You would have wrestled with trying to focus on your studies and not being able to when your mind wanders over the desert of Thar,  the stars of the Bollywood and those super stars who play around with a bat and a ball.

In the class room, sits Mr. M, his one eye fixed on the black board and the other at his girlfriend sitting at the back of the class. He likes to play it even. He is not prepared to lose neither his teacher’s affection nor his girl friend’s love. Must have required great craning skills , this one!

Every time the teacher looks at him pointedly , he shrugs his shoulders, winks at his girl friend and smiles back at the teacher. Well, some rogues are adorable besides, why nip  some  budding puppy love? The girl friend looks down abashed and the teacher shouts, class!!! your attention here!!!.

As an English teacher I often wondered if I would be booked for immorality, considering the sanctimony of arranged marriage vs love marriage! Through the carefully chosen lessons I would think that I am actually advocating every crime, every act of felony, disobedience and what not.

I would be adding art and artistry to the failed efforts at eloping by Lord Ullin and his lady love in one lesson and inspiring my kids to whisk away their beloved from under the nose of the bride’s father in Lochinvar!

To add more spice I  would narrate the stories of the ill-fated love of Romeo and Juliet or the dalliance of an elderly Othello with a young Desdemona. And as if to balance it all, there would be a compulsory lesson on Gandhi or the constitution in the text book to even out the romance bit.

In the classroom the teachings and the teachers themselves seemed to have been quite successful in instilling a sense of love and caring for each other .I often get invitations to marriage where I think I know the groom and it  usually turns out to be a class mate or a senior… Good enough!

Crimes, acts of felony,cruelty to self and others make for great literature.Stories of  great struggle, loss of love, of suffering excruciating pain thrills the reader to bits.