Almost the whole of Sitawadi turned up to pay their final respects.
Ron, Kanika and Veda stood to one side, silently watching people as they came, walked around the body, and said their prayers.
Kanika had her arms around Kajol, who was inconsolable.
‘I tried, didi. How much I tried,’ she said, over and over. Her eyes were swollen into slits from crying.
The only person who was stoic and pragmatic was Sanju’s stepmother. His father sat completely immobilised, but his stepmother took charge of the proceedings. She greeted the people who came. She had arranged for the pandit, and she gently coaxed Jadhav to perform the rituals that were necessary. Sanju’s stepsister, who was only two, pranced about playfully, not understanding what was happening around her. Shakubai kept watch over her.
‘It’s better to die than to perform the last rites of your son,’ said Jadhav, as he did everything he was asked to do.
All the things that Sanju had said in class, the way his eyes twinkled, the way he made everyone laugh—all of it played like a movie in Veda’s mind. His death felt surreal, and it seemed as though Sanju would jump up at any moment and tell them that this was all an elaborate prank. But Veda knew that this was just a part of the denial of the truth. She just wasn’t willing to accept that Sanju was dead.
Neither Bhuwan nor Padma Devi attended the funeral. Veda had told both of them about it, but Bhuwan had said that he had an important presentation, which he could not miss. Padma Devi had been irked at Veda coming back home late the previous night. When a distraught Veda had said that Sanju had passed away, Padma Devi had remarked that, every single day, Veda had new excuses for coming late. Veda was too beaten down to even explain things to her and had let it go.
Kanika’s mother had come over, paid her last respects, and gone back. Aparna and all the other staff at Sankalp, as well as the student volunteers, had turned up. They joined Veda, Kanika and Ron, and stood respectfully, their heads bowed till the body was taken away for cremation. All of Jadhav’s relatives from the neighbouring town had turned up and paid their last respects as well.
The worst thing about Sanju’s death was the timing. The board exams were to start the next day, and Kanika had called all the students to Sankalp for a final briefing at 4 p.m.
After the body was taken away, there was nothing left to do and people started leaving in groups. The Sankalp staff too left, with Veda, Ron and Kanika.
‘Do you think I should cancel today’s briefing?’ Kanika asked Aparna, as they walked out.
For Kanika, each step she took needed a supreme effort. One part of her just wanted to curl up into a ball and stay in the comfort of her home. She wasn’t ready to face the world. Yet another part of her reminded her of her duties towards the other children who would be taking the board exams.
‘I think you should definitely address them today. It is especially important after what has happened. They are already in complete shock. WE have to help them cope and deal with it. They need motivation and advice. So please do not cancel it,’ Aparna said.
Kanika nodded. Aparna was right. She needed to motivate the other children.
It was the most difficult speech she had ever given.
Ron and Veda stood next to her, as she addressed all the students who were to give the exams the next day.
‘Children, let’s observe a two-minute silence for Sanju. Please remember him in your prayers,’ she said. Everyone stood with their heads bowed.
Kanika went on to say that it was a big tragedy that they had lost Sanju. She said that in life sometimes unexpected things happened.
‘We don’t have any control over what happens and some outcomes are not in our hands. All we can do is put in our best efforts. After that, we have to just leave it. Have all of you prepared well?’ she asked.
‘Yes,’ they replied collectively.
‘Good—you must remember that you have worked hard the whole year. That should not go to waste. No matter what happens, we must go on. We feel bad, no doubt. But do not let sadness affect your work. When you focus on the exam, you should forget about everything else, and everybody else. Just look at what is in front of you, take a deep breath and write. Will you all do that?’ she asked.
‘Yes, didi, we will,’ they said.
Kanika told them that anytime they needed help, the three of them—Ron bhaiya, Veda didi as well as herself—would be available at Sankalp at the usual hours, as the summer camp for the younger children would begin the next day. She told them they could come anytime if they needed clarifications on anything that they had learnt so far.
