village school story
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From the series "Stories From My Village)
Vacations during winter/Christmas was an advantage we four siblings who studied in city in a Christian Missionary school had, when compared to my cousins who studied in the Government Primary School in Grandma’s village.
Winter followed by Sankranti is the season of harvest and the breathtaking view of lush green paddy fields, peanut and bright Red Chilly plantations lined with blooming marigolds added to the beauty of Grandma’s village. We never missed the opportunity to spend our winter break in that part of serene world, away from the hustle and bustle of city.
Let me share a page of nostalgia from my memory book of one such vacation. It was early 80’s when I was in 4th Standard.
My mother’s elder Brother Madhav Mama(Uncle) loved me the most among all our siblings and cousins. I was barely 9 years, but he had by then identified the tremendous wisdom and intelligence in me, and since then, he believed, one day, I would grow up to become a great achiever. He often said, my parents will have a difficult time finding an equally successful husband for me. I comforted Madhav Mama by saying not to worry, because I’ve already decided that I would marry a Chief Minister, and there can be no one greater than a Chief Minister in a State.
Even today Madhav Mama pulls my leg by asking if my husband has yet become a Chief Minister, and I reply, “No Mama, rather, I am looking for the right Chief Minister, so that I can change my husband.”
Well, coming back to the story, during one such Winter break at Grandma’s village, Madhav Mama felt that the naïve primary school children of Grandma's village should get a little enlightened with my wisdom achieved through convent education, and decided, I should go to the village Primary School one day and share with the students, my experiences, nuances and insights gained at Missionary school.
My tiny brain sensed some risk in the scheme, but still, I could not shatter the confidence of Madhav Mama.
So, one not so fine day, Madhav Mama walked into the Village Primary School with me in tow and introduced yours truly, aka the ‘convent educated prodigy' to the Head Master and explained about his benevolent intentions.
Rest of the events happened at jet-speed.
Headmaster summoned a meek looking teacher and ordered him to take me to 4th Standard Classroom, and make the best use of his time to enlighten the kids with my wisdom.
The petite teacher looked at me with reverence and awe as if I am Goddess Saraswati in frilled frock and Bata sandals. The children of 4th Standard had no option but to share the enthusiasm of their teacher, therefore, they too expressed their keenness towards ‘project - knowledge sharing’.
Teacher first asked me to introduce myself to the class in “English”.
I managed fine with the introductions. Thanks to our teachers who would twist our ears and make us stand outside the classroom if they hear us talking in any language other than English, never mind how badly we tormented and battered the language it in the process.
Next task was slightly tricky. Teacher asked me to share my pearls of wisdom about education system in our Convent School vis-à-vis the village school.
I assumed charge again and waxed eloquent about the perceivable differences between village school and Missionary School, like, our teachers do not wear normal clothes but wear long white gowns and hide their hair under long flowing white caps. We called them ‘Mother’ and ‘Sister’ though they were actually not our Mothers and sisters.
I expressed my anguish that we are forced to speak in English in our school, though we never use the language at home. Similarly, unlike the lucky children of Village School, we are not allowed to wear regular clothes, colorful bangles, hairclips and flowers in our hair and have to wear the boring school uniform every day.
Sensing my rage and emotional outburst, teacher quickly understood that ‘project-knowledge sharing’ is not exactly going in the expected direction. The simple looking teacher of our Village Primary School was however a tough guy committed to the task of proving the merits of convent education. He did some quick thinking and launched his attack from a different angle.
He randomly asked me some questions like who is the Father of Nation, Colors of our National Flag, name of the continents, Oceans and Capital cities of some States. The going was great for him as I answered all the questions with ease.
The guy got encouraged and decided to attack at level-2. Unfortunately he chose ‘Mathematics’ this time. Math is something I dreaded since the day I saw numbers for the first time in my life.
He first asked me to do some simple additions and subtractions on the black board. I was sweating in my palms and feet, but still managed to finish the problems.