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It’s a sad day. Javed Iqbal has left us, hopefully to go to a better place, without pain and sickness.

I have fond memories of Javed. I met him only twice. The second occasion was when he interviewed me at The Drum, after I wrote my book, Dear Birmingham. My one regret is that I did not get to know him better while he was still with us. I hope to make up for it however I can.

A few years ago Javed and I were included in a heritage project ‘Four Fathers’ which had been set up by Faisal Hussain. Listening to the interview is a good start in getting to know something of the person Javed was.

In addition, the following entry on Facebook, by Mukhtar Dar, who had brought us together also provides a glimpse into Javed’s life.

JAVED IQBAL
1961 – 2018
REST IN POWER
My dear Comrade & friend

It is with deep sadness that I heard of the passing of my dear friend and comrade Javed Iqbal. Javed had fought cancer over the last year and a half with the same fighting spirit that he had, throughout his life, fought injustice. He was courageous, dignified, compassionate and focused – this is why I will miss him and love him always.

It was in 1981, on a coach, heading towards Leeds to demonstrate in support of the Bradford 12, that I first met Javed. We exchanged views, he was learned, thoughtful and incredibly humble – we had so much in common. We both came to England at the age of 11, with our mothers to join our fathers who worked in the steel smelting foundries of the northern cities – our political awaking in the 80s was forged out of the anti-racist struggles in the belly of the beast and we understood the need to connect and support the struggles of our peoples back home in Pakistan.

Javed was born in Mirpur, Kashmir, he was a member of UK’s Militant Tendency and The Jadojehad group (The Struggle) in Pakistan; he returned to Pakistan in 85 and spent several years helping to build the movement. He was instrumental in forming the Labour Party Pakistan and worked closely with Dr Lal Khan’s Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign. As a Marxist socialist he worked tirelessly for the socialist transformation of Pakistan and supported the worldwide struggles of workers, peasants, women and the downtrodden oppressed peoples and minorities.

I was fortunate along with my comrades to have worked with Javed as members of the Birmingham based South Asian Alliance. Javed’s easygoing chilled-out demeanour along with his welcoming smile made him the natural choice for hosting and chairing many of our events. Amongst the many of the events that he helped to organise and chair included the Faiz Ahmed Faiz Centenary symposium in 2011, the international conference on the 150th anniversary of the 1857 uprising, the 70th anniversary of Partition with international speakers, as well as many meetings with invited guest speakers from Pakistan, he was also the longstanding chairperson of the Asian Resource Centre.

Javed engaged and brought together socialists from across the ideological divides, Trotskyites, Marxist Leninists, Maoists, liberals, believers and non believers, he was a humble organiser, a movement builder and not an egotistical limelight seeker, he brought us together when we fell out and knocked our heads together to focus on the bigger picture, he was fondly described by our women comrades as a gentleman and a feminist and to us all he was ‘Yaraan da Yaar’.

Our deepest sympathies go out to Javed’s wife Miriam, his daughter, his family, his comrades and his friends – we salute you with Lal Salaam comrade Javed!

This article by Lal Khan in Asian Marxist Review gives an insight into the political activism of Javed Iqbal.

Here is the above article in Urdu.

This blog was written for Optimus Education and appeared on their site.

Is it important to have teachers from the same background as the pupils?

Following the recent decision to throw out the Trojan Horse case, I posted a link, on Facebook, to an article I had published on responsive education (for Pakistani children). In the article I wrote about the importance of employing a diverse teaching workforce; one that reflects the ethnic make up of the pupils. Upon reading the article one of my ‘Friends’ responded with the following comment:
I’ve never bought into this idea that in order for our children to be successful in education, we need teachers, headteachers from our own background. In many ways it can be counter-productive.

The comment triggered the response that follows.

To have or not to have ethnically representative teaching workforce?

Over the past six years, and many more years before that, I have thought about this question. As well as reading everything I came across I decided to undertake my own research. So I explored the question with folks I interviewed and who completed my questionnaire. This young people (especially from the Pakistani community), their parents and teachers.

