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Chip off the old block
By SHEILA
KUMAR
She was all of four, pint-sized with a mind of her
own, firm opinions and a definite world view. Academics were not to her liking;
she saw no need, relevance or utility in study. And so, every day after her
school session, she would return all perky, and announce, ‘’I have finished
studying.’’
It would take the combined efforts of the family to convince her
that academics was an ongoing process, well, at least for the next fifteen years
or so. Some ingenious, creative and downright plain talking would be done; she’d
listen and then announce, in a matter- of-fact tone that defied further
discussion: “But I have finished studying.’’
Her mother had been a hard
working student, an academic topper. So, where did the little one get her
obduracy regarding schooling? We put the question to her father. “Well, I don’t
know,’’ he demurred. “I did okay during my school years. Barring one or two
incidents.’’
When pressed, he proceeded to divulge details of those ‘one or
two incidents’ and, in the process, left us much shaken and stirred. The first
incident had to do with when he was all of eight years old and in the third
standard. Apparently, Math was a tough subject to crack and he developed an
inordinate dislike for the subject.
Furthermore, he saw no need for
attendance or attention. So, every morning, he’d leave home with his sister,
(who just incidentally, happened to be the Head Girl!) lunch box in hand,
butter-won’t-melt-in- mouth expression on his face. At the gate, he’d wave a
cheerful farewell to his unsuspecting sibling and walk in the direction of
primary school.
As soon as his sister was out of sight, our boy would then
turn tail, head out of the school gates and to the nearest ‘maidan’ where his
companions in truancy awaited him. And they’d spend the whole glorious day
playing cricket.
He did this for three whole days before he was caught. When
he was asked for an explanation by his patient father, he said simply and
succinctly, “I don’t like Math.’’
The second incident is connected to the
first. Frequent absences do not polish one’s proficiency in any subject and when
his annual report card fetched up, it had the expected dismal score against
Math. Worse, the Headmaster asked to meet his father. So, he went to an
indulgent, much older cousin and asked him to come to school as his guardian,
since his father was purportedly to be ‘out of station’.
The indulgent
cousin agreed but faced with a very long list of mischief, truancy and other
such juvenile misdemeanors, all traces of indulgence left him. Forgetting his
part in the contract (just to nod ‘yes’ to the Headmaster, sign the report and
leave the room) he started to berate the boy, and severely at that. Really, felt
the boy, there was no justice in the world if contracts were broken so
easily!
Today, the same boy is a responsible Mariner with a deft grasp of
Math… which just went to show the family that there was hope yet for his
school-hating daughter! |
