Sv's shadow lingers on in my heart

Sv has gone from the school but I continue to think about him the whole day and nights, during eating, travelling or going to sleep. The same with Cl ! We keep wondering how his parents could have behaved with us the way they did and accuse us of so many wrong things. I look around in my group and find that every child loves me and Cl and love coming to school everyday. All the parents are full of praise and admiration for us and keep telling me how their children love and adore us and are learning so much.

His case was so unfortunate and so tangled. I feel sad for him and am angry with his parents that they are harming their own child and think we are at fault.

I can't help feeling glad that he is no longer in our kindergarten as his troubled behavior was having a pronounced adverse effect on our group. He used to hit and behave badly with all the children whether big or small which used to anger them and make them dislike him; consequently they all had started imitating his behavior and had begun hitting, disobeying and pushing each other. His behavior had  made him unpopular with the rest of the children and nobody wanted to play with him or be his friends or partner while walking in a line. We tried so hard to integrate him with the group but neither Sv helped nor his parents and we were left helpless.

In my past career I have experienced several cases when kids didn't like coming to school but I had been able to solve the problem every time by making them feel extra loved, cared and friendly. I failed this time because
of his parents who held their own opinions and interfered with our functioning resorting even to blatant lies, arguments and fights to prove themselves right and us wrong. I wish they had listened to us and wanted to know what was his problem and ours and how we could work together to find a successful solution. The simple meeting which we had convened to discuss those issues, was regarded as a 'complaining of the child' session. What need had they to tell lies to us and blame us for things we hadn't even done? How could they think that would have helped Sv? If a doctor wants to treat you and you resist thinking he is an enemy who is going to harm you then how do you think you can get well?

 I remember Stf had straight away suggested to me that she wanted to expel Sv; it was me who had protested that we being a kindergarten can't morally expel a child just for being naughty and behavioral problems or having problematic parents. I had suggested that we call the parents and have a detailed talk with them and seek their help and cooperation in solving this issue even though I knew that they were least likely to listen to us but I still wanted to give them and Sv a chance.

 I know it deep down in my heart that Sv will have the same problem in whichever school he goes...! 

Mz is a new person now

Mz has changed.

By nature a blatant flatterer, As's selfish interests had made her an even greater one. As liked her flattery and encouraged her to indulge in it more and more while doing no worthwhile work at school. She used to indulge in unsubstantial work, conspiracies, petty fights and controversies with the entire staff and displayed plenty of ugly attitude acting almost like the boss which everyone found hard to digest but was forced to as As blindly supported her in her every step and turn.
Now As has gone and Stf is not the type to listen to flattery. She likes to see work and results. While in As's times Mz was dead sure that even if she doesn't wink an eyelid, her sweet words for As were enough to keep her secure in school. Now she knows she has to work, if she doesn't she can be thrown out in next to no time. Consequently she has started working harder, knows her position is no superior than ours and so gone the unbecoming expressions of self importance, conceit and arrogance from her face.

I can easily forgive her now and have even started pitying her. She is a better human being now, I believe, than she was before.

Well, flatterers flatter you because they know you like it; if they knew you didn't they would never flatter you. Flatterers are not really fools - in fact they are clever enough to know how to gain advantages without working hard. 

Sv has left the school

Today My showed me the mail which Sv's mother wrote to her.

She had written that we are untrained, unexperienced, bad behaved teachers especially myself as we do not know how to handle children. Our incompetency is destroying her child so she has decided that she will remove Sv from such a bad school.

So this is the end of Sv's another school.