The vast array of previously published literature was supportive of the idea that schools should indeed employ a teaching workforce that reflects the ethnicity of their pupils. The overarching argument is that a workforce that is representative of the people it serves is more likely to help ensure that the interests of all groups are considered in the decision-making and the policy making process becomes more inclusive. This is based on the theory of ‘representative bureaucracy’ (Bradbury & Kellough, 2011). Such bureaucracies are said to be beneficial to ethnic minorities (Eckhard, 2014), racial minorities (Selden 1997; Sowa & Selden, 2003) and in educational contexts (Pitts 2005). Based on Spivak’s work (1988), there is also the question of whether the minority people (such as Pakistanis) have a right to be represented as teachers and decision makers.

Within the field of education, researchers and policymakers have accepted that the workforce should be diverse and should reflect the ethnic diversity of society. Minority teachers are said to provide role models (Quiocho & Rios, 2000), act as cultural brokers (Irvine, 1989), cultural experts (Ross, 2001; Basit & Santoro, 2012). For Howard (2010), minority teachers fulfilled the role of advocate for minority students. They are able to act as a ‘bridge’ between, and ‘translators’ of, minority and dominant cultures (Irvine (1989), a function which had been identified by Abbas (2004). In his Birmingham-based research he had found working class Asian parents particularly in favour of having Asian teachers.

Minority teachers are said to have the potential to bridge the ever-widening divide between minority pupils and their mainly white teachers (Magaldi et al. 2016). They can, if given the space and opportunity, bring a more authentic perspective based on their own lived experience and firsthand knowledge. Through their counterstorying they can interrupt (white) majoritarian narratives, “defined as a mindset of positions, perceived wisdoms, and shared cultural understandings brought to the discussion of race” (Fránquiz et al. 2011, p282).

For Kohli and Pizarro (2016) minority teachers are likely to have a heightened awareness of educational injustice and racism while Ross (2001) pointed out that they are better at challenging racism; given they might have been its victim, they are more likely to understand some of its subtleties and nuances. He and Howard (2010) supported the concept of ‘inclusive diversity’, where it is not so much important for, say, Pakistani students to be taught directly by Pakistani or Muslim teachers but more an indirect benefit; by having them on the staff, to see them around the school and have occasional contact with them. Teachers are said to do much more than teach content; they also personify content (Howard, 2010). They provide a model of what it is like to be an educated person; something for the young people to aspire to:

If we want students to believe that they themselves might one day be … mentors, guides and educated people, then we need them to see diverse examples of such people, including at least one who looks like they, the students, look (Kennedy, 1991, p2).

Stewart et al. (1989) also supported the ‘role model’ argument. “Black teachers can have a special impact on Black students simply by being in the classroom. A Black teacher serves as a role model for Black students, thereby exposing Black students to other Black individuals who have been successful” (p143). For Steele and Aronson (1995), the presence of same-race teachers may reduce “stereotype threats” and boost minority students’ confidence, esteem, and enthusiasm. Such a threat is said to occur when a student perceives that s/he could be viewed through the lens of a negative stereotype and lowers academic engagement and performance as a result.

Roch and Pitts (2012) pointed out that where schools’ workforce was representative of their communities there was a positive influence on minority students’ performance. Eckhard (2014) pointed out that where there is a bureaucratic drift i.e. there is a lack of bureaucratic representation, policies are not effective. The problem here can be even more profound where the majority-background bureaucrats are prejudiced against minorities. Arshad et al. (2004) reported that minority students appreciated having teachers from their own ethnic group, expecting them to better understand the students and assist them to feel more comfortable. Warikoo (2004) pointed to there being a better connection between teachers and pupils from the same ethnic background arising out of their common cultural background and the teachers’ heightened understanding of the students’ family and cultural context as well as parental interactions with the school.

The attainment level of minority students is said to be helped by the presence of teachers from their own background (Weiher, 2000). Egalite et al. (2015) asserted that an absence of teachers from their own ethnic group can lead to a lack of shared values, dispositions, and symbols which might undermine classroom learning and teacher-student interactions. They also supported the idea of ethnic minority teachers serving as role models and being uniquely positioned to act as advocates and cultural translators for ethnic minority students. They concluded that same-race teachers made a particular difference for their students’ attainment. Their findings confirmed Dee’s (2005) research who had found that same-race teachers made a difference to students’ attainment. He spoke of ‘passive’ teacher effects which were triggered by a teacher’s identity, not by explicit teacher behaviours.

