Free Anyone Else But You... by Ananya Ritwik; Verma Mallik

waited outside Bindu Kalsi ’s office. They had sought an appointment with the Principal and since it was Muskaan, an appointment was more of a formality.
    The buzzer went off, indicating that Kalsi was ready to meet them. Muskaan was the first to pop her head in, “May we come in ma’am?” she spoke in a tone that was loud enough to make Kalsi lift her eyes up from the circular she was reading.
    Kalsi smiled, “Muskaan, please come in…”
    Muskaan walked in first, closely followed by her two colleagues. Kalsi folded the circular and put it inside her drawer. “What brings you here?” She asked.
    “Ma’am, my colleagues and I intend to begin work for Socialact Wave as soon as possible,” Muskaan replied.
    “ Socialact Wave? So early? Isn’t it a good couple of months away already?” Kalsi ’s glasses rested on the tip of her nose. She read each face present in the room carefully through the deep shades of kajal that underline d her eyes.
    Socialact Club was one of the most popular clubs around in Delhi High School. Its membership was only restricted to the popular ones who had fathers with heavy pockets. The entrance criteria was as simple as it could get – be cool, hang around with the right kinds, talk of big stuff and whollah, you are in! Muskaan Kaur and her colleagues (the couple of them who were present in the room) were jointly responsible for running the club and making it what it was; with a little bit of luck and a whole lot of contacts! And Socialact Wave was the Inter-School music fest that was held every year under the banner of the Socialact Club. It was one of those events which witnessed a lot of money splurging, shady sponsorship deals, consumption of alcohol by minors and usual murk expected in a high-society co-ed school in the suburbs of Delhi.
    “It’s been five years since we’ve had it outside on a grand scale, we intend to do so this time,” said Muskaan convincingly.
    “Outside?” Kalsi asked.
    “By outside, I mean outside the Auditorium. In the school ground preferably. Five years is a long wait and we do not intend to wait any longer.” The other two people present in the room shook their heads in support of what Muskaan just said as though their life depended on Socialact Wave going outdoors.
    Kalsi remained silent for a while till she herself broke the silence, “You do know Muskaan and let me mince no words, we would be requiring triple the funds for organizing such an event on a grand scale. Where would you gather such huge amounts of money?”
    “Sponsorship…” Muskaan began. Bindu Kalsi for the first time got visibly impatient, “What sponsorship are you talking about? The sponsors previous year had paid one-third of what they’d be expected to pay this year and every time we can’t expect overwhelming support can we?”
    “Yes we can,” Muskaan said. “We have internal support this time and with your permission we can convert that into an overwhelming support system.”
    “What do you imply?” Kalsi took off her specs and rubbed her temple.
    “Compulsory sponsorship from students will really help the cause…”
    “Are you out of your mind Muskaan? We are answerable to the parents!” Kalsi raised her voice.
    “Tch tch… Bindu , I agree we are answerable to the parents but not when the Parents’ Association representative is on our side,” a smile lit Muskaan’s face.
    Kalsi raised her eyebrows in inquisitiveness.
    “Yes, you heard it right. Veer Chauhan is ready to support our demand for compulsory donations from students. And if he does so, I doubt it whether parents would disagree. Jolly old Veer,” Muskaan smirked.
    “Veer Chauhan …? You mean Jai ’s father?” Kalsi replied.
    “Yes and he has also agreed to make 75% payment for the setup costs of the entire function’s infrastructure with the help of his Telecom Service Providing firm.”
    “That is interesting, how did you convince him?”
    “It was simple, Socialact Wave this year