a teacher that took my life away

8/6/2019 A Teacher That Took My Life Away

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A Teacher That Took My Life Away

It is a fictional story set in a fictional town (located in some part of the Indian Subcontinent). It is about agirl named Laila who comes from a poor socio-economic background.

A Teacher That Took My Life AwayI kept starring at the burning ashes emitting from the funeral pyre. No tear was shed. No apology was tobe accepted. The crowd which had come to offer their condolences, slowly started to disperse. All of

them were drowned in one expression. No, it was not grief. It was of shock. Shock of my mother ssudden death. She didn t die of influenza or any life threatening disease. Instead, she died because of my teacher s words.

X-------X

The golden rays of the sun fell over my English grammar journal for the one last time, saying good bye to

everyone.I

knew Mama (Mother) would be back home any minute after a long day of work soI

rushedto the small dinky kitchen to prepare her special evening tea. The wooden door cracked open and myeyes fell upon Mama s solemn expression.

Something was wrong.

Maybe she had a bad day at work. I wondered. Or, the middleman did not give her the right price for

her beautiful clay pots.

Because of this, sometimes we could only have one meal a day. I shook the thought away and went upto Mama to inquire about it.

Is there anything wrong?

No, nothing is wrong Laila. She said as she undid her beautiful, long tresses out of the messy bun and

ran a hand through it.

Have you done your homework?

Yes Mama. I have also completed two more exercises of English grammar. I bet Miss Seema would beecstatic to know about my progress. I beamed.

I could see a little smile on the edges of her mouth. Her eyes would twinkle whenever I spoke about me

doing well at school. Even though poverty had not allowed Mama to educate herself, she did not wantme to end up being unlettered. Suddenly, an important issue struck my mind.

Mama today is 15 th April. I need to pay my school fees. Did you get

Can t you ask your teacher to give us some more time? I did not get my last month s wage as well. Thelandlord is also asking for money. Now, you...


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She spoke with distress. The sahib (middleman ) gave me few rupees which are barely enough to coverour house rent.

I sighed.

Don t worry. I will do something I replied as I handed her the nearly frozen ginger tea.

X-------X

She won t spare you.

I don t know Sana. I couldn t force Mama about-

Good Morning class. I was cut off by the hoarse voice of Miss Seema.

Everyone stood up together to wish her good morning . She motioned with her manicured index

finger to sit and walked towards her old wooden table which was obsolete.

Most of the children, in the village, including me, did not study in a school as it was out of our league .So we learnt everything from Miss Seema and her assistant, right from A B C D to long divisions. Eventhough she was nice but her strict and rude attitude was the talk of the town. No wonder, Sana had a

big bruise on her right arm which matched the size of Miss Seema s ruler.

I saw Miss Seema coming towards me with her big fat ruler in her right hand, slapping it on her left palmwith such a force like she was striking a hammer on metal.

Where is this month s fee?

Nervousness took over my body.

Where is it?

Thump. Thump on my right arm. Great, now I had a bigger bruise than Sana s.

My mom will uh give it you.

When?

Today. I spluttered.

I don t believe you. This is not first time that your mom was unable to pay the fees on the deadline. I

want you to leave right now.

But-

I say LEAVE!

Thump. Thump.


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I stood up and saw my classmates snickering. With tear filled eyes and a bleeding hand, I rushed hometo see Mama on the doorstep. She was about to leave for work. I ran towards her and narrated the

whole story.

Come. I will talk to her. I am sure Miss Seema would understand.

I nodded.

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So if we have 20 boxes of orange juices and 10 apple

Madam j i , Can I talk to you-

Can t you see I am busy teaching? Miss Seema sneered. She turned her face towards Mama.

Oh it s you, isn t it?

Then she looked towards me, her face was engraved in a mysterious facial expression. I hid behindMama, clearly afraid.

Yes, it s me. Laila s mother. I am very sorry that I have not been able to pay the fees on the deadlinedue to some personal reasons. Besides, I am appalled to see your treatment towards Laila, Madamji. It is

not -

That s what she will get for being irresponsible . Moreover, let me tell you I am not here to do charity. I don t care for whatever reasons you were unable to submit the fees. Also, I can see that Laila has verywell inherited your unethical behavior.

Madamji, I think you shouldn t insult a student like that. Mama sniffled.

I look towards Mama and tugged her to end the heated argument.

I won t attend the class anymore, Mama. I refuse to be taught from a person who has the audacity to

degrade your training.

Laila, please-

Mom, No. If I stay here one more minute, I will be going against my personal ethics.

And with this I nudged Mama to come with me to walk back home. I heard Miss Seema talking about myrude behavior and Mama s incompetence in front of the class.

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At home, Mama refused to eat anything. She was motionless. Still. I tried to cheer her up by telling her

that I will be self taught but she would not exhibit any emotion. After some time, she went to bedwithout saying a word and shut her eyes forever.


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X-------X

The raging fire had died down and was now replaced with a mound of sand. The priest carried out thefinal rituals and handed me the pot filled with Mama s ashes. As I turned around to head back home, I

saw Miss Seema, walking towards me.

Sorry Laila. Really what happened?

I looked up to her for the one last time and walked away, leaving her question unanswered.

N ote: N ot to be reproduced or republished or any part copied without author s permission. This is not for

plagiarism consumption. All rights reserved. Sara I Reimoo

a teacher that took my life away

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