27. OUR ENGLISH TEACHER

The students in that Dehiattakandiya school, in Ampara District of the Eastern Sri Lanka, which I had mentioned in Teasing Tomato Dudes, were not very much motivated to learn. Absenteeism was common and those who showed up didn't show much enthusiasm to learn. 

I think this was a result of being an agricultural community. Before the harvesting time they had to guard the farmland and paddy fields from wild animals which meant sleepless nights. During the day time they had to chase birds from the paddy fields. So no wonder they were drowsy in the class. 



Even the girls had their share of work specially during the harvesting season when  so many seats in the classes were empty. So it wasn't unusual for a teacher who taught in these parts of the country to see half asleep children in the class. Some had also mastered the art of sleeping with the eyes wide open. A trained eye could  notice that they are looking through you, not at you.

I was trying to teach the lesson "JOBS AND PROFESSIONS" to a class of such sleepyheads. I was struggling to get the answer "BAKER", but getting nowhere. I was focusing on the girl dozing off at the back row.

I said in English, "I make bread, cakes, buns. Who am I?"

The girl was staring right through me with unseeing eyes.

I spoke up addressing her by name.

"Hey Chamila, listen to me.  I make bread, like roast bread, flat bread, normal bread, then cakes like butter cake, chocolate cake, cup cake, then buns like...say long buns, round buns, jam buns, sugar buns, sweet buns blah blah blah.. Who am I?"

She was awake but was staring at me with a puzzled expression with glassy eyes. This English bugs them. I switched to Sinhala, which they understood no matter what, as the last resort. First I had to get her attention, which I was losing fast.

"Hey Chamila.."

"Yes sir?" She woke up with a start.

At last!

"චමිලා, මේ අහන්න. මම හදනවා රෝස් පාන්, තැටි පාන්, අච්චු පාන්, එතකොට බටර් කේක්, චොකලට් කේක්, තව, සීනි බනිස්, කිඹුලා බනිස්, ටී බනිස්,......

roughly translated...

"Please listen to me. I make bread, like roast bread, flat bread, normal bread, then cakes like butter cake, chocolate cake, cup cake, then buns like...say long buns, round buns, jam buns, sugar buns, sweet buns blah blah blah.. 

By this time I was losing her again. She began to drift off. Eyes were going out of focus again. I decided to cut the list short and butt in.

"මම කවුද?" (Who Am I?)

No answer. Now she was looking through me like fully sedated.

"Chamilaaa..." I yelled.

Her eyes jumped back to focus. She managed to look at me inquiringly.

"Who am I?  මම කවුද?" I went bilingual for better effect.

"Aaah Our English Teacher? (Actually she said අපේ හෙන්රි සර් /Our Henry Sir)

And so many  in the class who were drifting between sleep and wakefulness didn't find this answer to be funny. Only those who happened to be fully alert and awake joined me in the laughter. Chamila, now wide awake  and watching me with wide eyes  was wondering why I was laughing. And I was just warming up to the fact that she said Our Henry Sir with a lot of possessiveness and affection