‘All the best then,’ said Kanika.
Ron and Veda too wished the children the very best.
Then they stood by and watched the children leave, all charged up to take the exams the next day.
‘That was a powerful talk you gave,’ said Ron.
‘There’s only one problem with it,’ said Kanika.
‘What?’ Ron asked.
‘I am not able to follow my own advice,’ Kanika sighed and said.
Part Four
THE RULE BREAKERS
You are remembered for the rules you break.
– Douglas MacArthur
Chapter 35
March 1997
Sankalp, Pune
No matter what they did, the shadow of Sanju’s death hung over them like a black cloud. Veda, Kanika and Ron dealt with the burden of sorrow in their own ways—and this involved throwing themselves completely into the various activities for the summer camp with the younger children. There were brief pockets of time in which Veda would forget about the tragedy that had struck. In those moments, she even managed to chuckle and laugh at something one of the younger kids did or said. But the very next moment, the enormity of the sorrow and the irreversible finality of death would strike her as a hard blow, and she would reel under the impact of it, finding it hard to breathe. Ron and Kanika reported feeling the same way and they empathised with each other.
They discussed that fateful day’s events over and over.
‘Could we have saved Sanju if we had acted immediately and not waited till the next day?’
‘But how could we have gone that day? Kajol had broken her arm.’
‘We went looking for him as fast and as soon as we could.’
‘Sanju should not done that. Did we put undue pressure on him?’
‘Could we have helped with his exam anxiety?’
‘Were we too harsh on him?’
‘Should we have told his father that he stole from him?’
They discussed these over and over, as though talking about it would help them make sense of it all. They found little solace in knowing that they had done everything they could, and with the best of intentions. There wasn’t anything they could have changed.
‘Life must go on. These children deserve a great summer camp, and we are going to give it to them,’ Kanika reminded Veda and Ron, when they took their coffee breaks.
Aparna had said that she wanted innovative ideas from them for the summer camp.
‘Let’s give them an experience which they will never get in their schools. It has to be educative, informal, hands-on, as well as a lot of fun. Let’s see what you come up with,’ she had said.
They had suggested many ideas and Aparna had loved most of them. More importantly, they were a hit with the children.
Ron and Veda got the children to start a little garden patch just outside the basement. They removed the tall, reed-like plants that were growing there. Then, Veda showed them how to loosen the soil by digging it.
‘Careful now, we don’t want anyone to get hurt,’ she instructed, as she watched the enthusiastic twelve-year-olds get completely immersed in gardening. It reminded Veda of the times in Joshimath when she and her siblings used to plant seeds and wait for them to sprout.
Ron showed them how spinach had to be sown in rows. They got powdered cow dung and scattered it in the soil. They made border
s with bricks. They watched in excitement as tiny shoots of spinach sprouted on the fifth day.
‘Gardening requires a lot of patience. Just because we want something, doesn’t mean we will get it immediately. We have to be patient,’ Ron said. They were dispensing little life lessons to the children.
Kanika made the children create puppets from ordinary everyday objects like a paper cup and some wool. She got clay and taught them to make little figurines of Lord Ganesha. She read storybooks to them, and afterwards, the children enacted what they had read. Their summer camp was an absolute hit with the children.
Aparna came to see what was going on and she was pleased by the level of engagement and activities. She was also pleased to see contented, happy and productive children. She began coming almost every day towards the time that the children were getting ready to leave.
The children would then proudly tell her what they had done that day—be it a puppet or a story or a craft activity. If they had made models, Aparna would look at them and appreciate their efforts. Kanika told Veda that Aparna was probably coming every day just to check on whether they were working or not.
‘How does it matter? We are enjoying ourselves and so are the children. She can come and check all she wants,’ Veda said, shrugging.