I remember his father telling me several months ago that Sv used to go to a children's creche here in Germany when he was only one and a half year old. However he had to be removed from there after only one or two months as he was not happy there. He complained that the caregivers over there took off his clothes even in winters and shamed him and used to hit him. I wonder how one and half year old child can say this much. I had explained to both the father and mother that undressing before going to bed is nothing like shaming but they didn't like to listen to me. I experienced the same problem while undressing him for bed. He would resist like a wild animal and felt something wrong was happening; to keep his mind at rest I had stopped undressing him at all. He was the only child who got under the quilts with full clothes on - and he used to wear sooo many clothes one on top of another. Once I counted and was amazed to see he was wearing 5 full sleeved clothes, full sleeved vest, full sleeved thermal wear, full sweater, then shirt then another sweater. with the central heating on he often used to sweat and stink but he never allowed even one of his sweater to be taken out. When he went to wash his hands he couldn't roll his sleeves up due to layer of 5 clothes being too thick and then wet all the 5 clothes together forcing us to take off all his 5 clothes to prevent him from catching chill. The other clothes which we gave him were too less in his mother's opinion and she blamed us that the child had caught cold because we had not dressed him warm enough.

Actually the problem is not with Sv but with his parents. They neglect and abuse him at home. He strives for attention and love. When he doesn't get it he turns aggressive and mischievous to seek attention and consequently gets hit and abused. He is being repressed at home so he turns doubly aggressive outside. The parents think sending him to school is enough which is not. They take no interest in his overall education and behavior and think that learning alphabets and numbers is more important. They do not accept the truth and try to solve the problem but make excuses and find faults with others for their own mistakes and shortcomings.

Believe it or not, with this sort of behavior, Sv will have problems in every school on this earth.

The Changing Times in the Kindergarten...!

A lot is happening in the school these days - and everything is positive, progressive and organised thanks to As's resignation / retirement/ termination (or whatever you can call it) from the school.

To begin with Stf the boss is more often at school and herself decides important issues without any misleading middleman.

Our small but important activities are getting organised every minute now; we need to fill in our daily working hours everyday in a form and submit it at the end of the month. Similarly we also have a leave form now in which we can enter the details of our leaves taken. We are now provided enough weekly plan sheets during every meeting to prevent us from begging from someone who happens to have extra sheets and then wait endlessly to photocopy it before we can use it - something which was natural during As's times! The parents' contracts have been newly framed making some important changes and we all have been given its copy so that we know the parents and children of our school better.
A complete doctor's check up of the student just before his admission which will also mention his height and weight etc apart from other things has been made mandatory. Earlier  only a doctor's okay certificate was required. All accidents happening on the school premises will be recorded duly. We used to write daily diaries of the children mentioning what we did with the children today but there was a stupid rule that we could not give the diary to parents and so the parents never got to see the diary while we kept on writing painstakingly. We had protested many times to As to either let the parents have the diary so that they know what is being done in class or to stop the diary altogether but she never listened. Now this daily diary writing has been discontinued.

Our team meetings have become more meaningful, organised and focussed as opposed to earlier when meetings meant only eating, laughing and gossiping like a pack of housewives and any new idea given by any of us was only to be ridiculed and rebuffed furiously. Now we follow a proper meeting agenda along with minutes of meeting which is so useful.

Even the clock at the entrance is working now which was stuck at 10.20 since at least 9 months..!
It is Spring time! Winter is gone from our kindergarten...!!!

The Meeting with Sv's Father

Sv's father was supposed to come at 4 pm today for the meeting and we all were fearing that he might fight with us.

We requested Stf to be present with us during the meeting but she was busy so My decided she would be there with us in the capacity of the manager. I made a detailed list of questions I wanted to ask him and a list of things that needed explanation. Cl found a list of special schools which help children overcome troubles like aggression, hyper activity or other behavioral problems.

He was punctual. I was surprised and disgusted to see him chewing tobacco in his mouth, fine particles of which flew out several times when he was speaking.

I started by greeting him politely which he answered rather stiffly. I showed him Sv's craft activity folder which he disinterestedly flicked 2-3 pages out of at least 30-40 and shoved it aside. I gave him his daily diary but he didn't even open it.
I asked him what activities does Sv do at home. He sarcastically replied.
"You know he stays in school from 9 am to 5 pm. You yourself tell what activity will he do after this? He eats then goes to sleep."
"What does he do on weekends?"
" He plays like normal children." He answered irritatingly and extremely rudely which we found offensive.
" Let me tell you, my child is normal. He doesn't like the school because his teachers especially you do not treat him properly. You punish him and he complains at home that you have been hitting him and punishing him. He has become afraid of the school. He doesn't want to come to school anymore."

