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.