From A Squab to Confident Dove

"Bindiya , Bindiya ! My little angel wake up! wake up!”Eyes still closed, savoring the sweet voice of her grandma, a peaceful smile appeared on Bindiya’s face but suddenly the melodious voice changed to a jarring sound of a bell ringing. With a start she woke up in an unfamiliar place with at least half a dozen faces looking at her curiously.

Bindiya realized that she was in a hostel room of a famous residential school in the district.  She remembered how everyone in her village was happy to see the first child to get selected in this school. Long time back palku, was the only person who knew about the school. He was worked in the school kitchen but in the village he commanded great respect since he sported a wrist watch, had a radio and of course lot of crisp currency which he carried in cheap black wallet. In the village, every evening all the villagers would sit around the bonfire and listen with rapt attention the stories which palku told about that great school.

 Bindiya, sitting on her grandpa’s lap, often heard the story though most of the time she fell asleep. Gradually she  made up her mind to go to that school and make her grandparents proud and pay a special homage to her parents who died very young due to some unexplained disease.

Palku kaka (uncle) helped her to get into the school. Her village school Headmaster also helped her to fill the application form and trained her for the entrance exam. Bindiya was good in numerical and reasoning and was confident to pass the exam.

 Her grandfather took extra care. He went to the town and bought a lantern so that she could study without interruptions during power break cuts. He also bought a pair of pencils and a note book. On her part, grandmother would ensure that Bindiya got more time to study and never sent her on errands like gathering firewood or the big Sal leaves for making plates. She would always cook extra rice for Bindiya to have more energy.

On the designated day, grandfather took her to the high school around ten miles from their home which was the exam center. Both of them walked along the green road of Sal and Teak trees. Bindiya was happy watching butterflies dancing on wild flowers and trees appeared like walking along with her. But the last two miles she felt tired and her grandpa carried her on his frail shoulders. She enjoyed the ride like a princess unaware of the hardship she was causing to her grandpa.

On reaching the exam center, she was confused looking at so many boys and girls with their parents. She was looked at their fancy bags, attractive dress, shoes and pencil box. She had a cloth bag stitched by her grandmother from a recycled old frock. She wore sandals and her school uniform which was far better than her regular dress. As usual grandmother applied oil and combed her hair in neat plaits with red ribbons done only during special moments.

Bindiya completed her paper confidently and came out clutching her cloth bag and was happy to see her grandpa, the only familiar face among the sea of people. He took her arm and both of them walked out of the big gate. Grandpa bought an ice cream, few coloured balloons and strange looking sweets for her. She was so excited and wished that often they should come to the town to write exam with no inkling that grandpa spent away all the money he had saved selling extra firewood in the town.

The way back to home seemed very short with trees and butterflies welcoming her back to the cozy hut and loving arms of her grandmother. She never insisted her grandfather to carry her as she felt relaxed after the exam. Reaching home, all the three had hot rice gruel with salt and some pickle and Bindiya slept peacefully dreaming of the town and exam hall and all those faces she met.

Just after two full moons, Palku kaka came with the happy news that Bindiya qualified the exam to study in the famous school. There was an air of festivity in the twenty five odd homes and everyone came to congratulate grandpa. Each brought a gift for Bindiya. The old village headman gifted her a beautiful blue tin box to keep her clothes, the squint eyed Rukmani aunt gave her a floral print umbrella, and Kana uncle gifted two beautiful frocks and Mukta Didi gave her new glass bangles, ribbons , and a colourful beads necklace.

 Bindiya was excited and happy to go to the new school and if anyone was sad , it was her grandmother for sending her little baby to a distant place among strangers. Only solace was that Palku kaka would be around with the little one.

“ wake up, wake up!” Now two rough arms caught Bindiya and made her sit on the bed. She wondered what these people wanted from her. Slowly she realized she was in the hostel of her dream school and had to follow the rules.

On the previous day, one kind looking teacher welcomed all the new students and asked them to introduce themselves. Bindiya could hardly utter a word. They were told a list of things they had to follow both in the hostel and school.

Bindiya noticed that besides her, there were seven more new girls all having lost looks and hardly spoke or smiled at each other. Bindiya was ushered in a big room with lots of beds, ceiling fans, reading table and a chair for each student. That night she slept almost feeling lonely missing her grandmother's arms hugging her and the sweet lullaby.

 Next morning all the new girls had to line up for the washroom. A senior instructed rather warned them to spend not more than five minutes in the bath. Bindiya entered the bathroom and was amazed to see the shiny brass tap and water gushing out when she turned on the tap head. She quickly poured few mugs of water and soaped herself and before she could enjoy her bath, there was constant banging on the door and a senior  was asking her to come out . She came out slightly shivering not knowing ,was it due to the cold shower or the fear of facing this high pitched senior. 

She wore her uniform given by the new school and struggled to comb her hair into two plaits. A senior girl took her comb and made two beautiful plaits and tied ribbons. Bindiya only smiled back in gratitude.

There was suddenly a long siren and Bindiya was taken aback. She was told that it was a signal to go to the dining hall for breakfast. Bindiya never knew the concept of breakfast. Back in her home, she  only had two meals  a day. How she wished her grandparents were with her to enjoy the meals.

