The French Bread

When I was in Form Five, my geography teacher was a male.

He was sent to Paris for a course by the government. Those days, for a teacher to go for a course in the UK or Europe meant that they were good teachers.

One day he came to our class to teach geography. The lesson was about Europe. He brought with him a long and hard kind of bread.

“This is what you call a French bread.”

The only bread we know at that time was just “roti benggali”

“It is long , hard and good to eat. It is easily available in Paris”

“Do you know where Paris is?”

My friend, Ali answered, “Yes Sir! It is in France.”

“Good, you know your geography well!”

Ali was a very mischievous boy . He was never scared of the teachers or the Principal himself.

“Have you ever been there?”

“No, Sir!”

The teacher continued, “I’ve been there, it was a long flight. Hours and hours of flying. I went there for a course. Do your know anything about Paris?”

Again Ali answered,“Eiffel Tower, Sir.”

“What is Eiffel Tower?”

“A tower made of steel. Screwed together . Rusted steel and iron sir! I don’t know why people think so highly of that ugly tower.”

“Have you been to Paris?”

“No!”

“So how do you know it is ugly?”

CIKGUTANYA: The teacher’s face turned red. We were all very scared. Continue tomorrow.