At the margins

About one and half years ago I went to Jharkhand. I got a chance to meet the people. There are a few organizations which had begun work with the adolescents. I went there for a staff training of those organizations.  I’m writing experiences which happen at field the centre one of them.  I saw the adolescents while they were learning at the centre. I interacted with them and checked their written work.  There was a 15-16 years old teenager who sat just behind in the classroom. He was older than other adolescents. I told him to come forward. He came to me and sat down. When he sat down and mobile dropped from his pocket. He blushed. He picked it up quickly and hid. I talk to him. He told me that he dropped out from the school and was being continued at study centre.  I saw his note book. During browsing the note book suddenly I saw he had written an article on the cow –

”Cow has four legs.

Cow has two horns.

Cow gives milk.

Cow eats grass…”

Such a long article on about the cow was written on the page. There was not scope for imagination and not room to creativity. Only flat lines were there. Suddenly I saw, on the margins of this page written elegantly and artistically – “I love you.”   The question arose in my mind. What was true for this guy? What was right for this guy? What he needed? Where were the real questions of his life? Were they on paper or on the fringe? He was dropped out and had got a chance again to learn. Do his concerns still remain  on fringe?