Chapter 18

"He seemed offended that we were spending money on orphanages and the factory town instead of financing his military. He didn't even care about what we were trying to do as long as he got the money for his military spending. We need to strengthen our military as soon as possible."

Fateh Chand recounted his meeting with the Nawab to his sons and grandsons. He was getting annoyed by the Nawab's attitude of treating him like one of his servants. As his foundations were strengthening, the Nawab was forgetting Fateh Chand's contributions to his rise.

Having lived as a businessman all his life, Fateh Chand had resigned to his fate of submitting to those in power to a certain extent. But in his final years, he met Vir and his thoughts began to change. He was learning new methods of growing the family's power and influence.

"He is blatantly trying to make Vir his grandson's follower. Unlike before, he isn't even disguising his ambition of completely swallowing our family." Swarup didn't hide his anger and gritted his teeth while cursing at the Nawab.

"Alivardi knows that we need his army's protection to keep our family and our wealth safe. We can't act out since there was an invasion just a while ago. That's why he is getting bolder. We need his support to make money and his protection to keep it safe. We are in a lower position."

Unlike Swarup, Madhab calmly analyzed the situation. But contrary to his calm voice, his eyes and expression were cold enough to cool down the temperature of the room.

Fateh Chand chuckled at his grandsons' reactions, "You two should calm down. We are playing the long game, we will automatically win if we just survive longer. Just hold on and continue the plans to strengthen the family. As for Vir meeting Alivardi's grandson, I think Alivardi is doing us a favor instead. Can't Vir handle some spoiled brat?"

At Fateh Chand's words, the group turned to look at Vir who was sitting at the side smiling calmly. Laughter erupted all at once in the room. They could imagine Alivardi's grandson dancing in the palm of Vir's hand.

Although Vir was smiling on the outside, he was very nervous on the inside. Although he was in a child's body, he was able to handle adults easily because they were all mostly rational and engaged in conversation. He could use logic and reasoning on them.

But Vir wasn't confident that he could do the same with a child. Children by nature are not very susceptible to logic and reasoning. You can't force them into a conversation or a debate either. Unless the child is very well-mannered, just making them listen is a chore.

Siraj-ud-daula, Alivardi's grandson, as Vir had read in history books was as unreasonable as a person can get. He had grown up being pampered and having all his wishes fulfilled from the moment of his birth. For Siraj, there had never been a thing called compromise or reason.

His father ruled over a large part of Bihar and his grandfather ruled over all of Bihar, Bengal, and Orissa. For Siraj, who was Alivardi's favorite grandson, there had never been anyone who even raised their head or answered back against him.

"Are you nervous, Vir?" Fateh Chand who saw through Vir's smile spoke to Vir. "You don't have to worry too much. We don't expect you to control that kid. If push comes to shove, you can just act like you are compliant with him until our family has enough strength."

The others also nodded with solemn expressions. Nobody wanted to put too much pressure on Vir whom they were beginning to consider the future of their family.

Swarup echoed the sentiment, "Yes, even if you have to act, you just have to hold on for a few years until we become strong enough to not have to look at Alivardi for protection."

Vir nodded with a brighter smile at the encouragement. But, unlike the concerned adults, Vir's thoughts were wandering to a completely different place. He was already thinking of whether he should have Siraj assassinated.

'Should I poison him with lead? The poisonous effects of lead aren't common knowledge yet. So if I just get him addicted to candy made with lead, I could poison him easily.'

Even if Siraj doesn't instantly die from lead poisoning, he will become weaker and prone to sickness over time.

But Vir decided against the plan. Siraj's death would not provide him with any benefits. It would only twist the original history that he knew and his advantage of foreknowledge would be gone.

'Am I calculating the profits to be gained from people's deaths? It's inevitable since I have come to this time but it doesn't feel good becoming insensitive to human lives even if they are enemies or just a piece of shit. I need to remind myself often to not become completely insensitive.'

Vir was conflicted by his modern sensibilities clashing with the other half of his mind that was adapting to the violent world of the 18th century. He didn't want to completely lose his morality and sensibilities that he learned in his past life. Those were the things he wanted to transplant into the people of this time.

