{"id":6527,"date":"2016-12-01T16:20:33","date_gmt":"2016-12-01T10:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trulymadly.com\/blog\/?p=6527"},"modified":"2021-03-11T06:46:19","modified_gmt":"2021-03-11T06:46:19","slug":"nikhil-and-riya-an-excerpt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trulymadly.com\/blog\/nikhil-and-riya-an-excerpt\/","title":{"rendered":"Nikhil and Riya (An excerpt)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The country’s\u00a0bestselling author, Ira Trivedi\u00a0is back! This time with “Nikhil and Riya”. Come join her in an adventurous journey of love and life but first…here’s a little sneak peak \ud83d\ude09<\/i><\/strong>
\nI COULD NEVER forget the first time I saw her, no matter how hard I ever tried.
\nTenth standard, Prem Ma\u2019am\u2019s second period history class.
\nThe class, as usual, was chaotic. Under Prem Ma\u2019am\u2019s weak authority, even the most disciplined girls misbehaved. At the back of the class, the boys, led by Vikram, tried to squash a little green lizard that had snuck up the wall.
\nThis was a strain as I sat at the back of the musty, echoing classroom, struggling to hear Prem Ma\u2019am\u2019s lousy dictations, desperately making notes in not just my notebook, but in Vikram\u2019s too, the splintered wooden desk, at least a hundred years old, wobbling as I scribbled in haste. The class was getting wilder by the minute as Prem Ma\u2019am stood sputtering in the front of the room, her white bra visible through her thin muslin blouse.
\nAnd then, suddenly, the class went silent, probably more silent than it had ever been in the history of Prem Ma\u2019am\u2019s history period. I was relieved to take this time to complete the dictation, the wobbles of my desk the loudest sound in the room.
\n\u2018Prem Ma\u2019am?\u2019 said a voice at the door.
\nYes?\u2019 said Prem Ma\u2019am, turning around, pallu falling off her neck, her hands full of chalk dust. Ordinarily this would have induced laughter. Not today. The newcomer walked in and handed Prem Ma\u2019am a note which she hastily read, her glasses slipping down her nose.
\n\u2018Riya. Riya Pratap. Welcome to Residency School.\u2019
\nThen she turned towards the class.
\n\u2018Children, it\u2019s her first day on campus, please say hello.\u2019 \u2018Heeellooo, Riyaaa,\u2019 chimed the class, the boys grinning,
\nthe girls giggling. None of them had welcomed a student like this since the second standard.
\nThis was when I, finally, looked up. And this was also when my whole life changed.
\nShe stood in front of the chalk-streaked blackboard, her hair tied at the nape of her neck, spilling down her back in a messy ponytail. Her blue skirt was too short. Her white shirt was transparent, and she wasn\u2019t wearing a slip underneath. Her white socks fell far below the knee, where they were required to be.
\nThe girl standing at the front of the class was different from anyone or anything that I had ever seen in my life. The sight of her was so striking that I dropped my pen. And stared and stared and stared.
\nThen I felt a slap on my back, and snapped out of my reverie.
\n\u2018Oi, what are you <\/i>looking at?\u2019 Vikram whispered in my ear, a crooked smile on his lips.
\nI mumbled something and pretended to go back to my notebook. Then I used every ounce of my self-control to try not to look at her. But I failed; I simply could not tear my eyes away. She stood haughty and nervous in front of the class, straight as an arrow, her chin up in the air, her eyes the darkest shade of brown, her lips the deepest shade of red. She had long brown legs and thighs so strong that they were visible even under her thick pleated skirt. I remember thinking, She can probably run well<\/i>. I was wrong. She ran like the wind.
\nWatch out for more such exciting\u00a0excerpts\u00a0<\/i>from Harper Collins India\u00a0<\/i>that will keep you hooked on our blog!<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The country’s\u00a0bestselling author, Ira Trivedi\u00a0is back! This time with “Nikhil and Riya”. Come join her in an adventurous…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1861],"tags":[442,782,783,784,785,786,909,1521,1564],"featured_image_src":{"landsacpe":["https:\/\/trulymadly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/blog-10-1000x445.jpg",1000,445,true],"list":["https:\/\/trulymadly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/blog-10-463x348.jpg",463,348,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trulymadly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/blog-10.jpg?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1",300,300,true],"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trulymadly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/blog-10.jpg?fit=1000%2C1000&ssl=1",1000,1000,false]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trulymadly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/blog-10.jpg?fit=1000%2C1000&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trulymadly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6527"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trulymadly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trulymadly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trulymadly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trulymadly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trulymadly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6676,"href":"https:\/\/trulymadly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6527\/revisions\/6676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trulymadly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trulymadly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trulymadly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trulymadly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}