Chapter 4: Scholarship
June, 1964
Valvettithurai, Sri Lanka
Thiruvenkadam completed the religious rituals in the temple hurriedly, and walked towards his home.
When he reached home, he saw his neighbor Ramsekhar pulling his 10 year old son and holding a coarse bag which held some snacks and his son's clothes.
"Hey, thiruanna, people from the Balaji trust are urging us to send the children early. They will leave for puducherry before noon." Said ramsekhar.
"Yes.yes. That's why I came early today.
I will take bhaskaran and will come after you in just a moment." Replied Thiruvenkadam.
"Hey, Bhaskara is a smart kid. He won the full scholarship and the teacher praised him for his intelligence. This guy will play in the mud all day long and won't study." He said, clearly annoyed that his son didn't even pass the exam, he had to plead with the official to take his son to study with other children.
Thiruvenkadam didn't know how to respond to this.
"I'll bring bhaskara." He replied and hurriedly entered the house.
"Thiruanna, I'll be waiting for you in the town square. Don't be late." Screamed Ramsekhar and dragged his son towards the town square.
Five hundred families with their children and bags gathered in the town square.
In the middle of the square, tables and chairs were arranged for the officials from the Tamil Education Fund.
This was the first year when Sri Lankan Tamils were included in the scholarship program.
Families started queuing up, according to their children's roll numbers.
After two hours of registration, families watched as the five hundred children boarded the big fishing boats from India.
Their children will study in india in two semesters and return to their homes for a fifteen days holiday in Diwali.
They have received the 10 year scholarship where they will complete education in different fields until they are competent enough to get a job.
The 10 ships taking the Tamil students reached puducherry in the evening.
When the ships docked in puducherry, officials from the education fund were waiting on the shores.
Fifteen red coloured buses were stopped inside the port area.
Police officers were patrolling the surrounding area. All unrelated people were forcibly evacuated.
Once all students disembarked from the ships, they were transferred to the buses.
After 1 hour of travel they enter the school. Surrounded by tall reinforced walls with barbed wires, huge iron gates, calling it an armed fortress was suitable.
Once inside, many women came and guided the children to their dormitories, after eating they were asked to sleep.
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Since boarding the boat, bhaskara has been paying attention to the people from the trust fund. For him these official from the trust fund were very different from the officials he saw back in Sri Lanka.
Those people were fat and slow in their work, with cunning eyes.
On the other hand these officials were like the military officer he once saw visiting his relative in pooneryn.
Tall, confident, sharp in the eyes and even the steps they take are exactly the same. Not one inch more or less. As if their legs have a machine.
When he reached the school grounds, he couldn't observe the surroundings. Now in the morning he can see that this huge area is surrounded by tall walls with barbed wire on them.
In the morning after eating breakfast, all five hundred students were gathered in the auditorium.
On the podium, a tall muscular man was standing holding a 3 feet ruler.
"Silence", the official roared.
All the students stopped chattering, and looked towards the podium.
"Thank you. You'll be studying in this institutions for the next 10 years, you'll learn all sorts of things that will help you in your future life. The knowledge you learn here can help you make lots of money, so that your parents will be proud of you.
You'll not only learn skills for making money but also learn how to fight, how to organise your fellow citizens, and how to resist cruel governments that want to take your home away from you.
They want to take your language, your identity and even your life."
Said the official
All the five hundred students were looking at him in confusion.
When the officer saw the confusion on their faces,
"You don't need to understand what I'm saying to you immediately. All the teachers sitting behind me will teach you everything. You just need to know that if you learn all the skills from the teacher then your parents will be very happy. And we also have rewards for the top 10 outstanding students every semester."
When the students heard there was a reward for studying everyone had a smile on their faces. They were determined to study hard and make there parents happy and if you get a reward then they will be proud.
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Above the auditorium was the office of the school principal.
Inside two people were sitting opposite each other on the sofa smoking.
