Burden Of A School Bag; English Short Story; Author: Deepak Budki; Translator: Jawahar Lal Bhat.

Burden Of A School Bag; English Short Story

 Author: Deepak Budki

 Translator: Jawahar Lal Bhat.

“Papa, just help me. Carry this bag for a while, it’s too heavy!”

Shaista handed me her school bag while she caught the hand of her mother. That day we had gone to pick her up from school ourselves; otherwise, she used to travel on the school bus which would drop her, as a routine, at our gate. I took her school bag, it was so heavy that it hurt my shoulders and before we reached our car in the parking lot I had many a time to change shoulders to share its burden. Instantly I began to reflect on how hard it must be for Shaista to lift such a heavy bag daily to and from her school. I also felt guilty that my busy business schedule does not allow me to look into other essential aspects of my life!

I suddenly reminisced about the time when our country was freed from British rule and my khadi-clad father had felt ecstatic about the prospects of freedom. He had retired as a Headmaster of a Government School not long ago and I often heard him say that this country needs new ideas and fresh thinking. He also used to say, “Lord Macaulay forced his own language on this country and encouraged raising an army of white-collared English-knowing clerks such that the rule of the British is fortified for all times to come in this country and Indians are deprived of their own culture and civilization.” He was really fortunate not to live long to witness the disaster brought about by the evil deeds of post-independence leaders. Immediately after riding saddles of power, the selfish Indian politicians engaged themselves in the worst-ever acts of corruption and nepotism to fill their private coffers. They initiated no major change in our educational system. Everything moved on the same track the British legacy had left. The elite continued to educate their children in Christian missionary and Public schools. They would never like those similar facilities as are enjoyed by their children in these educational institutions should be shared by the common people? The condition of Government Schools, where children of common people were compelled to study, instead of improving continued to deteriorate day by day.

As a consequence, almost all posts of crucial decision-making and other key positions in government were held by the alumni of such elite schools and colleges while the products of Government schools were prevented from occupying higher positions and had to be content with lower ranks. These copycats of British governance with elitist education occupied almost all important posts and positions. A number of Education Commissions were instituted after independence and several reports were submitted but all of them were wilfully shelved and no recommendations were ever implemented. Many conferences and seminars for improvement of the educational system in India were held but no substantial change was seen on the ground and the British educational system remains almost unchanged.

On reaching home, I opened the school bag of my daughter and was surprised to see that for a ninth class student it contained unusually a huge number of books and notebooks. On being asked she counted the names of about a dozen subjects she was required to study.

“Do you study all these subjects daily? Besides, why two notebooks for each subject?” I inquired.

“Papa, one is for school work and the other one for homework” she replied, “Ma’am has ordered us to carry all the books and notebooks to school daily.”

Shaista could not understand why her father was making so many inquiries and asking such strange questions for the first time. Earlier he wouldn't even know in which class was his daughter studying.

“Oh God, Have mercy on these children of today!” suddenly a prayer burst out from my heart!  “This generation is buried under a load of books! They’ve no time for sports or games. Even if they find some spare time they spend it in closed rooms on computers or playing video games!” 

“The school fees of Shaista is overdue, they’ve written a note in her diary twice.” Nayla, her mother who had taken full educational responsibility of Shaista upon herself, burst out in between, “Write a cheque for thirty-six thousand rupees and I’ll go tomorrow to deposit it in her school.

“Thirty-six thousand.....! ”

“Yes, Thirty-six thousand.....; education is not given for free. You are never bothered about her requirements, how will you know? Admission fees....uniforms....books and so on and so forth!! Did you ever show concern about all these things? At the time of admission, they took a huge amount of one lakh and fifty thousand. Besides, they charge a monthly fee of six thousand. Now her fee for the next six months is due for payment.”

“Looks like money is worth nothing now. I feel we were better off, getting free education in Government schools. In order to spread literacy Maharaja of Kashmir had opened compulsory schools both for boys and girls in our State where children were forcibly educated free of cost. They nicknamed them 'Jabri Schools'. I remember the Indian Red Cross Society had arranged to distribute free milk powder to children once a week. People would use that milk for making salt tea in their homes. The standard of Education was very good. The teachers would teach with great dedication and a spirit of sacrifice. Many of my classmates are holding high positions in government departments and private establishments too. Some are Doctors and Engineers in many foreign countries.”

“You are talking of good old days. The times were quite different then. Things have changed entirely now. Getting children admitted to good schools has turned out to be the most difficult job. Sometimes recommendations of Ministers are sought for the purpose,” replied Nayla.

“Papa, people in our schools have actually turned mad. They say learning three languages simultaneously is essential. What’s the fun of learning so many languages?” Shaista interrupted to vocalize her inner voice!

“There’s no harm in learning more languages, it may benefit you in the future!” my inner scholar burst out.

“What Dad, you too speak like those sadists! I’m a science student, not a linguist. I’ve nothing to do with these languages. It’s only the English language that will help me. Science and technology, Internet, international relations and communication can be reached only through the English language.”

“You’ll have to pass in two other languages too besides English, that’s what the order of the Government says,” I counselled.

“I’ll get through them somehow. Where are the teachers to teach all these languages? Nowhere! Whatever language teachers we have in the school, they help students in the examinations. They know their own jobs are dependent on the pass percentage of students ultimately.”

It was really amusing for me that this little girl had laid bare a major truth. A few days ago I had come across a newspaper report saying that in UP schools sixty per cent of the posts of language teachers are vacant. How different languages are taught in these schools could be anybody's guess.

Soon Shaista went into her room while Nayla made her way to the kitchen.

