Transference (Micro Fiction)

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Kamini inhaled deeply and held her breath at the door, exhaling slowly through the mouth as she approached the teachers’ table. High school kids sweated differently; her nose itched at the overactive apocrine glands in the classroom.

Alarmed at the rising incidents of teen stress, the management had mandated a weekly dose of moral science for the senior school. Her track record of lifelong learning and a talent for seeing the larger picture had marked Kamini an ideal life coach and her day was well underway. “Our lesson today is on assuming responsibility for what we are and the person we want to be” she had barely begun, marker pen poised on the white board.

“My parents messed me up in the head Ma’am! I do not want to take the engineering entrance. I want to become a scuba diver” Atul was first off the block, his educated belligerence echoing in assessing eyes around the room.

Kamini put the marker down, falling back into her chair heavily; this filial blame game had begun to come up more and more. It sounded dissonant in a culture that venerated parenting, a mother’s role in particular. She skimmed the faces trained on her, “Are there others in this class who share Atul’s anger?” Shaily pushed her chair back tentatively, “Yes Ma’am, it bothers me to have my mother say she preferred being “my mum rather than a chum”. My friends have parents they can really let their hair down with.” A titter rose at this from the far corner where Bikram stood waving his hand, “Look, we did not ask to be born. I think it is criminal to bring children into this chaotic world and then want to control them completely.”

Kamini turned towards the sound of a throat being cleared; it was Kriti, the school head girl, “Ma’am, you have a social system so deep rooted in a judgmental hierarchy, it is easy to look for someone or something to blame!”

The ensuing silence was broken by a rude movement at the door. Shambhu, the Principal’s peon did not stand on ceremony with any of the staff, least of all with the teachers, “Madam Ji, Principal Sir wants you.”  Shaking her head at the howl of protest from the class at this interruption, Kamini hurried to the lobby.

Taruna Kalra and her mother were standing stiffly outside the Principal’s office, ragged words clashing in low tones. “I feel repressed at home, I need space….there is too much drama already in my life” the young girl was shaking with anger.

The mother stood as though turned to stone. She had fixed her eyes at a spot on Kamini’s hair. Her voice was a flat drone, “I am numb. My chest feels like I have broken a rib. I did my best. I must not cry. You are treating me like I were an invisible, middle aged woman”

“Get yourself a life mother and stop worrying about me!” Taruna continued to lash out, stung and hurting. Kamini watched the parent splinter in slow motion and the daughter crack with an impotent fury; life could bring such pain. The two women dragged on the laden air, blinking rapidly to swallow the salt pricking their eyelids.

The parent moved first; Kamini stepping back to make way. At the sound of the summon bell from inside the office, Mrs Kalra broke stride and turned to look back at her daughter, “I love you but you no longer resemble me. You resemble your times!" Her daughter’s plaintive cry vainly tried to catch up, “Principal Sir is calling us inside and now you are making me feel really alone!”

A matter of honour

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Hello Girls! I worry occasionally that I may have warned you too much about the pitfalls of life. In my concern for your safety and welfare while away from us, have I at times painted too dark a picture of the world to you both? Have I warned you too much: did I tell you too often to trust with that tinge of wariness, to pick friends with care and to watch your backs at regular intervals?

There is a whole wily wide world  out there, complete with scams, ludicrous jamborees and gaudy orgies. The constant basis pretty much seem to bemutually beneficial arrangements, adjustments and agreements. Even settings and tunings as they are known in the National Capital Region of India. There are deals and more deals.

What this circus conveys to the young like you both is a recurrent nightmare with me and several parents I know. Not just the teenagers, it is the tweenagers too who seem cynical and jaded and coarse. A spectrum of at the least three generations, raised on the code of convenience and an acquisition of skills to work the system. The omnipresent enamour of the power of power!


In the process of preparing you for this though, was I able to balance caution with confidence? Did I even out enough, a healthy faith in humanity with a realistic acceptance of human nature? Have you been able to retain your capacity for unbridled laughter despite some of the corrosive phenomena around?


I want to tell you that life is beautiful despite the environment that makes parents like me forewarn their children thus. I believe that there is an inherent sense of honour and decency in most regular people. There is every reason to be hopeful and upbeat and in love.

A few thumb rules will not harm

Do not run down the institute you are working or studying with. If it is so terrible, what have you done about it? What has been your contribution? What are you doing there, in the pits anyway? Take pride in your environment. Make it richer with your presence. Your surroundings are good because you are there, in the thick of it.

Try not to burn bridges. Disengage when the offensive is getting out of hand. There may be a future prospect of coming back to the table. People cool down. They are more reasonable when they have chewed on the conflict a while. And most want to make up and get on with it. Bridges are huge investments. Think before you blow them up.

If you have given your word, keep it, no matter how small or big the issue may be. I cannot emphasise this enough.It is the oxygen that keeps relationships alive and trusting.

Smile often. And work hard. There is no honest fatigue that a good night's sleep will not cure. Do not be afraid to challenge yourself constantly. You could learn a new skill. You could throw yourselves in an adventure activity. You could surround yourselves with strangers for a change. Step out of your self constructed walls of security. It is the only way to grow. The only way to stay alive ! The one way to honour yourself and those you love.