The Monster.
What is he going to do? He is not going to chop me into pieces; it’s not the end of the world. The worst things he can do are beat me or take me to the principal’s office, and I know it’s embarrassing but I cannot change the fact that I forgot to bring the handout. I cannot go back home and bring the handout back to school. I live twenty minutes drive away from school. I travel by school bus. I forgot again, I have this very bad habit of forgetting things, which I cannot help. I know it’s not the first time I have forgotten my handout at home, I have been forgiven in the past but the last time I got a warning from him. I wonder what he is going to do to me this time.
Biren sir is the most exacting teacher in our school. There are many instances of him being unreasonably demanding and ruthless to students. Once, one of the students lost his handout so he made a Xerox copy of the handout and had submitted it to Biren Sir. The class captain had collected the handout and had submitted it to him. When he found that there was a Xerox copy, which could be clearly identified from the rest, as the rest were poor quality paper, he came to the class interrupting another teacher’s class and beat Nirmal till he himself got tired. He was saying, “This school is not a place to show off your dad’s money.” Poor Nirmal was helpless; he didn’t defend himself but took the beating from Biren sir without saying a word. The other teacher and students were looking at him being punished him awe. Some of the girls couldn’t even watch him getting beaten. We all had felt bad for Nirmal. We all said we would complain to the principal’s office about it, but none of us had courage to do so.
I am different than Nirmal in the sense that I am a tough kid to be beaten up by teachers. Though I am seated on the first bench, I take chances to make fun of the teachers and sometimes argue with them fearlessly. In our school, teachers never take chances to beat bold students like me, because some of us can gather boys from other school and beat the teacher outside of the school. There are incidents where teachers have been beaten and even stabbed outside of school. Once, a very strict teacher who happened to punish a bunch of “bad students” got surrounded by numerous unidentified boys who forced him into a sack. The students of my school kicked him turn by turn, he could not tell who they were because he was blindfolded in the sack. The teacher took a week off and never tried to threaten any student thereafter. Nevertheless, I was a good student, I was favorite student of some teachers including Biren sir himself otherwise I wouldn’t be forgiven so many times for my misdemeanors.
Biren Sir doesn’t like students dominating him. His class is always quiet and he wants his students to pay full attention to him while he is teaching. Though all he does is reciting whatever is written in the handout until we have it memorized. He is a biology teacher, and he knows his handouts by heart, I guess he memorizes it before he comes to class. If some student asks him a question not mentioned in his handout, he makes fun of the student and say “ Bhai, I don’t know the answer, you should probably die and ask God that question, okay?” He makes fun of the student for asking an innocent yet smart question, makes the whole class laugh at him and get away with it. But whenever a student cannot answer a question he asks, he says, “Ta Janawar ho ki manche ho? Ta bihan bihan bhaat khanchas ki ghaas khanchas? Yetti pani padhna sakdainas……?”
Biren Sir usually is in a bad mood, but when he is jolly, he pretends to be the “nicest” man on earth. He makes jokes in the class and often makes fun of students. Sometimes he goes too far while doing that. I remember once he picked on a pretty girl from my class and asked, “Are you able to bear a child?” The student was too shy to answer that, then he said, “Come on, it’s a biology class, don’t be shy. I can make you naked in the class to teach the anatomy of your external body.” The girl blushed and she said “Yes, I can bear a child” The whole class laughed at her. I got so pissed at him because the girl was my crush but I couldn’t do anything about it.
I remember a teacher in my elementary school who used make students naked in front of the class to punish them. If a boy didn’t do his assignment she used to make a girl undress him and vice versa. I had been in that situation before, I didn’t do my assignment once and the teacher picked a girl from our class to undress me. Fortunately she was a good friend of mine, so she pretended to undress me and I pretended to hesitate, and the bell rang. I never figured out why the teacher was so interested in making students naked.
Biren Sir enters the class, he doesn’t look like he is in a happy mood, that makes me more anxious. I had asked the students of the other sections if he was in school today. They said he was in school and is going to collect the handouts. I asked them what he did to the students who failed to bring it back, they said there were none. Obviously, nobody could dare to disobey Biren Sir, he is a monster nobody dared not to comply with his rules. Biren sir tells the class that he was going to collect the handouts at the end.
