2 - On The Way To School

Morning is such a good time. Mother is busy in the kitchen. My father is on the way to his office. My sister is busy with her homework. I am free to do anything I want. No one is free to keep a watch on me. I gather my toys and go to the balcony. This fun doesn’t last for all the day. My grandmother says, ‘now a days things change too fast’.

“Abdul! It is school time. Where are you? Come here! Let us get ready for the school”, calls my mother. I take a quick look at my toys. I tuck the large toys under my arms and hold them against the chest. I hold some more with my hands in the front and drag a few by the thread behind me. I take unsteady steps, one at a time and walk like a machine.

It is a difficult walk. Sometimes everything falls off and I have to start all over again. I stand a little distance away from her. She points to the rack and says, “Will you please leave the toys in the rack?” She realises my discomfort and grabs toys one by one and shoves them away in the rack.

Thereafter every thing happens at high speed. A quick jerk and a twist and my shirt is over my head. My ears get warped, but who cares. She escorts me to the bathroom. I sit on the wet wooden stool. A quick wash followed by rapid combing of the hair, fresh uniform, the blue tie, shoes everything is over in flat ten minutes. Thereafter she points to the stool in the drawing room and says, “Will you please sit on the stool near the door?” I
run to the drawing room. She follows me with the school bag. She helps me to climb on to the stool. She sits down in front of me on the floor. She drags the stool near her. I do not like this. The stool makes bad noise. It shakes me badly. I am short. My feet do not reach the floor. Some times I loose my balance. She holds out my shoes and says, “Abdul! Do not move your legs. I am putting on the shoes.” She slides the socks and then the shoes. With a swift jerk she pulls me off the stool. Takes a good look at my uniform and says, “Stand here. Don’t go out.” She checks my school bag. She arranges everything in the bag. I carry one ABC book, a note book and lots of pencils and rubbers. She slings the school bag on to my shoulder. She hands me my blue basket. I carry lunch box and the water bottle in the basket. Then she shouts, “Will you please stand on the steps.” I walk to the steps and sit there. In a few minutes she comes out from the garage on the scooter. It is a red and blue scooter. There is a mirror on the handle. It is high up. I jump high in the air to see myself in the mirror. Mother shouts, “Abdul! Do not be naughty.” She places the basket in the carrier. I stand in the front. She drives the scooter towards the main road. As the scooter starts to move I open my mouth. The air flows in but it has no taste. Mother shouts, “Keep your mouth shut. The dust on the street will enter your mouth, along with the air. This is bad for your health. You better stand away from the handle.” Some times I look up in the sky. I like to see the clouds. The clouds follow us all the way to the school. They always reach the school before us.

One day as usual I was watching the clouds. Few dogs were running across the road. Suddenly the dogs stopped right in front of the scooter. Mother applied breaks. The scooter stopped suddenly. My head bumped in to the handle. I felt a sever pain. My nose became red. My cap fell off. One of my shoes fell off. For a moment I was tossed about in the air. I lost my balance. I almost fell off the scooter. My basket rolled away. The water bottle, lunch box, my hand kerchief lay scattered on the road. Tears rolled down my cheeks. I was crying. I was covering the nose with my palm. Many people gathered around our scooter. Mother helped me to get down from the scooter. People carried me to the footpath. A small crowd gathered around us. Mother parked the scooter by the road side. She came near me. She looked at me for a few seconds. She quickly pulled away my hands and held it away. She looked at my nose. People said, “He is scared. His nose is swollen. Take him to the doctor.” She said, “It is a small matter. He will be alright in a minute.” She opened her purse and took out a kerchief. I knew what she was going to do.

I said, “No! No! Please don’t do it to me. It is paining.” She held my head by the chin. She un-folded the kerchief and held it between the fingers. She wiped my face gently and squeezed my nose badly. It was very painful. I was standing on my toes and crying at the top of my voice. She said, holding the kerchief in front of me, “Look how dirty you have become. Your friends will tease you. The teacher will send you home. Good boys do not cry. Now stop crying. You bumped into the handle because you were not holding it firmly.” I said, “No! You stopped the scooter very fast. I want to complain to the teacher. I will tell this to the teacher. She will punish you.” She asked me, “Do you really want to complain?” I said, “Yes! Then she will punish you. She will make you stand on the bench.”

Mother looked surprised. Mother said, “Your teacher is not present here.” I said, “I know it. She is at the school.” Mother asked, “Do you want to go to the school to speak to the teacher?” I said, “Yes! I want to go.” She once again asked me, “Isn’t your nose paining?” I said, “Yes it is paining, but I will go to the school.” She looked at the watch and said, “OK! We are getting late. Let us hurry!” I said, “My nose has become longer. It looks dirty. It is because of you.” I saw that she was smiling. She said, “Now I will drive slowly.” I climbed on to the scooter. We reached the school. The main gate was closed. The watchman was standing at the gate. Mother spoke to the watchman. The watchman looked at me for a moment. Then he opened the gate to let us in. The class doors were closed. Mother knocked at the door. I was standing behind her. Teacher opened the door. I saw through the door that all the children were standing. They were singing a poem. My mother spoke to the teacher. The teacher said, “You can take him home. Is it very bad? But where is he?” Mother turned around and pointed at me and said, “It is a small thing. There is not much pain. He will forget everything in a few minutes.” All the students were looking at me. They had stopped singing the poem. Some were even standing on the desk.

Teacher led me inside the class. She asked me, “Do you want to sit near my table.” I raised my hand and pointed to my seat. The teacher led me to my desk. She helped me to climb onto my desk. I pointed to the door and said, “She did this to me.” Teacher leaned forward to adjust my tie and whispered, “Don’t you worry. Don’t go home today. Just stay with me. She will miss you very much. This will be her punishment.” I nodded happily. I looked at the door. My mother was not there. She wasn’t standing at the door any more.

Suddenly the teacher said, “Everyone back to your seats. Children let us sing the next poem.” The class started singing the next poem. I did not sing the poem. I sat quiet, yet the teacher did not punish me. I felt my nose every now and then. After that it was story time. Teacher told us a funny story. I enjoyed the story. I was laughing and clapping. Teacher came to me and asked, “Abdul! How do you feel? Are you alright?” I just nodded. She carried me to the big table in the class. She made me stand on the table. She said to the class, “Abdul is a brave boy. He hurt his nose while coming to school. His head banged accidentally against the scooter handle. Yet he did not cry. Three claps for the brave.” The children clapped happily.

Soon the school bell rang. I felt it was too soon. Teacher said it is half day today. We ran to the corridor. Outside the class as we were waiting in the corridor. My friends were curious. They asked me many questions. I told them all that happened this morning. Some wanted to touch my nose. They touched my nose and said, “Your nose has become soft.” I asked them, “Does it look worse?” They all said, “No!” A little later I saw my mother talking to my teacher in the ground. I ran down the steps. I shouted, “Mother! Teacher called me brave. All the children clapped for me.” She said, “I know you are bold.”