The Cow

it was classroom of 3rd standard and there was complete silent as the students were busily writing the monthly exams. Today it was English paper 2 where the proficiency in Grammar and essay writing are tested. The teacher noticed that Harish was writing very seriously and appeared to be very happy with his performance, and was curious to see what he wrote. Harish was an above average student , who was liked by all the teachers for his good behaviour and discipline.

The class was over and the bell rang and with that the silence gave way to the hustle and bustle of children's parallel conversations about their performance in the exam. The teacher left the class. Generally she would have started corrections and evaluation of answer sheets after a couple of days. But today she was eager to see Harish's performance. She opened his answer sheet and was going through it. They were asked to write an essay on cow and here was Harish's writing. He wrote," Cow is a domestic animal. It has four legs, a tail and generally is white in color but variations like with brown and black patches exist. It is a vegetarian and grazes on mostly green grass . It gives milk which is consumed by Human beings and is very nutritious. Cows are maintained and raised in dairy farms." Well Harish's writing was alright and teacher gave it above average marks.

The next month the teacher gave the topic for the essay as "Taj Mahal". The class was given a brief about Taj Mahal in their course work and all they had to do in the exam was to recollect it and write. Even on that day Harish was confident and nonchalant and writing away the exam with a smug expression. This time teacher corrected the papers leisurely at her own pace. As she was evaluating the papers, there came Harish's answer sheet. She was dumb found as she read the essay. He wrote, "My parents took me to Taj Mahal for summer vacations. It is carved out of Marble. Infront of Taj Mahal, we saw a cow grazing grass. The cow is a domestic animal…" The rest was the repetition of his essay on cow which he had written in the earlier exam. The teacher did not say anything but gave him only 35% for the essay.

The next month the essay was on "Journey by Airplane" for which to the teacher's chagrin Harish wrote," My family went for my cousin's wedding to Delhi by Air. We boarded an Indian airlines flight. The plane took off and from the window, I was looking below at the ground and to my surprise I found a group of cows grazing in the open land. What followed was his standard essay on cows. The teachers rage had to be seen, to believe!

She immediately summoned Harish and asked for an explanation. There was no big reason, but it turned out to be a prank and also lack of serious preparation by Harish. He was bored by his good boy image and was seeking everyone's attention, perhaps. He being a favorite of all teachers, initially the teacher did not react but repeating it three times was too much. He was suitably punished and warned. He also realized his mistake and corrected himself. Though the teacher inwardly admired the ingenuity of Harish and figured out that he could extend the same approach to any topic, she sternly told him that he could do well if he applied his genius in a positive way. But Harish and his essay on cow became a folklore in the school for many years.

(Dedicated lovingly to all the teachers who face such erratic behavior and pranks with patience and tolerance.)