Only those who can, teach. Review on Kaali Vadali Ujali Kor - Jashi Naik

Jashi Naik’s Kaali Vadali Ujali Kor – Dark clouds; Silver borders – is a collection of short stories that draw from her own experiences as a teacher, an educator, a guide. Winner of the Sister Nivedita award by the Gujarat Sahitya Academy for Smaranyatra -her introspective and poignant memoirs of a career that has spanned over more than five decades of education, Naik stands as the last bastion of hope for education as social justice and development and her tales qualify her position adequately. In the short stories that she presents in this collection that is memorable, not so much for its content as for its style and gentleness, we get a glimpse of the human face of education as it has grown into a system in a post Independent India. Set in small towns and cities of Gujarat, her tales weave education into a pattern of life that now exists only in memories of a fast fading generation. Looking upon education as the magic mantra for reform and development, Naik paints, in gentle pastel strokes, pictures of eight ordinary, sometimes difficult students and how they achieved the extraordinary through a wholesome education and nurture within their alma mater. Her narration is fluid, aimed at a gentle story telling rather than flashy gimmicks and while the tales themselves are familiar – a poor, bright student helped by his teacher to go forth and conquer the world and his return to his humble origins to look after the ailing old teacher; a difficult student finding her way in this world when she finds an education system that understood her and gave her opportunities of developing her skills rather than smothering her defiance under a disciplinarian regime; a principal who stood by his principles of equality and thus opened doors for a physically retarded child whom the other schools had denied education; a young student caught in the riot of transition and chaos as he moves to a larger school in the city and the haven he finds in understanding teachers who guided him to finding his dreams – it is the gentle, reflective, slightly ironic tone of the tales that you remember by the time you are done with the tales. The narrator is the voice of a woman who has the amazing knack of including life, lessons, education, family, and politics in one comprehensive tale that lingers long after the reading is done. The eyes that see the past are nostalgic without being sentimental, incisive without being abrasive, and we get a collection of tales that are close, familiar, personal. Naik looks upon teaching as a sacred calling, and in different instances and guises, fictionalizes the experiences she shared with her husband in their explorations within academia, giving the stories an extra flavour that facts always lend to fiction. In her first and certainly my favourite short story - ’Tarpan’, Naik brings to the fore the bonds that are built between a teacher and his students through the illuminating metaphor of the teacher as a shepherd to His Folk. Without attempt at melodrama or sensationalism, Naik pens relationships that are essentially believable and unaffectedly heart touching. Even within the most common sounding stories are instances of such sheer honesty and faith in our capacity at effecting good in the world around us that each tale invites the reader to join the strongly knit academic family of which, Naik stands as a proud and loving grandmother. Often idealizing and sometimes a little wrapped in their bygone days, Naik’s tales are an anachronistic illustration of how humanizing of education is necessary in a world that is quickly accepting privatization as the buzzword. All said and done, Naik’s stories stand as a firm affirmation that only those who can, teach.