When does a teacher commit a criminal offence ?

As a teacher, there are some things that are 'criminal'.  I am using the word 'criminal' knowing very well what it means.  Some things criminal include : not taking class, knowingly taking things wrongly, wantonly failing a student, being partial to a student or some students on the basis of religion, background (social and economic), colour, race or looks, telling a student she/he is worth nothing, she/he is not capable, putting down a student, pandering to a select few at the cost of the class.....  Many might wonder, what is criminal about the above ?  It didn't kill anyone, nor did it spoil someone's life.  Question is, 'Are you sure ? '.  There is something called the 'spirit'.  Killing the spirit of a student in any way is criminal because it influences her/his whole life.  It may not be visible as bleeding or a broken arm.  It is worse than that.  A cut or broken arm will heal but the spirit when killed, there is no surety if it can become alive as before without any effect.  So, what is this 'spirit' that is being spoken about ?  Spirit is the will of a student to aspire, to learn, to try, to fail and rise, to go beyond, challenge known and unknown limitations, to try and excel in a chosen field, to learn a vocation, to unearth a hidden talent, to push boundaries, to dream.

So, how does a teacher kill all of this ?  When a teacher does not correct a wrong, when a teacher does not encourage, when a teacher does not push a student beyond her/his comfort zone, when a teacher does not help a student break limitations and boundaries she/he set, when a teacher does not pull down myths and help unearth the truth, when a teacher does not break barriers, when a teacher sets one's own boundaries for students to suit their own silly needs, when a teacher does not help a student excel, when a teacher is happy with what a student is currently, knowing there is so much more in them, when a teacher tries limiting a students talent, curtailing a students abilities, when a teacher does not dream for a student, then a teacher is killing the spirit.   That is a criminal offence.

A student at twenty has a spirit that is unquenchable, a spirit that is willing to try, a spirit that is giving, a spirit that thrives on challenge, a spirit that dreams big and looks forward to a future.   The spirit instead of soaring in the sky, challenging limits, reaching for an upper limit that does not exist, is clipped to stick to the ground. How long will a spirit survive being caged, by walls that they didn't set, by walls that are invisible, by walls that someone else defined, by dreams that are crushed by someone ?  The spirit then dies.  This death is not natural.  It is killing.  That is a criminal offence.


Disclaimer :  The above views are mine and mine alone.  

Over flowers

Reading a news feed, I happened to see a case where a lady is beating her m-i-l for plucking flowers from the garden without permission.  Turning physical is not correct.  However, experience teaches otherwise about what many people feel towards flowers being plucked from their own garden.

Can there be another side to this story ? Or will it be viewed only in one angle ?

In the community I live, when someone plucked flowers from a house without knowledge of the owners, the owner objected and put it up on the open Whatsapp group.   The owner's father, a retired gentleman has a green hand and his passion is gardening.  Anything he plants will grow.  And his garden is beautiful.  The colours, placing - immaculate.  Immediately, other members of the community posted on the group telling the owner that flowers may have been plucked for God and it is okay.  Doesn't taking from someone's garden without informing amount to stealing ?  Instead of going by that truth, there were people who tried to justify the other way around.  Why couldn't the justifiers think that it is the fruits of someone's hard work that is being taken away without even asking ?

I grow flowers and I just don't pluck them - no matter what.  Arun, my husband is worse than me.  He does not allow clipping of branches even.  Let them grow like they want, he says.  I would atleast pluck a few flowers for keeping in front of God's picture.  Not my husband - one flower for all the Gods put together after my repeated request.  He is right - the flowers bloom for the birds, insects and for all who wish to not bring harm.  God is omnipresent - they bloom for him to see too.  Both of us don't accept a request of flowers being plucked from our garden, no matter what.  Each and every plant was planted by us.  We dug pits, cleared clay soil, carried mud, mixed dung, all the works.  We look at them as our own children.  So, how will it feel if someone plucked flowers ?  Unacceptable by all counts.

I remember my mom in this case.  She used to work late into night till my dad came home.  She built her garden from scratch, including a roof top garden forty years ago when roof top garden was a relatively unheard of concept.  Children would come and pluck roses she planted near the compound wall.  She told them repeatedly - no avail.  Tired of requesting, she threatened them.  No use.  So, she used to wait with buckets of water or the hose and throw water on kids who tried to steal her flowers.  Her reasoning was perfect.  She didn't have a gardener or a help.  She tilled the soil, dug the ground, built embankments all by herself.  I remember her carrying red mud up the stairs for her roof top garden innumerable times.  She had a right to be angry.  However, the kids parents came protesting that she was watering them down.  They said, it is 'just flowers'.  They said my mom was not adjustable.  Not once did they accept that their kids were wrong.  They wouldn't accept that the kids were wrong in stealing flowers from someone else's garden.  The garden was my mom's source of joy, pride and health.  It gave her happiness like no other.  She was not one who went shopping, socialized, partied or even dressed up much.  She was a simple person who was passionate about what she created.  She found joy in her own hard work.  Is that so difficult for someone else to accept ? 

Society we live in does not believe in a person's space, a person's right to live a life unhindered.  Man is defined as a social being - but that definition holds only in common spaces, not in private spaces.  When will the society we live in understand.  After forty years, I go through what my mom went through.  I hear the same lines told by a group of people, educated, moneyed and well-healed.  Nothing has changed.  Will it ever change ?

Capture the Wind. Feel Life, Live Life

There is a saying that you cannot capture the wind.  That is, you cannot catch the wind.  However, I feel that there is a way.  In a philosophical sense.

Today, as I walked around IISc, I saw a person riding his cycle down a slope and stretch his hands out such that the wind would have been obstructed by his palm.  I remembered something from the days gone by.  All I had to do was close my eyes and there I did it.

Riding my 'Ferrari' down the slope from the ladies hostel to the lab at the University of Hyderabad, for four years from 2006-2010 was an everyday occurrence minimum three times a day.  I would let go and feel the wind, play with my short hair, whiz past my face and I would breathe in the smells, and try to be part of something I could only feel but not hold, nor capture.

However, today at IISc, Blr as I saw an unknown person do just the same, I stood still for sometime and let my hand out and went back to ride my Ferrari down the slope and felt the wind touch my hand and pass through my fingers when I stretched them. I could feel the wind being obstructed when I closed my fingers, I could feel the hair on my hand.  I could feel the wind kiss my face, play with my curls, pass through my clothes and I could feel the sheer joy I had felt every single day.   

I realized that though the wind cannot be captured physically, it can still be captured.  It has been captured somewhere inside me.  For otherwise, it couldn't feel so real.  

How I wish I could live every moment that way.  It may be simple but live it to the fullest, capture the essence and be part of something beautiful.  As Kahlil Gibran said, 'And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair'.