before the function started, we were escorted by our teacher to the ground where we had our morning assembly. The function was to be on the raised stage. I was sitting on the ground, easily blending with the crowd, when a teacher waded through the rows of students towards me.

‘Tanya, what are you doing here?’

‘Ma’am I am not Tanya.’

She looked at me like I was a seasoned criminal lying about my identity.

‘Don’t lie to me Tanya just to escape responsibility. Come with me.’

‘But Ma’am…’

‘Come with me.’

She yanked me up and pulled me along with her. She took me to another teacher and together they discussed something. I was fearing the worst. I kept saying that I wasn’t Tanya to the questions of the second teacher. Finally my class teacher came looking surprised. I had never been happier to see her than at that time. She came and cleared their doubts about me.

‘What do we do now that Tanya is absent? Let her welcome the chief guest instead.’ The second teacher said pointing at me.

I was having a panic attack. Welcoming the chief guest?? I wouldn’t be able to utter a word to the guest. I wouldn’t be able to speak anything on the stage. I was having a stomach ache.

They brushed aside my fears.

‘You don’t have to do anything. Just give the chief guest a bouquet and say “Welcome”.

Before I could say anything they whisked me away to a classroom where the children were getting ready for their respective shows. They quickly applied make up to my face; a bit of rouge, a smear of lipstick and a little eye liner, and remarked that I looked like a doll. I had never felt prettier, not until then at least.

I was given a large bouquet and made to stand next to a 5th STD boy who was also in the same welcoming committee like I was. Now this boy was my primary school crush. He was the same boy who dashed into me while running between school buildings; who didn’t look at me twice while I fell on my knees and hands and suffered minor scratches. I had looked fondly at those scratches till they faded in a day or two. That same boy noticed me now.

‘Are you Tanya?’ He asked.

I shook my head and told him the whole story. We had a laugh together. Just then the chief guest arrived. I finally could not say “Welcome”. Next to me my crush spoke the right word. I could only manage a wide smile. The photographer clicked a photo just then to immortalise that moment.

I have the photo to this day.

 

Now I sit at the station watching Tanya dragging her toddlers firmly by their hands and trying to appear unruffled as she did so. We still don’t look alike. I wouldn’t have recognised her at all if we hadn’t been facebook friends for a while. I sat unnoticed, staring at the girl who was the first reason in my life to be lifted out of self imposed obscurity. ‘Fuck it!’ I said in my mind before getting up and taking a measured step in her direction.

 

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