the schoolteacher

dear Manju,
or man juju , the name you called yourself when you were 10
the princess from the himalayas
who sometimes visited our house in the guise of my sister
mostly when the refridgerator was loaded
who gulped down our offerings of coca cola and icecream
i was 9 and brother was 7.
and we were overwhelmed with the stories of snow and snow leopards
and black magic.

you loved football, arm wrestling and WWF
at 13 you became famous in school
when you said you wanted to be Prime minister
in your english composition.
do you still have your Bible
the one you won for "Best Allrounder"
(the front page i scribbled my name next to yours
and you bit me and i had to have a tetanus shot)

you taught us to pray
when papa was sick
and we knelt three times a day
for rosary . and brother always slept in between
for you insisted on reading all the pslams
you hated Paul, said he wasn't a feminisit
and then you buried yourself in Tolstoy
Shakespare, wordsworth
tHE PRUDE period
when you went by the book. all the rules of road.

your teenage was brutal.
because of your uncommon beauty
you were not allowed to play football with the boys
no more treeclimbing. no cycling
everyone fell in love with you
the young tution sir wrote plays with you in it
and after you joined the women in the fields for harvesting
toiling with the farmhands
you became the village diety

in college you learnt to fly
and to fall.
you broke every rule in the book
a communist
an atheist .
like oscar wilde's flute
you played every tune.
flippant.
somewhere around here
i lost my sister and gained a friend
We shared the same hostel room and souls

you didnt make it.
didn't become prime minister.
you didn't write any book.
but its nice to see you
in church sometimes.
its nice to see you all organised
and last weekend at the resort
i saw your student running upto you
and how you smiled on him
full of love
i am sure you will listen to him
accept him for all he is
nurture his dreams
never once breach his trust.

i am sure you will encourage them to question
every rule
but will still point out the right direction
for you had been searching all your life.
and i know you never grade children by test scores
for you have the magic
to see their souls.

i know
for you were my teacher all along