The Birth Of A Principal -Me !!

I stepped out of the Malwa Express at the Nishatpura Railway Station .I carried a single bag  .In it were 3 pairs of jeans ,7 shirts and my shaving kit and toiletries .Sangeeta had packed me aloo paranthas with acchaar(she was a young bride then –sorry she is still young,perhaps the word I should have used should be “a younger bride”!).I had protested when she put it into my bag “No need Sangeeta ,I am not going to Timbuktu.I will get something to eat there .After all ,I am going to Bhopal .Its the capital of Madhya Pradesh.”!But when Sangeeta wants to do something –she does it .Quietly ,firmly and unobtrusively .My marriage with her is a product of her determination .I respect it .

There was no one to receive the young Principal .I had been promised  that Mr Giri and Mr Vikas Srivastava would be there to receive me with a placard .I looked around ,could not find them ,and started looking at ways and means to reach Bal Bharati Public School .Immediately  at  the mention of the name of the school ,a gentleman named Karan Singh approached me . “Aap nayeh Principal Sir haih?”he asked .

“Nahin,maih pehla Principal huah .Ek nayeh school ka”,I said ,trying to give off my best smile .He was mighty pleased as he eyed me from head to toe .What must he have seen ?Well a clean shaven man (I had shaved in the train itself ),with longish jet black hair and slim.With eyes that never rested because they were always looking for new visuals .And emanating a whiff of a after shave .He must have also seen eyes that carried not a trace of bags under them .And eyes that did not need a pair of spectacles to read the “Times of India”,which I had bought at the Ganjbasoda railway platform .Yes ,I was just a few months short of my 34^th birthday .I was  among the select band of young school Principals who was asked to take over the helm of what at time appeared to have the makings of a good school .I was married ,and had a young son who had just started to crawl .Pratique was to take his first steps in the house of Dr Tandon our neighbor in Bhopal .Yes ,I had finally graduated from a teacher to a Principal .

Looking back now  with the advantage of hindsight,I often analyse why I went to Bhopal ?.Was I ambitious ?Or was it destiny that drove me there ?I think it was a mixture of both .I was fiercely ambitious .The Principals in the schools I studied and worked in always made me feel that I should be a Principal –taking Assembly and sharing ideas with teachers from a position where I would be ensured a audience .I was also inclined towards sports ,and one particular Principal Mr Bharadwaj always fascinated me with his sporting abilities .And his looks .I wanted to be like him.I wanted to be as charming ,as kind and as dashing as him .I wanted a grey beard .I wanted to meet dignitaries like he did .I wanted to have staff meetings which would reflect the gap between knowledge and wisdom .Sadly ,I never became like him .But ,I came to Bhopal with him as a role model .Maybe ,I should have concentrated being more like myself than him . That transition was to come in Jagdishpur .At Jagdishpur ,I finally became KULBHUSHAN KAIN.And in Jaipur I continued to look and project all that was locked up of what was left .When I could not open all the locks I came to Ahmedabad .But the journey started in Bhopal . Why it had to be Bhopal –well that is what I would term destiny .

The dream nearly turned sour before it began .Bal Bharati School was among the first private initiatives in the educational sector of the Indian Railways .Remember ,India was not what is today .It was heavily dominated by  government involvement in every sector –from making spacecrafts ,to television,to industry and schools were prerorgative of the govt .So when the Indian Railways signed a memorandum with the Child Education Society of Delhi to start two schools in their townships at Bhopal and Visakapatman ,it met with strong resistance from the Unions .!The Unions saw it as a backdoor entry of the private sector into the Railways .There was grafiiti all over the walls of the Railway Colony adjoining the school .One of them read “Private Pillaoh ko bahar karo”(ask the private puppies to get out).I could feel the tension and the ill feeling towards the concept .There was of course nothing personal about it .But to a upper middle class man who was educated in Delhi University and who had travelled abroad those days ,the question always begged the answer “Am I in the right place”.Sangeeta was to join me after I had got a house (I was staying in the Railways Officers Guest House for the first two months all alone )and the separation from her (whether newly married or married for 25 yrs now )for even a day seemed unjustified .But ,I kept my head level and luckily for me I had studied the history of the trade union movement in Europe as a paper in my M.A.and knew a bit about the why and how of it .As also the effect it could have in the short and long run.

But then one day something happened .It was May .It was hot .I sat in my incomplete office in the school with a teachers desk.Jaswant Singh the contracter from Delhi worked furiously in the school with his labour force to meet the deadline to supply the furniture to start the school by June end .I was busy trying to arrange a advertisement for recruitment of teachers .Gokul and Jagdish loitered around outside my office .They rushed in .They informed me that the Union leaders were coming to meet me .They warned me that I be careful how I dealt with them .Gokul my peon hardly used to speak .But when he spoke –one could not ignore him .He warned me that I should not say anything which they could twist and turn to their advantage .Perhaps ,he did not know what lay behind the smiling young Principals mind .He had not reckoned ,that though I was young for such a responsible job ,I was battle scarred from a number incidents and wars I had fought in my personal and professional life .

There were 5 of them –I still remember their names ,Viresh Tiwari,Sajjad Hussain,G.D.Mishra(sadly stabbed to death on Holi Day while I was in Bhopal),Mr Seal,and “takla” Saxena.They looked frightening –if I may be allowed to be honest .Saxena ,walked in first and without asking me and without even looking at me ,called  the others in .I was not used to this kind of  behavior .But I waited .In a crisis I am patient .I have the ability to think through a problem .It is my strength .I handle pressure well –very well .He shouted at Gokul . “Saale kursi lao.Dikh nahi raha hai ki hum paanch haih and sirf chaar kursi haih?”

The tragedy was that there weren’t 5 chairs .!!There were only 4 chairs –the furniture was being fabricated .They kept standing and then G.D.Mishra spoke “Pataa nahi ,kahan se bikhari pakar kar ley aaye”.!He was a welder from Bhadohi ,who subsequently became a great friend of mine .But on that hot May Day he was restless –like a cat on a hot tin roof .The tempers rose –or it was orchestrated to make me feel they were rising as they refused to sit unless the 5^th chair be produced .It was the turn of the young Principal to take over now .I got up from my seat ,and picked up my chair ,put it where they were standing and told them “Baithyeh-ab paanch ho gayi haih”.And then moved to where I used to sit ,but because I had offered my chair to them I had to stand ,and asked them

“Aap kaun hai ?Aur aap kya Chahateh hai?”.There was a pregnant silence .And the one of them spoke .And what he spoke was something which still sends shivers down my back .For not the first time in my life ,I felt vulnerable .But at other times I was never alone .I stood as lonely as a young tree in a storm .Nothing frightens me more than loneliness .Physical pain ,lack of sleep ,lack of food ,long hours of work –nothing frightens me more than loneliness .That day the storm of loneliness  lashed at me .What had I done wrong ?I had not even started anything ?Why were they saying what they were saying ?The previous night while I paced up and down my room in the rest house ,I had seen a strong mob outside the guest house .They had brought a dead body and had beaten doctor Aggarwal and his wife in front of my eyes .!!I had phoned up Sangeeta and asked her to withdraw my resignation .But Mr Baveja (my boss at the Child Education Society) had convinced me to stay on.

And stayed on I had .The battlelines had been drawn .I either quit –or stay on .I decided to fight .And when I do that –I am willing to stake everything on it .Including my life .A young Principal had been born .Was he a healthy child ?

G.D .Mishra spoke,slowly deliberately “Principal Sahib” he began “Aapko pataa haih………

(More of that  and the teachers and friends in Bhopal.)