Discipline

#discipline

We have been talking for a long time to tame our children, to discipline them to bring them on track, to train them in the way we want them to become. But at the end how many of us have listened that the parents who do this get the best result? Doesn't that mean that the children of all the strict parents should be perfect then?

The examples that we see answers to this in negation. Recently on one of his show of 'Comedy Nights with Kapil', Kapil Sharma jokingly told that he was on that platform today just because his father was a great disciplinarian and he only did the things to show him but not actually, which resulted in bad results in his academics.

I have been in a Christian school which is known for its strict discipline. And a decade ago the teachers and principals were openly allowed by the parents and the laws to hit the children. I had been disciplined both at home and at school which made me a little dumb. Ironically I was a revolutionary child but was forced to be an introvert. So many dreams were flourishing, I always dreamt of becoming a good orator, a famous writer and an artist. But it's sad that time it was considered as nonsense (not much surprised as it's there today as well).

There was a solo act competition in the school, I was in grade second  then. I along with my two other friends was practicing in a classroom to get into that competition. The principal of our school came for the inspection and hit the three of us with the stick on our underarm. He didn't even listen to us and asked us to go back to our classes stating that we were wasting our time as we couldn't act at all. The physical pain passed away soon but that fear that he put it in my mind retained for almost two decades. This statement of the principal haunted in my mind for years and years, "You don't have that talent to act.”

A similar thing happened when I was in 7th grade. Now I wished to speak in public as in private conversation I used to do my best. I gave my name for a speech competition. A teacher looked at me and said to the another teacher, "Do you think that this dumb girl can speak in public?" I didn't listen to the response of the other but the words of that teacher echoed in my mind and took away something from within. Still my inner self fought back and I prepared very well for the competition. I wrote my speech and learnt that. Before going to the stage I recited that in front of the mirror. I was confident, but the moment I reached the stage, I got the glimpse of the same teacher with some disgusting expression on her face. The glimse of her shattered my confidence that I tried to build. I was frozen. I couldn't even tell the topic of the speech or introduce myself. I was unconscious and was forcibly taken out of the stage. That teacher was known to discipline the students like me and treat them as oxen. People like them want to run the whole world based on their perceptions and while doing so they ruin the naturality of many young ones like me.

Story has not ended yet. Now the result matters. There were so many disciplinarian in my life, both at home and at school. Did that make me a good human? Not at all. Still I have been infamous as a spoilt brat. This too much of discipline and bondage made me revolt against everything. I had no way how to interact effectively with others. I resulted as a ruined and rude teenager. I don't remember any such friends or relatives with whom I shared any strong connection. The whole world was just a trap for me and I wished to be a free bird. I was married just after my high school and undoubtedly I had been a failure in my life till then in every sense. I had already stopped dreaming by then.

Thanks to my in laws where I got liberty and was able to frame myself in such a category where I can make healthy relations. I started to dream again. I completed my higher education in the subject that I always wanted, English literature. I became a famous writer. People started to read my poems, and stories with great interest.

Moreover, today I'm a teacher, having my bread and fulfilling all my needs with my speeches in public.

Anupam Mishra