Vidhi started visiting Hina’s house. She loved meeting Hina’s mother. She praised her home-made kebabs and chilly chutney so much so that Darakhshan went red in her cheeks. Those words made her an accepted guest for a stayover. On some days during the month, the friends were seen loitering in the Muslim-dominated areas of west Mumbai. They ate peppery snacks from roadside stalls and clicked a lot of photos. At night, they would have food made by Darakhshan followed by a late-night study session in the hall and endless conversation on various topics.

Hina told Vidhi everything that she knew and understood about her father. She told her that it was a difficult time for her when Yusuf had decided to leave the house and live separately. She used to cry alone. She had not revealed this to anyone. Not even her mother and sisters. Hina told her that Yusuf used to come and meet them regularly, especially her, but the darkness that had submerged her heart refused to leave her. This darkness walked with her even to the school. Sometimes she felt alone in the classroom. Her concentration was never on her books, the teachers or whatever was written on the blackboard. A sheet of blackness covered her eyes. Hina told her of the day when her teacher was teaching them about adulthood and bodily changes—a day before that she had herself stepped into adolescence—but she was able to listen to only a few sentences that the teacher said before falling into the depth of her own darkness. During that dark time infinite questions and thoughts engaged her in a conversation. The science teacher soon realized that she was mentally absent from the class. She walked up to her table and stood by her desk for a few seconds. When she was sure that Hina was not listening to her, she banged the duster on the desk and shouted loudly, ‘What was I talking about?’

In confusion and fear, Hina’s tongue slipped, ‘About the characteristics of the vagina.’

The girls in the class laughed for a long time. For a moment there was anger on the science teacher’s face which was soon taken over by laughter. Hina realized her mistake and immediately corrected her sentence, ‘about the functions of a vagina.’ Her correction was also incapable of stopping the chaos in the classroom. Firstly, her voice was very soft and secondly, the class was echoing with laughter and hence her correction was heard by no one except the teacher. Vidhi also laughed for a long time after hearing about this incident. The story broke the wall between Vidhi and Hina. It made Vidhi aware of a hidden knot within Hina.