The envelope
Greetings!
"Do I look like a beggar to you?" bellowed the Sir.
The bewildered boy was at a loss of words. He started trembling and I thought he may fall down.
"No... Sir..." He managed to mutter while clutching the tuition fee money in his hand.
The Sir had an imposing personality and commanding voice. Getting a seat at his tuition was considered to be a one way ticket to get into the "meritorious students club". He used to nudge, cajole, incite and drive students towards fending off and getting victory over those nightmarish adversaries of every middle school child. The deadly trio of Audacious Algebra, Gigantic Geometry and Sneaky Science.
It was the first day of this boy in this prestigious tuition class. (And mine too).
He was facing the wrath of Sir as he went to pay the fee with currency notes in his hand.
The boy looked at the ground as if he desperately wished the earth to swallow him. He felt the glowering gaze of Sir in front and the snickering eyes of other students on back of his head.
After a few seconds (which must have felt like eternity to this boy), Sir said, "In my tuition, the fees have to be put in an envelope. Your name and class, month and amount should be written in clean handwriting. Only then you are allowed to give fees to me properly in such envelope. You can make an envelope of a loose page even... just like this." Sir made a beautiful envelope from one paper in a jiffy and handed over the envelope to the relieved boy. I thought I saw a hint of smirk on Sir's face.
"Sir seems to have a short circuit!" I murmured in the ear of another boy sitting next to me, expecting to gossip about the invincible teacher.
"No... you are completely wrong... you don't get it!" the boy's eyes had welled up as he said this.
I was really shocked. This was not the reaction I expected. I just dumbly kept looking at him..
Wiping his initial tears, the boy whispered on ... "I don't have a father and after paying my school fees we have only enough to scrape through the day. When I came to meet Sir, he told me that he understood I cannot pay his tuition fees and he doesn't expect me to pay it at all. But he said that, that doesn't mean I should lose my dignity in front of everyone in the tuition. He told me to just submit an empty envelope every month with my details... in front of everyone... ..." He could not go on and let his tears flow silently turning towards the wall...
At that moment I wished that I too had a wall to turn towards...
Sincerely Mine!
Anand Kulkarni
"Do I look like a beggar to you?" bellowed the Sir.
The bewildered boy was at a loss of words. He started trembling and I thought he may fall down.
"No... Sir..." He managed to mutter while clutching the tuition fee money in his hand.
The Sir had an imposing personality and commanding voice. Getting a seat at his tuition was considered to be a one way ticket to get into the "meritorious students club". He used to nudge, cajole, incite and drive students towards fending off and getting victory over those nightmarish adversaries of every middle school child. The deadly trio of Audacious Algebra, Gigantic Geometry and Sneaky Science.
It was the first day of this boy in this prestigious tuition class. (And mine too).
He was facing the wrath of Sir as he went to pay the fee with currency notes in his hand.
The boy looked at the ground as if he desperately wished the earth to swallow him. He felt the glowering gaze of Sir in front and the snickering eyes of other students on back of his head.
After a few seconds (which must have felt like eternity to this boy), Sir said, "In my tuition, the fees have to be put in an envelope. Your name and class, month and amount should be written in clean handwriting. Only then you are allowed to give fees to me properly in such envelope. You can make an envelope of a loose page even... just like this." Sir made a beautiful envelope from one paper in a jiffy and handed over the envelope to the relieved boy. I thought I saw a hint of smirk on Sir's face.
"Sir seems to have a short circuit!" I murmured in the ear of another boy sitting next to me, expecting to gossip about the invincible teacher.
"No... you are completely wrong... you don't get it!" the boy's eyes had welled up as he said this.
I was really shocked. This was not the reaction I expected. I just dumbly kept looking at him..
Wiping his initial tears, the boy whispered on ... "I don't have a father and after paying my school fees we have only enough to scrape through the day. When I came to meet Sir, he told me that he understood I cannot pay his tuition fees and he doesn't expect me to pay it at all. But he said that, that doesn't mean I should lose my dignity in front of everyone in the tuition. He told me to just submit an empty envelope every month with my details... in front of everyone... ..." He could not go on and let his tears flow silently turning towards the wall...
At that moment I wished that I too had a wall to turn towards...
Sincerely Mine!
Anand Kulkarni
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