"This is not true." We cried. "He has NEVER been punished or even scolded, leave alone hitting. He did some serious mischiefs several times but we only made him sit in a chair a few feet away from the main group and that is all. And he is not afraid of the school; he likes being here and enjoys playing the whole day. He loves us enough. He comes and sits in our lap. "
"I do not believe you. My child has said that you have hit him and that he has been punished. I have to believe my child.Children don't tell lies."
" Precisely." Said My in German."Your child has been telling us also some things which we have every reason to believe. He has told us many times that both of you hit him and that once your wife was cutting his hair and he got bruised on his cheek because of the scissors."
He was stunned for half a second, then he quietly answered. " Sorry, what did you say? I do not understand German."
"Really? But I have myself heard you and your wife speak German on other occasions. I am sure you understand German." I said. He was caught at a lie which he didn't like at all. He lamely reiterated that he didn't know German.

Then we asked him how Sv had got hurt so badly on his left cheek.
"My wife must be knowing about it. I have no idea. I will call her and ask her."
"You mean you are the father but you don't know how did your child got hurt?"
He rang his wife and asked her and then started lashing us back.
"My child got hurt in school. He had fallen down from the swing."
"That's not right. He doesn't go in any of those swings. He was in front of our eyes the whole day and we know he hadn't fallen anywhere at all."
"I know my child got hurt in school because in the morning he was alright. And when my wife asked Mk about the bruise Mk told her that he fallen from the swing in the playground."
"That's wrong again. Mk asked your wife about the bruise and she told him that he had fallen from the swing."
"Then Mk is telling a lie."

He grew very unpleasant now. He was speaking so rudely and was using such insolent gestures, tones and even looks that we had to tell him several times that he ought to display some manners considering he was in kindergarten and speaking to teachers.

He started hurling false allegations on us like hitting, punishing his child, not giving him food and keeping him hungry, asking for doctor reports which we didn't have any right to, destroying him, our telling lies, Mk telling lies and several others. His language and tone became so unbearable that My had to terminate the meeting saying,
"It is impossible to talk to you. You do not want to listen to us. You do not trust us. This meeting was to discuss some problems which Sv was having in the school and we were having regarding him. We wanted to find out how we could together solve this problem but I see that talking is useless with you. So I now suggest that you leave this kindergarten and search another where you can be happy. I give you one day's time to decide whether you want to stay here with us or leave. Please let me know by tomorrow."

He went pale. He hadn't expected he would be asked to remove the child. But he had done the damage and there was no turning back now.

I wonder what he will do now. Will he really remove Sv? This school was very convenient for him as it was extremely close to his house and shop both. I began feeling sad for Sv now. Poor boy. His parents are too focussed on money making and have no time for him and when they do get time together they hit and punish him and have the temerity to blame it all on teachers when found out. Now I know it was all a lie that he has stopped eating and lost weight and some psychological issue. He merely wanted us to be afraid and surrender. I am very sure if we talked to his doctor we would get a different story to hear. I wish the school would report this case to child welfare authority.
And fancy his lying that he doesn't know German when I have myself heard and seen him speaking German to German people.

I have never seen such lier parents.

An unpleasant affair with Sv's Parents

Today Sv came to school after a week's absence. We asked his parents who had come to drop him as to what had happened to him. His answer surprised us.

