Listen
to me O' Preacher, Campaigner of Literacy and School Education! Listen
to me O' Liberator, Benefactor of the downtrodden, poor illiterates
and the uneducated.
Since
you have come to my village and my home as a guest, I welcome you and
I very much appreciate your visiting me.
I
am grateful to you for the slogans you have shouted, the songs you have
sung and the drums you have sounded to awaken me.
I
am also grateful to you for your having undertaken this journey on-foot,
for your foregoing the comforts of the city to see me.
I
am again grateful to you for being so worried about me. I have given
my full attention to all of your preachings.
If
I understand your basic mission, you believe that we are 'illiterate'
and 'uneducated' -- a 'black spot' on the nation. And because of this,
you are deeply ashamed of us.
Up
until today, you alone have spoken and I have been a silent and respectful
listener of your sermons. But today, it is your turn to pay attention
and listen to what I have to say.
Please
take note: I too write the alphabet but not on a slate or on a piece
of paper as you do. I write my alphabet on the surface of the fertile
soil of my fields -- my spade is my pen. The fruits of my alphabet quell
your hunger. You gobble them up happily and without complaint.
On
the other hand, you hold a pen in place of a spade and dig your alphabet
on paper. What is produced by this paper farming of yours is a mystery
to me. Do you even know what grows there?
You
always maintain a clear and deliberate distance from the milk-yielding
cows, she-buffaloes and she-goats, but at the same time you find it
difficult to resist consuming dairy products such as milk, butter and
curd.
There
is a marked difference between our life styles. While I am engaged in
productive activities all day and night, you are engaged only in consuming
what I produce. Yet I lead a more peaceful and content life, while you
constantly complain and create trouble in society with your insatiable
discontent.
My
activities and my interactions provide me with rich learning opportunities
on a daily basis. On the other hand, you are unable to tread the path
of education without direction and coercion from your classroom teachers.
Whereas
your education is restricted only to your books, my whole existence
is a rich garden of learning.
Your
school is by no means a source of real learning. Your school is nothing
but a trader in the commodity of education. The real source, or the
mine for learning, is the WORK in which one is engaged and whose company
I constantly live in.
Since
you are not aware of my educational achievements, let me tell you that
I am a specialist in agriculture, I am an expert in dairy work and I
am a scholar in my local dialect.
My
learning is apparent and authentic in itself. I do not worry about being
awarded any certificates to prove this.
Mother
learning is not a captive in the prison of the schools. Nor is the basic
knowledge of life contained in and restricted to the jumble of the alphabet
and numerical figures.
Like
the all-pervasive God, learning is present in every atom of this universe.
Learning is an unstoppable or ceaseless activity of devotion.
Learning,
in its infinite forms, is a universal phenomenon. The stereotyped, monotonous
and uniform pattern of education in your school is not suitable for
supporting the multiple faces of learning.
Dawn
and daybreak take place even where there is no cock to crow and announce
the morning. In the same manner, learning too takes place and goes on
freely even where you do not start and run a school.
Yet
I would not be so arrogant as to deny my need to further my education.
But how can I agree to your claim of deserving to be my teacher? In
my mind, you are not properly equipped to take on this role.
