The Story of my Childhood 

I was then in the first standard. All children were new, but I was a little too fresh. So, I cry in the morning, and my mother not only uses to fetch me in the school but also sit by me till the bell rung of time over. It went on for a long time. My learning was begun. And if I did not understand the part taught, not the class teacher but the mother used to slap me first.

Once, the teacher taught a lesson and wrote down some questions on the board, and she asked to write answers immediately. I tried hard to read whatever is written on the board. But I failed. I learn nothing.

I started crying, afraid of the caning on my tender palms with her rigid ruler stick. The mother slapped me, started the answers on the slate by holding my hand and pencil. I did not know what I have written with my mother's help, but I was happy to know that there won't be any caning now.

The time was up. Pupils started showing the slate to the teacher in rows. And then came my number. I happily took the slate in my right hand and stood before the teacher. She took the slate and was reading. I was in the thought that she would praise me for my so-called achievement! Watching the slate teacher mumbled; everything was written and solved by mother alone. And what is on his ( my ) own? A round shape pumpkin. Ha! Ha!! Ha!!! It was a statement it hurt me so deeply, even at that tender little age! 

I took back the slate and came back to the mother, and started howling. Mother asked me what happened. Were all the answers wrong? 

I wiped out my tears, sat neatly on the mat, and asked my mother to leave the school. With great surprise, the mother said, why? 

It's not the time over. Still, you go home now. I asked. The mother said, ok, fine. But would you come home safely yourself? 

I said, yes. The mother stood up and started going out of the school; the class teacher watched the whole scene. I again said, mummy, please do not come to my school with me ever again. I will go to school myself.

Surprisingly, the mother looked at me as if she knew that I had some determination to say, I noticed. I said, now I don't get afraid of caning. And I will try not to face such punishment at my fault. The mother left the school with satisfaction. The class teacher, with great surprise, gazed at me once with keen eyes.

The mother never came to my school till my primary education. And in the same school, I appeared for the scholarship exam in the fourth standard and came first with distinction. The school praised me in front of the principal and my class teacher with a flower bouquet. 

The one such disgusting word from my class teacher made me so determined to learn on my own and think on my own!!!