Zia had joined this high school in 'City B' as a temporary teacher. She had done her Ph. D. in Botany but had not as yet been able to get a good placement in any college. She had applied everywhere.

Since one has to survive, eat, foot one's bills, etc., she had to accept this temporary job for the time being. As the saying goes, 'Beggars can't be choosers'.

Zia was a pretty, slim and extremely intelligent girl with a sunny disposition. She had just turned 27 years last month. However, these good qualities that she possessed were an eyesore for her fellow teachers who were not endowed with such qualities and were extremely jealous of her.

She had joined this high school as a temporary teacher two months back and had been allotted the cla.s.ses that were the rowdiest. Any function or extra a.s.signments were given to her. Maybe her intelligence was apparent to all the teachers. Many teachers, especially the married women teachers, managed to wiggle out of many extracurricular activities by saying they had to attend to urgent family issues, in-laws issues or kids being ill, etc.

She, being unmarried and staying alone could not make any such excuses. Her parents and brother lived in 'City A'.

There were very few male teachers, teaching subjects like Maths, Chemistry, Physics and there was one male teacher who taught Physical Education. These guys were also somehow in the good books of the Princ.i.p.al and would wiggle out of situations.

Zia was in the cla.s.sroom on the first floor and in the middle of a lecture, facing her cla.s.s 12 students. The cla.s.sroom windows on one side opened above the area where the morning a.s.sembly took place. The windows on the other side opened to the quadrangle below where the school buses were parked, thereafter was the school wall beyond which was the road.

Just then the Peon with a serious expression on his face knocked at the slightly open door.

Zia looked at him with an expression of inquiry and asked, "Yes, what is it?"

The Peon stepped into the cla.s.sroom and informed her, "The Principle wants you to meet him in his chamber as soon your present cla.s.s is over."

Zia nodded and said, "Ok, I will come down within a few minutes."

She had a gut feeling that she would be entrusted with some matter that no one else wanted to take up.... something the others had managed to circ.u.mnavigate.

She had had this awful feeling since morning. Not that she was incapable of doing any work allotted to her. But she wished other teachers would not treat her as a spare part. Now, it seems even the Princ.i.p.al was going to treat her like a spare part. 

As soon as the bell rang for the next subject, she proceeded to leave the cla.s.sroom in order to meet the Princ.i.p.al.

It took her a few minutes to descend the stairs from the first floor of her cla.s.s and then to turn right to enter the staff room adjacent to the stairs. She needed to leave her teaching paraphernalia e.g. books, diary, and attendance register.

The 25 copies of the students had already been collected by the cla.s.s monitor and had been left on the window sill of the staff room for her to retrieve and check their homework.

After dumping her books etc., in her staff room locker, she went next door to the staff office of the Princ.i.p.al.

"The Princ.i.p.al wants to see me."Is he in his chamber?"May I go in," she asked all these questions in one go.

"Yes of course ma'am," the Personal Secretary replied.

"He has been waiting for you," she added.

Zia was slightly apprehensive about what the Princ.i.p.al wanted to see her for. She hoped it was for some good work, not for backup work for an event. Every time she was doing the donkey work and the stage managers were others.

She knocked on the door and without waiting for a reply, she opened the door and walked in.

Why is it that one keeps waiting at the door? The response of 'yes, you may enter' cannot be heard from outside.....

"Ahahah...Come, Zia. I have been waiting for you. You are a young energetic teacher and I want to entrust you with an important a.s.signment," said the Princ.i.p.al.

Here it comes, what will I be entrusted with thought Zia without displaying any emotion on her pretty face.

"Please take a seat," said the Princ.i.p.al.

She sat opposite the Princ.i.p.al without any expression on her face. She was trying very hard to hide any emotions.

The Princ.i.p.al was an elderly gentleman about her father's age with some grey hair and a bald patch on the head. He seemed to be a kind man.

"We were required to send some of our students on a trekking/camping trip, but due to the paucity of funds the matter had got delayed by a few months."

Now, we have the funds so the programme can be taken up."

"I am entrusting this 3 days camping trip to you and you will be their guide."

"The Trekking map, the list of equipment and list of things the students need to bring are in front of you."

"You need to send out a circular to the parents of all the students in your cla.s.s in order to obtain approval of the parents. No student can go without his parents' permission."

"Got that?"

"Please keep the number of students small so that you can keep a watch on them. Students up to 8-10 persons should be the maximum."

"Yes Sir, Yes Sir"..... Was all that Zia could reply to the entire instructions the Princ.i.p.al was giving her.

