Letters from a daughter to her father:Week 4

Dear friends,

Here is the copy of this week's letter sent by Bitiyarani to her dad. I had some difficulty getting a copy, hence the delay...

Dear Papa,

Last week was exciting! There was strong rumour that some vested interests from within the school had approached the Supreme Court in appeal over the s.377 order of the High Court, precisely with the intention to upset the ideas of a few gentlemen changing their cadres. On the other hand it is rumoured that the CM of Orissa had a role in this appeal, aimed at stalling the exit of a few good and proven guys like Ballu and Bhau. For the time being, the benches are as frozen as before.

This week, our school witnessed a virtual trek. We were all taken to some Tibba from where we trekked for over 14km and then came back. (Shri. Sanket Bhondve organized a photography competition during the trek.) This virtual exercise was done within one hour and we were all exhausted after the effort. On the way back, we saw a movie as well. With the advancement of technology and with daily reflection practice, we have become capable enough to have simulated experience of almost anything. Similarly we underwent a plane hijacking in Israel and escaped unscathed. A virtual simulation of hijacking in Indian context was also sought to be run. But we knew that if such a simulation took place, none of us would be rescued. So we stopped the simulation exercise as and when the hijacking began.

This week we had one uncle who taught us how to dig holes. (His inspiration and motivation in life has been his spiritual Guru called Swamy Ayya who had also come along to grace the podium.) The uncle specialized in digging holes and later filling it up. But the secret of his success has been that he measures the holes in groups of ten or twenty before filling it up. This is colloquially called “Nappy”. This is the first time that nappy was used to measure anything. Swamy Ayya was witness for all this innovation.

For two hours, the uncle elaborated on the socio-cultural aspects and macro economic ramifications of digging well-measured holes in grouping of ten and twenty with special reference to other geospatial occurrences which might be as innocuous as El Nino or as significant as the third button hole in a Bandhgala. It was quite complex; next to rocket science. Ultimately everything boils down to how well you dig a hole, he said in all humility. The nappy needs to be real solid and we need to hit hard on the parasites… For every second sentence the humble disciple would call upon Swamy Ayya to bless him and his children. This went on and on and on…

Finally, after two hours of silence, Swamy Ayya, the revered Guru spoke on how Nirvana was attained.

Guru Swamy Ayya narrated a story: Swamy Ayya had visited a house in Rajasthan. The lady of the house had left some portions of the wall without whitewashing so as to save some money. However, Swamy Ayya went on pestering her about the gap in the wall and how unstylish it looked. It was not at all contemporaray. Fed up with such comments the lady told Swamy Ayya that the marks on the wall needed to be preserved to keep account of the money that the Sarpanch owed her husband. Swamy Ayya broke down into tears and attained Nirvana then and there.

Later Swamy Ayya ate the chapattis that the lady gave her and experienced bliss.

Meanwhile, few of my classmates in their neo-literate enthusiasm were taking part in a literacy campaign in the class when forces of darkness and ignorance snatched the books of knowledge from those devout readers. It was returned after two long hours of fast-on-to death agitation. This great occasion is celebrated throughout India, especially in Varanasi as Book-vaapsi Divas. The great leader of this movement, Shri.Alok Tiwari has promised that at least one elephant will be constructed in the classroom to commemorate this event.

This week also saw more wild and nutty schedules of badminton being experimented by the Playboy club of the school. Stalwarts stood stunned on the sidelines as the hyper-flexible playboy, Mr.Mallick displayed his caliber and stamina, again and again, throughout the day and late into the night. Boy..is he a playboy!

This week also saw the launch of a new Service, IBS under the able guidance of the Great Maratha contingent. The first bakra for the bakr service was Shri. Anurag Tiwari., IBS who gracefully accepted the honour. An experiment conducted in collaboration with the Duke university showed beyond doubt that even after 7 odd years into the job, the ‘bakr-ism’ does not die out. Books, bags, it's contents etc are of mere ornamental value serving no purpose at all…the real stuff is ‘bakr’. That’s what makes us stand apart. For two whole days, one gentleman in Phase III carried around the bag of a Phase II. Aah..how does it matter!

Papa, though there were many other events this week, its time for me to go and enjoy my extra physical training with 17 other lucky ones…so bye for now. Take care.

Lots of love,

Bitiyarani