No To Racism

Gwen Judith Dillahunt was an American who went to India because her father got a job there. She was very attractive and slim, and a thirteen-year-old. She had long black hair which was very smooth and soft. She wore makeup just for the sake of it. She had a pet guinea pig named Puffle. All in all, she had a perfect life.

On the first day of school, she was very introverted. She got dressed, went down for breakfast, kissed her mother and father goodbye and went off. As she stepped outside, she took in the blue sky, the fluffy clouds, the green trees, the bushes and the clean pavements. She smiled to herself and knew that it was going to be a brilliant day.

When she reached the bus stop, she saw two other girls standing there, wearing the same uniform as she. One of the girls came up to her and said, ‘Hello, I’m Anya. You must also be going to the same school as me.’ She smiled and introduced the other girl. ‘And this is Alisha, my classmate in school and my best friend.’ Alisha came over and grinned. She said, ‘Hi there.’ Gwen was happy that she had met someone in the same school. ‘Hey, my name is Gwen.’

When the school bus came, the girls got in and sat in the back seats. Gwen sat in between Anya and Alisha. ‘Tell me why you came to India.’ Anya asked Gwen. Gwen explained, ‘I’m actually from America but I had to come here because my dad got a job. But I’m glad that I’m here. It’s nice to meet both of you, by the way.’ The rest of the trip was spent in silence.

When they arrived at Mahatma Gandhi High School, Gwen and the rest got off. Gwen, Anya and Alisha went to the notice board to see where their class was. They found out that Standard Eight Division P was on the third floor. They climbed the stairs until they reached the third floor corridor. There, Anya and Alisha led the way to their class. Gwen stopped outside for a minute or two. ‘This is it. Your first day in an Indian School is about to begin. Take a deep breath. Ready? Let’s go.’ she said softly to herself. She stood erect, put a friendly smile on her face and went in. And that was it. No one turned their heads to see the new girl or even pay a little attention. She was a bit disappointed that no one seemed to notice her. She took a seat near Anya. She was waiting for first period to start. Just then, a girl came up to her and said, ‘Hi. I’m Nithya. You must be the new kid. It’s good to meet you.’ She held out her hand to shake. She seemed friendly enough. ‘Oh, I’m Gwen.’ 

At that moment, the teacher came and everyone welcomed her by standing up. Gwen, seeing that they were standing, also stood up. The teacher, in turn, said, ‘Good morning, students. Sit down.’ When the class seated themselves, the teacher stood and smiled at everyone. ‘Hello, class. My name is Shweta Shankar. I’m going to be teaching you English.’ She paused right there to smile again. Then she said, ‘Well, now that you know me, I want to know all of your names. Yes? Why don’t we start from the left?’ She looked at Anya, who was sitting where she was pointing. ‘Just tell your name, dear.’ Shweta said. Anya stood up and said her name. Then Gwen stood up and introduced herself too. Like that, the whole class did the same. After that, Shweta asked them to open up their text books. Fortunately, for the students, the bell rang and it was the end of first period. The class again stood up and said thank you in unison as the teacher walked out. Gwen asked Anya why they stood up at the beginning and ending of a class. Anya was surprised at this but said that it was a show of respect to the teachers.

The second period was Biology. A teacher named Suchitra took the class. She, on the other hand, didn’t ask anyone their names. Instead, she asked them to take their Biology text books. She taught a quarter of the first chapter before the bell rang. It was break time.

In the canteen, the three girls found a table in the centre of the room. Gwen had a sandwich and orange juice while Anya had a French fries and Alisha had a burger. By the time they were done, it was just ten minutes to their next period.

Gwen sat through all the other classes without falling into utter boredom. When school let out, she went over to bus number three. That was the bus she had come to school in. She got in and sat in the front seat near the door. She couldn’t find Anya or Alisha anywhere. Nevertheless, she waited patiently. After ten minutes, the bus started and two panting girls entered at the last second. Gwen asked, moving over to make space for them, ‘Where were you?’ Anya said, ‘We were in the canteen getting some chips. We didn’t know that the buses would start so quickly. We thought we’d hang there for some time.’ She was sweating a bit in the temples. ‘Well, at least you made it. Thank God!’ Gwen said.

When they got out at their stop, Anya said, pointing, ‘We live right over there. If you want to come over, you can. Oh, and here’s my landline. If you want to talk about school or anything else, you can call me. I’ll be at home.’ Anya smiled as she and Alisha walked to their homes.

From that day, three weeks had passed. By that time, Gwen had befriended the “popular posse’ and was no longer talking to Anya or Alisha. She was meaner to the others and she didn’t pay attention to the classes. She teased every unpopular kid and talked behind their backs. She was behaving like a  brat.

One day in the canteen, she was with Nithya, Rupa and Shilpa. They called themselves the ‘Poppy Gals’, poppy being short for popular. Gwen was gossiping about a Hollywood scandal when Anya and Alisha walked by. Gwen stood up and said wickedly, ‘Satan? Why are you so dark? Is it just the way your complexion is or are you always dirty like that?’ She stopped there and cackled like  witch. Alisha was about to tell her off for being nasty to her best friend but Anya said that she wasn’t worth it. Alisha just gave Gwen the glare and walked off with Anya. ‘I can’t believe I was actually friends with her for a week. Whatever!’ she sat down and laughed with her “popular” friends.

Another time in the cafeteria, Gwen was again being a vicious fiend to Anya. Just when she said that she was worse than mud, Rupa handed her a carton of milk which she poured all over Anya until the carton was empty. Then she said, ‘I hope at least now you won’t look like mire. You should thank me.’ Anya ran off crying while Alisha said some pretty nasty things to Gwen before running off after her friend.

One hour later, Gwen, her parents, Craig and Betty, Anya and her parents, Athul and Satya, were all sitting in the principal’s office. Anya’s parents were fuming over the fact that Gwen had been chauvinistic towards Anya over the past few weeks. They kept on talking and talking until they were satisfied with their arguments. The principal, Vyshnav Sunil, came to a conclusion that Gwen would be on probation for two weeks. With that, their little meeting was over and they went home.

Two weeks had passed. Nithya, Rupa and Shilpa had been no longer mean to anyone. They  had behaved properly and never said any xenophobic remarks. Alisha still remained as Anya’s one and true best friend. Gwen also changed her habits but no one talked to her for a couple of days. Anya, feeling sorry for her even though she made her life a misery, told everyone that Gwen was, at heart, a very sweet girl and that she got derailed from her track. And after that, people started being friendly to her and stopped hating her.

One day, Anya got a letter from Gwen. It said:

Dear Anya,

How can I ever ask for your forgiveness? I was being a total jerk and I really hurt you. I am so very sorry and I understand if you don’t want to speak to me again or have anything to do with me. Once again, I am truly apologetic. I hope that you’ll be able to forgive me before you turn 20, at least.

I wrote this letter to also thank you for telling people that I’m a good girl and I lost my mind a bit back then. But I’ve honestly changed. Now, I don’t make fun of anyone. I try being friendly to others. I’ve put a huge poster of Nelson Mandela on my wall, and also a sign that says “NO TO RACISM”. My dad is with the government. So I asked him to do  something about the racial discriminations going on in South Africa. I also asked our school principal to conduct a strike against it. He told me he’ll do it.

Unfortunately, this is all I can do at the moment. If there is any improvement in things, I’ll write you a letter like this.

Love,

Gwen