15/02/24 Unintentional Crook!

Have you ever unintentionally broken the law?

Growing up, I had to care for my younger sister as she was in the same school campus as me. The older siblings were in a different school and campus, so they left together by cycles. We had to walk, as the younger one had to get comfortable riding the distance and we didn’t have cycles. She used to be riddled with asthma attacks, and usually this meant that we had to go extra slow with me carrying most of the load as she would barely be able to walk.

I did try convincing the older sibling to ‘loan’ us her bicycle once and found that between two school bags and two lunch baskets, the one cycle-carrier could not seat the sibling as well. So it ended up being an extra thing for me to manage and quickly absolved me of the requirement of wanting a bicycle for school. We continued to walk to school everyday. In the rare instance that a friend was getting dropped to school, if the offer to pick one of us was presented I used to let the little one go, and I would reach school and check that she reached fine. These were very rare.

Sometimes the attacks used to be so bad, that she stayed home to rest, which meant I had to walk to school alone. These days were super stressful at home, timings had to be coordinated. Either one of the kids or the parents had to ensure that she had her food and medications sorted when she was alone.

The next day if the severity has reduced, then even if she had a mild fever she came to school. She hated the home alone recuperation time almost as much as I did. I hated it because it meant that I had to walk alone. She hated it because she spent the day in bed. The days following an attack usually meant a slow walk to school, so we had to leave early. I made sure her bags were packed and the other siblings took the responsibility to ensure the little one got everything done- her homework, her uniform and lunch ready. Then we trudged to school, slowly, so she would not have a relapse at school.

The only thing we always forgot was the have the leave letter in the calendar signed. Every time she fell ill and stayed at home she had to have a note signed by my parents. 70% of the time, one of us remembered to get this done. We even managed a couple of instances where we got it on the second day after the absence. At one point, the office insisted it be done immediately or she could go home by herself. Pushed to the corner, I just signed on behalf of my mum and handed the calendar back to the office. The signatures were close enough to not cause any suspicion. This happened a couple of times that year, too much chaos on the day following the attack and it just slipped out of our mind. Towards the end of the year at the annual PTM [(Parent Teachers Meeting) and yes, in the late 1980s this used to be an annual affair not the monthly drama it is today!], the teacher happened to remove the master file with the admission applications and specimen signatures and realised that some of the signatures did not match. She passed the file to the headmistress and sent mum and both of us to the office.

Having no clue what or why we were called to the office, we walked in and sat down. The headmistress pulled out the file, and showed my mum the signatures and asked her if they were hers. She looked at it, and then said, most of them were. Then they both looked at me, and I just blurted that I had to do it, as there had been no other option, because the office insisted on the little one walking back home alone if the leave note was not signed.

The headmistress sent the little one out so I could be reprimanded in private, and then told me it was a serious offence. My mum who was a practising advocate also explained the seriousness of the situation to me. I apologised. The intent had not been to cheat, but to ensure that the little one did not face a punishment for something as simple as a leave note. The headmistress accepted my apology and sent me out, and she had a detailed discussion with my mother and when she came out, it was obvious the words that were exchanged was more severe from my mums side. But the result of this meeting was that, if we ever forgot the leave notes (which we never did after this incident!) then she would not be threatened with being sent home, but a note would be sent to the parent that would have to be signed. This worked well until her immunity improved and her attacks reduced.

Unknowingly I had committed forgery, just to escape a fierce reprimand and penalty for having forgotten to get a leave note signed. I realise the seriousness of the incident today, but at that point in time, it was merely a means to an end. A way to ensure that the little one did not have to deal with the ignominy of being the only student punished for forgetting to get a leave note signed.