My dad was not always unreasonable, but sometimes out of peer pressure (yes my dad suffered from it more than me) he yielded to the stress and found that belting was an alternate relieving mechanism that was fast and more effective. My mother was a mute spectator all this time, she used to come to my aid but I used to push her away, I love my mom more.
The problem did not have anything to do with my performance at school, as a matter of fact given the situation that my dad was the only child in his family, he would have happily pre approved all the remarks by signing in all the columns of the remarks page.
But he wasn’t alone, he had around a million brothers and an equal amount of sisters (guess my grandfather was grossly unemployed… anyway… the actual figures well stand over 20 in total), so there was a fair amount of favoritism shown towards some child by the late Krishnaswami Iyengar, and my dad seldom figured in the list, not even a guest appearance.
Now I know that, probably that was one of the reasons why he was so keen on naming me thus, there is some amount of symbolism involved, Langdon please help.
Continuing, He had siblings, and they had their children who were brought up with a focus on studies, the line that was commonly used in their household was “You belong to the Upper caste… you cannot survive without education… we get in only on merit blah blah and all such crap” which wasn’t how I was introduced to studies and I am thankful for the fact. So with the fears installed in their minds they used to study day in and day out… and get ranks that would be in single digit.
Even I would have managed to get ranks had I been punished that way, but I wasn’t, and when I did not manage to get ranks, I was formally reintroduced to the belt. (I now fear the cow… I fear its tail)
The second recorded belting was when I flunked Hindi, Ms. Salvi was our Hindi teacher that time, and it was the term exams that carried 100 marks (my target was 35.5… the passing marks) and when the papers were distributed I had scored 34.5, I was frantic, I knew that this spelled B-E-L-T in long run, so I immediately approached the desk and reasoned with her to recheck my paper and if possible grace me a mark, to which she agreed.
One point that I would like to put forth before continuing on the same is that I did not really write Hindi, I did not know how to then, not that I am profuse now, but I have a better stand. So I never really knew how to use the Matras (the ague and grave of the Hindi language) which are supposed to be inclined either forming a acute angle or an obtuse angle with the alphabet under question, so mine used to be written at right angles, and I used to harvest the marks awarded as the benefit of doubt was in my favor.
So now as Ms. Salvi was rechecking the paper, she came across a passage that was awarded 2 marks (out of 4) where she thought was a potential 1 mark, she then questioned me about the matras before awarding me the grace, and as my luck would have it I answered back the wrong one, to which she took away the 2 marks that was originally awarded and my score stood at 32.5, I pleaded with her to leave my marks unchanged at 34.5 but it all fell into deaf ears, she had a predetermined notion about us taking the subject way too liberally and I was under the axe for the second time.
This time I personally closed the window and approached my dad with the answer paper, he took one look at it and asked me to fetch the belt, that I did graciously, 3 whips was all I got this time. I had become accustomed to the ritual. He did not sign the paper though.
When the paper was returned to Ms. Salvi the next day, she remarked that it wasn’t signed. To which I replied that I got belted for it and she can confirm the facts at the next parent teachers meeting.
The Next Belt lashing ceremony was performed when Ms. Salvi called me a “Chhupa Rustam” at the parent teachers meeting, I don’t have a clue what that meant neither did my dad. As for Ms. Salvi, she was probably the reason why I have such a high tolerance limit to belting.
My dad was accompanied by his brother at the time this was said who explained the meaning to my dad, in-depth, also adding to the fact that his daughter would never manage to get such a remark at school and this was the worst possible remark that I could get. So thus conditioned, the belt came out of the pants, yet once more, to meet the leather cousin of his that was still alive (at my back).
Now looking back at those days and comparing my current position in society, I feel that I couldn’t have survived the ordeal better than I had imagined, I was molded well and if some one raises the question of my upbringing now, I am ready with a few questions for them to answer.
The last time that I was belted was when I flunked Mathematics, I was never good at studies, at least at school, but I still had some friends who would stand by me at all times, so I guess I was a good person and I can live with that. Studies as I see is secondary, be a human that’s priority.
So I failed Math’s in 8th standard, got a miserable 11 out of 100, that really infuriated my dad as his elder brother used to head the mathematics department in Madurai Kamaraj University and he couldn’t approve of the fact that the math gene that has been running in his family for so long, suddenly turned recessive in my case. So I took the belt. The other outcome of this was I was sent to a tutor to help me in my math, and his verdict, I did not know the tables by heart. So under his coaching I learnt all the tricks of the trade and math’s has never been an area of concern for me, as a matter of fact had been the college topper in Mathematics in two semesters in my engineering.
The belting did last real long….ting tong…
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