Once Upon a Classroom: From Tails to Time

These are the opening chapters of English textbooks in my childhood. There were many great stories in these books, but the cruelty of memory has made me forget most of them. Thinking about these just takes me to the start of every class, new, well-kept books and excitement.

Standard 1 and 2 - just learning to read.

Standard 3 - Tale about tail:  All animals in the jungle talk about the functionality of their tails. Fascinating read with the title just perfect.  The squirrel says, I can clean the place before sitting, the monkey clings on to branches, cow says I can swat the flies away…. a lovely read for 7-year-olds.

Standard 4 - Rip van winkle. The Man who slept for 20 years. A villager with a family and kids one day sleeps under a shady tree and wakes up after 20 years. His kids are adults now and his wife is amazed to see him back. A TV series “Fairy tale theatre” also ran the fable.

Standard 5 - The lantern and the fan. A Japanese fable in which father-in-law gives his two daughters in law a dauting task – to bring fire and air. The two young women get advice from an old man who tells them to bring a lantern and a fan, symbolizing fire and air.

Standard 6 - A witty answer. A man asks his servant to cook a crane for dinner. The servant somehow loses one leg of the crane. When the master asks for the other leg, the servant responds, “Cranes have only one leg.” Later they go to a pond where cranes are standing one leg.

The Course here changed - the regular " Radiant reader" changed to Gulmohar Graded English course. I did not get to read the Radiant Reader of Standard 8, which had "The loss of Titanic"

Standard 7 - I met a bushman. Gul mohar graded English course. The writer travels to Kalahari Desert in Africa and meets a native there, who are called Bushman. His car breaks down and how he communicates to the Bushman to get help is the story all about.

This year the workbooks were also part of the course – the first excerpt and exercise were on an incident related to Sunil Gavaskar, the great Indian cricketer and opening batsman, who, at the time of the birth, was replaced with another baby in the hospital. Luckily his maternal Grandfather (Nana) had seen a mark on baby’s ear, he searched and found him.

Standard - 8. The princess who wanted the moon. The name says it.

The workbook began with an incident on a Japanese actor, who dies in the restaurant while eating a special fish.

Later, we also had a chapter about Arthur Connon Doyle and a short story by him, "The blue carbuncle."

Standard - 9 The man who hated time. The best? A customs officer and his fellow smuggler, who smuggled watches from Dover to Kalais, are apprehended on the Armistice Day when the moment of silence happens to be when he is about to leave the port. His car, full of ticking watches, attracts attention of other officers.

Later in the book, there was also “Dusk” by Saki- brilliant story featured in Hindi television serial. A middle-aged man turns down a request for help by a young man who has only one proof of his story- a soap cake. Time between day and night not only muzzles the vision but the mind.

Secondary book. “Locomotive 38”, also had “The cup of tea” by Saki, which is a story about a rich woman who brings home a pauper girl who had asked for a tea, but feels the jealousy when the woman’s husband shows some interest in the girl.

Standard - 10 The gumdrop affair: Addison Barnaby is too soft to be a secret agent. He is tested by his department. Asked to carry jelly explosives, which were gumdrops, he overpowers another agent, using his wits, and thus passing the test.

I can’t remember the first chapter of the Secondary book. But I contained "The last leaf" by O henry – another gem of a short story. It had an indelible mark on my psyche. Later, it featured in one of the television serials either Ek Kahani (A story) or Darpan (Mirror). A girl, living in a rented apartment with her friend, falls ill and loses all hopes of recovery. As leaves of a branch outside her window start to fall one by one, she believes, she’ll die once the last leave falls. Her friend, an upcoming painter, reveals this belief to an undistinguished old man, who is lives on the ground floor in their building. The man, a dabbler in painting, is in a constant search of a meaning to his life. He wishes to create a masterpiece painting.

As the last leaf is left on the creeping branch near the wall, heavy rains and winds lash against the window of the sick girl. She further loses hope of recovery. But the last leaf doesn’t fall. The girl gains strength as she sees the leaf still intact. Instead, the old is found dead in the bushes below the window, a few stories down. Scattered around him, is a paint palette and brushes.

Standard - 11 Paul Julius Reuter. The Reuters we see in see in news, the chapter was about how it started.

Standard - 12 The mark of Vishnu by Khushwant Singh. A group of boys – the writer and friends beat up a snake, revered by writer’s household servant and hide in a basket. The snake comes out and ironically bites the person which feed him milk, the servant.