WE NEVER KNEW – HE WAS ONE OF US
We are often asked to stay vigilant
Danger lurks everywhere
But what happens
When danger presents itself as a friend
Children often look after themselves
They look around and stay safe
But when the one who taught the children
about lessons of safety
when he is the risk himself
we are forced to reconsider our relations
When children learn
They are blind to risks
Because they believe
That with a teacher
There are no risks
And trust themselves to close their eyes
And open their minds.
Education allows a teacher
To shape the minds of children
To make them see a narrative
Even when they have closed their eyes.
The teacher becomes their eyes
But unlike genuine trustworthy ones
Manjeet Ram was a con artist.
Not only did he pose as a teacher
While selling his students
He also painted con fantasies
To the children who trusted him blindly
When children trust people
They do so with utmost respect and awe
They trust too much
Too soon
And often wrongly
When children are fooled and hurt
They grow up to see a world
With fear and doubt
It is unfair for a teacher
To teach about the beauty of life and earth
When he will go on
To give stained and shattered glasses
To the kids to see the world
The teacher was turned over to authorities
Yet we must remember that
These children will grow up
Emotionally haunted by the question
“what would have happened,
If he had actually sold us?”
Fear had loaded the dice
Its weight serving as a reminder
Of the day they were almost sold.
A fear a child should never have.
Nandhitha Babuji is a 18-year-old aspiring poet from Tamil Nadu, passionate about using her words to show solidarity against children’s issues.
