Page 73 - Love Story of a Commando

face, and rushed to get ready. It did not seem like a good idea to be late on
the first day.
I was very curious about the main office building that Mr Durrani
had spoken about. But soon, I found out that the main office consisted of
three little rooms set a little away from the kids’ hostel and classrooms. The
whole setup was in complete contrast to what I was used to—sky high state-
of-the-art buildings and humongous edifices. But the tranquility in the air
and warm salutations around were so heartening, that it was more than
anything I could have asked for.
I met a rather gloomy looking man in a pathani suit with a kufi cap.
He was Dr Ahmed Khan, and he immediately snatched my documents from
my hands and screened them carefully for a good fifteen minutes. Then he
pressed an ancient looking call bell on the table and shouted, ‘Miss Susan!’
Astonished, I turned around to find a foreigner at the door. She was a
short, stout, beautiful, auburn-haired white lady with soft blue eyes. She
glanced at me and I smiled in return.
‘Miss Susan, please show Miss Riya the classrooms and brief her
about the rules here,’ Mr Khan said in an authoritative tone. I jumped like a
rabbit in excitement and joined Miss Susan merrily. We moved out of the
room.
‘Hey! Susan Stewart! Nice to meet you,’ she said pleasantly.
‘Riya Khanna! Nice to meet you too.’ We shook hands like long-lost
friends.
‘So good to see you, Reeeyyaa! You are officially the second woman
here, after me. The team consists of five more people, but they are all
Kashmiri men. Quite conservative in their approach when it comes to
interacting with women. Although they are nice people,’ she said.
‘Okay!’ I smiled.
‘This will be your workplace, and from now onwards you will be the
official in charge of this computer lab.’ She handed me two huge antique
keys.
‘And what do I do here?’ I asked.
‘Nothing! You just have to teach the kids visiting this computer lab.
Mostly, the other teachers bring them here when they want a break. They
think a computer class is leisure. But now that we have you here, we can
expect some action. Also never forget to lock it properly before you leave.
There are five of us in total, who play teachers, lab attendants, clerks, and
every other role to run this little place. We handle each other’s classes too,
when someone is on leave or something,’ she said chirpily.
‘What else do you do here apart from looking after the kids? I mean,
what do other teachers do to pass the time or hang out?’ I said.