The children who come to learn from me

The children who come to learn from me
often wear clothes
Torn
from collars, pockets, button holes

if by chance
a button is there in place
sewn with a red,yellow or black thread
it would be open

their feet have
the curse of shoes
given away by a charity club
in the wait
for stipend
entitled for SC/BC category

the children who come to learn from me
why do they remain the same
same as they come from their home
rather, they are innocent when they come
but schooling makes them more stubborn
more spoiled

head teacher
does not like them
women teachers
do not like them
the children who come to learn from me
take epithets  like ass, pig, idiot
like a mid-day meal

the children who come to learn from me
know a lot more than me
yet, they listen to me
blankly

while teaching
I feel
as if, I am
sitting along with them too

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The children who come to learn from me
How sweet, innocent and simple
They are

They don’t use any
Salutations like
Thank you, please

They are outspoken
Straight form heart
They speak, they curse
They walk, kicking the stones away
They play, missing the catch of fate ball
They fight, they grab collars

This is the way they love, the same
The children who come to learn from me

Why I am getting affectionate
Today

੦

I wish
I can walk like friends
Keeping arms on the shoulders
of my students

But I often get irritated at them
Why this irritation?

If they quarrel
They curse like a sailor

They dance
on classroom benches
They don’t mind to do dressing
of wounds on knees or elbows

What is their crime in it?
What am I afraid of?

I lecture

Listening to me
They go silent
As if they have never spoken

I tell them about
My classmate Balwant Bhatia
His father made shoes
On holidays he worked as a laborer
To pay his school fee
Now, is a bank manager

You should study too

I tell them about
My friend Rana
Even professor of economics
Dreaded questions asked by him
On a holiday
He would carry bricks at construction sites
These days, high court
Works by his whims
he just got a new kothi in
Chandigarh

You should study too

I start telling my story too
But i stop

Tell them again and again
You should study too

੦

Dreams of
The children who come to learn from me

How bright they must be
mind boggling

Actually

There is no microscope
Built yet
That can see
Dreams of
Children who come to learn from me

੦

Children who come to learn from me
Are very mischievous
Mischievous beyond limit

Teachers say this
and Get tense

Poetic mind ponders
At least, they have something.