Lessons from a Pencil

One more lesson from a pencil. A darker one.


When I was attending a missionary boys' school overseas in the 1930's, the pencil was a weapon used by school bullies to extort money, food and other possessions of yours.

It worked like this: A gang of lower-caste boys, some older than you, would team up and approach you during school recess, or after school, armed with newly-sharpened pencils, with which they will prick you, and demand you hand over the week's pocket money your father had given you over the weekend. If you refuse, they will come closer, chanting obscenities, and prick you in other parts of your body. If you fight, they outnumber you, throw you to the ground, and knock your head on the cement ground, twisting your arms behind you. Then they rob you, kick away your school bag, even tear your shirt, or throw your "blancoed" white canvas shoes into the filthy drain.

If you succeed in running away, that is only for the time being. Next time, they will be better organised, and get what they want. If you strike a bargain, the appeasement ransom will mount, till you can no longer afford it. If you give in, they will want you to join the gang, do their dirty work, and risk expulsion if caught. That is because there is a strict gangster-heirarchy; you are the most expendable, compared to long-time members. Last in, first out.

If you tell your parents, they will remove you from the school, and you lose the friends you have built up. If you tell your teacher or the principal, they are more than likely to suppress everything, for fear the school's reputation will suffer. If you identify the delinquent boys, they will all support one another, swearing that nothing of the sort happened.

Yes, there are darker lessons to be learnt from a pencil.

Thanx to
S Narayanaswamy Iyer