'That's too much. This is a Kendriya Vidyalaya. Not a private school,' the
administrative head said. He shut the notebook and pushed it towards me.
I took a deep breath. I had thought of an answer for this scenario. 'Sir, we can
scale down.'
Ish interupped me, 'It is twelve rupees per child a month. Don't you think sport
deserves as much as the cost of a fountain pen?'
The teachers looked up from their notebooks and exchanged glances.
'Frankly, no. We get judged on our results. The pass percentage and the first
divisions. We have limited resources,' the head said.
'If everyone thinks that way, where will India's sportsmen come from?' Ish said.
'From rich families.' The head took out his glasses and wiped ihem calmly.
'But talent is not distributed only among the rich. We have to expand the pool.'
'Do you know half our classrooms leak in the rain,' the head said. 'Should we
get shiny balls or fix the leaks?' He stood up to leave.
I mentally said the F-word a few times. C'mon Govind, save this. You need
business, any business,
'Sir, we can do a plan for five thousand a month,' I said.
Ish raised a hand to keep me quiet. I could have killed him.
Ish stood up, to match the admin head's height. 'What are you here to do?'
'To give children an education,' the head said with a straight face.
'And all the education is in these books they read under the plastered roofs?
What about the education that comes from sports?'
'What?' the admin head said.
'Sit down Jitin sir,' the principal said. 'Let us hear what they have to say.'
Jitin-sir, I mentally noted his name as he sat down again.
'Are you teaching your kids a subject called teamwork? Are you teaching them
how to chase a goal with passion? Are you teaching them discipline? Are you
teaching them focus?' Ish asked. I stamped his foot, signalling him to sit down.
But he ignored me.
'What are you talking about?' This from one of the teachers,
'Sports teaches them all this. And tell me, who will be more successful in life?
The kid who knows all the chemical formulae or the one who knows teamwork,
passion, discipline and focus?'
'Sit down, son,' the principal said. Ish took his seat but did not keep quiet.
'I'm not setding for a scaled-down version. Eight hundred kids and they want
to keep them locked in classes all day. We will chase useless first divisions but
not spend two samosa plates worth of money on sports.'
He pointed to the samosas on the plate. All the teachers stopped eating
midway. The pause continued until the principal spoke again. 'Fine, ten thousand
is ok for a trial. Let's see how it goes. You are on for six months.'
We stood up to shake hands. Six educated, fifty-somethings stood up to shake
hands with me. Yes, I had become a real businessman.
'If this works, why don't you come to a meeting at our Belapur school?' the
oldest gentleman in the group said.
'Oh, yes. This is Mr Bhansali, headmaster of the Belapur school. He came for a
visit, so I asked him to sit in this meeting,' the principal introduced.
I took his card. I mentally made a note to order business cards and wondered if
I could do the fist pumping now or save it for later.
avery
(avery)
#1