Kinjal - The ugly duckling
The Bhatts used to live opposite to my uncle's "small house" in the chawl in Junagadh...!!
They were Brahmins and used to consider themselves different from others. Each of the member in the family used to compete with each-other in hypocrisy.. They had four children... Avni was the elder one... then Neha, Khanjan and the youngest was Kinjal...
Khanjan used to play with us... He was hypocrisy personified even at the age of 10. He was in 5th standard when I was in 3rd (When we met... ). He always used to brag about his intelligence and the financial position of his family... and we just listened( and hated him )... but he was a friend... cuz nobody was a foe in those days...
I never knew what was special in the Bhatt clan... or in my case the Bhatt children... but they used to show off a lot... Avni was a socialite.. she was clever, quick-witted (all the compliments given by the family itself.. )... and befriended everyone... Neha was a brilliant student ( this was partially true.. becoz no girl in the chawl used to get 50% in any of the exams which Neha did get... they had given a good party when she got 55% in 10th std. ).. Khanjan was the best of them all... He was the most intelligent person in the whole world ( as per the Bhatt family )... Everyone "knew" that he will opt for the Science stream and will become a scientist if not a doctor...
and then came Kinjal.. she had such big eyes that she could have got her name in the guinness book of world records... there was nothing in her, the family could praise about... so they used to ignore her.. even when some get-together was there in the chawl, there was nothing anyone said about Kinjal... she used to sit somewhere and listened what everybody was saying... she was a bit stupid too.. She could never understand what people talked... She somehow managed not to fail when it came to studies... and she was in the same standard as me... u can say she was a "black sheep" or a "lame duck"...
everyone, including her family, knew that Kinjal wont study more.. she will either fail in the 12th which was considered to be very hard or she will somehow manage to pass the 12th standard but wont go beyond that( which wasnt considered that bad in those days in Junagadh.. )
From the 7th standard I became kinjal's classmate.. not in schools but in the tuition where we studied together for 4 loooooooong years... it was a good break for kinjal too.. as she made some friends outside the chawl...
I used to talk often with Kinjal in those days... the reason was simple... she knew the girls in the tuition... and it was becoz of her that some teenage attraction took place... she was never seen as a girl.. I used to ask her about the girls in the class and she used to tell her friends about me... she was the best medium of communication... in terms of service, reliability and security..
Till the 10th standard things continued as they were... Kinjal was still the ugly duckling... Khanjan was in the 12th standard and had joined 5 different tuitions for 5 different subjects... Avni was reappearing for the 12th standard becoz she failed in her 6th attempt but it was okay as she was more of a socialite than a scholar... Neha was in the 1st year of her college and was doing well in her own rights...
I was talking to a girl who was the best student after me in the class thru Kinjal.. and we needed Kinjal in between us so that we could talk with eachother without anybody knowing about it... and as I said Kinjal was the best communication "device"... I used to talk with Kinjal at her home about her.. the excuse we had was that I am helping Kinjal in her studies... and Kinjal used to go to my friend's home to study with her.. this was also an excuse for Kinjal to get details of my girlfriend for me...
Things took a U-turn in the Bhatt family after that... Khanjan failed in 5 subjects in his 12th... the 2 subjects he passed were English and Sanskrit for which nobody went for tuitions... forget about being a doctor or a scientist... the best thing, we thought was that his boasting would stop (which never did... ) ( Khanjan later on.... failed 3 more attempts and joined the 12th standard again in the Commerce stream )... Avni - The socialite had an affair with a person who was of her father's age... whom everybody knew... Neha... had the affair with the same person... and it was hell of a shock for everybody... none of them were allowed to go to college after that incident... and were forced to give exams from the home... i dont remember Neha could ever complete her graduation... and Kinjal.. who studied a bit becoz of her friends got 55 % in the 10th... this time no party was given by the Bhatt family for Kinjal because of the other incidents in the family...
I left Junagadh after my 10th... later on I was still in touch with Kinjal.. she went on to pass her 12th with 60%... and she went on to cross all the barriers and expectation which noone had for her...
In 1999, Kinjal Bhatt was awarded the graduation degree by the Saurashtra Univeristy... She was the first Bhatt to be awarded the same... She never passed with flying colours and never she got any rankings... but her achievements were at par with Einstiens and Newtons...