"Why do I feel that this building is just like the military barracks?" Asked the one wearing civilian clothes.
"Because it is a military barrack." Replied the person wearing military clothes.
"Yes. Then what are those children doing here." Asked the civilian cloths guy.
"They are here on a student exchange program.You know, the Sri Lankan government is not rich. So there will always be a deficiency in providing basic facilities to its people." Replied the officer.
"Ohh. So the kind, benevolent and rich indian people took upon themselves to provide education to help the Sri Lankan people?." Asked the civilian in a sarcastic tone.
"Yes. As a big country in the region, it is our duty to help our neighbors." Replied the officer as a matter of fact.
"Even if Pakistan asks for help in the education sector." Asked the civilian with amusement on his face clearly visible.
"We are already helping East Pakistan. You know, the orders we received was to help all our neighbors with all our strength. We will not discriminate against them just because they are Pakistani. From what I have learned there are similar programs in Myanmar as well. " Replied the officer.
"Yes. You are right. As a big country, we should have a big heart. We should help our neighbors solve their problems and if there are no problems, then create a problem and help them to solve it. Otherwise how will they appreciate the efforts we have taken to bring them to prosperity." The civilian was puffing his chest, feeling proud.
"Yes. Like the Americans, we also need our own South Korea and Japan." Replied the officer lost in thought.
When the civilian saw that the officer was lost in thought, he stood up from the sofa, picked up the suitcase that was kept on the ground and said,
"Well then, I should take my leave. Good Luck Officer", said the civilian and in a few long strides he was out of the office.
Outside the office, when the secretary saw the civilian coming out of the principal's office, he greeted him with a smile. The civilian greeted him back and walked towards the stairs.
When the civilian was gone down the stairs, the secretary entered the office, when he saw that the principle was thinking about something, he stood beside him without making a sound.
The principle recovered and looked towards the secretary as if asking whether the civilian was gone or not.
"He has left half an hour ago sir." replied the secretary.
"hmm", the principal in responded.
When the principal saw the secretary wanted to ask him something, he looked at him and waited, the secretary at last couldn't hold back and asked,
"Sir, it has been just 17 years since our country became independent. 80% of our population is illiterate, 75% of them is struggling on the poverty line, 80% of the population lives in the rural area, and many other issues. So why are we spending our precious resources on teaching other countries people?"
The principal thought for a moment, as the secretary was going to work for him for a long time to come, if he does his job with doubt then his efficiency will definitely be affected, so he decided to tell him some decision taken by the organization.
"After extensive analysis by the organization in the history of Europe and the world at large, we have come to a conclusion that any great power can't and shouldn't allow the existence of a power that when turned hostile can a pose a significant threat to it's existence. Now you may think that Sri Lanka is just an island country but you have to remember that united kingdom was also just an island country, and they were doing the job of shit-stirrer on the European mainland.
I also agree that Sri Lanka doesn't have the potential of United Kingdom as times have changed. But you have to remember, Taiwan a resource poor island in the south china sea also doesn't have any potential, but they can still resist the Chinese People's Army just because a new shit-stirrer can afford to squander billions of dollars.
So we have to limit the area of these countries, like the British did with us and the American's did with Korea. Divide these countries into smaller area's. And we, a big country in the region will act as arbiter."
"When these countries go to war, we will sell them weapons and we can test our indigenous weapons on these battlefield. You will be wondering, aren't the higherups worried about the war escalating to our territories. Well, we are training these five hundred students as insurance. for the next ten years, every year we are going to receive a batch of five hundred students."
"Currently, beside the curriculum, we will teach them to be loyal to us. After spending so much resource, we will not raise a white eyed wolf."
The secretary was astonished after hearing the huge plan, but was even more excited, as he can participate in the plan of destroying countries.
He decided that he has to work hard to train these student's so the organization will see his hard work and assign him to higher position where he can personally give his input in such plans, rather than being just a peripheral audience in the show.
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