May 2, 2021May 10, 2021 vinay

Achintya & The Online Classes

Short Stories

Achintya the nine year old was not a happy kid when he learnt that he will not be going to his grand mother’s place; ; a beautiful and serene country side, for summer holidays. With a heavy heart he remembered his last summer holidays.

It all started a few days back when he noticed his parents being worried about something in the news. He heard that people were falling ill out there. It didn’t bother him much initially. He was only worried at times because his parents looked worried. After a few days all he got to know was that they are required to stay indoors. Both Mom & Dad will be working from home. His younger brother and he will attend the classes also from home. He was a touch excited that he would get to wear headphones and sit in front of laptop like his parents used to do once in a while at home.

While his parents were still speaking about the new situation, he sat with them in front of TV as his thoughts drifted to his school. School had always intrigued him. Teachers seemed irritated when he would ask questions. To him the questions seemed straight forward. But to teachers, the questions made them feel awkward. He always wondered why teachers gave more attention to smarter kids and not dullards. It should be the other way round. He felt teachers always chose the easy path.

A few things puzzled him like he was taught never to lie but when he spoke the truth neither his friends nor some of his teachers liked it. There was one teacher though who really understood him and would patiently answer his questions. Rest of them left him alone or avoided him.

Stories always confused him. Especially moral of some of the stories. In the hare and tortoise story according to him ‘Never sleep when you are winning’ should have been the moral than ‘Slow and steady wins the race’. He felt that all the stories were written from one perspective. If killing someone is a bad thing why were some killers being celebrated. If we were not supposed to hurt other animals, why do we kill mosquitoes and cockroaches? How do we know what is right and what isn’t? Moreover who gets to decide what is right. It is such questions that made him a kid who was different and to be left alone.

It was very clear to him that adults and kids had different rules. Late night TV was bad for him but it was ok for his dad and mom to stay awake late. He was asked to have his dinner early but his parents could have dinner and sleep immediately. 5 grown men shouting at each other on TV about who would win the next elections was somehow acceptable but kids shouting and having fun in the classroom was misbehavior. He would have asked these questions to his dad earlier. But by now he knew that he would either get an evasive answer or something like ‘you should think more about your school work than all this non-sense’. That is one of the reasons he enjoyed going to his grand mother’s house. He was given a lot of slack there but his parents were made to adhere to rules.

Soon the online classes started. He was happy to see his classmates. He soon figured out that he could get away with not being attentive in the class. He need not take permission from his teachers to move away from his chair. He enjoyed as he could think about stuff without being disturbed by the teacher.

More than his classes he started enjoying his brother’s classes. They were doing all sorts of fun things like pouring water in bowls, craft work, dancing and much more.

It was one such day when he was sitting close to his brother out of focus from camera. His little brother was trying to pour a glass of water into another glass. One of his brother’s friends shouted – “Oh! This is so easy. It is same as pouring beer into a glass.” Everyone in the class went silent after that. He saw his mom smiling but she did not tell him why.

On another day his brother was having English class and this is how the conversation went :

Teacher : Children make a sentence using the word “Over”

His brother’s friend: “The class is over”

His brother : Ok. Bye everyone. I’ll leave the class

Teacher: “No! No! No! Class is not over. Your friend was making a sentence with Over”

His Mother:  (Pulling his brother away from laptop) “Stop! Stop! Class is still there”

There was laughter all around.

Though he had his share of fun, the new world seemed unreal to him. He could see his friends but could not touch them. He could understand what his teachers would say but it did not feel the same. Something was missing but he could not understand. To him an important part of his life was taken away – the outside. When everything in the city was lifeless, he would experience some form of life outside when an insect would fly past him or a dog on the street would run around searching for food. Now, he was viewing everything from a window, either from his room or on the laptop. He thought of animals in the zoo and wondered if this is how they felt. He was hoping he would get to go to his grandmother’s house soon again!!