Simply Naughty

When I was in my BSc-II, I decided to take tuitions to fill up my free time as well as to earn some moolah. I hadn’t taught anyone outside my brother and was susceptible about my teaching abilities! Hence, when I registered with a Home Tuitions provider, British Academy, I decided to teach only upto class 10th. The first tuition that I got was that of an oriya boy, whose name I have forgotten. He was in 9th and needed someone to teach him Science, Maths and English. The academy had instructed to ask for nothing less than 1000 but the father was not going above 450. I thought over and started the tuition without informing the academy. The boy was attentive and his mother was a good cook and I enjoyed being called a SIR!
Few weeks later the academy, oblivious of my existing tuition, arranged for another one. The student was a class 10th CBSE boy named Prateek Rathi aka Naughty. I was to teach him English and was to start that at 6 o’clock in the morning of 2nd October.
Naughty was totally upto his name. He is the only brother of three older sisters and obviously too pampered! He had the bad habit of turning down teachers. He never got up from the bed once because he didn’t like the teacher at all and the poor guy had to return back! I was not aware of this whimsical behaviour and I went totally charged up in the morning of 2nd and tried to give my best. It’s funny that the first day the student judges the teacher and later it’s his turn to be judged all through the year! Maybe Naughty just enjoyed his first days! Later I came to know about his habit but he had liked me straight away!
Even though I was never sent back, there were times when tuitions had to be stopped before the stipulated hour because of his pending bath or breakfast. But most generally it had to be stopped because of Dollar, his dog. Naughty had to take him for his morning walk and more than often he would stop the session early. Slowly and steadily, I gained his confidence. I was more an elder brother and a friend than a teacher and maybe he liked that! He had this entire different lingo and attitude and was very angry with his teachers as they reprimanded him often for his poor results. He was not a bad student but he was very lazy. He had a different set of ideas from others and would write answers in his own style. His way though correct was not entirely without mistakes. I had studied the same way in my school life and was totally encouraged by my teachers. Seldom would my answers match word to word with the answers in the notebook. I found the same in Naughty as well. Whatever he wrote was from his understanding and not mugging. But as he was lazy, he understood very little! My job was to rectify his mistakes and make him little more industrious. First was easy but not the second. Because of his unpredictable mood swings, he could have just dismissed my services and which was the last thing we wanted!
To tell the truth, teaching was secondary to the money I earned that time. 1000 bucks seemed quite large at that time and I liked the scent of the money (Kya karein jaat se baniya hoon na!) I earned. I bought two watches with the fees on Diwali, one for me and one for my brother. These were our first watches and we love them very much! I bought my radio also at that time. But gradually I fell into love with teaching and when Naughty’s mother asked me to teach Babal, Naughty’s cousin, I accepted it though with some reluctance. The reluctance was more because Babal was in 12th and I was not confident of my abilities! The best days of teaching were when I used to teach both of them 6 hours a day split in two shifts. My friends were angry that I was not giving them time and were also worried about my studies. The first I couldn’t manage because these two were my responsibilities and I couldn’t shy away from them. The second I managed by studying at the time they used to solve the papers I used to set for them. For about two months, we continued with this. Naughty was weak in every subject and when his mother asked me to look into the matter, I taught him Social Sciences, Science as well. I had to resort to emotional blackmailing and had to throw challenges to get him working. Well he surprised us all by getting a very good percentage of 75.6 in the boards. His top score was 84 in Social Sciences! When he informed me, I was just struck with disbelief! As soon as I put the phone down, I was elated and jumped in joy. His success had given me a big boost. Well, I too scored very heavily in my exams.
I have mentioned in an earlier blog that I taught Naughty again when he was in 12th. This time he didn’t respond well and didn’t fare well. I am to be blamed as well for not stoking the same fire I had been able to do two years back.
Apart from the three I have mentioned here, I have taught four other students. All of them were boys of 10th and 12th and were good friends of mine. Apart from one all of them shared their beliefs, aspirations, likes and dislikes with me. But Naughty is the only one with whom I developed an attachment! When I used to go home, he would worry about my safety as my parents lived in a jungle! Sometimes he used to come to my room for studies and I used to get scolded! The reasons were generally the dirtiness of my room and my bohemian habits. So, whenever he used to come, I cleaned my room beforehand to get away from his scolding! I was a miser in those days and that also came under scrutiny more than often. In a way he was my temperature controller and I enjoyed his chaffing. He has his own tinsel world and I am happy to be a part of it. I like him as I like my own younger brother and pray to God for his success and welfare.