by EESHA ABBASI
The blackboard and my biology teacher slid in and out of focus as I tried to keep track of what was being taught to us. Beside me, I could see my partner Sherbano struggle to keep her mouth from hanging open, making her look witless.
Behind me, Aryba was carefully applying nail polish to her inch-long talons using my back to hide herself from the teacher’s line of vision. Two rows away Urooj and Wania were playing tick-tack-toe on a scrap of paper… That’s what friends are for, to make you feel better.
Incidentally the topic being explained was ‘The human brain’. “The human brain is an incredibly complex organ; it’s capable of doing things that would be considered miracles in some ways. After millennia of research, scientists have barely started to scratch the surface of the true potential of the brain…”
My teacher paused to add some labels to the drawn figure on the board before continuing, “Have you ever wondered how amazing it is? I mean aside from the fact that it controls all physical bodily functions, is responsible for secreting hormones that outline a person’s mood and all the rest of biological entities. It allows you to think, remember, memorise, judge, form logic and detect patterns. It is a person’s last sanctuary, it protects a person’s privacy, their secrets and feelings that they want to conceal.”
At this point I saw a few students rise from their stupor. “Imagine this: you were thinking something about someone that you wouldn’t want them to hear, and by some miracle they happened to hear your thoughts like that twisted vampire you teenagers are so crazy about!”
Some of the girls shouted “Edward!” The class giggled.
The teacher now had the class’s undivided attention. Taking this opportunity, she quickly continued, “So like I was saying, this world would be the target of turmoil if that happened… I mean, freedom of thought is every individual’s right, everyone thinks without thinking, do they not?”
A murmur of acceptances ran through the class. “So I have an interesting assignment for you all, whenever someone annoys you or when you are angry with anyone, say your siblings, parents, friends or teachers, and you are thinking horrid thoughts about them; imagine for a moment that your mental barriers have been shattered and they can hear you… would you want them to hear you? Try thinking aloud. Believe me it will change the whole way you interrelate with others.”
“Ma’am are you going to give marks on this?” some nerds in the class asked,
“No dear, it’s just a practical ‘fun’ thing to apply in daily life”.
“Oh,” she said.
I thought ‘Ugh! She is a nerd.’ Immediately I was reminded of our project. This was going to be weird.
When I got home my cousin Zoha was home from a shopping excursion, bubbling with excitement, she couldn’t wait to show me the clothes she had bought and, of course, to enlighten me with her incredible tales of haggling over the prices. “So what do you think of my dress?” she held up a ghastly green dress.
‘I wouldn’t be seen dead in it’ I said to myself but to her I said, “Wow I love the colour! It’s so drab… I mean delectable.”
She beamed, “I know and I got it so cheap you wouldn’t believe it!!”
‘Oh I believe it!’ I thought, but sweetly turned to her and said, “Really. You can hardly tell!”
She brightened up, “I know! You go ahead and try it out!”
‘What?’ I decided to open up my mental barriers, “Err… actually I don’t really want to try it out.” A hurt look crossed her face as her face fell. ‘This is impossible; I can’t hurt her like this!’
I gritted my teeth and said, “On second thought it really wouldn’t hurt to try it out!” Thinking aloud definitely wasn’t a good idea in this case.
My elder sister Ayesha is kind of obsessed with her kitchen skills nowadays, which means that we have to taste her experiments — unfortunately most of them are not edible!
“Eesha come taste my ‘forest casserole’.”
I looked at the jumbled collection of vegetables with a charred smothering of cheese ‘Is this forest muck? I swallowed “Am I supposed to eat it?”
She glared at me. Impatiently she filled a large bowl with her casserole, thrust a fork in it and shoved it in my hands, “Now eat!”
I whimpered inwardly, ‘Oh dear I would rather eat mom’s spinach.’
She growled threateningly “You don’t want to eat my casserole? Do you think it’s not delicious?”
‘That sounds about right!’
She thundered “Well?”
I shook my head muttering “No, of course not.” Mustering up my courage I deposited a forkful into my mouth. Tears gushed from my eyes and I gasped. ‘Too much chilli!’ was the last thing I thought before I ran to the washroom and threw up… What I thought about it afterwards, is not fit to be printed.
“So girls! How was your experience? Aren’t you glad our brains protect our thoughts?” the teacher asked in the next class.
Reja held up her hand “Ma’am I think it’s a huge blessing, I mean it was mind-blowing once I pondered on whether other people should hear my thoughts or not! It would have been a disaster.”
The teacher smiled, “Quite rightly spoken. Now everyone I want your practical journals today! No excuses”
Breath stuck in my throat ‘I forgot about the cursed journal.’
The pile on the teacher’s desk grew. She stared expectantly at me, “Eesha may I have your journal?”
‘I am dead today!’ “Um… actually… I uhh…”
Her soft gaze turned stony, “You didn’t forget it, did you?”
I gulped, crossing my fingers “Uhh not exactly … I just ran out of pages so I had to buy a new one and, I swear, I’ll hand it in tomorrow!”
She inspected my face for some time; I averted my eyes from her lest she saw through my lie. “Okay… I’m letting you go this time but I want it tomorrow.”
Relief washed over me and I almost said out loud, ‘I’m so glad you are not Edward…’
That’s when she glared at me and said “What did you say?”
12:11 PM
Syed Muneer