"He was unwell.", His father said gruffly. " He had stopped eating altogether. We took him to the Doctor who did all the tests but his every test was normal. The doctor said there is something in his head; he is having some psychological issue. He seems to be afraid of the school which is why he has stopped eating and has lost 2 kg weight in just 2 weeks."
"That sounds a bit serious." I said sympathetically. "Can we see his reports please? It is important for the school to be aware of this thing in order to help the child. Losing 2 kilos in just 2 weeks for such a small child is a serious matter especially if all his reports are normal and no reason for this weight loss."
"Why do you want to see the report? You are not a doctor. We can't show you the report."
"We want to see the report so that we can analyse what is going wrong with your child. The school and doctor work in close collaboration for the benefit of the children."
"Sorry, we can't show you the report. Even we haven't seen the report. Only the doctor has it. I asked the doctor if I could have the report as I wanted to send it to India but I was refused."

Somehow he didn't sound true. He appeared to be angry and lying.

"Well anyways, we want to have a meeting with you." I said.
"Why?" Both of them appeared in visible consternation.
" Because we need to talk to you."
"About what?"
"Obviously about Sv."
The mother looked towards the father and groaned, "I don't want to come; can you please go?"
"Its important for both of you to be present." We insisted but the mother told us that she won't come only the father would come for this meeting.

They started saying good bye to Sv who had been standing close beside us all this time and was happily playing with toy fruits. At this he started crying and in only the next 2-3 sobs he made a face as though he would throw up.
Both myself and Cl asked him lovingly and concernedly but his mother snatched him ( almost snatched) him from us saying she didn't want that day's incident to repeat itself and took him away to soothe and console him but he threw up again in a large mess just like that day and then was ultimately taken back home again.

Before going she said to us that the reason why he had started crying and had thrown up was because while we were talking a child came and said to him that Sv shouldn't come to school and go home; and because he felt that I in particular was going to harm his parents.

 That's absurd...! The whole time we were talking to them, Sv had been standing close beside us within just 2 feet of us and there was only a one and a half year old girl playing near him who neither knows him nor can yet speak a whole sentence that too in English. She can only say a few broken words in Italian or German. So there is no way she could have said that. In any case we were close enough so we could have heard her. Besides her there was no other child in that area at that time. As to harming we had been talking very politely without even raising the pitch of our voices.

Why the hell are they lying like this?

As...a swindler...?

Today I was talking to Mk and I made a stunning discovery.
I merely asked him if he believed that As has resigned due to illness and he said,

"Well, I will tell you something which the others over here do not know. As has been fired because she was stealing money from the kindergarten. Once she came up to us one morning and told us that someone had broken into the school building and stole a lot of money..several thousand Euros. We all believed her but that was not the truth. Actually she had stolen it and staged it that way to appear like a loot - of course we came to know about it only now!

Then there were several other instances when money came into the school office and disappeared without records anywhere.She often used to accept money in cash and pocketed it straight away letting it appear that so and so thing had not been paid at all.

There were several times when during our regular team meetings she insisted that somehow someone or some people were entering the school premises after closing up and were stealing things from the school; she said she suspected this because she found several things missing without reason from the school.
The last time was just a few days ago, I happened to enter the office and bumped into St and My talking together about 50,000 Euros being stolen from the school."

I just stared at him blankly for several seconds before fully realizing the import of his words. Quite a lot of things appeared to fit in their place like a jig saw puzzle after hearing this. I remember very well the meetings when she said she suspected someone is coming through an open window which we forgot to close, and stealing articles of value and we all racked our brains to figure out why would anyone want to break into a school building and risk a great deal only for the sake of a few damn toys..! And then her telling us how she paid huge huge sums of money for works that did not appear to demand such huge payments, for example 15,000 Euros for a repairing a damaged children's kitchen ( dummy kitchen ) and 5,000 Euros for getting rid of Rats in the cellar, and small children's books worth 300-500 Euros each and her constantly whining that there is no money in the kindergarten.

It appears that she swindled money cleverly without getting it entered and maybe by accepting handsome commissions in services like pest control or furniture repair.

Whatever, but stealing 50,000 Euros in one go is a lot of money. I wonder why the school didn't go to police. Why she was still let off under a comfortably respectable excuse going so far as to allow her 2 months notice period as well as announcing to all the parents that she is retiring due to severe health problems.
It sounds to me like there is a lot of illegal work maybe like tax evasion, money laundering or something else happening in this kindergarten and As, being the manager, worked in it hand in hand so now they are afraid of being hard to her just in case she starts talking.

