CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
(It is late afternoon. A nursery near a school.)
(A TEACHER, looking tired, but stem, is standing. He has a small book in his hand.
A STUDENT, quite mischievous looking, is toying with his pen. He is looking at something outside.)
Teacher: What is sixteen and three multiplied? (The student just blinks.)
Answer me! What is sixteen and three multiplied?
Student: (Promptly) Twenty-four. (He has a wicked smile on his lips.)
Teacher: (Angrily) How much? Student: I said twenty-four.
(Teacher slaps the boy hard on the cheek. The boy looks at him and bursts into tears. Teacher is appalled.)
Teacher: Dont’ cry, little boy! You mustn’t
Student: I will tell them.
Teacher: No, no, no, please don’t.
Student: I’ll tell my mother.
Teacher: You mustn’t cry for these trifling matters. You must be like a soldier!
Student: A soldier? A soldier will shoot with a gun if he is hit. (The teacher laughs taking it as a joke. The student also laughs.)
Teacher: Go and wash your face. Student: I’ll wash my face if you close the lessons today.
Teacher: No. I can’t do that.
Student: Then I will go and tell my mother. (The student tries to get up and go. The teacher forces him to sit down.)
Teacher: My dear fellow, I’m to be here for another hour.
Student: Alright. Watch me put the engine on its rails.
Teacher: If your father comes in ….
Student: Tell him it is an engine lesson. (He goes to his cub-board, opens it, takes out his train set and starts assembling the track. He winds the engine and puts it down and it moves round and round.)
(To the teacher) You are the station master.
Teacher: No, no. You have yourteststhe day aftertomorrow.”
Student: (With a wicked smile) Will you be a station master or not?
Teacher: (Angrily) I won’t be a station master.
Student: Oh, oh, is that what you day? (He gently touches his cheek.) It’s paining me here awfully. I must see my mother. (He moves towards the door.)
Teacher: Don’t boy. You want me to be a station master? What shall I have to do?
Student: When the train comes to your station, you must blow the whistle and shout, “Engine Driver, stop the train! There are a lot of people who have bought tickets.” (The TEACHER sits in a corner.
The STUDENT continues playing. After 30 minutes the teacher gets bored and the boy is unhappy.
Fortunately for the TEACHER, the train suddenly refuses to move. The boy picks it up and gives it to the teacher.) Repair it, sir.
Teacher: I can’t. I know nothing about it.
Student: It must go.
Teacher: (Tries to do something to it. But does not succeed. The boy stamps his foot angrily, waiting like a tyrant.) I can’t and I won’t.
Student: Okay then. Tell me a story.
Teacher: Story? You haven’t done the sum. It is already 8.30.
Student: I don’t care for sums. Tell me a story.
Teacher: Appa! Appa!
Teacher: Why are you shouting like that for your father?
Student: I have something to tell him, something important…
Teacher: Okay, okay. I will tell you stories. The teacher told the stories of A bison and a Tiger, Ali Baba and 40 Thieves and Aladdin’s Lamp.
Student: I want to hear the story of the bison again. It isgood …
Teacher: I’m tired, boy. I’ll tell you tomorrow. I’ve lost all my breath.
Student: Oh! Alright. I’ll go and tell… (He runs towards the house, the teacher after him. The teacher is soon tired and sits on the portico step. The parents come out of the house.
Father: (To the teacher) What’s the matter? (To the boy) Why have you been running in the garden at this hour?
Teacher: (Tired of the boy’s blackmailing) I will explain
Father: How’s he preparing for his test in arithmetic? (Hearing the word ‘test’ by the boy is sad. He hides behinds his parents and gestures to the teacher not to betray him. The teacher feels sorry for him.)
Teacher: Only please let him mug up the 16th table a little more. He is alright. He will pull through. Good night, Sir; we finished our lessons early, and I was just playing about with the child … something to keep up his spirits, you know!
