When the whole class chose to become doctors...

We were in class ninth and it was the Hindi class which was about to start in no time and the bell had already gone by. Some girls in one corner of the class room were busy copying notes from the 'Oh! so studious... lot'*. And the boys as usual were at their mischevious best...

In walks our Hindi teacher, Mrs.Goel in her usual style - limping and swaying sideways like a clock's pendulam. It takes a couple of seconds for the girls to gather their senses and get to their seats and a couple of minutes for the boys to do so. Mrs Goel asks everybody to take out the essay passage on 'Meri Abhilasha'^ given as homework. Everybody was supposed to pen down their ambition in no less than 300 words. Boys are shocked as if 240KW of electric current was passed through them. Some were even found asking 'When was this task given?'. Hardly a few had done it.

Thankfully that day the teacher chose not to inspect each notebook for the essay... Rather she asked each one of us to read out our essay's aloud. There goes our first 'oh! so studious...' with her essay. (am translating the summary of the essay in english for better and larger understanding)

"One day i was sitting in my room and through my window, i saw in the slums nearby, played malnutritioned children who were scantily dressed and poverty written all over their face... That day i realised that the society needs my services and hence i decided to become a doctor and serve the poor... Blah.. Blah Blah..." The 'Oh so....' sat and next was one of the copycats who had been busy copying notes from 'Oh So...' and delivered exactly the same passage. The teacher had by now lost interest in the proceeding of the class and was dreaming about something best known to her with her eyes open. Then the third and the fourth delivered the same stuff when their turn came. Soon it was Gopa's turn and everybody was expecting some caning as we were quite sure that he is not one of them to complete his homework. Even Mrs.Goel never expected him to come prepared with his notes. But Alas!, he stood up and started "One day i was sitting in my room and through my window, i saw in the slums nearby, played malnutritioned children who were scantily dressed and poverty written all over their face... Blah Blah..." I was sitting next to him and saw that his notebook was blank a second before, then where was he reading it out from. Infact after listening to the same passage being repeatedly delivered by every student, he delivered the same message with his own interpretation and wordings, while giving an impression that whatever he said was what was written in his notes. He sat after delivering his essay. Now it was my turn and i just followed Gopa like a dedicated disciple. Soon the whole class followed us and that day no one got punished.

It seemed as if all our houses had a slum facing view with grief stricken malnutritioned kids playing around and all of us dreamt of becoming a doctor some day but what was even more heartening was that a couple of years later almost all the students were busy attending lectures on Commerce and Economics. So much so that even the 'Oh so studious' topper Nisha was also amongst us. Maybe the slums got removed by then and we did not feel the need for Doctors in the society anymore...



*
Oh so studious lot is referred to those students who came to school just to study and they ate, slept and dremt books. They always did their homework at home.
^
Meri Abhilasha means My Ambition in life