Independence Day

Joining Uncle for his morning walk on 13^th Aug, Sunday, Lakki said: Tomorrow I will go to school undress; Mummy will wash and iron my school dress for me to wear on 15^th August to school. It must be clean, spotless, and neatly ironed; Principal Madam has announced.

Uncle: Not ‘undress’ Lakki, you will wear plain dress on 14^th and school dress on 15^th!

‘Uncle, I am in the Boys’ Team for a dance at our school on 15^th August. I am in Himanshu’s team. We will dance for mitti mein mil jawa, and we are practising during the lunch break since a week. We are ten in our group.’

‘Who are the others in your team?’

Lakki reeled off seven names. I do not know the names of the rest three, he said. But he knew the names of all the nine girls in Priyanka’s team for a separate dance.

‘That is a nice deshbhakti geet. Have you watched it on You Tube?’

‘No, Himanshu knows all the steps, and we follow him.’

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‘Good morning, Sir,’ greeted the students when Teacher walked into the Sunday School on 13^th August at 11 AM as usual.

‘Good morning, please sit down.’ They sat down on the chatai in the porch.

‘Today we will study GK only. No Math or English.’

‘GK means General Knowledge,’ said Satyam.

‘Yes, that is correct. Who can spell ‘knowledge’?

None could, so teacher spelled it out and they wrote in their notebook.

‘When is our Independence Day?’

‘15 Aug,’ they replied in a loud chorus. That was an easy one.

What do we do on Independence Day?

Jhanda phehraten hain, said Shilpi.

Jana Gana Mana gaaten hain, added Sheetal.

Can you sing Jana Gana Mana?

Yes, we can. They stood to attention and sang the song. Some of them faltered a little at Dravida, uchhala; some erred in the number of jayas at the end - three in last-but-one line and four in the last.

‘Open your book and read the Rashtriya Gaan. It is called National Anthem in English.’

Teacher read the anthem and explained word by word meaning.

Do you know who wrote this song?

Satyam opened his book and showed the chapter on Rashtriya Geet and Rashtriya Gaan which had photos of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Rabindra Nath Tagore side by side.

‘One of these two wrote the anthem.’

Teacher told them which one.

‘Now, sing the Rashtriya Gaan once again. Make no mistake at all. Each word must be pronounced correctly.’

They sang it very well and correctly, too.

‘Now, take out your rough notebooks. Write ‘Independence Day’ and its name in Hindi.’

Everyone attempted, but no one got either the English or the Hindi right. Teacher wrote in Shilpi’s notebook and the others copied it.

‘When did India gain Independence?’

‘15 August.’

‘Which year?’

No one knew.

‘1947.’

Teacher speaks to his phone: Hey Google, show India and United Kingdom on World Map.

‘Here it is, have a look. England is a tiny island, but they ruled over us and many other countries for long years. Do you know why?

They had toup (cannons), said Satyam.

‘Yes, that is one of the reasons.’

‘How many tiliyan (spokes) are in Ashok Chakra?’

Twenty-two, said Lakki.

Who told you that, your teacher?

No, I counted it from the picture in my book. Shall I show it to you, will you like to count?

No, it has twenty-four spokes. If you ask Google on your phone, it will tell you all about it.

Teacher asked You Tube in Hindi to show a video on Ashoka Chakra, and the kids were all attention for the 3-minute video.

‘Today’s class is over. Jai Hind.’

‘Thank you, Sir. Jai Hind.’

Students disperse after enjoying ice-cream made at home for the first time by Teacher after he learned how to from You Tube videos.

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