Apples and Oranges
The middle school boy ran out of his school gate up to the school bus. He caught it in the nick of time. His buddies patted on a seat they’d reserved for him.
“We almost gave up your seat for Rubin”, they jerked their head toward the notorious teacher’s pet whom all of class 5A resented and envied from afar. Rubin smirked from his seat at the front.
“What took you so long anyway?”, one of them shifted around in his seat.
“Oh..Suri Ma’am caught me lurking around in the classroom at lunch so she…”, he said in between huffs and puffs.
“..asked you to call your parents to have a talk about it?”, one of his best friends guessed his words. He had probably used this excuse one too many times.
He hadn’t really been reprimanded by Suri Ma’am after school. He sighed as his friends switched up the topic to the fight between the football teams of class 5B and 5C during Phys. Ed. .
His thoughts pulled him away from the clearly exaggerated fight story that Dheeraj was narrating with utmost enthusiasm. However, he made sure he laughed at the right moments to not be caught off guard. He’d have to mull over what was to be done by dinnertime.
Back home, his younger sister had been hooked onto another new doll the girls at her school had decided to play with. She made a ruckus every time she set her eyes on something she wanted but this time it was much more than just setting eyes. She’d already thrown away a spoonful of her dinner, refused to look in her mum’s direction and if the boy was right about his sister’s pattern, she was about to burst into tears anytime now.
“C’mon beta..we already bought you one last week. How did it spoil so soon?”, Mother asked.
He shifted his food around in his plate as he heard his sister counting her old list of reasons for the nth time. He wondered how she did it and whether it really was that easy. Or was it his parents that just went completely blankwith some spell and she managed to get her way every time.
“Rajan, Why aren’t you eating your food? Is it spicy, beta?” He awoke from his chain of thoughts when she called out his name.
“Uh N-no! I-”, he gathered much more than a spoonful and gobbled up.
“Here add some sugar to it”, she passed him the bowl.
“Mom…I don’t want this..” He mumbled after gulping the bite down.
His mother paused; her hand shifting towards the salt.
“It’s..uh..”, he stuttered, “it’s about..Ms. Suri”
His parents sighed.
“Ms. Suri again?”, His father asked.
“ — she thinks my creativity would really do well in — ” he sputtered.
“Listen beta, I would never deny you both anything — ” his father started as if he were giving a sermon
Like clockwork, his mother added — “But we need to work on your grades first..they’re impo-”
“Important I know..but..but..”, he reached a blank state and something about their deadpanned stare made him burst out — “Simi gets anything she wants!”
Great. Like competing with his 4 year old sibling would help his case. It just sounded like an adult whining. Maybe a little less whiny than his sister Simi though. He looked from his mother to his father to see if it had worked.
“Rajan beta, It’s all apples and oranges..”, his father started with a sigh. He then launched into another one of his righteous sermons and before the boy could speak his mind, it had been changed, for the umpteenth time.
The next day back at Ms. Suri’s desk, he hesitated before asking Ms. Suri what “apples and oranges” meant. It wasn’t quite what he expected and it was also something he wouldn’t quite forget for a long, long time.
“it’s like…you’re trying too hard to be an apple.”
“an apple?”
“yes. And people want you to be an apple.”
“ok.”
“but you just aren’t an apple...you’re an orange. A very good one at that.”
“but I’ve got to be an apple…?”, He asked.
Ms. Suri shook her head vigorously.
“you can be the best orange. And once orange season comes around, you’ll be going places”, She smiled.
He smiled. His eyes crinkling at the memory that had stuck through his childhood. It had been so many years since he had last seen Ms. Suri at his tenth grade farewell. She had guided him through his childhood to believe in himself while everyone else doubted him. She had stood by him during the most difficult times. And like it is with most teachers, she had sent him off when she was sure he’d learned his lessons.
So today when he looked at the resume of a young girl named Ms. Ranjana Suri in his usual folder of applicants; he had to stop himself from telling the bright, young thing how her mother had helped him reach where he was; sitting comfortably in the corner office of the graceful architectural firm building right on the nose of Elphinstone Road; the same one he had drawn numerous times in Ms. Suri’s art classes. The same one that he now saw in Ms. Ranjana Suri’s application.
“So..uhm..Ranjana? I have just one question.”, he pursed his lips.
She stopped mid-sentence, and nodded slightly, “Yes Sir?”
“Are you an apple or an orange?”
She looked at him suspiciously while he laughed and nodded at her incredulous expression.