I cannot concentrate on what he was teaching. I was staring at the wall thinking what I should do next and him saying my name wakes me up from my thought. He noticed me not paying attention to him and he picked on me to ask a question about what he just said. I fail to answer as I wasn’t listening. It isn’t a good sign, he yells at me saying, “Bhai, if you think you are smarter than me and don’t listen to my lectures, you are welcome to leave the class.” I apologize and he lets it go. But it isn’t the end, I haven’t brought the handout he distributed the last period. Now I know he is going to be really angry at me and is going to do whatever he can do to punish me.
I remember how Nirmal was beaten up, I fear if he would do the same to me. Now my confidence shrinks, I know he is not going to let me go easily this time. My biggest fear is what if he takes me to the principal’s office and tells the principal that I am not obeying the teachers. Our principal is a strong man, though he is over eighty-five years old, he is very unforgiving and doesn’t like students misbehave. I have seen him beat a guy for not wearing the right color of socks.
Our school has a very strict dress code, everybody has to comply with it. They sometimes change the color of the dress as we progress grades. When I finished my primary school and entered the elementary school, our color of the dress switched. I had to wear a maroon shirt instead of the white one and the white pants instead of the maroon one. For some reasons, my parents delayed to order the new uniform on time, I went to school in the same primary school uniform and I remember being laughed at by all the students for not being able to come to school in the new uniform. In the assembly, I stood out from all the students because of my dress anomaly. I was picked upon and called to the front of assembly and got yelled at. I was just a fourth grader, who couldn’t come up with a good answer. I couldn’t say my parents couldn’t get the dress at the meantime, because that would be embarrassing. I wasn’t let in the class for the very first period, and I had to stand in front of the class, trying to hide my face from the teachers and students passing by. I took the blame on myself instead of blaming my parents’ inability to get me new clothes. I went home and cried in front of my parents. The new uniform was ready the next day and I went to school in them, I felt like I was the proudest student with my new uniform.
I have never been a very sincere student in doing homework; I always made excuses when the teachers checked the homework. I did very well in the tests though, so the teachers usually forgave me. I was one of the smartest students in the class so I always got away from not doing my assignment. But it wasn’t always the case; the teachers didn’t always let me go. Once I had to stand on the bench for the whole period for not doing the homework. The classroom looked funny when I was standing on the bench. I used to look around and smile at my friends, and also used to get scolded for smiling. One of the students in my class traveled in the same school bus as I did. So, she knew my sister and once she told my sister that I didn’t do the assignment and stood on the bench for the whole period. When my sister, who is two years older than I am, knew about it, she blackmailed me for a month saying she would tell the whole thing to my parents. I had to clean her room and make her bed for a month to prevent her from doing it.
I never liked Biren sir though he likes me. Nobody in our school likes him. Liking him in our school is like a blasphemy. Whenever a student rests his back against the back of the bench, he bawls at the student saying, “It’s not your dad’s luxury sofa that you can relax on. Sit upright.” Not all the teachers in our school are unreasonable. I like Thakur Sir, he makes the class as enjoyable as possible. Thakur sir is our math teacher, his period goes fast. He has a very pleasant “Madhesi” accent and he addresses everybody as “Tapai” which is very uncommon. I am his favorite student, and he calls me “Babu”. I am his last resort when nobody in the class can answer his question, though I have disappointed him several times. Thakur sir’s style of punishment is different. Whenever somebody doesn’t do his assignment, he asks a question out of the homework, and if he can answer that he would let it go. If the student cannot answer that, he asks an easier question. If it is also unanswered, he asks dumb question like “What is the addition of two and two?” When the student answers the question, he smiles and pats him in the back and says, “Thank you.” and the whole class laughs. He always takes input from students while teaching to make students involved.
Even Thakur sir had a bad day, that is the only time I have seen him mad. I remember that the summer day was hot and the due to load-shedding the fan didn’t work. One of the students from the last bench said, “Sir, it’s too hot.” Thakur sir said, “Whoever thinks it’s too hot to be in the class, can go away from the classroom.” The student replied, “Sir all of us, can we all go out and you teach here by yourself?” It was not an abnormal question in Thakur sir’s class, but he went directly to the student made him stand up and slapped him in his cheek saying, “Now is it cool?” Nobody spoke a word for the rest of his class. The next day Thakur sir came close to the student and whispered, “Babu, I am sorry about the yesterday, I hope it didn’t hurt.” I wish all the teachers were like Thakur sir.
