Their plight reminded me of a story I had read, set in France in the backdrop of the Franco-Prussian War. A village school teacher could never manage to control his students who showed little interest in learning French. He wasn’t an exceptional teacher, but loved his subject and tried to make his classes interesting. But his students were not impressed. Then one day, the Germans took over and forbade the teaching of French, saying only German would be taught. So it was going to be his last class. What should he teach, he wondered? Should he finish the scheduled lesson? Anyway, the students might not even come for the class. Even if they did, they would be making noise, maybe even more that day, he thought. With a heavy heart, he decided to quickly finish the lesson and say goodbye. But what he saw changed him forever. Every student was present, sitting in class waiting for him. On an impulse, he decided to skirt the lesson he had planned and began to speak of the French language, its glory, its struggle, its richness, and why it must not be allowed to die. Midway, he noticed the class had fallen silent and wondered if like other days he had failed on that day as well.