Basit and Santoro (2012) also supported the employment of minority teachers in schools serving multi-cultural populations. They found these teachers fulfilled important roles related to the heritage of the minority ethnic students. Many of them were appointed because of their ethnicity and knowledge about languages and their potential to develop sound home–school relationships. The teachers found that their particular expertise was often drawn upon by their colleagues who lacked the necessary cultural understanding. The minority teachers were able to foster home–school relationships for minority parents who otherwise had little contact with their children’s schools. The researchers concluded that minority ethnic teachers had significant contributions to make to the schooling of minority ethnic students because of their knowledge about their students’ cultural practices, religions and home lives.

The likelihood of discontinuity between minority children and their schools is lessened where the school employs teachers from minority background (Klopfenstein, 2005). These teachers are more able to provide the ‘cultural congruence’ for the students and match their home and school environments. For Howard (2010), minority teachers helped minority students to adjust to the lack of synchrony between home and school culture and made “connections between their own backgrounds and school systems, which are commonly founded on the values and norms of the dominant culture” (p4).

For Delpit (1995) the argument was not so much that teachers must be of the students’ ethnic group but that efforts should be made for the teaching workforce to be diverse. Carrington (2002) had described this as an inclusive form of representation: “for teachers who share the ethnic and cultural backgrounds of our increasingly diverse student bodies may serve, along with parents and other community members, to provide insights that might otherwise remain hidden” (p181).

A word of caution needs to be stated here, so to not present minority teachers as the perfect solution. They may have the potential to make a certain specialist contribution but their limitations need to be acknowledged, one of which refers to the concept ‘internalised racism’ (Padilla, 2001). This is where minorities adopt majority White perspectives and come to accept their own communities as inferior. For Speight (2007), such a process “refers to the acceptance, by marginalized racial populations, of the negative societal beliefs and stereotypes about themselves” (p129). Having lived in the UK since childhood, I have some understanding and experience of internalised racism. Kohli (2014) has suggested that there should be opportunities, through ITT and CPD, for minority teachers to unpack their internalised racism.

Local teachers can also play an important role in schools. Most schools have a small number of such teachers and support staff who are from the local community. Even if they no longer live there, they will have been raised there and will maintain contact with friends, former neighbours, and relatives in the area. They may have a unique understanding of the school’s cultural and social context and may be able to act as a bridge between the school and its wider community. Such staff usually share common ethnic, religious and cultural identities which provide a foundation on which school-community partnerships can be constructed (Reed, 2009). Reed also spoke of “commuter teachers”, who only come into the neighbourhood to work and as soon as they finish, they get into their cars and leave the area. They maybe at the school for many years but may never go outside its gate. They, therefore, maybe unlikely to understand what it is like to live in the locality, let alone understand the community’s resources. Local teachers may be better equipped for the task of delivering, what Flynn et al. (2009) defined as ‘place-based’ education. For them, “using the place as content is a viable means for increasing student achievement, increasing community involvement…” (p137).

See also: ‘National and local responses to teacher diversity’ and ‘Birmingham research on the importance of teacher diversity’

The article has drawn extensively on the PhD thesis: British Pakistani boys in Birmingham schools: education and the role of religion by Karamat Iqbal (2017

Dr Karamat Iqbal
www.forwardpartnership.org.uk

Bibliography
Abbas, T. (2004). The education of British South Asians. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Arshad, R.., Diniz, F., Kelly, E., O’Hara, P., Sharp, S. and Syed, R. (2004). Minority ethnic pupils’ experiences of school in Scotland. Scottish Executive: Education Department.

Basit, T. & Santoro, N. (2012). Playing the role of ‘cultural expert’: teachers of ethnic difference in Britain and Australia. Oxford Review of Education 37(1) 37-52.

Bradbury, M. & Kellough, J. (2011). Representative bureaucracy: assessing the evidence on active representation. The American Review of Public Administration 4(2), 157-167.

Carrington, B. (2002). Ethnicity, ‘Role Models’ and Teaching. Journal of Research in Education 12(1) 40-49.

Dee, T. (2005). A Teacher like me: Does race, ethnicity, or gender matter? The American Economic Review; 95(2) 158- 165.

Delpit, Lisa. Other people’s children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: The New Press. 1995.

Eckhard, S. (2014). Bureaucratic representation and ethnic bureaucratic drift: A case study of United Nations minority policy implementation in Kosovo. American Review of Public Administration 44(5) 600–621.