The Princ.i.p.al looked at her and suddenly added, "I know the senior teachers a.s.sign you a lot of work taking my name."

But today I am a.s.signing you this work. I believe in your capabilities not only as a teacher but a good responsible guide for children. I also know you like to go exploring and because of this I feel you will provide an enriching experience to the students who go on the camping trip."

"You have a Ph.D. in Botany and you can teach your students like you all trek through the various areas with changing vegetation. I expect the selected children to submit an essay on their return so that other students can benefit from their experience."

"The three days trip will commence coming Monday. You have one week to send out a circular to the parents and get their responses. By coming Friday you need to prepare. We will not be charging the children any fees for this outdoor experience. Please add this no-fee stuff in the circular."

After voicing all the instructions like a bullet train, the Princ.i.p.al told her that she was dismissed.

She made the requisite circular on the computer kept in the school library, took out a few print outs, signed them and got 28 photocopies made and then went to give 25 of these to the cla.s.s monitor to distribute among his cla.s.smates. Then she went off to her lunch.

Next morning, as usual, the morning a.s.sembly was convened by the Princ.i.p.al. Thereafter the children moved to their cla.s.ses. She had the first cla.s.s with the same students.

All the students were very excited about the camping trip. The cla.s.sroom was filled with excited voices.

Seeing their excitement, she asked all the students to take a paper each and write out an introductory note about themselves indicating their hobbies, etc.

The short exercise that she had asked the kids to do would prove helpful to the students. It would also help her to know about all her students.

A few days later, the approvals from the parents started coming in. By Thursday there were 10 approvals from the parents of 5 boys and 5 girls.

Parents of other kids believed that outdoors exercise was of not much use and the children should work hard so as to get good grades in their final exams in order to get selected for professional colleges.

These 10 children were between 18-19 years, who had decided to go camping. Their parents had agreed to let them go for the 3 days camping trip. This was their last year in high school. Next year, after qualifying their 12th examinations, they would be moving to college either to professional colleges or to do graduation courses.

The girls were Tina, Nanu, Cathy, Shana and Zoya, and the boys were Ben, Sunny, Danny, Chris, and Zen.

Zoya and Zen were the most intelligent with great presence of mind.

The others were talented in their own fields e.g.

Tina and Ben were good in General knowledge, they were practically walking encyclopedias.

Nanu and Sunny were good in outdoor cooking, especially on a campfire.

Cathy and Danny were good in setting up camp, putting up tents, etc.

Shana and Chris were good at doing all the collection work e.g. gathering firewood, moss/ dry pine needles and lighting a fire.

All of them were members of the Boy Scouts and Girls Guides. Hence, they were in a position to face any emergency. After reading about what they all were good at, Zia was very happy. She knew she had good students with her who were responsible citizens.

...

Very soon it was Friday and Zia reported to the Princ.i.p.al about what all that had transpired since her last visit to his office.

The Princ.i.p.al was very happy. He then asked her to get in touch with the storekeeper and take out the camping equipment i.e. tents etc.

She proceeded to the storeroom to take the stuff and found that it there were tents, sleeping bags, a kettle, a few pots and pans (which could be used to warm up their food and maybe make tea/coffee), there were also a few disposable cups and plates, etc.

"You need to go to the canteen to get some readymade food packets that can be immersed in boiling water to give instant cooked rice, lentils, vegetables, drinking water bottles, etc. Don't forget to take packets of milk powder, coffee, and tea bags," said the storekeeper.

Zia collected everything that would be needed with the help of the children in her cla.s.s and kept all the stuff in the cla.s.sroom. Then she left for the canteen with her students to get the rest of the stuff.

She was also excited about the trip. Life had become static. There was nothing exciting happening that would fire her imagination or her emotions. On top of all this, she had reached an age when many of her friends were married. She had yet to meet someone who she would like to spend the rest of her life with. She wanted to meet someone compatible who would have a sunny disposition like herself with whom she would like to spend the rest of her life. But there was nothing on the horizon. 

Before school closed for the weekend, all the stuff had been placed in the cla.s.sroom. The children designated to proceed for the camping trip would be bringing their clothes, snacks, water bottles, and some food stuff. She would be carrying her own stuff along with a box of matches a magnifying gla.s.s and a compa.s.s too.

She decided to get one of the peons to come along too to carry the camping equipment etc. Hence she headed to the Princ.i.p.al's office once again to speak out her request.

The Princ.i.p.al readily agreed and deputed a peon to carry out the required tasks during the trip.

Soon she left for her home to do her purchasing and packing during the weekend.