Once upon a time there lived a girl who wanted to become a doctor. She didn’t want to become a doctor because everybody else also wanted to or because her parents wanted her to become one. She didn’t even give money as one of the reasons though everybody knew that saving lives or even making a half hearted attempt to, was a very lucrative business. She wanted to be a doctor because she liked people very much and wanted to help them. It might seem to be a very naïve simple reason, but it was the true reason.

The girl lived with her mother and father in a town that was not too small - it had two supermarkets, and not too big – it had just four bus routes. Most people knew each other, if not by name then at least by sight. There was a cute little railway station built in the colonial days that was occasionally used for shooting romantic songs for films. There were also two schools, two junior colleges based on gender and three tutors for the kids whose parents could afford them. The girl studied in the school where the tutors had most of their students from.

Her father was the public works department head and her mother was a nursery teacher. She loved them both and accepted it, which was a very rare thing in a girl of her age. They loved her back too and had absolutely no qualms about showing it. If you had talked to them about teenage angst or communication gaps they would have just smiled the polite smiles they reserved for conversations they did not understand. They had two meals a day and all their holidays together. The parents approved of all her friends and she still thought that her parents were wiser than anybody else she knew, apart from her tutor of course.

Of the three tutors, one was reserved for the languages. Only very poor students who were on the brink of failing went to him. He had a steady gang of students and did not take part in the tutor wars. The other two tutors took care of science and mathematics. Other than that there were no similarities.

Mr Jacob was a reformed priest or that is what he called himself. He had eloped with a nun in training while he was a priest in training and thus reformed himself. He was a six foot tall, four foot wide ball of energy. The parents who did not have much of religious feeling or thought of themselves as forward sent their kids to him. He conducted his classes from a long room that was part of the house he had begun constructing 10 years ago but wasn’t finished. The walls were not plastered and the floor was rough cement. There was a table as long as the room where the students sat. Mr Jacob did not believe in segregating the sexes and hence that table had seen its share of longing looks atop and groping feet below. He taught in a loud voice punctuated by sips of black coffee and often gave impromptu quizzes and lectures on world history, philosophy and sometimes even cooking. His students always got the highest marks though he did not take on hopeless cases.

Mr Baby did not mind taking on “hopeless cases” for an extra fee. He was short, sweaty and very opinionated. His strongest opinion was about how science and mathematics should be taught. In separate classes for boys and girls and in their homes. He did not want the peace and cleanliness of his home disturbed by half broken voices, giggles and grubby feet. He taught with like a drill master and expected every sentence, comma and formula to be remembered by heart and recalled even if only the page number of the text book was mentioned.

The girl who wanted to be a doctor went to Mr Baby’s classes. She was a good student and well admired by Mr Baby who used to point her out as the example of a good female student even though she wasn’t always the one with the best marks. Always listening, never asking useless questions and remembering every word that he said. Although she was humble and never thought too much of herself, these words always made her feel extra happy. Extra happy because she was usually happy all the time unless somebody was hurt, which only made her want to be a doctor even more. Mr Baby always had an example of a good female student every year. He never had an example of a good male student because most of his male students were “hopeless cases”. The rest of the boys were more interested in the non segregation of sexes and hence did not frequent Mr Baby’s classes.

As the time for the entrance exams approached, Mr Baby decided that his promising students should put in extra hours being grilled. This was part of the add ons that the tutors provided for that extra edge in the war of the tutors. Her parents also agreed that she should have extra coaching and her father gave up his den so that Mr Baby could give her his undivided attention. It was everything an aspiring doctor could want. Neat rows of sharpened pencils and a tray full of erasers, sharpeners and other assorted stationery. Papers to do rough calculation with a conveniently placed waste paper basket.

All was well until after the first session of the classes, after which she fell very ill. She vomited for about half an hour and then went to lie down. Mr Baby was informed immediately as he had specified to the parents that every move of his students should be informed to him in these final crucial days before the exams. He promised to come in the next day and continue his lessons even if she was bedridden. On hearing this news the girl did a very strange thing, she looked up at her mom and said she did not want to become a doctor anymore. On being asked if she didn’t want to help people, she looked into their eyes and proclaimed “they are not worth helping”

Mr Baby was informed of this as well. He said he would have a private chat with her and assured her parents all would be well. After the private chat Mr Baby came out looking a little out of sorts, the mom was worried that he had caught the bug that her daughter had. He was unmarried and didn’t have anybody to take care of him. She mentioned it, and Mr Baby who everybody thought was a strict bachelor said maybe its time he got married. After all he thought, how much longer can I survive on examples of good female students?