Page 225 - DENG203_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_IV

Elective English—IV

Notes the world paid him tribute. The greatest among the gods were like his slaves. The gods of fire
and water were also his servants. But what was his end? His pride wiped out both him and his
race, there was not a soul left. Whatever evil deeds a man may do, let him not indulge in pride.
Let him not put on airs. If he is proud, he loses in both the material and the spiritual worlds. You
must also have read what happened to Satan. He was proud that there was no greater and truer
devotee of God than himself. In the end he was cast out from heaven into hell. Once the Emperor
of Rome also gave way to pride. He died begging for alms. If your head has turned on clearing
just one class, then your progress is indeed assured! You can take it from me that you have not
succeeded through hard work, but through sheer luck. This kind of thing can happen only once,
not again. Sometimes when playing gulli-danda one makes a hit by chance but this does not
make one a successful player. A successful player is one whose shots never miss their mark.
Don’t go by my failure. When you reach my class you will sweat and toil, battling with things
like algebra and geometry and English history. It is not easy to remember the names of kings.
There have been as many as eight Henrys. Do you think it is easy to remember in which Henry’s
reign a particular event took place? Write Henry VIII instead of Henry VII and you lose all
marks! Not even a zero will you get, not even a zero! Have you ever thought of that? There have
been dozens of Jameses, dozens of Williams, scores of Charleses. The brain reels, one feels giddy
thinking of them. The unfortunate British could not even find names. They simply affixed
Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth to a single name. Had they asked me I would have suggested a
million names. As for geometry, God help us! Write ABC instead of ACB and all your marks are
cut. There is no one to ask these heartless examiners what, after all, the difference is between
ABC and ACB and why they slaughter candidates for such trivial reasons. How does it matter
whether you eat dal and rice and roti or rice and dal and roti But are these examiners concerned
with anything beyond the book? They want the boys to learn every single letter by heart. And
such cramming has been given the name of education. After all what is the use of reading things
that have neither head nor tail? ‘If you drop a perpendicular on this line, the base will be twice
the perpendicular’.
“What, one may ask, is the use of this? How do I care whether it is twice or four times the size or
remains a mere half? But if you want to pass an exam you must learn all this rubbish. You are
told to write an essay on ‘punctuality’, not less then four pages in length. All you do is, open
your notebook, pick up your pen and curse them. Who doesn’t know that punctuality is a very
good thing? It brings discipline into a man’s life. Other people begin to have a regard for him
and his business prospers. But how can one write four pages on a little thing like that? What,
anyway, is the use of writing four pages on something that can be said in a single sentence? I
would call this folly. Overstressing a thing without sufficient reason is not economy but misuse
of time. We want a man who says quickly what he has to say. But no. You are compelled to
colour four pages, no matter how you do it. And mind you, foolscap pages at that. Isn’t this a
cruelty to students? The irony of the whole situation is that you are told to write briefly. Write
a brief essay, not less than four pages! Fine! A brief essay means four pages. Otherwise we would
have to write a hundred or two- hundred pages. It’s like running both fast and slow. Isn’t that a
contradiction? Even a child can understand a little thing like that but not these teachers. When
you come to my class, sir, you will know just what is what. You have topped in this class so you
are walking on air. Take my advice. I might fail a hundred-thousand times, still I am older than
you and have more experience of the world than you have. Make a note of what I say or you’ll
be sorry.”

!
Caution The story is in first person account which interestingly switches the actors from
being the narrators and players while the narration forming the part of dialogue between
the two brothers.

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