"I never trusted that woman;" Mk said. " She always appeared inscrutable like she cannot be read. She was always saying things which we knew were wrong or just could not be right but she insisted she was right. I am glad she has gone. She was just not fit for any kindergarten - she hated children, parents, teachers just everyone....She was following so many wrong policies which was bad for the school."

I am shocked. I still cannot believe she was stealing money from the kindergarten...!!!

Announcement of As's Resignation

Today Stf has sent an email to all the parents and teachers formally announcing to them that As has resigned from the kindergarten owing to serious health problems. 31st March is her last working day and from next day, the 1st of April Mz and My will take over the school management

Actually As had ceased coming to school since about 20th of February...! I guess Stf didn't want any dirty linen washing in public or worse still become the laughing stock of all the parents so she tries to make this entire affair as decent and plausible as she can.

Nobody misses As..!

While As had been in the school it was hard to imagine the place without her - she seemed so...permanent; now that she has gone it is surprising that no one misses her - not even her pet dog Mz...!

Quite understandably so. As, the tall, bulky, burly woman with a fittingly matching harsh, stern, strict voice with a face that rarely showed soft emotions (except when talking to Mz and Mym) was never a favorite with parents and children. Her sight used to scare both of them alike. She was rather like the China wall - strong, unbreakable, unfathomable, invincible, relentless...

S was not happy with me for calling Mz a dog. He says everybody has a right to be ambitious and Mz is only being that. I agree but I still think Mz or anyone else for that matter can be ambitious without being base in character. Mz used to be so close and like As's right hand and in fact As's fought more for Mz's sake than she  had done for her, yet, today Mz behaves like she doesn't even know who As is or was. Her name is no more mentioned in school and if by chance anyone does so in front of Mz, she makes a face as if something disgraceful or utterly shameful has happened. And that's why I call her a dog. This is her true character.

I wonder if the school's fabric would change some color now that As who influenced it so much is not here anymore. 

Fasching Time

Today was Fasching. Actually Fasching was on Sunday but the schools celebrate it naturally on their first working day. All the children had come dressed in pretty and funny costumes. Cr was a big fat teddy bear with a huge bulging tummy, Cl was a brown cat with whiskers, ears and tousled hair, Al was a bumble bee and nd was a clown. H was also a clown and Bh was superman.
Since Stf was absent today and Nd too missing in the first half of the day we had to merge two groups together like that other day.
We had lots of fun and sang ' aaa ram sam sam...!'

An sings very slowly and her versions are usually different from mine which my children find odd. Today she was singing 'Wheels of the bus...' and she sang ' the driver of the bus says shh shh shh...'
Ll a little cute girl in my class who loves me in much the same way as H, couldn't digest this and protested loudly, ' No. its 'Mama says Shh shh shhh, not the driver.' We all laughed so much at her cleverness.
Overal An has pretty slow pace in quite a lot of things. She changed only 3 diapers in about the same time as I changed 8 just beside her.

Mg has come back. She had joined this school after me and was here with us for about 3-4 months; then she had gone on leave owing to her University exams. She is a very nice, friendly and warm hearted woman in her late 40's. Formerly an actress by profession she is now  a teacher and she exhibits all good qualities of not only a good and natural teacher, but also a natural mother although she doesn't have a child and has also admitted to me that she and her husband have decided not to have kids.

Day of group photo

Today was a perfect example of Murphy's law how everything goes wrong just when you need them to be right.

The school's photographer had come today for individual and group photo shoot of children.
We all including the parents had been informed well in advance and so accordingly all the children had come in beautiful dresses and nicely brushed out and styled hair.

My group however was ill fated today to have all the mishaps. And they began with Sv..!!!

Early in the morning Sv's mother rang up the school to inform that Sv was ill so wouldn't come to school but because she wanted him to be in the group photo so he will come just in time for the photo shoot and then go home again.

