Learn Curve for Girls

Suhani Dewra

Alekhya grew up in a sprawling space of three-store bungalow spread over more than fifteen thousand square feet. It was like a palace. That’s how most houses were in her hometown, which was a small town in a big state. When Alekhya graduated from class III, she moved to a metropolitan city away from her native place. In the big, the usual way of life was in smaller houses built inside a large apartment. The houses were called ‘flats’.

Alekhya’s flat was a 1,100 square feet house, a stark contrast from her previous house. It had two rooms, a living room, a restroom, two big balconies, and a kitchen where her mum would have to cook without help. This was probably how much space the hall on the second floor of her hometown bungalow occupied. A portion of that house was all Alekhya was going to live in. Her mother sure was not a happy woman moving into a house so small. She felt, it was an insult to her lifestyle to accommodate herself in a space that small.

Contrary to how her mother felt, Alekhya saw it as a welcoming phase of her life. The flat allowed everybody to be in vicinity of everybody. She saw her siblings and parents all the time, unlike in her previous house when people were scattered in various corners. When a friend called on the landline phone, her grandfather used to call out loudly from the ground floor and Alekhya came downstairs running. In the new house, there wasn’t any need for anybody to speak in a pitch as high as that of a loudspeaker.

If Alekhya was in the courtyard downstairs playing with her siblings, her mother was upstairs, somewhere in the large hall watching TV. Or her father was in the verandah of the first floor which almost made him feel like a separate part of the house. A smaller space brought togetherness. Mostly importantly, she felt that she was being paid the kind of attention a child her age needed. They spoke more often to her. She found them approachable. Being in sight of her parents did have an enormous positive effect on her, which resulted in her overall well-being, including academic performance. Suhani began to almost top the class. She wasn’t that bright a kid in the past. Of course, like her house, her classroom was also a space as large as a mini theatre. Each class had some sixty students, which again, according to Alekhya’s perspective was a deterrent in receiving attention from the teachers. In the new school, her class included thirty students in a small space, which allowed the teachers to pay attention to each student. Alekhya, in her mind, had deconstructed her anatomy as that of being a child who needed to be paid attention and encouragement.   

At the personal front as well, Alekhya found the apartment life more fun. There were many children her age in the apartment, whom she played with every evening after returning from school. They played I spy, running and catching, sometimes cricket with the boys, badminton, and many more games. Alekhya also colored drawing books with them. She made some good friends with whom she chatted about things she didn’t speak at home.

“What’s that spot on your nose, Alekhya,” asked her newly acquired friend.

“That’s from chicken pox I had contracted,” Alekhya replied.

“I too had chicken pox. Was it difficult for you to eat food when you had those big spots?” the friend asked again.

“Ya, when I ate the idli, my throat hurt. It felt like a lump that ached,” she answered.

Alekhya had never told anybody about idlis hurting her throat. Now, she could.

It was an eventful life. However, Alekhya kept quiet about it as her mum would not appreciate Alekhya differing in her opinion. Every time she heard some visitor from her hometown say, “Adapting to a flat must have been difficult,” she smiled within.