Egalite, A., Kisida, B. and Winters, M. (2015). Representation in the classroom: The effect of own-race teachers on student achievement. Economics of Education Review 45: 44-52.

Flynn, J., Kemp, A., & Perez, D. (2009). You can’t teach where you don’t know. Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue 12(1&2) 137-151.

Howard, J. (2010). The value of ethnic diversity in the teaching profession: A New Zealand case study. International Journal of Education 2(1) 1-22.

Irvine, J. (1989). Beyond role models: An examination of cultural influences on the pedagogical perspectives of Black teachers. Peabody Journal of Education, 66(4) 51-63

Kennedy, M. (1991). Policy issues in teacher education. Phi Delta Kappan 72(9) 1-12.

Klopfenstein, K. (2005). Beyond test scores: The impact of Black teacher role models on rigorous math taking. Contemporary Economic Policy, 23(3) 416-428.

Kohli, R. (2014). Unpacking internalized racism: teachers of colour striving for racially just classrooms. Race Ethnicity and Education 17(3) 367-387.

Kohli, R. and Pizarro, M. Fighting to educate our own: teachers of color, relational accountability, and the struggle for social justice. Equity & Excellence in Education 49(1) 72-84.

Magaldi, D., Conway, T. & Trub, L. (2016). “I’m here for a reason”: minority teachers bridging many divides in urban education. Race Ethnicity and Education.

Padilla, L. (2001). “But you’re not a dirty Mexican: internalized oppression, Latinos & law”. Texas Hispanic Journal of Law and Policy 7: 59-133.

Pitts, D. 2005). Diversity, representation, and performance: evidence about race and ethnicity in public organizations. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 15: 615-631.

Quiocho, A. & Rios, F. (2000). The power of their presence: minority group teachers and schooling. Review of Educational Research 70(4) 485-528.

Reed, W. (2009). The bridge is built: the role of local teachers in an urban elementary school. The School Community Journal, 19(1)59-75.

Roch, C. & Pitts, D. (2012). Differing effects of representative bureaucracy in Charter Schools and traditional public schools. The American Review of Public Administration 42(3) 282–302.

Ross, A. (2001). Towards a representative profession: teachers from the ethnic minorities – conference paper. London Metropolitan University.

Selden, S. (1997). Representative bureaucracy – examining the linkage between passive and active representation in the farmers home administration. American Review of Public Administration 27(1) 22-42.

Sowa, J. & Selden, S. (2003). Administrative discretion and active representation: an expansion of the theory of representative bureaucracy. Public Administration Review 63(6) 700-710.

Speight, S. (2007). Internalized racism. The Counseling Psychologist 35(1) 126-134.

Spivak, G. (1988). Can the subaltern speak? In Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg (eds) Marxism and the interpretation of culture. London: Macmillan.

Stewart, J., Meier, K. and England, R. (1989). In quest of role models: Change in Black teacher representation in urban school districts, 1968-1986. The Journal of Negro Education, 58(2) 140-152

Warikoo, N. (2004). Race and the teacher-student relationship: interpersonal connections between West Indian students and their teachers in a New York City high school. Race Ethnicity and Education 7(2) 135-147.

Weiher, G. (2000). Minority student achievement: passive representation and social context in schools. The Journal of Politics 62(3) 886-895.

Today I had the privilege of visiting a new headteacher, 5 weeks into headship. I observed his joy and excitement in anticipating the challenge of what lies ahead. We got into a conversation about how to get under the skin of a school and community, its complexity and richness. How do you change a culture and take the school on to where it now needs to go? We acknowledged that there is no one model or process that provides the answers and that leadership and school improvement is multi-faceted. Consequently each leader needs to skilfully choose the right tools, processes and initiatives as they respond to the particular dynamics they face.

So with all the rich resources at the disposal of the 21^st Century Head with the plethora of guidance, research papers, programmes, NLE’s, SIP’s available, how does this new headteacher  steer his course and find where to start?

As an educationalist I too have wondered if there is too much out there, do we get lost in the depth and breadth and complexity of it. Or can we draw together the strands of wisdom from existing practice and thinking and produce a simple model that combines these strands in a logical format. Improving from WithIn is a model for school improvement that seeks to do just that; present a logical model which is flexible enough to tailor to different contexts but that contains key dimensions and an underpinning philosophy to guide the leader.