He came in with his mother when our group was having toilet time and we were looking after the kids. Sv started howling and refused to enter. After a lot of persuasion she managed to leave him with us and went away and he resumed his wailing and howling and then hardly 5-8 minutes later started throwing up mercilessly. He covered all his clothes, shoes, floor and even the walls with his puke and continued throwing up and crying at the same time. It was so difficult to manage him with the puke all over the toilet room and the rest of the kids still not finished with their toilets and the photographer waiting for us in the hall..Em and Mk resourcefully took our children away to their room while we quickly rang his mother to come and take the sick child back home. Fortunately she came back within 10 minutes and then we had a nice argument with her. She was telling us she had brought him only for the photo and we said she shouldn't have brought him if he was unwell; the photo was not so important.
His mother spoke so rudely this time that had we not been so busy, we could have found it hard to ignore and forget. I feel she will now remove her child from this school.

Then it was little Ot, a new child. He had been specially dressed in a new, special Turkish traditional dress especially for the photo. He managed to full his diaper with poo which exploded and spoiled his white pathan kurta type shirt from the back. When we had been busy in Sv affair he had escaped with Em and Mk without getting his diaper changed and hence the accident.

Then a series of other smaller mishaps. Fr scratched her best friend Ll's face which produced a red swollen mark; Mk was rocking on his wooden rocking horse and fell down along with it and got a red mark too on his forehead; Tk was terribly moody and refused to do anything but cry, cry and cry for noooooo reason. Same with Ml who appeared sad and unsettled for some reason and kept breaking into a cry now and then.

Then finally when we started having the photo shoot, all the children who normally always laugh and smile refused to do so in front of the camera, one sticking out her tongue constantly which she had never done before, and one looking unmistakably angry with a clear scowl pointed at the poor photographer and little Mx refused to sit down at all for the group photograph....

What a hectic day today

Today in the morning when I was on my way to school, I received Cl's message that she was ill; she had thrown up 3 times (???) and so won't come today.

Accordingly my group was merged with Stfn's group - the last that I like. Her children are the youngest in the school- between 1-2 years age group, but that's not the problem; the problem is Stfn herself who is such a lazy person who if given the choice would never get her butts off her seat and also skillfully adept at saving exertions of all kinds. It's ok if you are lazy but if you try to slump your work on other's shoulders and look extremely innocent too than what do you call it?
 I have keenly observed and hate it that she has a habit of choosing the lightest and easiest work and assigning the heaviest and the most difficult work to me or others.

Her children together with my children converted the whole class in a proper zoo with all the cages broken down. They were shouting, throwing, fighting, dragging, running and engaging in every activity that is defined as indiscipline and out of control. They were just not listening. I have rarely seen my class so chaotic and beyond control.
I was glad when the day was over. I hope Cl gets well soon and is back to work. 

And Em too. Oh no !

Today Em called me in a corner of a room and broke the news that she is leaving. She has resigned and is here only to complete the two week notice period.
For a change she has different reasons for leaving; she has obtained a better position somewhere else.
She was such a nice cheerful energetic and loving teacher. She and Mk were remarkable for being in admirable tuning with each other, so much so that often they acted and spoke like one whole. They were never at discord and always seconded what the other thought or said.
Mk is rueful now and understandably so. Working with a new team mate is not always so easy. It takes time to assimilate the new individual into a team mate.

So another English teacher goes...As yet Ad has not been replaced even after 5 weeks now.

New trouble with Sv

The next day when almost half the day was gone we suddenly saw a two and half inch big roundish red and slightly swollen mark on his left cheek. It was surprising because the bruise proclaimed that Sv must have got hurt badly but despite being under our noses the whole time none of us had seen him fall down or get hit by something or somebody. Nobody even heard him cry which is very easy as he easily cries on slightest of things.

We questioned the entire staff but no one had any clue how this bruise came about We had even been to the play ground but there too nothing had happened. I had myself seen him playing with a little truck and I was more than 100 % sure that he didn't get hurt because if he had his cries would have brought the whole school down.

