My Reward in Disguise

It was a hot summer morning and the sun was about to show its temper. I had not been to my nearby Jagannath temple for many days and suddenly as I was free, I thought of going down the memory lane of my early days when I was not working and used to go to that temple daily. It had been almost 3-4 months now. I walked on the tree-laden road which gave my body a cool and soothing touch in that busy hot city day. The stroll made me see the forgotten jogging and exercising days of mine on the same friendly and immaculate path. I should thank for the well-maintained place to the government officials whose bungalows show in the vicinity. With one turn towards the left, the temple was insight. It was an Oriya temple taken care of by 3-4 priests from Puri. In every visit of mine, I used to get one or the other engrossing mythological parable from one of them which would never let me forget about the admirable narrative skills and astounding faith of us Indians. I reached the entrance of that temple and took out my slippers and entered with not my eyes shut but wide open to observe each and every corner of the place after a long time.

The first thing that locked my eyes on was the big Neem tree near the entrance under which I used to sit with some 8-10 poor children staying in the neighborhood and taught them some basic things in Hindi and Math. It was like a mini school as I had got for them books, stationery, and charts so that it could be easy to make them understand things. But yes the attendance was very irregular for those children as sometimes someone was doing babysitting at home as parents went for work, someone himself went to some tit-bit job to help the family or someone stayed back to do the household chores. Then too, their enthusiasm, eagerness, and energy were immense. They all repeated at the top of their voices and some of them were able to memorize things as well. Few students turned out to be good at learning calculations and reading the clock which used to make me happy and satisfied, and they were duly rewarded for that by having pastries or chocolates. Startlingly in severe winters, those kids sat with the minimum clothing while I would be covered under layers of woolens, thanks to Mother Nature who had strengthened their resistance. So instead of rewarding them with chocolates, I started gratifying them with woolens, but it was of no use as I had forgotten that their key need is food and so my rewards were exchanged for money by their parents to fulfill their family needs. Then I got a good job and the school thing was over. I couldn’t get a chance again to find out about those kids due to my busy schedule and household affairs.

I moved further inside the temple and joined hands in front of the beautifully decorated idols of Jagannath, Subhadra and Baldau, whispered my prayers and took the Charnamrit (holy water) from the priest. He was dressed in his usual saffron-coloured dhoti and Uttarya with a Chandan (sandalwood) Tilak on his forehead. He gave a smile to me and asked me why I didn’t come to the temple for the past days. He also told me that the children used to come there for a week or so asking about me. I felt somewhere at fault but had no way out of it. I said to the priest sorry for it and the reason for not visiting the place often then. Then he talked about the upcoming festival and the preparations for it. I got his point and thought that it will be a good way to get pardon so I took out a hundred rupee note and gave it as a donation for the preparation for the festival. This relaxed my mind, it's true that money can make you feel better sometimes. Then I turned to leave the place back home, but suddenly four children came running to me from a distance shouting ‘memji memji’ and to my surprise they were the same ones whom I had taught. I was happy to see them after a long time unexpectedly. It was difficult to recall everybody’s name but I managed one of them. They all had a big smile on their faces and started asking me too many questions. But before answering their queries I wanted to check that they still remembered some of the lessons or not. And I was heartbroken when they stood blank to my few questions from the lessons. I stood still puzzled whether to scold them or myself for it.

All of a sudden one of the girls placed out her hands in front of me and said ‘look memji my nails are all neatly trimmed as you always advised me to do and I also wash my hands before and after my meals’, soon one boy said ‘and memji I take bath every day nowadays as told by you’, other one said ’memji  I always chant a prayer taught by you every morning ‘, the last one said ’memji  I always do namaste (greet)to my elders’. Hearing this my heart was full of contentment and pride that though I failed to impart the literacy to them but I had surely shown them the way to become a good human being which I think even many of the literate people of our cities find difficult to be. That time I also realized that those children would surely do well whenever guided properly.
I talked more to them for some time then advised them to start going to a nearby school which has a minimal fee and who cannot afford it can come to me for some help. Then I returned home and again got engaged and occupied in my world.