The Man Who Changed the Caste System That year I had flunked badly. It was in the sixth standard when I had hit an all time low in my studies. Not that I was great in class, but this was a special low. It was a deadly combination of a disinterested class teacher and some extremely interesting friends that you meet during that crossroad age. Then one bright day, he walked into the classroom with a charming smile that touched his sparkling blue eyes. He did a funny thing that January morning. A few of us were always to be found warming the back benches as permanent settlers, as were the top ranked guys in the class who occupied the front benches by long tradition of our Jesuit school. It was an orphanage that had just opened its doors to some day scholars. It believed in discipline to be administered through the cane. Brother Kevin Ward who had arrived from his home in Dublin, Ireland, did the most unsettling thing that morning. He changed the caste system in the class. Five of us, Jahar Sanyal, Tapan Soor, Iqubal Singh, Michael Cardozo and yours truly found ourselves in the front benches. Our war action comics, marbles in our pockets, the yo-yos were inspected and returned. Before we had recovered from the shock of it all, came the tectonic shift. Each of us were made responsible for a task. If Tapan had to take care of the cleanliness of the class room, Michael had to make sure that the plants were watered and fresh every morning, Abhijit had to keep the windows spotless, the very same ones he had broken a few times which had resulted in some canes breaking on his backside after a dozen benders. We were suddenly very responsible young men who behaved with the seriousness demanded by the weight of our tasks. It has bothered me ever since; did he do it on purpose or was it he just wanted us to stay away from mischief? Almost four decades later, I asked him this question this January morning in our assembly area. His eyes sparkled with the same cheerfulness, Keep guessing, keep guessing my friend, he said with an enigmatic smile on his lips. Since then there was no cane in our classroom. One didnt need it anymore!
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 11:26:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015