I asked him several times but he didn't say anything except repeating what I was saying. Then I asked him in Hindi and his answer stunned me. He said his father had hit him.
Wanting to ascertain I asked again and he said this time that his mother had hit him. And after a little while he told me that once his mother was cutting his hair with scissors and his cheek got hurt with the scissors.
Although dismissing this last answer because his hair didn't look like cut recently, I could safely say that a such a small child could not make up an excuse like this which means that too is a reality which happened some other time in the past.

Cl was so afraid that his mother would create trouble on seeing this big bruise and fight with her. She still couldn't believe that she could have hit him; she was sure because the mark was not there in the morning when he had been dropped but then so many bruises don't show up immediately. He could have been hit in the morning just before coming to school.
Whatever, I was confident that he had been hit at home by his parents.And I was right.

When the mother came to pick him up she didn't remark at the bruise at all though it was so glaringly visible.
Next morning when she came to drop him, Mk who knows the whole story asked her why Sv had that bruise. She bent down and asked Sv in Hindi and then translated his answer to Mk saying he had fallen down from the swing in the play ground.

This answer can never never be correct. We have only 3 swings in the playground and we all know that Sv never goes in any of them so there is no question of his falling from them. In any case we were present there at the time of the play and we know that he had not fallen anywhere at all, swing or no swing. And besides, why didn't she see this bruise yesterday at the pick up time and question us then and there? Why didn't Sv give me the same answer when I asked him in his mother tongue? And biggest of all, when Mk asked her today, why did she have to do the acting of asking him there as if she herself didn't know? Is she so bad a mother that she didn't notice this big bruise since yesterday's evening to the dropping time today morning?

Sv is not a problem; his parents are.

AS has gone! Can't believe it!

There is a big news: As has resigned...!

She had been keeping unwell on account of sudden nervous breakdown and nervous attacks since January. Her Doctors had prescribed her plenty of rest and relaxation due to which she had reduced her working hours considerably. We all were, at least I was wondering how she would manage two different schools in two different cities without dearly compromising her health.
Well...we all had started seeing her less and less in the school and more and more work was being done by Mz and Mym.

Yesterday, Stf called me into the office and broke the news to me. I was amazed. I had thought both of them were business partners and would always remain together. Both of them had appeared so much into each other, so friendly and supportive, and Stf had so many times stressed the fact that the school was prospering under As and that she was handling her office so efficiently that the thought just never entered my head that she could even resign!
"But why has she resigned?" I asked.
" She was badly ill and it was her mental situation. She had been ill since quite a long time but it was diagnosed only recently. You see that's why she was so aggressive, rude and badly speaking type. You must already be aware that there were a lot of complaints against her both from the parents' side as well as employers here. Everybody suffered but nobody knew it was because of her illness. I am glad she has resigned. She should sit at home now and remain there there till she becomes well again." She laughed oddly.
"And I have to tell you something else. I had a meeting with the parents and you know they were praising you like anything the whole time. They praised you so much; they said you're a very talented girl, very innovative, very creative and an excellent teacher. ..blah blah blah. I can tell you that I am very happy to have a teacher like you in my school."

Somehow my instincts say that As has not resigned- she has been fired- and the reason for firing is not the parent's complaint but As herself. The unmistakable cruel and sarcastic snigger on Stf's mouth while saying that As should 'sit at home now and remain there till well again' was proclaiming that actually Stf is glad As is not here now. I might never know the truth and can only shoot in the dark but I feel almost certain that the inside story is different. The mentally ill thing might and might not be correct. Maybe As desired more money for managing two schools simultaneously and threw up health and stress gimmick and then Stf being Stf a truly clever business woman, used this beautifully perfect excuse to bring about her end in a way that nobody could accuse her of any cruelty or injustice - that's how the others have been thrown out and it seems As only walked down the beaten track.

I hope As is not really ill. Being fired due to conspiracy is not such a bad thing as compared to being mentally ill in the prime of one's life.