I Am What I Am

“Hi children, good morning! How are you doing today?” Miss Raghavi said.
“Good morning, miss,” the whole class roared like a bunch of lions.
“Great, today I am not going to take science class,” she looked at the boys’ side to know their reaction and continued, “because I know you are bored of reading this subject. So, let’s do something interesting,” her eyes twinkled. Her face looked as beautiful as the fresh morning sun, emanating a mellow orange glow. Her eyes were dark brown, with a neat line of kajal and it elevated her glamour multifold. What was more impressive was the light purple sari she wore; it made her look quite like Cinderella. She smelled of flowers.
“Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy,” the small boys whooped in enthusiasm. On the other side, the girls didn’t make noise but looked at each other surprisingly as if their parents told them to go to a theme park.
“Be quiet. Be quiet,” the teacher said. She knocked on the desk lightly. A plume of white dust rose and almost choked her. But she didn’t cough. She batted it away.
A sudden hum reverberated in the class now. The children became polite and thickened their concentration level as if they were going to listen to a fairy tale.
“Boys and girls, answer my question. Who wants to become an engineer?” she said as her eyes lingered on the boys for a few seconds and moved towards the girls’ side. “Raise your hands now.”
There were low murmuring voices echoed in the classroom. You could also hear the sound of the cold December wind that came through the windows. 
There were twenty-five hands raised in the classroom, fifteen of them boys and the remaining were girls. The total strength of the classroom was sixty, as boys were slightly exceeded by five members.
The teacher gave a soft nod and said, “Wow, that’s a pretty high response. Now tell me who all want to become doctors?”
But to her surprise, fifteen girls raised their hands along with ten boys.
“Okay, girls score in this, eh?” she said.
Ravinder, who sat in the middle, turned his head slowly to find out if his close friend Bhavya had raised her hand. But she didn’t. Ravinder had raised his hand earlier to become an engineer. It wasn’t his decision actually; in fact, it was implanted in his brain by his parents who kept telling him to become a software engineer. Even though he still didn’t know what a software engineer does, he thought it was a flashy job in our country. His parents already told him that he should start preparing for JEE-main classes from the coming year when he would be in the fifth standard. Could you believe it? They had even found a coaching center to let him train from now on. These days parents were over-anxious about their children and pushing them beyond their limits and making them suffer in the name of their career. Don’t you think so?
“What about remaining students?” the teacher glanced at the second row of the girls’ side. She knew Bhavya was a bright student and she always came as a topper in the class. “Bhavya, you didn’t raise your hand, why?”
She slowly rose from her seat and said, “I want to become a politician.”
“What?” Miss Raghavi almost collapsed on the floor.
There was pin-drop silence in the classroom. The children reacted as if she had uttered an unpronounceable disease name.
“Yes miss, I really want to serve for this nation. If every good student wants to become an engineer and a doctor, then who will serve our country? Only the students who failed and corrupted people?” she said, stubbornly. Her eyes shined brightly. 
The teacher was rendered completely speechless by the little girl’s sincere answer.
“Yeah, that’s right,” the teacher said. “I didn't expect you would say this. I really admire your answer. I value your opinion highly. If everyone starts to think like you then our country can remove poverty easily. Yes, we need the right people in the right places, if we can get this thing done, half of our burden will be reduced. I don’t know how you got such guts so early in life. Your parents asked you to become a politician?”
Miss Raghavi knew she was uttering big words with the children and doubted if they could understand her. But Bhavya’s enthusiastic response made her pour her thoughts. She wanted to see the children interact with her boldly. When she was studying in the fifth standard, her teacher had asked the same question to her. When she said she wanted to become a great painter like Ravi Varma, the teacher had laughed and mocked her for choosing an unrealistic goal. Even her parents dissuaded her, and finally, she gave up her passion and became a teacher.
“No miss, this is my response. I am entirely responsible for what decisions I make,” Bhavya said.
“Boys and girls, give a big applause for this girl,” the miss said in a brisk tone.
The claps boomed in the classroom as Ravinder kept seeing his friend. He felt like shaking hands with her. He was so happy that the teacher was appreciating her.
Kailash, who was sitting next to Ravinder, rose from his seat and said, “Why should we clap for this girl? She is telling this answer just to impress you.” He had a stubby face and rotund arms and legs. He never liked Bhavya. He thought she was the reason why the teachers beat him hard for scoring low marks, pointing out how Bhavya always scored higher than the others.
“Because you didn’t deserve it,” the teacher said. Her cheeks were flaming red, and she clutched the bamboo stick in her hand as if she was going to beat him now.
“Miss, my mother said I would become a government employee, you know?” Kailash said. His face exuded pride. His right leg was lightly shaking.
“How?” the teacher almost screamed now.
“Last Friday, my mother pulled me to a fortuneteller who had a pair of parrots in a small cage. He asked the parrot to take a lucky card from the pack of cards. The parrot grabbed a card for me and the fortuneteller said that I would marry twice and live like a king because I will get a government job,” Kailash said.
The entire class cracked into a burst of hearty laughter, and even the teacher smiled cupping her mouth. She looked so beautiful and her long hair shook lightly.