I think that all the teachers in my school should be like Thakur sir. I have never seen anybody as fierce as Biren sir. Some of the teachers just can’t punish girls, so if some girl doesn’t do the assignment, they postpone the due date. Those teachers teach half the time assigned, assign a class assignment and get busy flirting with girls. Even the teachers who were married and had kids used to flirt with the students. Once, a teacher paid the school canteen to make the Tiffin free for everyone just because it was the birthday of a girl student in tenth grade. He got fired the next day. Some teachers seldom assign anything as assignment. I don’t even have a notebook dedicated for those subjects. Some are just too timid to check the homework, some are too lazy. I know I wouldn’t be so anxious if it was any teacher other than Biren sir. I have gotten away in several occasions before without fearing the consequence. Biren sir is just too unpredictable, but I know today he can be a monster and only a miracle can save me from his hands.
“Bhai baini haru, the concept of evolution is very easy, we changed over time according to our needs and adapted to the environment. Do you have any questions?” Biren sir is summarizing today’s lecture on evolution. I still can’t listen to what Biren sir is teaching, as I am concerned about what he is going to do next. I hope somebody will ask a question to make him busy answering the question. But nobody dares to ask him questions because he gets offended by the smart questions he cannot answer.
The class is going to end soon; I can hear the ticking of the clock on the wall. There is only five minutes left for Biren sir’s class to be over. I can sense that the material he is teaching is over as he is revising what he taught for one last time. After the lecture will be over, he is going to collect the handouts. I feel like I should act like I fainted to divert everybody’s attention. I try to stop breathing, hoping I would faint by suffocation, but it didn’t work. I can feel my heart beat faster. I can’t focus on anything. I wish for an earthquake, I wish a bigger monster came to my class and ate Biren sir, I wish he died, finally I wish I died before he collects the handout, but nothing happens. He comes down the platform saying, “Everybody get there handouts ready.”
He starts collecting the handout from the first bench of the girl’s row, which makes my turn come at the last. I hope there is somebody else who haven’t brought their handout to see what he does to him/her. Unfortunately I can see the handout in front of everybody; I am the only one without the handout. I have already been warned, and I know this time he is not going to let it go. Moreover I couldn’t answer the question he asked during the class. I know something bad was coming. I don’t look back as he is collecting the handouts, I am stiff, I am motionless. I can hear him collecting the handouts from the bench right behind me. He comes to my bench but he can’t see the handout in front of me.
“Where is your handout?” I can see his red eye collecting more blood in them. I grab my bag and pretend to search for it. I want the time to run fast and the bell to ring but I know it isn’t going to help either. He is already impatient, “Why didn’t you have it ready like everybody else?” I don’t look at him and I am still pretending to look for the handout in my bag. Then I lift my head and stammer, “I forgot to bring it.”
Biren Sir stammers as well, but it is different than mine. He is stammering with anger and I am stammering with fear. He screams, “Bhai, I am not like other teachers, who you can fool every time. If you think teachers are made to make fun of, you better be seated at the last bench. But don’t spoil the kids who are sincere. I took enough from you, what is your dad’s number? I will call him today and tell him about you.”
“Sorry.” I say “I will surely bring it tomorrow.” I promise.
“No, I have already warned you before, and it is not the first time you have disrespected me. I always let you go because you are a very good student. But this time I won’t let you go. Give me your father’s name and number.”
“ 422……” I give him my dad’s number.
He notes the number in his diary and walks out of the class like a gust of wind, slamming the door behind him.
All my friends ask me what I am going to do next, I cheerfully say, “My dad knows who I am, he will not be mad at me, but he will be mad at Biren Sir for calling him at home.” I console myself and my friends.
My dad is a very understanding person. Even if Biren sir complains about me to my dad, he won’t take it seriously. I am glad the monster is handing the responsibility of punishing me to my dad.
PS: Most of the events in the story are what I recalled from my school life. Biren sir is the same monstrous Biren Pradhan who killed Kyati. It is a disgrace that he taught me for three consecutive years.
Last edited: 03-Aug-09 01:52 PM
, the bad
and the ugly 
. No matter what forms our memories, they are a part of us and hard to leave behind hoina ra. 
