TANGO CHARLIE

Tuesday 13^th April 8.00am

Where is Charlie? I’ve looked for Charlie everywhere and just can’t find him. I know one of you’ve played the mischief. You better own up now or I am leaving the classroom and will not be back until I get Charlie back.

We were all stunned as we saw Brother Eric storm out of the room.

Monday 5^th April- Friday 9^th April

Brother Eric was the class teacher for X-C. He had just joined a week ago from another school outside Delhi. He was just 20 years old and the students in the class were anywhere between 15-17 years old, most of them Richie Richs but no better than urchins who would make the life of teachers miserable.  The first day in school he was treated with a bit of respect for his white flowing robe, a bit of disdain as he was probably the first Desi Indian Brother, as they called the missionaries in a school which had only seen fair skinned Irish Brothers, and a sense of being a nice prey seeing his small stature, curly hair and frail looks.
In the first week Brother Eric treated the students as younger brothers and impressed everyone with his hard work and dedication. The students were awestruck by his energy levels and freshness of approach. No one had taken so much pain for them; no one made History seemingly interesting and Math seem doable. Eric had cast his spell more so when he came out in his shorts and football boots to practice with the class team. The boys just couldn’t hide their joy and felt a saviour was here just for them.  With the arrival of the Knight in White Armour, The Dark Ages seemed a thing of the past.

But boys will be boys…slowly they got into their strides and started living in their own merry way…creating ruckus in the class, not doing the homework and much more. Brother Eric kept on counseling the boys to correct themselves….he was always like the elder brother telling the children what not to do…no beating, no punishments.
On Friday the 9^th of April, things changed. Eric gave the boys homework and said,

Make sure you do the last year’s ICSE Test Paper this weekend and hand it over to me on Monday. I want no excuses and I am warning you all that those who fail to do the work, Brother Charlie will get angry…very angry.

Monday 12^th April 7.30am

We were standing in the school ground for the morning assembly. While the Headmaster was saying the prayers and thoughts of the day, most students in X-C were in an animated conversation of their own ranging from whisper to loud talking.

Yeh Charlie kaun hai rey? Never heard about this character and why should he get angry? Chal chod, Eric Bhai aaise hi dara raha hai….kuchh nahin hoga. So many teachers have come and gone, we never did our homework and what homework man…one full board question paper! If I could solve it now, why will I need to sit in his class from tomorrow? 

After the assembly at 7.45 am, the boys entered the classroom. Brother Eric was seated on the desk near the blackboard nodding his head and shaking his legs…looked quite funny.

Ok boys settle down and before we start our reading of ‘Julius Caesar’ please put your homework test sheets on the floor there in front.

Strangely that day a lot of the boys had done the work and piled the answer sheets in one corner. About 10 of us remained seated.

All those who have not done the homework please step forward.

I walked up as did the others. This was not new to us. So many times we had not done our homework, made some excuse or the other or at best were asked to stand outside the classroom for that one period…two hoots…who wants to be in the gas chambers anyway.

I don’t want to know why you have not done the work. It doesn’t matter. I warned you Charlie will be very angry and now you’ve had it.

He stood up and from behind the desk took out a fine cane in one swift move like a trained swordsman with his epee. He curved it in front of all of us to see how flexible it was and smiled wickedly.

Charlie will now punish you and after this day whenever you make such mistakes, Charlie will set you right. I tried being nice to you all but you wouldn’t listen. So from now I will be good to those who are good and Charlie will take care of the rest.

And then it rained behind our backs…zick zack zick zack…4 tight whips for each of us. The cane touched our bottoms and bent neatly without breaking. Felt an intense burning sensation there and a sense of shame for getting caned in front of all was ignominy.

Now go and sit down.

As I sat down, I immediately stood up. The pain increased manifold as I tried sitting. It was burning hard.

Sit down or I will whack you again.

I closed my eyes; made sure I held back my tears and somehow sat down. The whole day I did not eat anything, I hardly heard anyone speaking including the teachers. Just one thought came repeatedly…Badla..revenge…chordunga nahi saale ko!

Tuesday 13^th April 10am

Sir, please come back to the class. We are begging you to come back.

A delegation of classmates had gone to Bro. Eric’s room to plead.

No. I have nothing against anybody but I want my Charlie back. I don’t even want to know who did it and how he did it. I know one of the boys has only done it but I will forgive him, all I want is my Charlie back. The moment you bring Charlie to me, I will go back to the class and start afresh forgetting this chapter.

The boys left disheartened. They came back to the class and came straight to me.

Uday, please give back the cane or else we will all suffer. We’ve never had such a good teacher in our lives and if he goes we will again be saddled with another of the nincompoops. Please Bhai, de de na.

Hey why me? I’ve long been branded as someone who takes off a pen here, a bottle of coke there…but I was in no mood to accept that I had whacked Charlie for whacking me yesterday.

Get lost and stop bothering me.

