For children: Paru’s new classmates make fun of her because she is left-handed

Three things that Paru cannot bear:

1. People who are mean to animals.

2. Paneer on pizzas.

3. Her desk buddy. Not buddy, not even close. Desk neighbour. Like Russia to Ukraine, or Israel to Palestine, that sort of neighbour.

Paru slammed her bag onto her chair, making it wobble. She scowled at the empty seat next to her; it would soon be not-empty. It would be filled with evil. The sort of evil that book heroes battle. Paru wished she was a book hero because then she could also vanquish the evil that was coming.

Instead, all she could do was take out her pencil box, steel ruler and notebook. She placed the ruler carefully at the exact centre of the desk. The pencil mark on top had been gouged into the desk by evil. From there, the ruler sharply divided the desk into two parts. Nina’s and hers.

Suddenly, the ruler flicked to Paru’s side. It went careening and clattered to the floor.

“Your ruler is on my side, Scrammy Sinistral.”

“It wasn’t,” Paru glared at Nina, her eyebrows knitting together. “It was exactly on the mark.”

“I have told you before, Scrammy,” Nina plonked down on the chair. “You are the leftie. The ruler should cover your part of the desk, not mine. Majority wins; we are all righties in the class.” She turned away and began talking to her friend David.

Paru wanted to snap the ruler in half, but it was made of steel, and she was no Hulk. Nor did she feel Incredible. And if by some miracle of anger, she did manage to snap the ruler into two bits, she would not be able to divide the desk. And Nina would again find a reason to complain.

Sighing, Paru retrieved the ruler and placed it on her part of the desk.

Why was she left-handed? It was so annoying. Not that it had bothered her when she had been in the same class as her friends. But this year, it had become a problem.

Desks were allocated alphabetically at the Mind Bright Academy (MBA), so you were stuck in the same place for the whole year. No amount of parental intervention changed that. Also, the MBA had very strict rules about everything – after all, “A Disciplined, Organised, Erudite Mind” was its motto. And everyone was expected to follow it. To the last letter. Else, there were Consequences and Punishments. And those were absolutely No Fun.

When the new term had started, Paru had found herself friendless in Class V B. Her friends, including Drishti, were still in the C division. All together. Except her.

At first, her new desk partner had seemed so nice. Nina had smiled and told Paru about her holiday, and how her mom had taken the family skiing in Gulmarg. Paru had no idea people skied in India!

But when Cuckoo Miss asked them to take notes as she dictated the Preamble to the Constitution of India, things got all messy. As Paru had begun fervently writing about “We, the People of India”, her elbow knocked Nina’s. Oops.

She had looked up to find Nina scowling at her. A long slash of blue ink trailed over Nina’s notebook.

Before Paru could apologise, Nina gave her a look that would have been really useful in freezing back the melting glaciers of the Himalayas.

“Watch it!” Nina had spat out. She had then scribbled and passed a note on to David, who read it and sniggered.

Paru had tried to watch it, but she could not help it, could she? Since that day, things had gotten steadily worse.

Excerpted with permission from Left-out Paro, Bijal Vachharajani, illustrated by Rajiv Eipe, Hole Books.