Book Four

The following incident relates to a very important chapter in the history of seventh grade and I should think it was the first time I cried in front of Keshav. I was a very sensitive child and could cry at the drop of a hat, really, but today was different. I cried because I couldn’t stand up for myself. I cried because Ms. Sarkar punished me for someone else’s apparent misdemeanor. It was a routine Thursday afternoon and Ms. Sarkar was perched neatly on her high chair in a yellow saree and the customary black bra whose straps threatened to snap any minute. Presently, she started the poetry reading for “Dinosaurs.” While she struggled to keep everyone interested in her monologue, Shirali and Gayatri wrote out a chit to me.

Contents of the infamous chit:

“Sutappa Sutappa don’t worry Suttapa

  Hum hai tumhare Uttappa

              Day by day badhta hai size tera Suttappa

  Something something Suttappa”

The two of them were very impressed by their literary accomplishments and decided to share their great work with me. Each time they tried to pass the chit forward, Ms. Sutapa Sarkar looked up from her book to receive some sort of acknowledgement from the class while she continued the boring poetry recital. One time she looked up and saw Gayatri trying to pass the chit on. She got up instantly, went up to their desk and demanded to read the chit. They tried to hide it but to no avail. The subject of their ridicule was destined to be their first audience. She asked Gayatri very sternly, “who were you trying to pass this to?” Upon learning that I was supposed to read this, Sarkar walked back a few steps and ordered me to stand up and remain standing while the poetry recital continued. I had no idea what was happening and I was under the impression that they wrote something acrimonious  under my name. Hence, the punishment. Tears streamed down my face as I tried my very best to remain calm and composed. 

The very thought of being punished in front of the class and made this public object of ridicule was beyond my weak brain. All I could think in those few moments that seemed like an indefinitely long period of time was that people must be sniggering behind my back and talking about how undisciplined a child I was  to procure such scorn from the teacher. At any rate, Gayatri went up to the teacher and told her to punish them instead because it wasn’t my fault. The teacher dismissed her out of hand and continued to glare at me. When she gave us all a five minute break between the 2 hours of back to back literature that Thursday afternoon, she called me to her chair and asked me politely if I knew what they had written. I shook my head in the negative. Seeing that my face was red from the tears I shed innocently, she asked me to sit back in my chair and punished Gayatri and Shirali instead and asked them to wait after class. What happened with them after class got over is impertinent to this discussion. 

All I remember from that day is that when I sat back in my chair, buried my face into the book and dashed to leave class as soon as we were dismissed, Keshav, Durgesh, Saransh and a few others stopped me from leaving unnoticed and asked me about what happened. I told them that I could surmise Gayu and Shirali wrote something about Sutapa and were trying to get me to read it but unfortunately for me, she decided to punish me for their innocent mischief. They tried to cheer me up and I laughed when I realized that everyone disliked the teacher and more so because of how she behaved with me. And most importantly, Keshav patted me lightly on my shoulder just before we left class at the end of the day.