Tuesday 13^th April 6am

I cycled down from Lodhi Road to Ashoka Place telling Mom that I had an early morning football practice. Having parked my cycle outside near the Church, instead of the regular school parking bay, I walked into the school. It was very early even for the staff to arrive and start the cleaning and gardening activities. Quickly walked up the stairs of the Middle School Building and took out my skeleton key. Took a quick look around and turned the key…click click…it worked. Quietly I went in the hall, slid the main door back again as I ran up the stairs to the third floor where X-C was. It was all quiet and lonely but my heart was beating fast. I could hear it loud and clear as I put the key into the lock again and magic happened again…the classroom door opened. Entered and pushed the door back…click…it got locked on its own again. Never mind, I have the master key.

Now just the wooden almirah remained where the brutal Nazi Charlie lay. My strides became more confident and I walked to the last door that remained between me and my revenge. Just then I heard some footsteps outside.

Oh no…who can it be now? Is my game over? If I am caught like this then it will not be only Charlie but Dad, Mom and police who will batter me to death.

God is great…they always tell you and so He was. I saw a small opening between the almirah and the wall and I somehow quickly managed to squeeze in behind it as the classroom door opened and in walked Brother Eric….

The person you want to see last is the one who faces you the first…what fate…kaput! What’s he doing here so early?  He’s not even dressed in his white robe. Phew!

I had not anticipated this. Eric walked in, took a piece of chalk and started writing some equations on the blackboard, something I never could understand. He kept on writing till he wrote on every inch of the blackboard. Here was a teacher who was getting ready for the first class even before the school had started so that not a moment was wasted!

I was getting fidgety for I had to be out of here quickly and be standing in the assembly for a perfect alibi or else if I remained behind the almirah when all the children entered, death was but certain. As Eric took one last look on the board, dusted his hands and started walking back.

I observed him carefully as he walked to the door. I knew that time was running out but suppressed the urge to check my watch. I took a deep breath and started counting in reverse under my breath. “Ten, nine, eight, seven…” Dad had told me to count from ten to zero whenever I would get tensed and worried about anything and it always worked…it was one of the millions of things he taught me since childhood but most of it fell on my deaf ears.

I slowly came out of my hiding and opened the almirah and there it lay like a Sword of Honour above all the answer sheets. I took it in my hands and felt blood rushing to my head…I should break it up into pieces so that it is never able to stand straight again, never able to beat any student ever…Death Death Death roared the Romans as I stood in the arena, a victor ready for the last lunge.

Tuesday 13^th April 7.30am

Hi Uday! How are you man? I am sad at what happened yesterday…he shouldn’t have done it. It is inhuman to cane someone so badly. He talks about atrocities on Jews during World War II and here he himself is perpetrating similar things…trying to create a ghetto out of our class. Very sad man, our school was never like this…

Sandeep was being nice to me. I kept a straight face neither saying yes nor no, just kept looking sad and serious. Sandeep went behind and stood in the queue as we all started chanting, Our Father in Heaven…

Tuesday 13^th April 10.30am

Come on Uday. Brother Eric says he will forgive the act. We are all suffering because of you, pleaded Sanjiv, the Prefect and many more so called good boys of the class.

I don’t have it. Don’t bother me. I was standing with you since morning then how could I have done anything. I left school together in the same bus as Ajay…ask him and I was at the assembly with you all. Stop bothering me. I am trying to finish the next test paper before I get beaten again.

Tuesday 13^th April 12 noon

No teacher was stepping into the class as they had heard about Brother Eric. Each of them, Mr. Kuriakose, Mr. Jose, Mrs. Pallamatam…veni vici vedi…they came, they saw and they conquered…or whatever you may make of it. The 40 students of X-C were the vanquished forces lying low. There was surprisingly no noise in the classroom even though there was no teacher. It was indeed a strange day.

The look on everyone’s face was too much for me to bear. So I walked out of the room and after a while stepped right back but this time not alone…

Here take this thing to him and say we’ve found him. He can now come back and start the classes.

Whoa!! You should have been there to hear the joy and laughter on every child’s face.

Kaise kiya Boss….batao batao…

Just shut up and go from here. Don’t bother me. Just tell him that his bloody Charlie is back from grave.

Tuesday 13^th April 7.10am

I did not break Charlie even though I had the opportunity and the reason to do it. I just took him and put him where he belonged, a big red dustbin with a cover outside the classroom and then walked out of the main gate closing all doors as I had opened.

Tuesday 13^th April 12.15 pm

Brother Eric walked into the classroom, opened up the literature text and starts reading aloud as the students started underlining the pages…

Friends Romans Countrymen

Lend me your ears, I come to bury Charlie

And not to praise him…

Eric never used Charlie again. I never gave him a chance to use it either for I realized it was time for me to turn a new leaf. My father had gone out of his way to put me in a good school and it was time for me to start my affair with books. I started enjoying classes with Eric and would never fail to do my homework. Slowly my grades started improving and I felt for the first time the desire to rush to school in the mornings.

Two people died that day- Uday of Old and Charlie of New. Both were laid to rest in peace forever.

Two people came alive that day- Uday, The Reformed and Eric, The Teacher.

And so began a long journey together, first as student and teacher and then as friends forever.