The Tale Of A Glutton Tutor

In my primary school days I was closely associated with a retired teacher spending his time in a voluntary evening teaching session educating the little learners of our village at his home. In return he was demanding no fees for the knowledge he imparted to his pupils. Apart from teaching he was able to enkindle enthusiasm in the heart of the students through recitation and memorization of rhymes and mathematical table among his taught. Though he got relinquished from his service he didn't withdraw from his strong appetite for teaching into which he had been familiar with for many years in his life. Earlier he had been paid for his job but after his superannuation he was providing his selfless service to the society through teaching the tiny tots tenaciously to prove the statement true that the teachers never retire from their job as long as they live.

Eventually I was one of the member of the learning community who received the instruction from him freely along with my other tuition mates. Except for language papers taught in the school level I was miserably poor at other subjects included in the school syllabus. The report card of class three clearly reflected more or less of my strength and weakness in every lesson I learnt at school. In most of the subjects I failed to fetch the required minimum marks to qualify the examination until the school administration showed it's big heart in sending me up into next class awarding grace marks whenever and whatever necessary for the interests of the students. So it was high time for me and my parents to look into the area of the deficiency in my study immediately to find out the possible remedies to improve my standard in understanding and receiving the knowledge taught to me to carry on my study without interruption.

But during that time there was no learning centres available in the villages to clear the doubts of students through remedial classes. The profession of teaching requires a man who have conviction to nurture young minds to mould into great man. It is a noble profession of all time where the teacher distributes his knowledge among his disciples without expecting any monetary gain from the receivers. But it is moral obligation of every learner to pay the teacher his fees for the teaching he passes on to them not in terms of money but in other form. The learning becomes futile unless the teacher is appeased in the end. receiving the gift for giving his valuable teaching to the disciple. It was tradition that prevailed in India from the days of the ancient time to till now. The right thumb sacrifice story of Ekalavya in Mahabharat era clearly idealize the teacher disciple tradition for all time to come.

Next morning I went to school as usual. After the school hour was over I directly returned back home without playing with my friends. A sense of fear and anxiety hunted my mind when I thought of joining the tuition first time in my life. As getting started in anything first time is always the hardest part so I felt quite nervous when the blue hour descended on the earth. The dusk became busy with the evening activities of birds, animals and human beings. The birds were retreating to their nest making chirping sounds to settle themselves safely before the possible attacks from nocturnal predators. Cow boys were seen returning from the grazing ground with their cattle in the evening.

The house wives were engaged in burning wicks on the threshold for peace and progress of their family. It has far fetching effects on the life of living beings. It not only dispels the darkness but also exudes the positivity in our life besides evading the evil spirit to enter into our house to play havoc in our life disrupting peace and harmony. In the mean time the sound of ringing bell came out from the temple with chanting of prayer making the surrounding more sublime and and serene. Youngsters belonging to my age group began to assemble by and large reluctantly at the house of the teacher holding lantern in their hands. The tots seemed to be sad with whining countenance they possessed indicating the lack of interest in their lessons.

 they were going to be taught by. They felt themselves like frightened goats dragged forcefully to altar of sacrifice by the parents for their pride and pleasure at the cost of pain to their wards. As a puppet we danced to the tune of our parental wishes . The problem was very emotional in nature. 

My experience in the first day at tuition class was different one. The tutor warmly welcomed me with good gesture and encouraged me patting on my back.As an experienced teacher he knew how to deal with the new comers so he tried to put me at ease turning himself affectionate as unexpected. I had mixed feelings about him. Sometimes he acted to be funny and friendly and other time stern in the assertion of authority and exercise of discipline. His classes were interesting for the little children as he taught them through singing and acting. He followed the traditional method of teaching through recitation and memorisation technique which proved effective for the beginners reading in lower primary level. As his teaching was teacher centric so it fell flat to me. His teaching through chalk and talk failed to reawaken my latent knowledge which tends to foster critical thinking and the skills of problem solving and decision making. No doubt he was a good teacher to his merit but his teaching proved ineffective to us due to certain reasons. 

One day an event took place inside the tutorial room which exposed the nature of Birupakshya Mastree unveiling his hidden intention of holding free tuition for village children. One of my senior friend named Bhusana was my tuition mate at our village . He was living next door to Birupakshya sir. As a neighbour he had close  intimacy with him. . The two neighbours got on like a house on fire sharing and caring each other. Bhusana was exceptionally clever and precocious boy who could read the minds of adults accurately.Though lacking in sincerity in study he became the favourite student of him for his smartness. Everything went in right direction till the marriage of Bhusana's elder brother. But there came a twist in the tale of their relationship after the marriage ceremony of his brother., His family celebrated the ceremony with two grand feasts one exclusively for the villagers and other for invited guests from out side. As a villager Birupakshya sir was invited to rejoice in the feast meant for the villagers.

But Bhusana's father didn't invite him to enjoy the feast specially organised for the special guests the next day. But everybody in the village knew that Birupakshya sir was a food lover, a voracious eater. He was the man synonym for gluttony who could eat the meals of ten people at a time out of greediness. That was why people were habituated to entertain him in every ocassion whether auspicious or inauspicious with delicious food. Fill my belly with food I will fill your baby's mind with knowledge was vocation of his life. But it was first time in his life that he had been ignored by his own neighbour. How could he tolerate the insult? It was quite unfair treatment to a teacher. After all he was not begging. He was serving the villagers imparting free education to their kids without any financial reward. Parents should have thought how to satisfy the teacher in other way. He became very embittered having been not invited to the reception party.