It was on the eleventh day of the summer camp, when Aparna was listening to one of the children narrate what they had learnt that day, that they heard an unusual noise. It sounded like an army was marching on the floor upstairs. Aparna looked at Kanika puzzled, wondering what was going on.
Ron and Veda were in the garden patch with the kids, and did not hear anything.
Kanika and Aparna glanced at each other in surprise as they saw many pairs of feet emerging into view, descending the stairs.
They stood gaping when they saw that it was a mob of at least forty people, men and women, led by Kajol’s father, Rajaram, and Sanju’s father, Jadhav, that had marched into Sankalp. They were angry and were speaking in raised voices.
Ron and Veda looked up from the garden patch and knew at once that something was amiss. They gathered the children and herded them into a corner with the other kids. The children were confused, seeing many of their parents there, and they huddled together.
Veda and Ron walked to the front and faced the mob, with Kanika and Aparna.
‘WE DEMAND TO SEE THE HEAD OF THIS PLACE. WE WANT TO COMPLAIN,’ yelled Jadhav in Hindi.
‘I head this centre. What is the problem?’ asked Aparna.
‘THROW OUT THE TEACHERS. SHUT THIS PLACE DOWN!’ one of the people in the crowd shouted. The others chanted it like a slogan.
‘SHUT IT DOWN, SHUT IT DOWN,’ the person said again.
‘SHUT IT DOWN, SHUT IT DOWN,’ the crowd repeated.
Veda felt sick to the pit of her stomach, seeing the angry mob yelling loudly. Her hands shook. She knew she had a problem when people got angry, but she thought that she had managed to control it. She discovered now, as her hands shook, that she hadn’t quite managed to overcome it. This was a big mob of angry people, and it threw her into a panic. It was her worst nightmare coming true. She felt a tightness in her chest as she stood petrified.
Ron, too, had gone pale.
Kanika seemed calm, but it was Aparna who was in total control.
‘Whatever the problem is, we can sit down and have a discussion; what is the issue?’ she asked.
All of them started speaking at once. ‘Cheaters—not teachers’, ‘Making use of poor people’, ‘Fooling us’—these were some of the things that Aparna could decipher. Their faces were contorted with rage and hatred as they yelled. It looked like they were being incited by Rajaram and Jadhav.
Ron had read reports of mob violence in India. He instinctively stretched out his arms and extended them, forming a little ‘fence’ to keep the children safe. He didn’t want any of the kids to be hurt, in case things turned nasty.
‘See, if you all speak together, nothing will be achieved. I will listen to all of you. But please, have a thought for these children. They are your own kids. They are getting scared of you. May I please request that you choose a representative, and we can have a discussion in my office?’ Aparna spoke confidently and assertively.
Rajaram and Jadhav looked at each other and nodded.
‘Alright. I am the representative, and I am ready to speak to you. But I don’t want these teachers to be present when we speak,’ Jadhav said, pointing to Veda, Ron and Kanika, darting murderous looks at them. He clenched his fists tightly, as if he wanted to hit them—his fury was apparent. Veda shuddered when he looked at her.
‘Alright, let’s go up to the office. Will you tell your people to wait outside?’ Aparna asked.
‘We are going to take our children home,’ someone in the crowd said. ‘Mahesh . . . come here,’ she called out to her child. Mahesh refused to go to her and stood behind Kanika.
‘Look, this is just frightening the children. Let them continue their class. I will send them home at the usual time, and tomorrow you can decide whether you want to send them or not. Okay?’ Aparna mollified the angry parents.
But they did not budge till Jadhav raised his hands and told them that he would update them after the meeting.
The mob led by Rajaram slowly dispersed and made its way out of the office building.
‘Come with me,’ Aparna told Jadhav. They took the elevator to the floor where the Sankalp office was.
Ron, Kanika and Veda heaved a collective sigh of relief when they left.
‘Good lord, what was that about?’ said Ron.
‘I guess we will soon find out,’ Kanika replied.
