The Priceless Gift

It was during the last phase of my three week visit of England that I reached a Primary School in the suburbs of London. All the three weeks in England, I had a very hectic time visiting many Universities, Colleges, Schools and various other institutions. I had to present a paper at Nottingham University on “Non Formal Education” one of the areas of my activities. Most of those days, I was staying with different British families. I enjoyed every day of my stay there and it was an exciting and exhilarating experience.

My mind is full of reminiscences of that delightful visit. One of those days, I was invited as a guest at the Old Choristers’ Day of Lincoln High School, which is celebrated with great warmth and grandeur. A large number of the members of the choirs of various years of the past assembled there. They performed a grand music with all instruments. It was a day of reunion and rejoicing. The function concluded with a sumptuous dinner. The Bishop of Lincoln was the Chief Guest of the occasion. He was an old chorister of that school. I was offered a chair next to the Bishop. During the dinner, the Bishop asked me, “Are you well cared for here?” “Yea, very well”, I replied. “Very strange!” was the response of the Bishop. He was in a humorous vein.

On another occasion, I happened to meet the Bishop of Peterborough. I was introduced as a visitor from India. “I am a lover of India”, he told. “I wanted to visit India. So I applied for the Indian visa. The Embassy told me that I am a Priest so I would convert people. Hence I would not be given a visa. But I argued that I was a teacher; teacher of theology. But that argument did not hold water. I was denied visa and I was disappointed.” I bowed my head in shame. I was reminded of what Swami Vivekananda proudly declaimed at Chicago in 1893.

“I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and nations.”

Thus my experiences were wide and varied. Of those, one experience haunts me very much. It is the experience of visiting a Primary School near London. As it was scheduled, I reached the School early in the morning. Reaching there, I felt that the School was all set to welcome me. The Headmistress came out of her room with hearty words of welcome. I was led into a hall full of students waiting for meeting me. The children sang a song of welcome for me. That was the same song our students had sung there, when our school choir accompanied me during my first visit to the school, about a year back. The little children there learnt that song and sang the same to delight me more. That was followed by a speech of welcome by a small little girl. Then I spoke to the children and there was a formal vote of thanks. After that meeting the children were led to their respective classes. I was taken to Headmistress’ room for tea and refreshments.


With the Headmistress of St. James' School

Next, I was taken to each class where I spent some time interacting with the children. In every class, I introduced myself telling where I was coming from and some of the interesting places in India which are worth visiting. “There’s a place in my country”, I said, “where from you can watch both the sunrise and the sunset; not of course at the same time”. Then I drew the picture of India and showed the southern most tip of India where from one can watch both the sunrise and sunset. The children seemed to be interested.

Finally, I was taken to senior most class there, where the children are of the age group of 9 – 10. There again I introduced myself. I told some stories and then I asked,

“How many of you have seen elephants?”.

Nobody there had seen an elephant alive. They had seen elephants only in pictures and on TV. I told that I came from the land of elephants and described elephants. I told them how they are caught hold of from the forests, how they are trapped and trained to work. The children were all absorbed in what I was telling. Then the bell rang. It was time for the noon break. The teacher led me out of the class room. At the door, I turned back and waived my hands to the children. Then I saw a little girl of about 9 years of age, running towards me. “Please, stretch your hand”. She said to me. I thought that she wanted to shake hands with me. So I stretched my hand. “Please, show me your hand.” She said, I turned my hand up. She placed something covered in a piece of paper into my hand. “What’s this?”, I asked. “My gift”. She replied. I unfolded the paper and saw some ornaments there. “These are precious ornaments!” I said. “Yea, these are my gifts for you”. She repeated. “I would like to see you with these ornaments on, than taking them away from you”. I told her. “They are my gifts for you”, she said, “So I won’t take them back”. She was emphatic. She seemed to be indignant at the very suggestion of taking back something she presented wholeheartedly. The teacher intervened, “What will you say, when your Mom looks for your ornaments?” “I will tell my Mom”, she replied, “I have given them as a gift to a Professor who came all the way from India just to meet us and talk delightful things to us”. She explained. We had to put in a lot of persuasive efforts to make the little girl to take the ornaments back.


Along with the Headmistress of St. James' School interacting with the children of the primary class

My lunch was arranged in a pub nearby. By the time the Manager and the Headmistress of the School along with a few members of the Board of Directors of the School came there to join me at the lunch arranged in honour of me. After the lunch I came back to the school along with the Headmistress to bid farewell to the teachers there.

At the School some photos were taken. I said “good bye” to the teachers and the children. Then the same little girl who gave me the gift came to me and showed me a piece of paper. “What’s it ?”, I asked . “This is a picture”, she said, “that I drew sitting in the class.” “Well done”, I congratulated her, “You have painted beautifully well. Congratulations”. Saying these words, I gave the picture back to her. But she would not accept that. “This is my gift for you”. She said, “You should accept at least this from me as my gift”.

“All right”, I said, “I consider this a more precious gift than your ornaments”. She smiled whole-heartedly.

Later I wrote under the picture, “WHAT MONEY CANNOT BUY”.


Pausing for the photograph with the St. James' School Authorities including the Headmistress.

Soon after reaching home, I got a letter from the school. It was letter from a teacher there whom I met for the first time during my second visit. She writes : “It was a real pleasure meeting you during your visit to our school. I had heard a lot about you and finally I was able to put a face to the name. Thank you for spending some time with my class. They truly enjoyed the experience”. I was very happy reading the letter. I tried to recall the face of that teacher. But I couldn’t; I couldn’t distinguish that from the faces of very many I met there. But the smiling face of the pretty little girl is still in my mind shining bright like the brightest star in the sky.