my second co-production after Adidev who was released in 2009. A blog on his release was also
released a few months back, in case you wanna read that suspense thriller.
So, I was talking about the bus that takes my second one to his school. He is currently 3 years old
and is going to a pre-school. A place that is not designed to teach him about (a+b)2 but simpler
things like modern art, 2 or 4 lines of few poems and a little bit of mixing up with other kids of his
age.
When we put him into the pre-school, we were not banking on them to prepare him for the
toughest entrance exam. Instead all we wanted was an ambience that was different from home, a
place he could express himself beyond the tantrums he normally throws at home, a place he would
be thrilled to go to and then come back and tell us the day’s stories in his own words. What more do
you want from a 3-year- old.
I, normally, am in-charge of making sure he is ready on time while the mother is packing his food and
bag. It was 6 35am and we should be walking down to the road in the next 90 secs. (No, I am not an
army man, but I do like to be a few minutes early always)
It was then Aaryan asked me “Dad, can you draw a star on my hands?”. Oh my God, that is certainly
going to take more than 90 secs of time my mind said. “I will surely draw that for you, but not now. I
will draw it when you are back today” I said, as I hung the school bag on his shoulders. Dejected, he
went to his mother and asked her the same question. Manju, is a lot more accommodating like every
mother, and said “Sure”.
I gave her a nasty look pointing to the watch and she gave me even a nastier look asking me to
bugger off. 😏Spiderman vs Cat woman, I am guessing Cat Woman wins hands down. She pulled out a red sketch pen from the shelf to draw a little star on the little wrist of a three-year- old. “No, I want it with a yellow sketch”, he said. My nervous system was crashing as the bus could arrive within no time and if we miss it, I will have drive him to the school and get into a traffic situation.
Manju quickly fumbled with a few pens and finally found a yellow and drew a quick star on his hand
and he smiled. I looked at her again and then the watch, and she gave me a look that asked me
“what kind of a father are you who has no patience to draw a star”. No words spoken, but if there
was ever a dictionary of “looks” for married people, this is how it would be described.
I rushed with him and reached the ground floor. Thank God, the bus was only pulling in as we walked
out. I handed him over to the nanny in the bus and he went and sat down on his allotted seat. While
we were taking the stairs down he happily showed me the star and said, “see dad, I got a star” and
smiled. I smiled too. Kids have their own moments of triumph.
The next day was no different from any day, it was the rush hour in the house. And just like the
previous day, Aaryan asked for a star. He was smart, he totally ignored me this time and asked his
mom first. She pulled out the sketch pen and asked about his colour preference. He said YELLOW.
She said, “Let me draw a Sun on your wrist instead of a star.” “No, I only want a star”, he replied.
This kept happening a few times.
One day, Manju just out of curiosity asked him, “Why do you need a star daily just before school?”
and he responded, “My teacher doesn’t give me a star”. I heard that but didn’t really get the point. I
think Manju did not probably think about it too.
There were some days when we missed the bus and then I would have to drop him off at the school.
On those days, there is a father son serious discussion about the JCB’s on the road and the
construction cranes. His knowledge of these machines is far better than what I knew about them at
the age of 10-12, thanks to the cartoon series “Bob the Builder”. He would stare out of the window
and shout “dad, there is a crane…Dad there is a JCB…Dad there is a digger…” I didn’t even know the difference between a digger and the normal JCB machines. For a 3-year- old, that’s a lot of
information. Maybe I too should start watching Paw Patrol and Bob the builder. One thing I always
noticed when I dropped him was that, the moment he got inside the school, the smile kind of
vanished and he became serious. I guess he was getting into the act pretty early.
Then one day we got a message from the school that all the kids from his class will have a poem
recitation and that he is being taught “Twinkle Twinkle Little star” and that we should practice that
at home too. I did hear Aaryan recite it couple of times at home with his mother.
Manju was invited for the recitation too. She attended it and came back home and told me that our
son decided to have a non-cooperation day on stage and only mentioned the first line and nothing
more. It seems many kids could not recite their poems on the stage. But then what’s new with that?
There are senior people who would wet their pants if we ask them to speak to an audience. Nothing
strange for me. I think both of us were happy he recited one line.
She later told me that the teacher was under tremendous pressure because a lot of kids were not
reciting and she was at the verge of shouting at them. Well non-cooperation movement does have
an effect is what Mahatma Gandhi taught us from his actions.
There was something else that Manju noticed that day, that some kids had yellow stars on their
hands. So, she asked Aaryan, “who puts the star on their hands” and he said “the teacher”. “So why
don’t you get it from her and not me”, she asked. “She doesn’t give me a star. But you give me”, he
said with a smile. That was strange, but she decided to ignore. Moms always register such things in
their mind and then leave it out of their memory. She did mention it to me that day.
It was the end of term in school and we had the parent teacher meeting. I couldn’t attend so Manju had to go alone. The moment she sat down on the chair with Aaryan on her side, the teacher went berserk with her evaluation of the child. For the first few seconds and minutes, I guess Manju did not even catch what it was all about.
The teacher was complaining about the fact that he doesn’t communicate in the class and he was
always silent and did not do anything on his own etc. etc. etc. Manju being a trainer for kids herself I
guess gave her one of those nasty looks that kind of slowed the teacher down. “I am here to hear
from you what my son does and not what my son doesn’t” she said with a rather stern face. Even though I wasn’t there, I can picturise her saying that and can even tell you the angle her eyebrows would have been at. (14 years of practical experience) I guess the teacher got the point. And she kind of mellowed down.
“As parents, you should speak to the child, only then would he learn the language and know how to communicate” the teacher said. “Do you give stars to kids?” Manju asked the teacher. Yes, was the reply. “when did you last give draw a star of his hand?” was the next question. The teacher thought
for a while and said, “Perhaps not”. “We at home know that you do not give him a star. From the same boy, you believe does not communicate. So, the issue is not with whether he does or does not know how to communicate, it must be with you since you can’t read him well”, Manju went on.
Manju did not further explain what went on there, but I am guessing the teacher got the point. Or rather it was drilled into her.
Later that week I got a report card of a kid who is now 3 years and 2 months old. Seriously do
schools do that? Start grading kids that are so young. And the teacher has put a sad smiley ☹ when it comes to a question related to communication.
I am literally shocked that a school teacher could not create a rapport with the child to know what or how he communicates. And guess what, they do have the authority to grade the kid. For us as his parents, we do not care for that report card that is written down by a teacher who has trained herself in finding faults in toddlers and not be a wonderful friend to them. And I guess we are not alone in this world where we find at least some teachers to be really strange and wonder what they
are doing there. But I guess every job has such people. Perhaps its not the people, it is the system.
FYI: I am waiting for the school to re-open. I will take my son to the same teacher and hand over a few pictures of JCB, cranes, diggers and test her knowledge about them and ask
Aaryan to spell each of them to her. And then hand over her report card to her 😆
Haha
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