Hey Osman, who do you think will top in the State Talent Scholarship Exam?” asked Mandeep.

“Obviously Shantanu.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“He is the best, yaar.”

“But students from other schools of the city will also be giving the exam.”

“So what? Our Shantanu is the best. See, for this exam one has to appear in four subjects — English, maths, general knowledge (GK) and Hindi. Now in maths Shantanu is very good and in English quite comfortable. As for GK, I really don’t have to tell you how terrific he is — after all in Class VI itself he has bagged a place in the school quiz team.”

“What about Hindi? That might pull him down.”

“I agree, Hindi is his weak point, but he is not all that bad. I think in the other subjects he will take such a lead that Hindi won’t really matter.”

“What do you think about Akash?”

“Akash! No chance yaar. He is nowhere close to Shantanu. He is good at cramming, but as far as brilliance is concerned, Shantanu is way ahead.”

Akash was sitting in the class, solving maths problems. He couldn’t help listening to the conversation which was taking place in the corridor. He knew Osman was right. Shantanu was very intelligent. He didn’t really mind anyone praising Shantanu, his best friend, but he didn’t quite like being dismissed as a bookworm with little or no brains. Yes, he, Akash, was definitely hardworking but that didn’t mean he was a zero in the brains department. He shrugged and went back to work.

The state government conducted the State Talent Scholarship Examination (STSE) for students of Class VI. The top three rank holders were given a scholarship. This meant they would not have to pay their school fees till Class X.

STSE was a very prestigious examination with each school sending its best students. Akash’s school, Nalanda Public School, had had the distinction of bagging the top spot for a record four times. This year too everyone expected Shantanu to top and keep the record intact.

Akash and Shantanu had been together since nursery. They were best friends and rivals. Shantanu was an outgoing and fun loving kid with a great sense of humour and Akash was the shy and quiet type. Shantanu never seemed to work hard but ended up topping the class while Akash, who was very diligent, ended up coming second. In the maths and science periods too, the toughest questions were answered by Shantanu. Akash had genuine admiration for Shantanu and would try his best to do better than him. But in spite of all his efforts he had never succeeded. However, this rivalry had never come in the way of their friendship.

Continued next week

From Mirage Park
Dahlia Publishers

Illustrations: Suman Choudhury