Jyoti Gupta
Poor Abhay has maths test!
Numbers are dancing, singing, rolling and whirling on our heads.
This silent, cold state of unrest,
Subtraction and multiplication,
Numericals and word problems,
Make us crazy, sleepless, and stressed.
Poor Abhay has been daydreaming!
Of warriors, beyblades, and Horrid Henry
TV-switched off!
Music-banned!
Noisy corners have been forbidden!
Oh! Friends have been warned!
There’s only one agenda – the MARKS power
Nothing else to be mentioned and discussed at this hour.
Poor Abhay has a strict teacher!
He seldom smiles while teaching.
“Concentrate! Look here! Answer this, and solve that!”
Are all that the victim has to listen.
Water, snacks, and favourite colouring
Today all have taken a back seat
Shouts a loud voice, “Can’t you see he is studying?”
Poor Abhay has a lot of pressure!
School, teachers, and parents – everybody takes their turn.
Is this a rat race, I wonder?
Hail ranks, Hail orders, Hail all the martyrs!
“We should, we can and we must produce some more Aryabhattas.”
Do I need to be ashamed
of new definitions?
Do I need to convince myself
that it’s normal to be extra ordinarily normal?
Disciplined, prodigy, brainchild…
Blah blah blah!!!
Here I am to declare….
We missed it by seconds dear,
Aryabhatta couldn’t be delivered.
Oops! Instead we have Einstein, I fear!
The author is a teacher of English in Delhi Public School, Sushant Lok, Gurgaon. She can be reached at jg80vt@gmail.com.