You know she got kicked out of college after getting admission and starting classes...
COVER STORY
To motivate Jasir to study enough to score well to be able to use his college scholarship prize to gain admission into a prestigious university, Papa told Jasir that he could choose his own car to drive to college in. Leena, who studied all the way to college without any such offers, told Jasir to focus on studying and not getting rewards. After Jasir’s response that Leena is just jealous, prompting Leena to leave the room, Inaya and Jasir are left to carry on the brother and sister talk.
“I don’t know what the big deal is,” Jasir said.
“You know she got kicked out of college after getting admission and starting classes,” Inaya said, walking up to him, grabbing the chair and giving it a spin.
“I still don’t get it,” Jasir said, digging his heels into the floor to stop the chair from spinning. “It was just a computer glitch that kicked her out of the system.”
“That conveniently let in someone else who happened to make a last-minute donation to the college after they missed making the admission list,” Inaya said.
“She started online college straightaway. It’s not like she missed out on studying. She likes to study.” Jasir paused. “Is that why she’s so hooked on the idea of me going to some big shot college, though?” Inaya nodded. Jasir looked thoughtful. “Me getting into some big shot college doesn’t change her own college experience,” he added.
“Maybe it changes her big sister experience.” Inaya shrugged.
“You tell me, you’re my big sister, too.” Jasir grinned.
“I forget that sometimes.” Inaya grinned back. “I don’t think me being older than you matters when Leena is enough of a big sister for both of us.”
“Get her to be more of a big sister to you, though.” Jasir pushed the chair back in front of the computer and sat down. Inaya walked over and picked up the power cord from where it had fallen when Leena yanked it out.
“Why don’t you be enough of a little brother to tell her yourself,” Inaya said as she plugged the power cord back in. Jasir simply raised his eyebrows at her.
Walking into the kitchen, Inaya saw Mama shaking her head in the general direction of the living room.
“You children make such a fuss about nothing,” Mama said without looking up as Inaya got herself a glass of water. “Getting all serious about anything your Papa says to you.”
“What do you mean, Mama?” Inaya paused in the middle of taking a sip.
“Fighting among yourselves about your Papa’s promises,” Mama continued, shaking her head again. “If you get this upset about these things, then you should motivate yourselves instead of getting your Papa to come up with ideas to motivate you.”
Inaya finished her glass of water and set it down on the counter. “Coming from us, they are just ideas,” she said. “Coming from Papa, they are things that we can actually get if we work hard enough.”
Mama smiled. “Your Papa is always ready to promise you the world,” she said.
Inaya washed her glass and set it in the dish rack, lost in thought. The next time she passed by the computer, it was Leena’s turn. Leena sat at the computer desk, typing away speedily. She did not turn her head when Inaya approached.
“Leena, I have a question,” Inaya said.
“You always have questions right when I’m in the middle of something,” Leena said without stopping or slowing down her typing.
“I want to know, just because you’ve always studied a lot and scored well, what motivates you to study?” Inaya tried to catch Leena’s expression but it remained unchanged as she paused typing to click through several menus with rapid clicks of the mouse.
“Don’t ask idle questions,” Leena finally answered at the end of a series of clicks.
“You’re dodging the question.” Inaya leaned forward.
“It is an idle question because I know you’re not asking it out of any enthusiasm to learn how to motivate yourself to study better,” Leena said.
Inaya frowned. “Do I have to learn how you do something to know why you do it?” she asked.
“No, but it’s not like my answer will help you in any way,” Leena said. “It won’t even satisfy your curiosity, because you’ve never been curious about this sort of thing.”
“You could have used all the time you’ve taken to explain why you won’t bother answering to actually answer my question,” Inaya said.
Leena paused, then she closed the me she had been working on and turned to face Inaya. Inaya, surprised at being given full attention instead of a throwaway reply, waited to hear what Leena would say.
“Repeat after me,” Leena said. “I...”
Inaya giggled. Leena looked at her pointedly. Inaya said, “I...”
“Like...” Leena said.
“Like...” Inaya started to frown slightly, thinking where it could be going.
“Studying,” Leena said. Inaya backed away into the nearest chair and slid down, shaking her head energetically. “You won’t get that out of me!” she said.
Leena turned back to the computer screen and opened the internet browser.
“But!” Inaya jumped up suddenly.
“No buts,” Leena replied automatically.
“That can’t be it,” Inaya said. “That can’t be the answer. You can’t actually enjoy studying.”
Leena had already opened her usual set of tabs in the browser window to greet her internet world for the day. “It is the work I have to do as a student,” she said. “I like getting done with work. I like aiming for academic achievements and I feel accomplished if I get one. Not all of studying is learning, a lot of it is just completing tasks, but even going through that and getting it done so I can use the rest of my time elsewhere just feels like I successfully fulfilled my responsibilities.”
“But it’s studying!” Inaya said.
“It’s work,” Leena said. “Studying is just work, and work is just something to get done. You don’t expect it to be a fun playtime now, right?”
“If I don’t study, I get more playtime,” Jasir’s voice came from the background.
“Wrong conversation to jump into,” Inaya said.
“It’s all right,” Leena said.
“The only way studying makes sense is-” Jasir paused dramatically. “If it gets you more fun in the end!” He glanced at Leena. “If you get fun out of studying then you don’t need to get rewarded with fun for doing your studies.” He winked.
Leena sighed. “That’s not how it works. People who like to study want fun, too.”
“We’re still talking about studies in general, right?” Inaya said, grinning.
“Not at all about Jasir needing a car to motivate him to study, which is the whole reason why you asked me this question,” Leena said. “You asked me even though you already know the answer.”
“Oh, come on, Leena,” Inaya said. “It’s not like we’ll never get to use it. Right, Jasir?”
Jasir coughed. “Yeah, the first thing I want to do when I get a car, hand it over to my sisters,” he said, rolling his eyes.
“No need to be sarcastic,” Inaya said. “Why don’t you go ask Papa for the thousandth time today what kind of car it is going to be?”
“I will take you up on that.” Jasir turned around, only to be met by both their parents entering the room.
“Why don’t you tell the children so they don’t keep fighting over it,” Mama said.
“As you say,” Papa said.
What is Papa going to do to resolve the argument? Find out in the next instalment of Hackschool Project.
“If you get fun out of studying then you don’t need to get rewarded with fun for doing your studies.” Jasir winked
