I don't Wear Sunscreen Read Free Page B

one could replace
Pallavi. She refused to share her new social life with Pallavi
knowing that she would feel bad about her own situation in
Coimbatore. This depth of understanding was the essence of their
friendship.
    The days passed quickly and the first semester hit the calendar. Pallavi was
busy studying and Laksha called only for a few minutes one day
mid-exams to wish her luck and to ask how she did on. Pallavi had
worked hard and felt she did her exams well, except her old enemy,
mathematics.
    “ Laksha, I am dying every
minute, I don’t think I will clear this stupid maths paper,”
Pallavi cried a river over the phone.
    “ Relax Pallavi, things will
be fine. Come, let’s calculate, how many pages did you
write?”
    “ I wrote 39 pages, but I
didn’t get any of my answers right! Now it’s freaking me out,
you know I started crying soon after my first glance at the
paper?”
    "Stupid,
you have written 39 pages, even if the gracious person reward you 1
mark per page. You'll get 39 marks. Inyourinternal you will
definitely get16 marks at least, right? So
39 plus 16?"
    “ I’m weak in maths remember,
can you please calculate that for me?” asked Pallavi in a feeble
voice. “Dumbo, its 55, so stop crying, you will clear all papers
with a good percentile,” laughed Laksha.
    “ Are you sure?” Pallavi
asked and then she also laughed about the calculation. “Okay, you
sleep well, I have an internal exam about graphic designing
tomorrow,” explained Laksha. “You do well my designer, be prepared,
you are going to build my new house, so study well sweetie
pie, bye !” Pallavi cut the call and hit her
bed with 55 marks on her mind.
    Pallavi
was very busy with studies and her part-time work, while Laksha was
exploring Mumbai even more. She used a pseudo name for her Facebook
profile to keep her identity a secret, butPallavi didn’t even
bother to step into the social world. She
kept off from mundane affairs and other friends; she led a
caged life at her relative’s place. The only goal that drove her
was the dream of being in the IT world. She had a few
professors helping her in her studies and leading her towards her
aspirations. She even spent time reading placement books and taking
aptitude tests to sharpen her skills.
    Laksha, meanwhile, was obsessed with arts, architecture and designing; she
visited Delhi, Jodhpur and other places renowned for
great palaces and forts
and she focused more on landscape
designing. She was a much better student as a conceptual
artist.
    Both friends used to have
great conversations on Engineering and Interior designing; both
were happy for each other, supporting each other and always
bonding. Right from exams, semesters, animation models to hostel
food and draft works, everything was discussed. Everything except
Laksha's "being a brat" experiment.
    ***
    May, 2013
    The months flew by. Pallavi
finished her 6 th semester with good scores – she was one of the
most expected competitors for other toppers in her class. She had
even polished her communication skills over time and groomed to be
a perfect fit for any big IT company. Her aptitude courses helped
her in sharpening her logical skills.
    Laksha was working on her
final semester project and trying her luck to bag an
internship at a top interior designing company. She went to the Sai
Baba Mandir in Indira Nagar to pray for getting selected. She would
fight and argue with God too; she was praying hard. Being a
Chennaite and moving into Mumbai permanently was not going to be
easy for her.
    “ Na ennapersaketuten ,
internship thana kekren
(God, all I want is an internship and nothing
more) ,”she mumbled in a small voice, and
the person next to her heard her talking to God and
giggled.
    She turned her head and gave
a cold stare.
Then she walked to the footwear counter to
get her shoes back. As
she handed over the token, something struck her. "Hey, I was
talking in Tamil, how did that guy understand?” she wondered aloud
while