Mary was the art teacher for Std II A. That day, she was teaching her students to draw scenery. Akila yawned. She disliked drawing. Mary noticed some students had gathered around Tina and were laughing at her drawing of a sun wearing sunglasses and trees with ice creams on them.
Mary asked Tina to draw exactly the way she had taught. “Buy a separate notebook, in which you can draw as you like,” said Mary.
“I do have a notebook for my drawings, Miss,” said Tina and took out a small notebook from her bag. Going through it, Mary saw that Tina had drawn a rainbow with two girls sitting on it.
Mary had also done similar drawings when she was Tina’s age. Mary’s second-grade art teacher, Kumar sir, had encouraged her to draw as she wished in the art class. He had once asked his students to draw their dreams, and Mary had drawn a picture of a girl climbing a ladder to touch the moon. Kumar sir had praised her drawing. In an inter-school drawing competition, which Mary and her classmates took part in, the topic given to them was ‘Scenery’.
Unexpected
Later, when the results were announced, none of the students from Mary’s school had won any prize. All the drawings were displayed in the city town hall. Mary’s mother had been shocked to see her daughter’s drawing: the hills had pink and yellow flowers. Standing on top were two girls sharing ice cream with a smiling sun. “Look at this scenery that won the first prize! The hills are coloured brown. The sun doesn’t have a smiling face. There is a river and a house. You should have drawn like this!” her mother had said.
The drawings of the other students were also unique. Kumar sir tried to explain to the angry parents that the children had displayed their creativity through their drawings. But the parents criticised his method of teaching. After a month, Kumar sir had resigned. All his students missed him, especially Mary. She now wondered where Kumar sir was.
A week later, during art class, Mary asked Tina if she drew anything else in her notebook. “No, Miss! My friends say that my drawings are not good. So I have stopped drawing,” said Tina.
Mary was shocked. Then she had an idea. She told her students to draw their dreams. Her students looked puzzled.
“What do you dream of, Akila?” asked Mary.
“Once, I dreamt that I was in Chocolate Land,” said Akila.
“Then draw that,” said Mary.
Akila was excited and so were the other students. Tina drew her dream of flying across the night sky and painting all the stars in gold. Mary smiled as she saw her students’ imagination soar.
“Now, for your homework: If you had a magic wand, what would you use it for? That is what you have to draw,” said Mary. She also advised Tina to keep drawing in her notebook.
The following week, the students submitted their homework. Akila handed over a separate sheet with a drawing showing an elderly man using his wand to make it rain on fields and dried-up river beds. A note below read: “Thank you for getting Akila interested in drawing”. Ist was signed Kumar.
“My grandfather drew this. He was an art teacher,” said Akila with a smile.
