ROAD TO ELECTIONS
AFTER four of us in Standard 8 (today’s Grade 10) were found guilty of placing stink bombs under a teacher’s chair, the principal, Mr KP Naidoo, who had been seconded from the inspectorate of the Education Department to calm the protests at Sastri College – clearly livid – said: “l was going to give you six of the best, but rethought it! Now who’s first?”
I thought: “Oh my god, he’s going to cane us eight strokes!”
When each of the others got four, it was my turn. Mr Naidoo said: “You should know better! When gold rusts, silver has got very little chance; bend!”
That almost incongruous precept, and the consequences of the caning
