“The National Sports Meet will be held in two months of time,” the principal said while giving him the letter sent by the organizing committee.
He took the letter and read it carefully and looked at the principal. He was confused.
“We’ll have to find money to buy them boots otherwise they won’t be allowed”, the principal added.
Now that I was newly appointed there, I did not have any idea.
“What can I do for you?”, I asked him.
“We’re the champions at provincial level and next triumph will be national level, but we have no money to buy boots”
“Don’t worry.. We’ll talk to the staff and decide on an amount. The issue is solved”, I added.
“No. it will never work out. They’re not willing and how can we force
them?”, he asked me. He was absolutely right.
“You can organize a parents’ meeting on Friday. I’ll speak to them.
Brother, we must win the game”, I encouraged him. He treated me with a smile.
“Okay. I’ll organize’
---
There were around ten or eleven parents under the tree for us. We
rushed towards them. There was not a single father.
“Not a single father?”, I said.
“How can they come for an hour or two? They do odd jobs like looking after buffaloes. If they happen to be here, they won’t get the day’s payment.”
I got what he said.
Though we asked for suggestions, there had not been any. It was we who did the talking. They left the place after an hour, but there had been no solution.
“How much do we need?”
“Over sixty thousand|
It was a big amount of money.
---
Although there had been wealthy chumps of mine, they were reluctant to sponsor the team.
“For you it’s okay for you’re my best friend. Brother, I love to sponsor only if I’m benefitted. I don’t get anything. Right. Sorry”
---
Now that I had been with him for the last couple of weeks, I was not in a position to leave him behind and none of the others was supportive. It was a big burden on the two of us.
---
“I’ll sponsor the bus”’, I said after having several table discussions with my parents while having dinner.
“It sounds great buddy. I know you want to me help frankly”.
“It’s our duty Brother as teachers. We should not make them worried.
“We’ll find the amount of money. We’ve got five more weeks.
We had a fair where students (players) could sell home-grown fresh fruits and vegetables and we could have a small amount of money to the collection. Certain well-wishers and old girls and boys too helped us financially.
---
“Sir, can we take part in the match? Have we got sufficient money? We want to be the winners so that our photos will get appeared in newspapers. We’ll be on Tv as well”, a boy came to us and went on telling. He was ambitious. We looked at each other.
“Alas! Poor guys’
---
Just one more week remaining and we were short of twenty five thousand rupees. The following day, I could see him coming on his pushbicycle with a parcel on the luggage.
“Hey, where’s your motorbike?”, he did not answer me at one. I asked once again.
“I mortgaged it to buy boots. I’ll get it back soon”, he said while running towards the team resting under the banyan tree over there with happiness. He was not bothered over it at all. I could not believe what he was saying.
He was a wonderful teacher. [email protected]