White Knights
- Part 6 -

By N. Bobo Meitei *

As he is already ready to indulge in marital affair to offer her that confessional inclination of his would come as no strange news to his family and friends in England. Analyzing the nuptial matter time has noticeably flown away and he realizes that she has gone to work. When evening descends he shaves his tanned face hastily and in haste he runs to the florist to get some flowers.

A dinner jacket over a v-necked shirt, hair gelled up. His appearance seems like a traditional Texan fellow striving to be an English dandy with Levi's jeans and Italian shoes. By the time he arrives at the open air bar where she works, he feels everybody is staring at him, a desperate cupid with the inclination to go beyond conventional expression of romance, he orders a pint and rolls his eyes in search of his lady and a place where he can sit to buy his time.

Across three tables she is standing at the table taking orders with a warm smile, having taken the orders she scans the crowd and when her scanning finally settles on him she winks one eye, acknowledging his presence, smiling and lifting his mug to say cheers in an audible tone he gulps down the beer like a thirsty cowboy after a day long horse ride.

Soon he puts the mug down and raises his up she is already at the table standing and glaring at his clean-shaven face, attires, and the flowers. "Where are you going? You look very different." Admiration mixed with appreciation she comments. He grabs the flowers hurriedly, rises, takes a few steps, and standing on his knees to utter what he has been meaning to announce "will you marry me?"

Her jaw wide open while tears wells up her eyes she nods her head constantly, sticks out her hands to grab the offered flowers and stoops down to touch his clean-shaven face, which looks so handsome, handsomer than any man she has seen in her life. Now on his feet he kisses her and hugs her like a child hugging her long-gone child.

A pot-bellied English gentleman is the first person from the crowd to come to greet the couple; others swarm around in an instant. The eyes fixated on CNN and premier league match are fixated on them now. There is a long loud roar and genuine clapping from the crowds. When the drama is over and the actors bow to display their appreciation, they take their leave for a place where they can discuss how the director-cum-actor orchestrated the drama.

Below one of the sky train station there are food vendors, some selling Chinese food by Thai speaking Chinese-Thai, beef curry and sweet roti by southern ladies with their heads covered in scarves, apart from them there are two men leaning on the telephone poles; one selling sour Thai sausages, which can be easily discovered with the prominent smoke rising from the charcoal stove, and the lanky man with straw hat selling corn ice cream. Despite his insistence to dine at an Italian restaurant or at an Irish pub, she cozily drags him, to which he submits, to the Chinese shop.

Two big bawls of noodles and the papaya salads with sticky rice she pulls out from her duplicate Harrods bag, she feeds him like a mother feeding her one year old son. Walking to his home together they tease each other and it appears hilarious although she has difficulty understanding his uneven British accent.

Conversation dominated by plans for wedding and many others are now overcome by romantic sensation. The romantically motivated hunger elevates them only to be transported to ecstasy guarded by eternal bliss.

The wedding begins in a traditional Siamese fashion of frail monks chanting for hours with friends and foes approaching them to greet at the same time handing out envelops with one thousands Baht inside.

The blissful couple stand under the flowers adorned gate between banana trees posing for the digital cameras and Video camera, while invited friends and foes standing flanking them. After the traditional lunch is served a British acquaintance of his who has been stranded in Siam since the flood takes the stage entertaining the sleepy and swear-soaked invitees with his bilingual talent. Friends speak of their fondness of the bride and the groom while the foes congratulate them in monotonous fashion.

Crowd disappear slowly leaving them with waned bliss, in his confessional tone he wishes how things would have been like in the presence of his English family and friends. Once the apples of the people now being left to their own devise they hurry home to pack up for honeymoon on "Phi Phi Island."

Happily wedded and appropriately settle down she sticks to minding the family matters after his insistence that he is to be the breadwinner in the family. His interest in working for English language schools is rewarded with positive outcome, finally among the many offers he chooses to work for a bilingual school, where he is to teach children with modern methods.

The presence is imposed to the admiring Thai-staffs, enables him by his immaculate sense of dressing, as long as he is well-dressed and the presence is seen on time they have no whatsoever problem with his teaching, which is never observed, even if observed they would not have any idea what he has been teaching since his manner of speaking in his first language is never to be understood by the meek reluctant observers.