After enjoying the marriage ceremony with friends and relatives for a weeklong Bhusana came to the mainstream of learning. . He resumed attending the classes. He began going to school usually in day time. In the same evening he joined the tution to read with his familiar companions whom he had missed since last couple of weeks. But we came to witness the evening scene full of high drama. Bipin experienced an unpleasant situation when he reappeared in the evening gathering after long absence. He occupied his reserved place to the right side of the tutor where he used to sit in the past. But today's feelings of Bhusana is different from the other days Bipin felt awkward and uncomfortable with the association of the teacher. He sensed something went wrong in their relation. It has lost its old texture and tone. Their emotional detachment is the outcome of the unwanted situation that occured recently. But the tutor didn't pronounce a single word against Bhusana though his heart was filled with resentments towards him. He expressed his disillusionment not in words but in action.

To avoid being noticed by others the teacher clandestinely squeezed the tender right thigh of Bhusana between his thumb and pointer finger mercilessly inflicting intolerable pain on him. Bhusana was no match for a person like Birupakshya sir in terms of physical power. He was as fit as fiddle. His hands became as strong as iron shovel by holding the handle of the wooden plough from the days of his youth. Though the family belonged to the brahmin community they had to depend on tilling the land of wealthy man of the village as the share cropper to have a bellyful of food for sustenance. As the eldest son of the family Birupakshya sir had to work hard to overcome the poverty of the family. He had to look after the education and employment of his younger brothers and marriage of his dependent sisters.

His financial condition made him rough and tough in his life. How could Bhusana tolerate a hard squeeze from the rough hands of his teacher? After all he was bearing the tender skin on his body. He was about to cry out of pain but controlled the emotion taking slow and deep breath. The story of physical assault didn't end there. After one hour the tutor made another assault on his thigh with same force and ferocity stating no reason there of. It was torture to the little child. Before getting relief from the pain Bhusana was once again pinched by the teacher. It was like a master stroke which put him into physical and emotional strain . The pain caused him to grunt like a pig which he could not resist. The incident became an issue and Bipin disintegrated from the group for ever. 

He spent the sleepless night pondering over what could be the reasons he was being punished by him without doing any offence. With his mature mind he came into conclusion that his disorderly conduct might have emanated from the passion for over eating. He had a insatiable hunger for eating which prompted him to misbehave him like anything when felt neglected by his father for not inviting him to the special reception party. . He made up his mind to cut off the relation with the tutor. Bhusana became exceedingly fierce and pugnacious and wanted to teach a lesson to the teacher. Next day when the dusk descended on the earth in stead of going to the tution he climbed over the ceiling of his own house under the straw thatched roof through a wooden ladder to reach the ceiling of the teacher. The two neighbouring houses had an adjoining ceiling made up of wood and mud joining each other with a temporary bamboo wall in the middle. After settling down on the space under the roof of his own house he crawled over the surface with his arms and knees to the access hole of the teacher's ceiling to drop dust through its passage over the bald headed teacher. At first he dropped some dry leaves and straw over the head of the teacher when he was teaching the students sitting in the room.

He ignored the matter due to his absent-mindedness and swept them away with his hands. After some moment Bhusana sprinkled some dust over the head of the teacher which caused his vision blurring and aching. May be a cat is pacing through the roof he thought and consoled himself without doubting anybody for this mischievous act. He rubbed his eyes to clear the dust stuck into his vision. But the agression of Bipin culminated into an unfortunate consequence. In the final attempt he dropped a basketful of dust over the head of the tutor. Dust entered into his eyes, nose, ears and mouth causing great irritation to his five senses. He began to imprecate the unidentified miscreant in panic. At the same time he forced the students present there to expose the identity of the misdoer who dared to assault him secretly. With utmost utter hesitation and cofusion the students showed their obedience to the teacher revealing the name of Bhusana who had attacked the master stealthily. He began rebuking Bhusan with foul language even though his age and profession forbade him to do so. " You son of a bitch! You bloody backstabber! You bloody hell! None sense! You have no sense how to respect a teacher. I curse you will not last longer.

You will perish like petal. You short-lived insect! I will see you die soon". The teacher didn't keep his feeling of annoyance inside of him but released it through expressing cussing words. Every word of the teacher pounded on the ear drum of Bhusan while the teacher was articulating with anger. He didn't step down from the ceiling rather he maintained the status quo of his position. He replied with same sense of contempt "You old vulture, you are preying on the corpses of others. Last day you have squeezed thrice on my thigh with out any reason. Today you have paid the price for assaulting an innocent soul. You shameless creature. You are living to eat but I am eating to live. The inevitable end of human life is death. It is truth everybody ought to accept it with out doubt. "

Bhusana had met a premature death when he was doing graduation before Birupakshya sir bade good bye to this mundane world. Whether it was an outcome of the effect of his curse or coincidence we failed to understand it till now.