A Yo-man period.
Class XI Arts C loves Thursday evenings. The last fifty minutes of the day’s time table is spent amid young sprouts of orange and apple trees. A hesitant guava plant grows shy as a girl student feels its tender leaves. The pomegranate sapling looks smart as if it had a cup of Junior Horlicks instead of manure and water. But all the while, the little orchard which my class has been tending as part of the Socially Useful and Productive Work (SUPW) project seems happy with the company of bubbly boys and girls. The Khuruthang sun is pretty hot these days. But the Wangdue winds that rides upstream Punatsangchu grabs us like a puppy that doesn’t care its master’s new clothes. In the classroom, the walls limit us, the benches and desks restrict movement. The teacher’s high pedestral displays power. The chalk and the board say listen-or-be-damned. And in an academic environment that eschews corporal punishment, the SUPW is a teacher’s tool for emotional dominance and show of power. Students ar...