Prithika noticed that her hands were shaking. Her stomach churned like a giant cement mixer. She felt like all her muscles were turning into water and she would fall to the ground any second now. After all, it was not every day that you received a note from the school principal, calling you for a ‘special’ meeting! “What’s the big deal?” said her son, Abhinav unabashedly. “He will probably just have something mean to say about me and scold you about my marks etc. etc. You know, Mom, how to handle him...Bye”, said the wise one, waving her a cheery goodbye, no doubt relieved at handing over the wretched note.
“Yea, yea, you are a fine one to talk...no worries, no concerns, Mom will handle everything”, Prithika mumbled to herself, tightening her nightgown belt and settling down to read the morning newspaper for the ten minutes that she got in between three children being readied for school like a relay race! Unable to concentrate even on her favourite cartoons and Bollywood gossip, she finally admitted she was very worried. Abhinav was a “high-spirited boy”, as his music teacher put it diplomatically and the not-so-diplomatic teachers just called him misbehaved and a trouble-maker. She had not really taken these comments very seriously at the Parent-Teacher meetings but a meeting with the Principal was something to be scared about.
Breathing in deeply and wiping her sweating palms, an hour later, Prithika knocked at the Principal’s door. From the minute she stepped into the hallowed chambers to the moment she stepped out, more than an hour later, Prithika was struck by only one thought – “what in heaven’s name made me seek admission in this school”?
As anticipated, the school authorities were extremely disturbed by Abhinav’s behaviour. The teachers had not minced words when complaining to the Principal – “he doesn’t study nor let others study, he doesn’t do his home-work, he is failing in a few subjects, he is always teasing the girls, and he never sits still...blah, blah, blah”. Yet, the one remark that really hit a raw nerve and made Prithika say what she never imagined she would, was “Mam, do you think your son may be mentally disturbed, Uh...you know have you got him checked, uh, I mean his mental state”.
That did it! Prithika gathered her tattered dignity together and said, “I am very proud of all my kids, particularly so of Abhinav. He is very loving towards his siblings, very useful around the house and takes care of me as well. Obviously, your school has not seen this side of him nor wanted to...if you had known that he is a talented piano player and a budding cricketer, maybe you would not be so dismissive. Anyway, I will not be sending Abhinav to your school anymore...not because of these comments but more importantly due to the CANNING he received from your teachers! If anything your teachers need a mental health check-up. Very conveniently, this is probably one aspect that your teachers have not bothered to brief you on. Good day, Mr Principal and I hope you find it appropriate to walk out from your ivory tower and see what is really happening in your school.” Leaving the open-mouthed, shocked Principal, Prithika collected the now-subdued Abhinav and came home.
“Son, I want you to know that the school was wrong to have allowed the teachers to hit you so mercilessly for a crime no bigger than being a high-energy child. Innocent mischief from a ten-year old does not deserve anything more than a scolding, yet your teachers canned you not once but thrice in three different classes,” reassured Prithika gently but firmly.
Thus began the journey of finding a suitable school where energetic, talkative and curious-minded children were not considered an anathema but a boon. In the highly conservative schools of Chennai where studious and docile children were the rule, Abhinav’s repeated questioning, his search for logic or reasoning from the teacher, was found as an aberration. No one wanted go beyond the books to answer Abhinav’s difficult questions and found his restlessness a threat to class discipline. In despair, Prithika went to her favourite family temple to pray and talk to the wise and old priest who had seen her grow up. “Kanna (child), why don’t you teach Abhinav yourself. You are a trained teacher yourself and earn your living through home tuitions. Is it not possible to consider Abhinav as another student and make some time out for him as well”, advised the old priest in Tamil. “But Amma, who will take me teaching my son seriously, how he will appear in boards and all other such exams”, asked a distraught Prithika from her mother that evening. “Maybe there is a way out, why don’t you meet the authorities and find out,” said Amma.
“This has never happened in the history of Chennai schools, how we can allow this, this is highly unconventional...”, so went on the arguments between Prithika and the Chennai state authorities. Emboldened by her lawyer who cited laws that allowed a child to appear for any state examination as long as the studies were being conducted using appropriate board textbooks, Prithika fought back. After almost of a month of battle, the committee members finally relented and allowed Abhinav to appear for his school examinations without the need for regular attendance in class.
Going back to the now-chastened Principal with the committee’s orders, Prithika led Abhinav proudly down the corridors of the school towards the staff room where the teachers were having their lunch break. “I would just like to say one thing to all of you who have dared to lift a finger at my son and other poor, scared children...obviously you don’t have even a shroud of humanity in you and have become mechanised robots. The teacher teaches not from books but from the stories of life. I may have created a body but I entrusted the task of creating a human being with you all. However, now before you make a criminal out of him, I would like to take him far away from the likes of you!”
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