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Buchi...

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by Mindian, Nov 3, 2008.

  1. Mindian

    Mindian IL Hall of Fame

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    He came into my life some months back . One evening ,I opened the door to find a real hefty African woman nearly 6 feet tall and her son,a lanky boy of 9 years old. She reminded me of queen latifah and the boy of jaadhu. Remember "jaadhu" of koi mil <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:eek:ffice:smarttags" /><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">gaya</st1:City></st1:place> ?…while everyone drooled over Hrithik in that movie and he walked away with some awards, jaadhu was my favourite. My heart cried when he walked away in the last scene.

    Anyway this boy, named Buchi had the same melting eyes in his otherwise jet black oval face. His mother had apparently heard from someone that I was open to giving tuitions and she wanted me to teach him math. She had a lot of complaints about the boy , he was the second among 3 sons but the naughtiest, never listened to her, never did his homework, lots of complaints from teachers and finally had got 16 out of 100 in math. All the while the boy had a wide grin on his face as if she was talking about someone else. I was really amused at that, liked this attitude and said he could come from the next day but twice a week as HE wouldn’t like too much of math, right? And pat came the reply, yeah… RIGHT...

    The first day he comes without his maths textbook, workbook, and notebook. Apparently he had just come back from his school and his maid had packed his bag for his "tuition" classes. I told him to do that himself from the next day. I was shocked to see his books the next time, there was not a single correct tick in majority of the pages and extremely untidy work. Now, this is the challenge (not exactly fourth grade math but whatever…) u are looking for in your otherwise dull life, I told myself and started my classes. Within a few days I knew what people meant by saying that "avaalluku kanakku suttu pottalum varadhu" ….till then I never believed in that.

    Buchi confided that he hated Math but was good in singing and art. I assured him that he needn’t do Math after class ten but till school level we all have to learn certain basic concepts in arithmetic. His face brightened and immediately he concluded that he now had only 6 more years of math learning to do. Thus began our classes and friendship. I had to teach him the same things repeatedly till he got the concept and after that he had to repeatedly do a dozen problems of the same type. Then he just couldn’t work without an eraser, he would write a digit then rub it vigorously and was so….careless….if at all he managed to get the correct answer he would definitely write it down wrongly for eg 125 would surely be written as 215.And it took me 3 days to explain to him the difference between area and perimeter.

    Buchi would inevitably be a part of our conversation at the dinner table and dh would laugh at my frustration….…go down to the child's level and start explaining with things around the house. Then u try and do it, I retorted. Well he actually did it one Saturday, trying to explain the area and the perimeter of our dining table and after 4 hours triumphantly declared that he had achieved where I had failed but in the next class Buchi proved him wrong by giving me the wrong answers.

    I enjoyed his twinkling eyes, his anecdotes about school and the naughty tales of his class mates. Soon from Mam I became Aunty. He told me he was scared of his father but loved his "mamma" and did not like it when his mamma travelled leaving him and his brothers with the father and maid. So unlike her Indian counterpart I thought, with three kids at home she just goes overseas to meet her friends(so he told me) and she had told me it was very tough being an African housewife as the husband doesn’t share any of the household work and she had to do everything for the kids and home.

    It took me time to bring him to a certain decent level and when exams were two weeks away I began to panic, insisted to his mom that he should come everyday if she wants him to pass. I told him to ignore all word problems and attempt only what he was sure he knew. I swear I prayed hard on the day of his exams." Amma, not even for me have u prayed so much", quipped my dd. I did not wait for him to call me up but as soon as he was home gave him a call to enquire about the paper. "It was okay,"aunty was all I got.

