The Declaration

The Declaration

The appointment letter from the SAV College was brief. It stated:

“This refers to your application for a teaching post in the Economics department of our college. The Governing Body is pleased to appoint you as a Lecturer in the Department of Economics in their college. You should report to the Principal within a week of the receipt of this letter.

The appointment is subject to your furnishing a declaration that you do not take any alcoholic beverage."

I was very happy. The unemployment level in the country was very high, and I had secured this appointment after dozens of my applications had been rejected. My first class academic record and my prowess in sports had not so far helped me in securing a decent job. This offer, therefore, was like a gift from heaven. As regards furnishing the Declaration, I could honestly furnish it; I had given up alcohol five years ago after being involved in a car accident, caused by my having taken a peg too many. I had escaped police action then but had decided that enough was enough. I furnished the Declaration and joined my duties without any delay or hitch.

I soon became at home at the College. The Principal was accessible and was very supportive, the colleagues were all very pleasant, and my students liked me. The college had excellent sports facilities, and I soon became in charge of the tennis stream, as I had played a lot of tennis during my own college days. I felt quite settled and was looking forward to a very productive and satisfying career.

This idyllic state was shattered when one day the Science department of the College, which was located in a separate wing, organised a small party to mark the opening of a new laboratory. I noticed that one of the members of the science faculty had been in the same college where I had done my post-graduation. He was a couple of years junior to me, but what worried me was that he was the leader of a small band of moralists who led the anti-drinking movement in the city. This group was particularly vociferous against those students of the college who frequented drinking parties. It was true that I had given up drinking five years ago, but those days at the college I had no such taboo, and this man had known this and had seen me in some of these parties. Finding this man on the college faculty gave me a shock. What will happen, I thought if he denounced me to the Principal or the Governing Body? The SAV management was not going to accept even for a day somebody on their staff who had been a habitual drinker. Or, would he start blackmailing me, knowing very well that I would do anything to avoid being sacked. The unemployment level in the country was very high and I just could not afford to lose this job. Will he demand money to maintain his silence? But how could I fulfil his blackmailing demands? As a lecturer in Economics, my salary was just enough to meet the rent of my apartment and other daily needs, and I had no financial support from my parents. I lost my peace of mind, my teaching started suffering and I could see that both my students and colleagues felt that there was something drastically wrong.

Before the downward slide could go any further, I decided to make an assessment of what his real intention was. After all, I thought, I was a rational, educated man and should not allow an imaginary fear to ruin my life. From the Administration office, I learnt that my tormentor’s name was Sudhakar and he was teaching Physics. I decided to keep a watch on his movements and also find out who his close friends were. These steps, however, only added to my certainty that his intention was nothing short of criminal, for I found that he had no close friends; he was a real loner, as all criminally inclined people are. I also discovered that he had taken a flat just a couple of streets away from where I was living, and would necessarily be passing my house on his way to college.

Finally, I could not stand the tension and uncertainty anymore. I decided to confront my tormentor and frankly ask him what his plan was. If he showed any intention of taking advantage of his knowledge, I would straightaway go to the Principal and submit my resignation. To face unemployment and financial hardship would, I thought, be any day better than to be ignominiously kicked out of the college on the ground of having submitted a false Declaration.

The next day before my classes started I walked up to the Science block and sought out Mr Sudhakar.I extended my hand, and said,

“Mr Sudhakar, I am Mishra, from the Economics department.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mr Mishra. But I am not Sudhakar; my name is Arun Vaidya.”

“What did you say? You are not Sudhakar? Are you not from the S.D.College, Delhi?”

“Sir, no way. You appear to have mistaken me for someone else. I did my entire education from the Science College, Patna.”

“Oh, anyway, it was a pleasure to meet you. Now that we have met, we should keep in touch.”

“Surely, sir. We will do that.”

 I came back to my part of the College with a song on my lips, and a jauntiness in my steps! What a relief it was to know that my tension of the last few days was totally baseless! When the evening came, I decided it was a time to celebrate; I opened my almirah and from behind the row of books took out the bottle of Black Label which had remained untouched for the last five years. I comforted myself with the thought the declaration I had submitted when joining my job was cent per cent right on the day it was submitted.