Improving from WithIn came about from considering the new Ofsted framework and the challenge of producing learning experiences that are both motivating and engaging and during which progress is made. What support do teachers need to do that consistently and how do leaders invest in developing that same motivation and engagement for the teachers? Teachers who are motivated and engaged are far more likely to be able to motivate and engage their pupils.

Underpinning Philosophies

I believe the journey begins with identifying your philosophy of education. I have noticed that there are 2 prevailing underpinning philosophies of education, the first that children are empty vessels and as educators we pour in knowledge and fill them up, the second that children come with huge potential and existing strengths and preferences, here our job is to draw out of them those unique gifts and facilitate their learning and development. They are, of course, not mutually exclusive but if, like me you favour the second this will have implications about the job of a teacher.

The next fundamental consideration relates to what do we know and believe about how adults learn and improve their performance. Here, there are two key theorists that have shaped my thinking. Firstly Richard Boyatzis work on Intentional Change Theory. Boyatzis argues that for adults to make change that is sustained they need to be motivated and that motivation is created by a pull towards an ideal. His model provides a series of discoveries that support the individual in achieving change.

The second is Daniel Pink. In his book Drive, Pink argues that when you take basic human needs out of the equation, there are 3 key drivers that motivate us; autonomy, mastery and purpose.  These motivators are intrinsic and more effective than extrinsic ones such as money or negative forces, the threat of punishment.

These theories along with the wisdom gleaned from the discipline of coaching and the emerging field of positive psychology demand that we reconsider how we lead school improvement. School improvement cannot be ‘done to’ but needs to harness the energy of intrinsic motivation within its community and be driven by its members. Leaders need to create the climate within which motivation and engagement are likely outcomes for the adults as well as the children.

The Improving from WithIn Model

The 6 dimensions provide a logical way of approaching school improvement applying this thinking.

Alignment

Starting with Alignment, the task of clarifying the core mission, developing a vision and identifying the values so that all practice can be aligned is the foundation on which to build.

Climate Creation

The climate is created by consistency of adult behaviours (firstly leadership behaviours) Consistency of behaviour becomes, ‘the way we do things round here’ or the ethos of the school. Members of the school community continually receive unconscious messages about how they should behave from the norms they observe around them. In relation to school improvement, how critical it is that those norms create the ‘pull’ Boyatzis refers to.

Leading Change

How do leaders bring about change so that the community is pulled towards the ideal and not demotivated by external drivers? Leading change is well researched but to do it well requires effective leadership skills and behaviours. Shaping adult behaviours to create that positive climate will demand self-awareness, honesty and an ability to reflect on and adapt one’s own leadership behaviours accordingly. In order to do this well many leaders need a safe sounding board or coach to confide in.

 

We now come to the ‘outcomes’ side of the model.

Innovation

Innovation when truly effective arises out of a desire to make things better, to solve problems or to master new skills. It is a creative process which needs to be owned by the innovator. It is often a cycle that requires experimentation, trial and error, revision and refining. Despite the prescription education has experienced teaching remains a creative profession; in an environment where fear of failure or blame is eliminated teachers are free to innovate and take risks.

Motivation

Encouraging intrinsic motivators or developing the ‘pull’ will mean changing the narrative that drives the school. Do the stories told in staff meetings or on teacher days reinforce the perception of ‘done to’ or do they harness the drives of autonomy and mastery that Pink refers to?  One way companies are doing this is described in Drive, the concept of ‘FedEx Day’s. Developed by the Australian company Atlassian, workers are given a day to work on anything they want to, as long as it is not part of their regular job. The next day they have to report back to their colleagues with what they have created. What would happen if teacher days were like this and what would be achieved?

Engagement

On such days would teachers lose themselves and become so engaged in their non-commissioned work that they achieved the state of ‘flow’ or ‘completely focussed motivation’ (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi ) Having experienced such engagement, what learning or higher level of performance might result. Just take a look at twitter and see how many teachers are engaged in passionate debate about their work or look to number voluntarily sharing their resources and ideas via the TES. There is evidence of an engaged profession. How well does the school encourage this engagement, or celebrate the climate of meaningful purpose along with behaviours associated by going the extra mile and a generosity of spirit that arise from it.