“Tell me what kind of government job it is?” she asked, still smiling.
Kailash mused with fused eyes and didn’t know what type of answer he had to give now. He raked his brain without any convincing replies.
“I think I will sit behind a high table,” he raised his right hand above his head and continued, “and signing important papers. If I ring a bell, a peon would come and bring tea for me, you know,” he said, convincingly.
There were big chuckles now. Ravinder nodded and laughed sportingly. Kailash kicked on his ankle with his foot. Ravinder screeched in pain. But the teacher didn’t notice it.
“Hey, our country will not become an economic powerhouse even after two hundred years if people like you become government employees,” the teacher said. “This is the problem. Everyone wants government jobs, thinking it is the easiest thing to do in the world. If people fail to work hard in the office, then good things won’t reach to the society. Unless and until everyone does their job well, we can’t bring fortune to our country,” she heaved a big sigh. She knew it wasn’t the response she had intended to give to this crooked boy. But her thoughts were gushing out of her mind as water gushes out of the brimming river.
“Shall I sit down now?” Kailash asked her.
“Huh?” the teacher blinked. “Yeah, but don’t try and become a government employee, okay?” she folded both her hands in front of him.
There was a dull headache formed on her forehead, she knew the reason behind it. She felt like she would have taken science class instead of discussing such life lessons with them. But her worry was ephemeral.
She immediately glanced at Bhavya and said, “I want everyone to think like you. Boys and girls, if you are good at something you should keep doing what you love despite other’s dirty comments. There is always going to be a challenge in your life for sure. But you shouldn’t lower your self-confidence. You should keep working toward your goals. Your hard work never goes vain, it will be with you all the time. You may lose money, but not your talent. Ask not what this country people did for you, but ask what you did for them. That’s the right way to approach our life. That’s the right way to live a steady life. If Abdul Kalam had thought that a poor man's child like him can’t aim to become a scientist, we would have still struggled to send a rocket to the sky. If Ambedkar had thought it was impossible to bring justice to the lower caste, the Dalits would have still struggled to find a space in our country. They believed themselves, and they had a strong faith in whatever they had conceived in their hearts, they knew that they can fight against the odds and did it vociferously. If every person in our country would have started thinking like such noble-hearted souls, I am very sure we would make our country a developed country within five years. It is possible. But we need to believe first,” the teacher wondered if the children were grasping what she was saying. But she didn’t mind it, she wanted to pour her overwhelming thoughts into the children, who are the future of our nation, “See, my kids. It is simple. Whoever has self-belief and a steady focus on their goals can achieve anything they want. You should have such an unfaltering concentration and dedication in whatever you do. If you can do this, I think I consider you are the richest person in the world. Money alone can’t bring happiness. Happiness revolves around the people who have good thoughts, a healthy body and mind, and show generosity towards others.”
“You mean I can become a big person like Dr. Abdul Kalam?” Ravinder said as rose from his seat.
“Of course you can. Only thing is that it will take time to grow up,” the teacher smiled. “Now tell me what you wanted to become?” 
“Miss…Miss, don’t tell this to my parents. If you tell this, they will beat me like anything, you know,” Ravinder said. His voice was choking and gasping intermittently.
“Tell me, I won’t share with them,” she said.
He swallowed a lump down his throat and said, “I want to become a police officer. I want to arrest criminals. Miss, you know one thing, I can tell all the police rankings now. I have so much an interest in it. Even last week, I had gone to meet the DGP in his house, but he wasn’t there. I wanted to request him to come to our school for the flag hoisting ceremony this Independence Day.”
The teacher almost cried now. You could see her white pupils were scurrying hither and thither in her eye sockets. She was touched by his gingerly talk, the more she heard him the more she felt like weeping. It was like her kid was sharing a deep concern with her.
“Oh, what an inspiring kid you are. I love you Ravinder,” she said and wiped her eyes. “I think I have succeeded today by interacting with everyone closely. I had never taken such an energizing class in my life. I feel great about all of you. But tell me, why did you have earlier tell me that you wanted to become an engineer, eh?”
He didn’t respond. A few seconds everyone nodded.
“Just because of my parents, miss,” he said, lowering his head.
“I know, my boy. I know how you would have felt whenever your parents thrust their opinion on your brain. I would say, the biggest evil force in our society is that aspiring people can’t become what they want to become. If a person can’t happy with what he does, what is the point of earning much, eh? You always remember one thing. Your top priority is to be happy and at the same time working hard to fulfill your duties at best. Money should never be your main goal. It is just a byproduct, you know. If you do your work, you will get the reward for what you did certainly. That’s what God proclaims in the Puranas. Never estimate one’s status based on money alone, but the way the person lives. I mean, the person who knows how to live happily even in difficult situations, he should be worshipped. You should learn from him,” she said.
“Ok miss,” Ravinder said, followed by everyone in the classroom.
The bell rang.
“Fine, my children. I am leaving now. Will meet you again tomorrow,” the teacher said and stood up. Her heart was signing a happy melody now as if she had gained so much in a quick second. She had never felt such happiness before.
Bhavya came close to Ravinder and clasped his hands and rushed to play in the ground. It was PT hour.
***