"Hey, you! What's your name?" "Mahalakshmi." "I don't think I asked for your grandma's name, did I? What's your full name?" "Mahalakshmi…Mahalakshmi Muraleedhar Dhiksith…" "Oho ho ho…" The senior girl's cackling reverberated off the compound walls. "All right. But it isn't enough to say that lovely name just once. Repeat it 50 times! Let's go, we'll be here all day…" Outnumbered and encircled, Maha had no choice but to comply. Maha had anticipated there would be ragging in college and that she would have to be prepared for any situation. Her mother's words came to mind: "Try to be patient under any circumstance, however difficult. With patience, you'll have a clarity of mind and, eventually, you'll emerge from any situation unscathed." Like Maha, there were other new girls targeted for ragging by the seniors. For one, whenever the new girls passed the seniors, they'd have to salute them and carry out their commands — or "face the consequences." Some seniors they were demonesses. Maha sighed. "Maha! Are you deaf? Come and finish the notes in my book. Quick…Quick! I need to submit it tomorrow!" roared Premi, a rotund, buck-toothed she-devil masquerading as a student, while her underlings snickered. The ringleader, Premi's words were orders, no questions asked. Yet again, Maha controlled her anger and obediently wrote notes for Premi. "Oi, Maha…who is that cockroach next to you? Ask her to sing a song while you are doing the work. Hey, cockroach! What's your name?" "I…I…am Suma. I don't know any music. Can't sing…" Suma stuttered. "What? How dare you talk back? Here, as a newcomer, you have to obey our commands. Now, sing Chamak chalo from Ra-one. If you don't sing, we will strip you!" Maha whispered to Suma, "Tears won't help, Suma. Just sing any song." Suma started to sing a bhajan, and the seniors laughed mockingly. "Suma! This is a college and you are in a hostel…okay? You'll invite donkeys in here in no time! Okay, Suma is useless. Maha, now you. Sing Chamak chalo!" The seniors did not want to give up that easily. Maha tried to hold back her tears. This was just too much! For how long would these she-devils continue to tease her? Premi screamed, "Hey, Mahaaaa! What's this? You are crying! What a cry-baby! Oh baby…we want to make you happy…you know how? All the babies like to play with water, right? So we want to bathe you…come on…girls…help Maha remove her clothes!" "Oh, please leave me…Let me do other things!" "Okay, we'll be nice. Stand with a wild smile showing your teeth for 10 minutes. We're timing you." And Maha complied. She heard her mother's voice in her ears, "Maha, it's better to be patient than to be powerful. Be strong! Patience is a virtue, love is a value and life is a gift." But Premi was on a roll, and just wouldn't stop. "Hey, Maha…now we are all very hungry and are fed up with our hostel food. We are dying for some pizza. Go and order pizza and soda for all of us." Maha went and ordered pizzas and they all enjoyed the dinner at Maha's cost. They shared the pizza and threw the boxes all over the place. Pepsi oozed out of bottles and spilled everywhere. In minutes, the room became very messy. Knock! Knock! Knock! Oh, crap! Was that the hostel warden? The seniors stiffened and asked Maha to open the door. They looked at each other nervously, anticipating a big scene to unfold. It was the warden, Swarna, who seldom visited the rooms. As it was not easy to control the girls, she had never let the girls go beyond their limits. A strict disciplinarian, she was tough with the girls. The matron was taken aback when she saw pizza boxes, paper cups, tissue papers, and spilled soda everywhere. "Che…who did this? Don't you know that outside food is not allowed in the hostel?" Premi was quick to answer, "Oh, ma'am…we alerted Maha and Suma not to order outside food, as it is against the rule…but they never listened to us and said that hostel food was lousy and not tasty. They were suffering from stomachache as the hostel food seemed to be contaminated. In fact, we just wanted to pay them a courtesy visit as they are the newcomers. We were also shocked to see that they were going to order pizza. It's good that you came in at the right time!" Maha almost fainted. "Oh…ma'am…sorry…er…I don't know…" Warden Swarna threw a stern look and warned her that she would leave her alone as it was her first crime and should be careful in the future. As soon as the warden left the room, the seniors erupted in laughter. "Hey, Maha, how was it? You are lucky she left without punishing you. But you are damn slow, Maha! Had you done the cleaning faster, the situation could have been avoided and the warden would not have noticed anything wrong. That's why we are asking you to do things at once! See, now what happened? This warden has a great memory and she will never forget your face!" Roaring with laughter, they all went to their rooms without even thanking Maha. Maha could not sleep. She felt like returning home. She was very upset with the seniors' behaviour. What kind of girls were they? Although she knew such things would happen in a college, this was atrocious! She heaved in despair — but it was only a matter of minutes before she had dozed off. It was 9 am when she woke up. Besides a couple of girls, everyone else was in class. Maha still had some hours to go before her first class. She gathered her books to study and tried to forget her previous day's events and concentrate on her studies. She hoped that the day would go smoothly without any unpleasant incidents. She didn't want to allow anger and other negative feelings to override her positive nature as she feared she may be swallowed by her own bitterness. As her mother always mentioned that forgiveness was the best way to keep everything going smoothly, she hoped things would change in the days to come. Thud! Thump! "Ah…amma!" someone screamed, "My goodness! Is anyone there? Please come and help me get up." It was none other than roly-poly Premi, who had slipped in the bathroom. Maha didn't hesitate for a second. She rushed to the bathroom and saw Premi in bad shape, with bruises all over. Maha helped her bathe, covered her with a towel and assisted her in standing up. Premi could not step out as she felt acute pain in her knees. It was a fracture, and Maha felt it would not be wise to exacerbate Premi's injury any further. She called an ambulance to send Premi over to the nearest hospital. When Premi was discharged from the hospital after a week, Maha quietly helped her along in many ways. She accompanied her to classrooms and paid attention to her needs. Maha was so gentle and didn't bring up any of Premi's bullying. Premi was touched and cried, "Oh, Maha…I am extremely sorry for all the trouble I had created! Now, I am ashamed of my behaviour…I learnt a big lesson from you. Hereafter, we will never treat anyone so badly — forgive me, okay? You have really lived up to your name." Maha gently held Premi's hand and said, "I have been practising the virtue of patience, though it was hard. Thanks to my mother who brought me up with good moral values, this is a lesson for me too! Let's be friends. And remember — we're here to study further to achieve our goals. We've a long way to go, so let's reach our destination safely. Okay?" Premi smiled and nodded her head in agreement. Indeed. They had miles to go.