All is set and cocooned but the one thing that annoys him is the compulsory privilege of visa-run, the unsettling trip to Laos and Cambodia.

However, his understanding that he is the sole victim proves wrong soon he frequents the countries accompanied by people with the same unloadable burden. That's how he gets by as a respectable educator who remains an illegitimate one in the eyes of the supposedly inconsiderate system.

Works and his conducts are mentioned to people with pride and curious people pretend whatever she jabbers is fully followed up. The natives admire him for his mastery over his first language and the people of his kinds envy him for his arousing wife.

While fathoming his recognition he ventures extra miles to be an opinionated reader, unleashing his observation in the form of letters to the editor of the proclaimed trustworthy newspaper. At some point this adventure breeds a kind of class with innocently formed intelligent opinions, unnoticeable confusions coated by irrelevant lexicons.

Attempts to master and the endeavour to educate the masses with mannerism combined with incoherent opinions go on until the inconsiderate system negligently resolves to limit the free riders, who have started giving their nation the needed lesson. To the inconsiderate system the rise of their opinions is acceptable but taking advantage of the flexible rules while dodging contribution is understandably inappropriate.

The inconsiderate system also makes an effort to emphasize on the point that the rising class should be shameful of walking on the well-swept roads and jogging in the sprawling parks, which are maintained by the money taxed on the legitimate workers, however, their exhibition of flexibility allows them to dodge and reside without slapping their faces with logical explanation.

It is shameful because the offspring of the elements that compose the very inconsiderate system admire the rising class; to make the compulsion too rigid can only result to a conflicting environment and disdaining the source of inspiration for the offspring.

To the pillars and the sculptors of the hierarchical white symbolizes an advanced civilization, beauty, being erudite, and success and to have too many of who they can look up to when their handful of mantras run out they turn to the whitish rising class with deferential looks while their ignorant eyes seeking prudential advice and appreciation.

How a nation with such entrenched admiration can stand up to the knowledge and the caliber of someone of like Teacher James?

The effortful charisma, an invention with the coloured belief wrapped in contempt, turns into a wagon, a divisively coloured wagon, conveying the ardent notion that anything done and agreed in collaboration with people like Teacher James is professional or for the betterment of the nation.

When the rich tradition of racism is pretty much in practice in advanced countries why a nation who has never been subjugated to any colonial power, which has been in friendly terms with the decaying colonial powers, will strive to be different given the beauty of white, to be white is to be clean any clothes they put on is fashionable?

Every morning when he enters the school campus he, with self-satisfaction, looks at the advertisement for " Summer camp with white teachers" in which his choreographed picture is let known to the passers by instigating the desire to enhance the degree of fluency in English.

Although only three teachers out of ten foreign teachers are British and Germans and the rest from the Asian archipelagos the German and the British stand rubbing shoulders while the Asian teachers pose as if they have to pretend they are minding their business.

With that advertisement parents enroll their children, leaving their children to the supposedly educated hands of white teachers, but what happens on inside is not conducted by the white teachers. This transformation from high school drop out to erudite inspirational models augments their gusto.

Happily married for few years and the arrival of a white coloured skin boy makes him responsible. Within his conflicting schedule he manages to hang out at go-go bars with his intoxicated friends. At the approach of desperate girls he flashes his wedding ring reluctantly, wishing if he were not married, restricting himself to ogling at the ladies on stage.

This has become a reward and an escape from his responsible life. He wishes he were better in the teaching field , wishing if he could teach in some of the international schools , where people like him are not eligible.

Grumbling and burning with the jealousy for not being able to eat the grapes he, sometimes, moans and reckons the idea of going back to his country with his family to revive what he ignored in early phase of his life, however, that formulation bites him like a stray dog's canine teeth reminding how things are different and how his status will be soon be stripped off soon he steps on the plane.

The very thought of it sends shudder down his spinal, he retreats to the point where he is honoured. A place where he will remain honoured and deferred for the fortunate colour of his skin.

Concluded ....