And finally, what of the new headteacher who inherits a school in crisis, for whom there is so much that has to be done quickly. Pacesetting, authoritative and sometimes coercive leadership styles seem the obvious way to begin? Just a word of caution, how many of the teachers in those schools have been de skilled and lost their professional self-confidence by negative messages and differing advice from external experts? Whilst it might be appealing to believe that the only way to improve the school is to refer to extrinsic drivers, the latest Ofsted framework or targets; it is worth considering the impact of extrinsic drivers on motivation and understanding that compliance is not real and embedded change.

I have come to the conclusion that it is not what we do that needs to change but how we do it. The spirit that lies behind what we do needs challenging. We also need to develop a strong belief in the profession to find its own solutions. Improving from WithIn offers a model for school improvement which requires a different approach and leaders who are brave enough to loose the reins and let the creativity and resourcefulness of their staff flourish.

Sue Iqbal © Improving from WithIn October 2012

 

References:

Daniel Pink, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, (2009)

Richard Boyatzis, Intentional Change Theory, Richard E. Boyatzis, (2006) “An overview of intentional change from a complexity perspective”, Journal of Management Development,

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, (1990)

 

It would be fair to say that Islamabad Airport presents a picture of the current state of the country whose capital city it is named after. Actually, in the good old Pakistani tradition, it has been renamed by the current government as the Benazir Bhutto International Airport. If there is a change of government at the next election, it could be renamed as Nawaz Sharif or Imran Khan Airport. Let’s wait and see.

This airport is main entry point for foreign visitors to enter Pakistan and gain their first impressions of the country and its people and where they breathe a sigh of relief when sitting in the departures lounge, having probably decided never to return.

 

When left the airport in my current home of Birmingham, checking in was the quickest and most orderly I had ever experienced. But, when leaving Pakistan I had decided to arrive in plenty of time; at least three hours recommended on my ticket. I had a bag full of books’ with plans to buy a couple more from the duty free shop. So the more time, the better. Sadly, in the end I was left with little reading time.

 

There were a number of flights leaving around the same time. Nothing unusual about that, given it’s an airport and an international one. But given it was built many decades ago, the staff and the systems (is there such a thing!) are unable to cope with the demands of today.

 

Anyway, I entered the airport and joined one queue after another. The place was crowded beyond limits, with passengers but also with staff, with their varying uniforms to, no doubt, denote different roles and status. Perhaps they will downsize when the new airport opens next year or find them real jobs within a proper system.

 

After at least a couple of hours of just standing around in a noisy environment, I did not know whether I would be finished in time to catch my plane, given all the queue jumping that was going on assisted by the airport’s employees. It was now that I began to get agitated. My friends and family will bear me out that it takes some doing to get me worked up like this. An airport employee, almost in the passing, had told me that I needed at least one, possibly two copies of my passport, duly verified by someone somewhere at the airport. I thought to myself why had I not been told about this before, especially as the practice had been in place for a few years. I thought they could have told me when I booked my ticket on the Internet, when the airline staff phoned me soon after I had booked my ticket or even when I was phoned in the village, twice, to be told the plane had been delayed. Why wait till now when I am three or four people away from being given my boarding pass? So, I said to the staff member that I was not now going to drag my suitcase and hand-luggage, heavily laden with my reading books, across to the other side of the airport so that I can photocopy my passport to satisfy some jobsworth. I said I would take my chance and see what happens when I reach the end of the queue. I thought they can photocopy my passport if they want to.

 

So the wait continued. A little while later, when I was probably two people from the end, the man behind me said that he also did not have copies of passport. By this time I had come off my the proverbial high horse. I said to him: “how about he keeps and eye on my luggage while I copy my passport and when I return I could watch his stuff so that he can do his copying?” He seemed a trusting sort, a big thing in such a low-trust environment of the airport and country generally. He gave me his passport and said that I could copy it for him and he would pay me. I took his passport and went away for a few minutes and got the job done. When I gave it to him he offered to compensate me for the cost incurred. I said “no worries” and refused to take the money. We didn’t really start up a conversation as happens with me often. We did not find out where we were from, where we were going, even our names. Just as I was about to go forward, I saw the man helping the lady behind him and then, refusing to take her money. Who knows she might have done the same for the person behind her and the little act of generosity -costing me 70 Rupees, 50 pence in English money , just enough to get on the bus for one stop- might have continued forever along the long line of passengers desperate to catch their plane!