The Tuition Teacher of Gali Number Four: Short Story

Free evening classes versus a coaching chain with air conditioning and printed modules - the story in short.

The short version of The Tuition Teacher of Gali Number Four.

The premise

Sushma Verma taught mathematics for thirty-four years in a government school. Since retiring she teaches nineteen children of her lane for free in her front room, six to eight every evening.

The conflict

A coaching chain opens at the mouth of the lane - air conditioning, printed modules, four thousand rupees a month. Within three weeks, eleven of her nineteen students have moved.

The twist that makes it good

The coaching centre is not fraudulent. Some students genuinely do better there, and the parents who moved their children made a rational choice about board exams. Sushma's argument is narrower and harder to dismiss: a child who cannot pay four thousand rupees still deserves someone to teach him.

The Farhan track

Her best student in twenty years cannot pay and his father wants him working after class ten. The centre offers him a publicised free seat. Sushma tells him to take it - which is when the show makes clear she is not fighting for herself.

Where it stands

The residents' association wants her to start charging a small fee. She has refused and has not yet said why. The coaching branch has missed its targets twice and its manager has printed a claim about her results that is untrue.

Verdict

The quietest show on our slate and possibly the best written. No schemes, no hidden identities - just two reasonable positions that cannot both win.