I continued sitting in the Drawing room absorbed deeply in the thoughts of our present complicated life. Suddenly I recalled a report of an important educational conference that had been held some time back and reported widely in the press. Renowned educationists and experts from all over the country had expressed their views on the changes that were felt indispensable in the school curriculum due to changed circumstances. Expert environmentalists had stressed that Environment as a subject should invariably be included in the school syllabus given the deteriorating condition of the environment around. Expert biologists had expressed concern over the decreasing number of wild animals, birds, trees, plants and greenery in the world had an adverse effect on the quality of the global ecosystem. Accordingly, they emphasized that Biology should be included in the school curriculum. Experts in computer technology had stressed the need for Computer Education as an essential subject in schools as it provides the first and foremost technological support to all modern life and guarantees our future progress.

The most hotly debated issue at the conference was the selection of the main language in which education was to be imparted in Indian schools. Those who believed in Gandhian thought had argued that children should be taught only in their mother tongue while the liberal intellectuals were in favor of English as a medium of instruction. The Hindi protagonists had advocated that Hindi is the national language and should be the natural choice for teaching at all levels. Besides Hindi, Sanskrit should not be ignored so that our traditional Indian culture is adequately transmitted to successive generations. On the contrary, the experts in regional languages argued in favour of their respective regional languages. Evidently, there was no consensus on this vital issue. It looked like India would be balkanized if all these suggestions are taken care of.

The clock kept on ticking as time went by, nobody noticed how! Shaista completed her Engineering degree and subsequently managed her admission to MS Biotechnology in a German University through the Internet. She also arranged for her expenses by qualifying for a scholarship and a loan from Bank. The amazing thing about this whole adventure was that she didn’t at any time seek my assistance anywhere except that I had to stand as her guarantor. I asked myself how could an ordinary trader, who remained busy round the clock about the rise and fall in prices at the wholesale market, have helped her in following up an ambitious career like this in today's busy world. In fact, I was quite unaware of how swiftly time had gone ahead and the world of technology progressed at an unimaginable speed leaving us far behind. I felt like a frog in the well that imagines itself to be aware of the movement of each rising tide of the ocean. People like me know only to warn and caution our children against any step they want to take independently little knowing that we are ourselves ignorant of the world we live in.

Shaista contacted us daily from Germany through e-mail and informed us about her daily engagements. After her stay there for a few months, one of her messages read that the three languages learned by her were of no use to her. Everything was taught in the German language so it was essential for her to learn German. She had somehow learned German and was doing well in her studies.

In another message, she wrote, “The educational system here is quite different. The school bags of children here are not heavy. They do not carry a load of undesirable books daily. The days pass imperceptibly. My life here seems to swing only between my classroom and the library.”

She messaged further,” To compensate for my finances I serve as a waitress in a restaurant for some hours in the evening as I often get worried about the repayment of my bank loan.”

After reading her messages I was put into deep thought many a time. “My daughter serving as a waitress in a restaurant...! It pained me deeply that she had to toil hard day and night to make a successful career for herself.  They say people go to Western countries to earn lots of money but they do not know how hard they have to toil for it. 

Shaista completed her education and got a job in a German company manufacturing artificial human organs. There she worked with a unit that produced human cardiac valves! The job was challenging but she was assured of a bright future. On the other hand, it also meant that her chances to return home were quite bleak now. We gradually began to reconcile with this fact too. 

She continued her struggle with her loneliness and financial hardships for some time more till she got associated with one of her colleagues who too likewise had emigrated from Karachi and was struggling there for a successful life. They soon became friends and began living together as live-in partners in rented accommodations to save money and to ensure better security in an alien country far away from their home. I came to know about it only when both of them visited India during the Christmas holidays and asked for our permission to get married. Evidently, it was just the fulfilment of a formality because they had already consented to each other. I and Nayla looked at them and had an instant feeling that they were truly made for each other --- such a marvellous pair they looked!!  

Kashif stayed in a hotel while Shaista remained with us. In a few days, they were formally married at a simple but graceful function which was attended by Kashif’s parents besides some of his nearest relatives who came all the way from across the border. There seemed a strange similarity in our customs and ways of treating each other. No traces of any difference were found between us, we were from this side of the border and they were from the other. Same dress, same attitude, same manners and same food choices --- just an artificial borderline separated us from each other.

After being formally married, Kashif and Shaista soon left for Germany. We went to see them off at the airport and at the time they took leave we both were overwhelmed by a terrible gush of emotions and a stream of tears flowed down from our eyes. It also reckoned Shaista had parted from us forever with no hope of her return to India.  

Though our daily contact with Shaista continued regularly on the Internet through E-mails and phone calls day after day our loneliness was more irritating. Every passing day made her absence more painful than before. With advancing age, I and Nayla felt our interest in life diminishing. Occasionally she would gaze at me with vacant eyes as if telling me in a very apprehensive tone, “Listen to me and take my word for it--- the days of my life are numbered now and you’ll remain alone. Who’ll look after you once I am not there? How will you live after I’m gone?” 

On such occasions, I saw through the language of her heart clearly and my silence responded, “Nayla, all your life you yourself carried the burden of the school bag in the shape of humans like me and Shaista and never gave us an occasion to complain. Now if something happens to me and I respond to a sudden call from above, who’ll carry your burden? Shaista won’t come. She is not alone. She has now shouldered her own burden. She has her husband, her son and two school-going daughters. How would she come leaving them alone?”

We never wish for a long life for each other but pray earnestly to the almighty God, “O God, if there’s any good deed at credit in our accounts maintained by You, we wish You very kindly call us both together at the same time!”

 

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