CORPORAL PUNISHMENT – from the eyes of a Raconteur

‘Corporal Punishment’ is the phrase media has been romancing around with, off late, quite often. And every few days you get to hear and read the incidents related, in TV and newspapers. The recent is case of Rouvanjit Rawla, the guy who killed himself because he was allegedly caned by the principal of La Martiniere, Calcutta.

It fills you up with the aghast towards the villain of the act and at the same time you feel sorrow for the parents who are at the receiving end. From the time we have evolved from the hunter-gatherers, the parents (more in context of Indian Society) have been extra protective for their kids till the time they become economically independent, or at least they finish their education. No other species on this planet gives such a long care for their minors. Obviously no one ever allows a stranger to assault the kid. But one aberration in humans is, “The School Authority”. Parents give their best efforts to get admitted their kid in the best-known school, within their affordability. And then they are assured that whether child will be well treated or ill-treated by teachers, but that treatment will only help him, in becoming a well educated and etiquette equipped person in society.

But one feeling that surpasses all my feelings of hatred and pity is bewilderment and astonishment. My long-term-memory is still able to recall those days of late 80’s and 90’s, by when media hasn’t got time and space to make breaking news out of the mundane issues of school-fights and teen girls eloping. Also apex court of the country has not given any ruling regarding the punishments in schools. Probably those were still the days when parents used to showcase teachers as Gurus. And we used to have these physical punishments very often. By recounting the fact that I used to get the physical treatments for my acts and behavior in school, during this second decade of this new millennium, any traces that could prove that I was a studious guy will evaporate like camphor.

Whenever we used to get a new faculty in school, we used to tell ourselves that we have got a license for our hooliganisms for few days, for that one-hour duration daily. And if the faculty was female, and on top of that unmarried or newly married one, the extension on the license was imminent. And as they were the most soft-spoken, hardly anyone used to give any weigh to their warnings and reprimands. Only way to handle this crowd of rowdies was to suddenly ask them, at which line of the paragraph she was teaching, and in case of inability to tell (which used to be the case always), give retribution for their mischief’s.

And there were times when it used to take form of tussle between the vandal gang and that target teacher. And believe me probably these used to be the most taxing times of her life (only after labor pains). She used to ask someone to bring a stick fallen from the trees in the school campus and then lash out. That time we also used to show the adamancy and instead to trying to evade from the blows, we used to tighten the wrist or stiffen up the shoulder and back (flexing the muscles were not the words we had heard that time, and nor any one had any muscles at that time) in front of her. And adjunct this behavior with the gesture hit-me-as-hard-maximum-you-can. Believe me, it was neither the teacher nor the guy but the stick, whose breakdown used to terminate the drama.

Battttameej and shameless were the final blows from the mistress and a mischievous smile on our face were the most impudent gesture of this world. Needless to say that rest of that lecture we had to spend outside the classroom. But believe me those days were fun. And it’s not that I am relishing those moments after 10-15 years of passing out from school and saying it now, but even in those days it used to be fun. In the evenings we had something to brag out in front of cousins and friends. But please blame the big Bachchan for this, because we all remember that those were the days when we were growing up watching Angry Young man roles, idolizing him and getting inspired from.

So the thing that confounds me today is that how those playful events of schooldays of 1900s have turned into a loathsome thing termed CORPORAL PUNIHSMENT for this gen born in IT age. And where did we change so much that students started taking it as a harassing act. And more importantly, how come those gurus turned so much insensitive or even perverts that their beating started giving children so much scares and sufferings, that they need to be hospitalized.

I still can’t understand who has been responsible for this. But definitely our society has progressed a lot towards civilization. So the ways to handle also need to evolve. Probably those ways should have been phased out.

It’s not the kids who need to change much in this case. Onus is on school authorities and the Teachers. On the finishing note I am taking the liberty to remind the teachers that this gen has been growing up idolizing metro-sexual Rajs and Rahuls unlike you and me.

21^st Jun 2010

Ashudeep seems over-protective about his unborn kin’s. However he has yet to find him a partner for himself. His parents have been struggling to make him agree and finalize some gal. Please send him some genuine JeevanSathi profiles.