In usual boarding settings, the children are cautious of the elders, the staff. In our Navajeevan, we the elders are a bit cautious of a couple of our boys. Not that they are harmful or 'dangerous'... but they are so different that understanding them is too complex a job - leave alone, they understanding us (our words, instructions or suggestions).
One of them has superseded The Buddha himself! He goes around providing solutions and suggestions to everyone, so much so the boys call him Picchi R_______ (Mad R________). Any statement made in his presence is always responded to by him... and that reply never has a full stop! Even to those who are training him in the art of computer designing, (he is sitting at the computer for the first time in his life) he is offering guidelines!
There's another boy (who is a Hindu) who thinks he was the catechist of the Roman Basilica till a couple of months ago. Whenever a Priest or a Brother recommends something or points out something that is out of place in the Church, he retorts, "So you also think that I don't know?" No amount of persuasion will convince him that things can be done differently.
Then there are a couple of them who agree to all that you say or ask and then repeat exactly the opposite of what you just said. They'd come asking for a pull over (in the middle of summer!) and when you say that it is not available, they will nod their head and within a couple of minutes will ask, "Do you have one or two?" One will come asking for a trimmer and if your reply is that it is not given to each individual, he will agree and then ask, "Shall I come after bath to get the new one?" One says I want to go and buy a new pair of slippers (when he received a new pair just last week) and I say, that I will not supply him another; his reply would be, "I will come tomorrow then."
Br Justin calls this lot the 'Men from Mars'.
One of them has superseded The Buddha himself! He goes around providing solutions and suggestions to everyone, so much so the boys call him Picchi R_______ (Mad R________). Any statement made in his presence is always responded to by him... and that reply never has a full stop! Even to those who are training him in the art of computer designing, (he is sitting at the computer for the first time in his life) he is offering guidelines!
There's another boy (who is a Hindu) who thinks he was the catechist of the Roman Basilica till a couple of months ago. Whenever a Priest or a Brother recommends something or points out something that is out of place in the Church, he retorts, "So you also think that I don't know?" No amount of persuasion will convince him that things can be done differently.
Then there are a couple of them who agree to all that you say or ask and then repeat exactly the opposite of what you just said. They'd come asking for a pull over (in the middle of summer!) and when you say that it is not available, they will nod their head and within a couple of minutes will ask, "Do you have one or two?" One will come asking for a trimmer and if your reply is that it is not given to each individual, he will agree and then ask, "Shall I come after bath to get the new one?" One says I want to go and buy a new pair of slippers (when he received a new pair just last week) and I say, that I will not supply him another; his reply would be, "I will come tomorrow then."
Br Justin calls this lot the 'Men from Mars'.
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