The dining hall was huge room with rows of tables and benches to sit and all the students sat in their designated places. She sat along with the seven new girls.  They were served tasty kichidi(made of rice and yellow lentils) and potato curry. A ladle full on the plate was too much for her. Usually she and her grandparents shared such a meal together. 

From the dining hall all the students moved towards the academic block. Bindiya was stunned at the largeness of the building and so many classrooms unlike her old one room school with leaking roof and faded blackboard. All the students assembled in the school quadrangle in neat rows .

The morning Assembly started. The Head-boy, a senior student gave the command in his baritone voice and students followed is command like soldiers in the battle field. The prayer began in some strange language which Bindiya had never heard and after many days she knew the language was called Hindi. This was followed by more strange language which she later understood as English. The whole assembly took about 20 minutes and later a big man but not a teacher , he was called the Principal who addressed the assembly,   once again in a strange language. All that Bindiya did was follow the gestures of other students like folding palms together, clapping and standing still for the national anthem. The assembly ended and all moved towards their respective classrooms marching along with the drum beat.

Bindiya entered the classroom and was wonder struck looking at a green colour Board instead of the usual black colour. There were neat green iron dual desks, a chair and table for the teacher. A small box holding coloured chalk and a wooden duster. She remembered in her school , she used to erase the board with a cloth duster made from old piece of sari brought from home.

She was given the first desk to sit and she noticed one out of the seven girls was her bench mate. She turned around to see the rest of the students. One boy smiled at her and she thought how strange, she didn’t even know him but suddenly in flash she remembered that this fellow was none other than who made paper planes with the question paper and threw at the girls in the exam hall in the town.

 Teacher after teacher came to the class. Bindiya pretended to be attentive to what the teachers taught without following  a single word. The language was either Hindi or English which was quite different from the tribal dialect she spoke at her home or heard in her village school.

 But Bindiya enjoyed Music, Art and of course Sports classes. She sang a very sweet folk song which often she heard her grandmother sing for her

After the Academic hours, once again it was dinner time. She went to the dining hall and was served hot rice, dal and spicy curry. She wondered how anyone can eat three meals a day. At home it used to be just two meals.

After dinner, all students went back to their respective hostels. The new girls were surrounded by their seniors. There was so called ice breaking session but underneath it was a sort of ragging to show their superiority .The new girls had to sing, dance or share a joke, as if they were circus jokers. Bindiya confidently sang the same song which she had sung in front of the Music teacher.

Now it was time to sleep. Everyone moved to their respective beds. Bindiya literally tossed in the bed like a rudderless ship on high seas. She was not comfortable sleeping on the soft mattress. Back at home, her grandmother would spread her old sari on the mud floor and Bindiya would sleep like a princess oblivious of their poverty or hardships. 

Suddenly the girl, next to her bed, by name Nanisa woke up and started crying loudly asking for her mother. This triggered an orchestra of howling among all the new entrants. Bindiya woke up and when she saw all her batch mates crying, just to show her solidarity, she too started to cry. Meanwhile the senior girls tried to pacify them. The teacher -in charge came and somehow could control the situation. The night passed and before they could catch up with their sleep, the morning wake up bell was rung so loudly that even a stone deaf person couldn’t miss it.

All the students anxiously waited for the second Sunday of the month. This was the day parents visited the school. Some would wait to have lunch prepared by their moms. Some would wait for the long list of things that they might have ordered for the parents to bring. Even Bindiya waited anxiously for her grandparents. Most of the time only grandpa came. He would bring a small packet of homemade chocolate of jaggery and peanuts, roasted corn from their field, and fruits that grew in their backyard be it ripe bananas or guavas. He would hardly speak but both had a silent communication. 

When it was time to leave, Bindiya would feel sad and tears would float in her eyes so also grandpa used to hide his wet eyes. He would press few crumpled rupees in her palm to buy eatables from the school tuck shop.

Bindiya enjoyed this new life but the only hitch was that the  lessons taught in the class, were beyond her comprehension. She felt very sad. “How can I study without knowing what I am being taught?”  The entire village is proud of me and I cannot disappoint or shatter their dreams.”

Tears fell from her little eyes which were noticed by one of the senior girls. She assured Bindiya that gradually she would too learn the language and there was no need to panic. The senior shared her experience about how she too struggled initially when she joined the school. Bindiya was now happy and more determined that she won’t give up and learn the language fast.

Much awaited summer vacation arrived and all the students left the school campus like birds suddenly released in the blue sky from concrete school cage. Bindiya was no exception. She accompanied Palku uncle since grandpa could not come to pick her up. She was happy to see her little village with brown huts, the mango trees laden with fruit, her little calf Radha and her very dear grandparents.

Time passed in a wink. The school reopened. Bindiya confidently left for her dream destination. She was now in the next grade. Once again a fresh batch of students joined the school.” I am Bindiya, your senior. Please follow the rules and be happy. Don’t worry. I am with you”,  Bindiya assured  the juniors.

A new entrant, a girl in a faded frock and tight pigtails, thin, brownish complexion stood before Bindiya.  Panic was written large on her face. Bindiya called her closer and asked “what’s your name?”And the girl hesitantly told “ I am Bindiya” and a big smile spread on the little face. The senior Bindiya smiled too. She was happy to see one more little nervous squab from the green village arrived to learn how to ‘coo’ in the form of lessons and to fly back as a confident dove to new horizons