Bullies

Bullying policies are now mandatory in most schools.  As a community we are much more aware and educated about the hurt inflicted on individuals who are tormented by the bullies who show their own ignorance or misspend vengeance on others.  When we were growing up in the 50’s bullying was called ‘picking on others or teasing them’ and few of us were blameworthy in this regard.  We picked on the ‘Dagoes’, the ‘Prodies’, and the ‘Salvos’ to name a few but none gave us more pleasure that teasing the “Staties”.  We got out earlier from school that they did and we took great delight in calling out awful nursery rhymes from the street verges as we passed by their open windows.

From my earliest teaching experience I cautioned myself to try to appease some of the wrong I had done as a young kid by being aware of bullying in the classroom.  In the early 70’s I was teaching in a grade 6 class and soon I found that some of the students were giving Norman a hard time so  I decided it was time to do something about it.

They say that the hardest days to teach are windy cold days because the students are noisy and unsettled.   Well, on one particular day I found this to be the case so I decided for a double whammy – keep them quiet and help the Norman situation.  I discretely took him aside at lunch time and asked him if he wanted to play a joke on the class.  He readily agreed and I instructed him to just casually and indifferently count my fingers when the right time came. 

As expected when everyone returned from lunch they were quite ‘hyper’.  The noise level was up and there was the usual obligatory pushing and shoving going on.  I calmly brought them to order knowing that I had something up my sleeve.  I began with a question.  “Did anyone see that program on ‘tellie’ last night about the clairvoyant in Adelaide.  “That’s bull!” one of the more disruptive students blurted out.  I said “I don’t think so.  I believe that there are really some people who possess extraordinary powers like those who can heal others.”  I went on to explain about cultures like the Native Americans and the Aboriginals who have their own medicine people.  By that time, the class was quiet and I decided that the stage was right for my ploy.  “Yeah” I went on, “I’ve even discovered someone in this very class who has amazing powers”.  The class disbelievingly sneered, “Who?”  I turned and pointed confidently to Norman.  The bullies couldn’t help hide what they were thinking and recalled the barbs they had directed his way over the last weeks.  I said “OK, let’s try him out.”  I asked Norman to leave the classroom and I walked to the blackboard.  “Now what about if I write a number on the board, cover it up with thick coloured paper and we’ll see if Norman can guess it.”  The class seemed pleased with this strategy and I quietly asked one of the bullies for a number.  He conveniently said “8”.  I wrote the number on the board and went to great lengths to cover it up with sticky tape.  Norman was summoned and the class carefully watched me in case I disclosed the number.  When he appeared I had my arms folded and I was looking directly away out the window at the same time addressing Norman.  “Now, Norman, go to the blackboard and tell us what the number is behind the coloured paper.  Norman by that stage had noted that I didn’t have my thumbs showing and went to the front of the room.  I was surprised that he made a ‘real meal’ about it by rubbing his temples in circular motions in an effort to seek inspiration.   He really went over the top when he started murmuring weird noises.  “Ahhhhhhhh eeeeee ahhhhhhhhhhh eeeeeeeeee……..”The class was deadly quiet and then he verbalized.  “Is it ………8?”   Everyone was stunned until someone yelled out. “Ah, he guessed!”  This put everyone at ease again, realizing that Norman was just lucky.

In these matters it’s not wise to kill the ‘fatted calf’ but I needed a grand finale.  I said “Right, let’s do it again but this time we’ll see if he can locate an object.”  I dispatched Norman and lined up ten articles belonging to various members of the class and memorized the positions.  Norman was summoned and I prayed that we could pull it off.  “Now, which object belongs to Debbie” I nonchalantly inquired.  It was in the fourth position so I had my arms folded with my fingers carefully displaying the answer.  Norman came forward and moved each object backwards and forwards.  When he came to Debbies ruler he said he felt some warm vibes.  “Is it this the one?”  The class called out in hushed  astonishment “Yeeeees!”  We then resumed our lessons for the afternoon and I immediately sensed a new respect for Norman.  Now everyone wanted to sit next to him and when he left that day I noticed that some students had their arms around his neck.  From that day on, I never had any trouble about the kids bullying him.

Flushed with my success I tried to repeat my ploy in India three years later.  I found myself visiting the village or a good friend from Calcutta where I had been doing volunteer work.  We travelled by steam train from Bengal to the neighbouring State of Bihar and alighted at Ranchi Station.  We then caught one of those cheap crowded buses for an hour’s journey and finally alighted into the fresh air once more.  Immediatley, I knew that they seldom saw foreigners in this part of the world and as we walked nearer to his small village my thoughts were confirmed as his family rushed to wash my feet.  Of course I was very uncomfortable having this celebrity status conferred on me but decided to go along with the attention.

I was so delighted to receive a glass of cool, sweet, safe water from the nearby well that I decided then and there to have a water drinking competition with my friend.  I was used to boiling the water in Calcutta of course and pouring it through a handkerchief to remove the alum and debris so this water was pure heaven.  We then sat at a table under a nearby tree and started to count.  The family thoughtfully though mystified kept our glasses filled and it was quite awhile before we started to slow up.  Gyan Prakask always defeating me when I challenged him to a game of draughts and I was determined to outlast him.  But, after drinking each other under the table for hours we decided to call it quits with no winner decided.

That evening Gyan took me to a nearby village and I had already told him about the fingers trick and how we could impress everyone with my powers.  When we arrived I was very embarrassed to find that they had prepared a meal – but only for myself.  It seemed that about a hundred people then gathered around to watch me eat.  They had prepared chilli rice and to my surprise there were tiny fish spread over the top which I was assured was a real delicacy.  The chilli took my breath away as usual and when I asked for water they brought sunflower whisky instead.  This was a local potent brew and Gyan told me they would be offended it I didn’t drink it.  Well, by the stage I had finished and I rose from my squatted position on the ground, I was more than a little groggy.

To my great discomfort, Gyan then gathered the rest of the village people and prepared to demonstate my extraordinary powers.  I was blindfolded and ten people were lined up but only one had a knife in his hand.  When the cloth was taken off I felt quite disorientated and Gyan was standing there with his arms folded, fingers prominently showing and asking me who had the knife in this hand.  I desperately tried to count his fingers but my vision was blurred from the whiskey.  I could hardly even see his fingers let alone count them so I decided to guess by pointing to the fifth man.  “No, sorry” Gyan replied.  All the villagers clapped in polite applause and he asked me to try again.  After the second mistaken call it was time to call it quits and make a quiet discreet exit.