‘Settle down, children. I will read you a story,’ said Veda, trying to restore the balance that had been disturbed.
But the children did not settle down so quickly and were full of questions.
‘Why are they angry, Ron bhaiya?’ they asked him.
‘Er . . . I don’t know. They must be upset about something. We will soon get to know,’ Ron said the only thing he could think of.
‘Why are they asking you to shut this place down?’ asked another child.
‘We don’t know, but we will soon find out. Don’t you want to hear the story?’ Veda said, trying to distract them. One part of her was fighting with her own anxiety. But she had to be calm for the sake of the children. She forced herself to take long, deep breaths, and she managed to quell her agitation. She pretended everything was okay. She waved a book with beautiful illustrations in front of the children.
‘Who wants to know what happens in this story?’ she asked.
It took a while for the children to calm down. By then it was time for them to leave for the day.
Aparna hadn’t yet returned from her meeting with Jadhav.
‘That was quite disturbing. My hands were shaking when that mob descended on us,’ confessed Veda.
‘You did better than me, I think. I was frightened, and I did not even understand what they were saying,’ Ron admitted.
‘It seemed to me that Rajaram masterminded the whole thing, and Jadhav was just following his directions. It is easy to incite a grieving person when emotions are running high,’ Kanika observed. ‘Whatever it is, I’m sure it can be resolved by properly communicating with the parents. It’s probably a huge misunderstanding,’ she added confidently.
‘We faced a lot of resistance when we were setting up Sankalp. Then, all it took was for one person to say that they thought it was a good idea. Immediately, the others followed suit. This, too, is like that. Rajaram, it is clear, dislikes white-collared workers. He must have filled their heads with some distorted information. I am sure we can sort it out; I am not too worried,’ she continued.
But she could not have been more wrong.
When Aparna came down, her face was grim, her lips were pursed tightly together, and she shook her head as she approached them.
‘Will you please come up to my office? This is a serious issue,’ she said.
T
hey followed her to her office and sat down.
‘Look—they are making some grave allegations here. They say that Veda took money from Sanju, and it was on her instructions that he set out to get the question papers. He followed her directions and got beaten up. Then, she got frightened and returned the money. Is that true?’ Aparna asked, looking at Veda.
Veda was stupefied. In her grief, she had forgotten the altercation she had had at the hospital with Jadhav just before Sanju passed away.
‘That is simply not true, Aparna,’ Ron spoke up before Veda could.
‘Did you hand over money to Jadhav? Is that true?’ she asked Ron.
‘Yes, but that was because—’ Ron began, but Aparna did not let him finish.
‘Enough! I don’t want to hear anything more. So there is a grain of truth in what they are saying. These are not entirely baseless allegations then,’ Aparna said.
‘Look, Aparna, I can tell you the whole sequence of events,’ Veda said.
But Aparna was not in a mood to listen.
‘Is it true that you have been inviting the children to your home, and that you also went to their house to attend a birthday party?’ Aparna asked Ron.
‘Yes. It is true,’ admitted Ron.
‘Oh, God. So they were right then. I did not believe them when they said that,’ Aparna clutched her head.
‘Well, we had to coach them at all odd hours, and the Sankalp premises was not available,’ Kanika said.
‘Can’t you, of all people, see the problem here, Kanika? At least Ron and Veda can be excused, as they are new and they may not be aware of the guidelines and rules. But an experienced person like you knows very well about Sankalp rules. You cannot visit them in their homes, and you cannot have them over at your home. You have violated our guidelines, our basic rules. The rules have been put in place for a reason, are there for a reason. How could you do such a thing?’ Aparna asked.
‘Aparna—the kids, they needed that extra time. And the birthday party—it meant so much to Kajol.’ Veda surprised herself by speaking up, defending what they had done. She couldn’t remain silent on this. This was unfair. They had put their hearts and souls into their work.
The Rule Breakers Page 28