    The suspense lasted for two weeks till he got his marks. His teachers were surprised at the change in him as he had scored 67 out of 100, well actually 67 out of 80 as he had not attempted questions of 20 marks. That day he got his favourite vanilla and chocolate icecream as a treat from me. I had bought it anyway for him as a last day treat irrespective of his marks. His mother came to thank me and said, Buchi says "it is all because aunty taught me everyday"…Ohhhhh cho chweet. ......my heart melted…the little darling had completely forgotten the number of times I had been impatient and raised my voice at him to make him understand…no wonder it is bliss to be a child….they forget and forgive so easily….
     
  2. mithila kannan

    mithila kannan Gold IL'ite

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    My dear Mindian,
    That was a heart warming account of Buchi and his dislike for maths.
    My dear Mindian you have done a wonderful job, for him to secure 67 out of 80,obviously you are a dedicated teacher.Hats off to you!
    I have reason to tell you that more often than not the students' dislike or fear of the teacher rubs on the subject that the teacher handles.It happened to me, I was very afraid of my maths teacher ,I used to tremble in her presence and could not understand the basic concepts.She offered to stay back in school ,for the sake of a few students like me,after school hours to teach us the basic concepts.At that time she became Mindian,very caring,loving and patient.This went on for three months.Well I did score reasonably good marks in maths in the final exams.
    You have made the narration so interesting.
    love
    mithila kannan

    When Faith goes to the market,it carries a basket.
     
    Last edited: Nov 3, 2008
  3. Saraswathipv

    Saraswathipv IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Mindi,

    :clap:clap:clap You have instilled so much confidence in a child that he could improve so much in a subject, that he must have dreaded. I know, its not easy. I too have taught kids (and a few elders too)..and I know its not an easy job.

    I have taught some senior citizens the basics of computers and I felt the same as u did, when they thanked me later, for being able to communicate with their kids abroad via the Net.

    Loved your narration..
    bye
     
  4. Kamalji

    Kamalji IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Mindi,

    I will send my grandson to u for tuitions.You are too good.Loved the story and the story telling style.

    Regards.kamal
     
  5. DesertRose

    DesertRose New IL'ite

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    hi mindian!
    :wowthat was a great write-up!! i was glued to it till the ery end & somehow dunno but your story kept bringing glimpses of the movie Taare Zameen Par, which made me cry uncontrolably throughout! am basically a sensitive person & any display of emotion makes me cry; blv me ur story moistened my eyes...

    keep all the great work coming in...

    cheers,
    desertrose!
     
  6. Balajee

    Balajee IL Hall of Fame

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    Mindi, I understand and sympathise with the boy. I drove my math teachers up the wall too! Whoever said south Indians are good in maths didn't know me! No bribes could force me to work on my math not even vanilla and chocolate ice cream!. .
     
  7. Lalitha Shivaguru

    Lalitha Shivaguru Platinum IL'ite

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    Dear Mindi,

    An excellent narration.

    I second with Mithila mami about the teacher handling maths. My younger dd had this problem of not catching maths as she had absented herself from school due to ill health. But the teacher's casual stingers has put her off the subject. It is a herculean task for me to drain the same into her head. Now she and maths are poles apart. Mindi shall I send her to you?
     
  8. roopadadia

    roopadadia Silver IL'ite

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    Hats off to you Mindi...as teaching someone a subject that he hates is initself a herculean task.

    Well done.
     
  9. Anandchitra

    Anandchitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Very well written Mindi.. as only you can.. enjoyed reading this.. real pleasure.
     
  10. Cutepavi

    Cutepavi Silver IL'ite

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    hey mindian,
    You wrote it so well that it really did melt my heart.. even i had sister whose mom asked me to teach her math for her 12th standard exams.. and during her final exam study holidays.. she did not know what was sin and cos... I had to struggle a lot to teach her.. 1 was she was least interested in studies.. but the second was that she was lazy to take the pen and paper to solve any problem...
    It seems that she had the thought that she would not be able to do math just because her parents and teachers said that you are good for nothing.. poor girl..
    Good writing mindi.. i really liked the way you put it.. poor kid.. hope he comes out great in his life..
     

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