Numberon ki Moh Maya!

Those curious little pair of eyes could very well be mistaken for a pendulum. Concentration was a very very far kingdom that day.What was all this fuss about. 'Biotic' and 'Abiotic' components of the environment, Hydrosphere and Lithosphere. Why the hell were all these so bloody important...important enough to ruthlessly chuck out a part of Nitin's much beloved freedom.  'Freedom'.....ya that is a very complicated word. In terms of shades, it beats ever Mr. Gray. For some its a not meant to be honored promise that helps them win an election, for some it is a task of more than 100 pages and some 1000 judgments or even more in M.P Jain's Indian Constitutional Law text book and for some its simply the liberty of doing whatever they want to do without having to explain anyone. But things can hardly be this complicated for a 12 year old 7th standard kid. For Nitin freedom at that moment meant to run out of that room from the clutches of his tutor and smuggle a moment to solitude. Then with the brush of his imagination he will paint the canvas of his life. Strange it was. A 12 year old kid seeking solitude is not quite ordinary. A discussion on his 'Counter Strike' skills or the powers of the 'Man of Steel' with his friends would have been ordinary. Bhai yeh scene kya hai!

The answer was simple. Some careless strokes of that cheap red ink that said "2/10 in Geography. Very very poor." No games. No friends. And most importantly no no and just no television till the next unit test..... Doesn't it remind one of the skinny cute kid of that Amir Khan stater Bollywood blockbuster that sold buckets full of tears, empathy, emotions and what not a matter of some two odd hours? It came. It sold. It earned and it went away. But God only knows what we bought from it. 

Exactly, a year to go before I become a full fledged lawyer....When I can put that magical black gown and start of a search for the most elusive thing called justice.  But strangely on that day as I observed that student struggling over his lessons, his life, his confidence and may be his purpose, for a moment I felt like leaving all my 'Wakalat' aspirations, and joining a school as a teacher and teach kids, love them and make them love themselves. One might wonder why am I being so sensitive over something which such a regular thing around. My answer would be that the fact that it is such a regular thing irks me even more.
Nitin was taking down his geography notes. His tutor took a look at his notebook and said "Oh my God! With that kind of a handwriting you will fail. I wonder how did you even make it to seventh standard. I ll tell your mother that I shall not be responsible if you fail. And no question of refund of tuition fees." For a moment I felt like I was back in school and some good for nothing half educated teacher yelling at me, "With that kind of grades, you think all your debates and elocution will take you anywhere. You are not and shall never be in the 'F' section." Well I am glad it took me places. It took me to one of the most prestigious law schools of the country and if his Lordship wishes it will certainly take me to further. But the point is are parents taking their parenthood seriously? Are teachers taking their teacherhood seriously?

An accademically underaccomplished kid, whose confidence is on the negative side of the x axis, who utters every phrase in some infrasonic frequency is made to understand how useless he is. That is certainly not the best thing for him. He will shrink even more and more and more. He will crumble on the face of life. He will never discover his talents. I am a 23 year old girl. Some days ago I lost a huge part of confidence because since a long time no body had encouraged me. My grades were declining. Internships went uneventful. I whispered instead of speaking loudly. I shrunk from asking my seniors for a feedback on my work. I sought the background and never the limelight. For those who have seen the confident side of Soumya will not even believe me on this. Then one day somebody said, "Good research Soumya. That judgment you pulled out was indeed useful." A few words and I started feeling useful all over again. Should someone not remind Nitin how useful he can be if did the right things to himself.

I have to make a very crucial point. I don't believe in encouraging a kid for anything under the sun like singing and dancing only just because he is good at it or has a talent in that field. In years to come he will face the need to earn and for that he has to earn an easily marketable degree and hence scores are important. He may never have the resources like the star kid Ranbir Kapoor and go to some hi-fi acting school or pursue a course in Jewelry Designing. This is the hard reality. But what the teachers can do here is that ask the student to pursue knowledge and not marks. To make him enjoy the process of enlightenment through garnering knowledge. Access to novels, newspapers, internet and even sports and martial arts under the supervision of a matured guide can build his personality. One day he will face the world with confidence and make hell of a man. He makes spelling errors..that's okay its not the end of the world. How about reading the review of man of steel on the Hindustan Times and pulling out ten difficult words and practice each 5 times as homework. Handwriting...even that can be repaired. Having a bad handwriting is after all not Tax evasion or something. 

As a student of Criminology I discovered a few months ago that what I went through in school and what Nitin went through that day can be termed as 'Bullying'..a criminal behavior in some jurisdictions. I felt like slapping the ugly blob of flesh on her face...and then taking Nitin away, giving him a Bournville and asking him to come to me the next day so that we could find out about the Igneous and Metamorphic rocks, the Environment and what not......But we don't always end up doing everything we feel like. Sometimes we are just not empowered enough to do so. One day I will.