I was just looking around and drinking my latte,
waiting for my friend Tenzin who was supposed to meet me at Moon Peak café. Since
he is a teacher, I thought he might have got hold up in class or something. In
the mean time, I enjoyed the beautiful sunset that I could see across the lofty
mountains. An American couple was sitting across a table from me; they were
discussing how they should manage their money once they get back home as they may
have probably used most of their savings here in Mcleod Ganj. The man was
saying, “Maybe I should work in my father’s company as he always wanted” and
she was saying, “no, you can’t. You will not come home early and you will be
away a lot of times if you work in your father’s company.” The man was shaking
his head and said, “no, I won’t. I promise you that I will be at home as much
as I can. Honey, you know that we need to earn some money as our baby is coming
soon; we need to make sure he gets all the things that we never had in our
life.” When I heard it, I took a quick look at the woman and noticed her small
protruding belly. Once I knew that they were having a baby, I stopped
eavesdropping on their conversation.
Later, Tenzin showed up. He sat on the chair across
the table and said, “hey, I am so sorry, we got hold up in an emergency
meeting.” He has been a teacher at Tibetan Children’s Village (T.C.V) School
for over 10 years now. We grew up together in that school. He used to say that
the reason for his choice to be a teacher is that he wanted to give it back to the
community by serving as a teacher. But I have always wondered why he is lying
to himself. His teaching job was the last option he had after his graduation.
First, he tried to get a job in some companies, but he got rejected right
within few minutes into those interviews. Then he tried to get a job in Central
Tibetan Administration (CTA) but his Tibetan language skills were so poor that
he came last at the entrance test for CTA recruitment examination. Finally,
like many youngsters who have graduated with a piece of paper called degree in
their hand but with an empty brain, he decided to go for Teachers’ Training
Institute under CTA’s Department of Education at Bhuntar, Manali. After one and
half years, he got a job as a social studies teacher for junior section at TCV.
I still remember Tenzin telling me before going for training that he thinks a
teacher’s profession is the most stable job in our community. So sometimes, I
wonder why we lack good teachers in our community. May be our youngsters weren’t
inspired from school days to become a teacher. I don’t know what went wrong or
I am not sure what I think is right as I don’t have either a degree or
knowledge to be a teacher.
Tenzin looked at me and said “Do you know what
happened at the school today?” He looked like a child too eager to tell his
parents what has happened in school. So to let the time pass and also let his
coffee go smooth, I asked what has happened. He put down his cup and said, “a
student was beaten by a teacher who has anger issues. He broke the student’s
hand. It was not the first time he has done so. Earlier, he knocked a student
out of consciousness by continuously punching him on the face, but this time,
the student with broken hand is son of a rich family in McLeod Ganj. The father
is a Member of Parliament; he came up to the school demanding the teacher to be
expelled. So we had an emergency meeting about it.”
“What was decided during the meeting?” I asked.
“Well, some teachers supported him saying that even though corporal punishment
is banned in TCV School, some students need to be guided with little beating or
else they won’t listen to the teachers. They further added that if the teacher
is expelled from the school for beating a Tibetan parliamentarian’s son, then
what about others who raise their hands on students who have come from Tibet
and have no one looking after them. The director and principal were confused.
In the end they decided to transfer the teacher to another branch of TCV in
south India.” He took a sip of his
coffee and continued “well these days, if a student is not studying, teachers
are blamed, but if a teacher raises his hand on a student to make him study,
the teacher is blamed for resorting to wrong methods. I am lucky that I am not
so ill-tempered. If a student misbehaves, I just deduct some of their marks. This
approach has improved some students but some students don’t care about marks;
they are the ones I am most bothered about.” With a sad face, he lit a cigarette.
I also lit one and said “maybe you should try to talk to them personally,
listen to their problems and give some advices. Try to be their friend, not a
boss.” “Well, if I try to be their friend, they will think that I am weak or
something. I am sure they will take advantage of me. They don’t even respect
teachers these days.”
At that time the American couple left their table as
a bunch of loud domestic tourists came to sit at a table behind them. Some of
them were staring at the American woman. Well, staring at a woman as if they
are an object in museum is an unpleasant habit of many indecent men in India.
Maybe the woman got uncomfortable with their stare. So they left grumbling “so
uncivilized….”. I took a last drag from the cigarette and stubbed it in the
ashtray.
“Well, maybe if you try to reach them genuinely,
they may respond well and listen to you. About the respect part, you should
earn it. Being a teacher doesn’t necessarily mean respect come along with your
salary. You will have to earn it. When we were in school, we don’t respect
every teacher with genuine feeling. We used to respect them out of fear. But we
respect and love some teachers and we still remember and admire them,” I said,
trying to put some sense into him even though I was not really sure I was
saying the right thing.
He looked at the sunset for a while and said “don’t
worry mate; I am soon going for a trip to England with some students for a student’s
exchange program. And I am planning to run away once the program is done. I
will go to Sweden from there and seek asylum. My uncle is in Sweden and he told
it is best for me.” Well for once he said something for which I didn’t have
anything to say other than “well good luck, you shouldn’t have become a teacher
at all.”
After a month, I heard that he had run away from the
airport while he was coming back. No one knows where he has gone. TCV was so
embarrassed that they had to officially apologize to the British Consulate and
the school responsible for the program.