...

It had been over a month since the training for the teachers had started. A lot of progress had been made during this time. The excitement among the teachers to quickly apply the new techniques and teach new students was boiling over.

After many trials and experiments, a regular format for the training was finally decided a week into the training. In the morning, Vir would talk about his philosophy about teaching and teachers. It was just the things he had read and felt in his past life.

The teachers were immersed in the concepts explained by Vir. A teacher needed to be very dignified but they also needed to have a lot of humility. Teachers are equivalent to parents and should act as such.

Concepts that idolized teachers already existed during this time but Vir added the concept of responsibilities for teachers who enjoyed the idolization. The currently existing teaching methods were too one-sided with teachers lacking responsibility and accountability.

There was also training regarding the teaching method where interactive teaching was encouraged to the teachers. Instead of making the students just memorize everything, the teachers were trained to explain the concepts with examples and stories.

Vir was pouring out everything he could remember from social media posts, documentaries, and complaints from people about the education system. Vir's thoughts were simple, if the education system was made to be flexible and adaptable, it should be fine.

After the morning lectures, about four to six hours were used for daily question-and-answer sessions. Each day of the week was specified for a different subject with additional time used for miscellaneous questions.

After the question and answer ended, the teachers were allowed free discussions. That was the end of the training schedule so Vir had suggested the teachers form groups or clubs based on their subjects of interest and conduct in-depth studies of their subjects of choice.

All the foreign books collected by Vir had already been transferred to a makeshift library in the mansion. Thankfully there were a few teachers who had learned English and French so they became the translators and language teachers for the others.

For Dutch and Latin, Vir hired translators to help the teachers. Vir also encouraged the teachers to at least learn English or French if they had spare time. Quite a few teachers showed interest in that instead of joining a club to study a specific subject. So Vir hired teachers for them as well.

So, every day after lunch, the teachers would gather in groups to study the different subjects or foreign languages. The largest group was those who were learning the languages with almost half of the teachers. The rest of them were in groups of 5-10 people each.

Hindustani, social studies, and agriculture had the least number of participants in their clubs. Maths, science, and logic were popular among the ambitious teachers who had heard about the Westerners using their knowledge and inventions to become rich.

There were many discussions among the teachers regarding the concepts in the Western books that contradicted the concepts written in Vir's book or things that the teachers had learned from their teachers.

A female teacher argued in a loud voice, "There are ancient texts that talk about tiny organisms that are not visible to the naked eye but they are harmful to humans. So, I am inclined to believe this theory that 'germs' cause diseases instead of some angry spirit or any miasma."

Vir who happened to overhear the argument hid behind the table and acted like he was reading a book. Hidden from view, he intently listened in on the argument between the teachers.

Although it was awkward in the beginning, the male and female teachers had begun to become comfortable enough to have discussions and simple conversations with each other. Vir had warned them about not distancing people based on gender but also keeping things professional.

"If we think about it scientifically, I am more in favor of Miss. Amira's opinion. But there isn't any proof for her claims either. By definition, organisms that are too small to be seen by the naked eye are hard to provide as proof. And I am also skeptical that such a tiny organism if it exists, can affect a human's health." A thin scholarly man who seemed to be acting as a mediator for the discussion provided his opinion on the matter.

The man opposite Miss. Amira spoke with a triumphant smile, "That's what I am saying. At least you can prove the existence of miasma. The theories of spirit or germs are the same as long as we can't prove them. Teacher Raman brought up a good point too. Elephants barely feel anything from ants, but we are talking about even smaller organisms."

Vir felt gratified hearing the discussion that was taking place. People were actively questioning everything including the things that he had written in his books. Although he had not added any concept that was too advanced for the times, the books Vir had written cleared up some of the misconceptions of the times like the theory of diseases.

Although there were some voices regarding the germ theory in Europe, most academics of the time were opposed to the idea. And in India, while there was some reference to microorganisms in ancient texts, superstitions prevailed in most parts.

Miss. Amira counteracted with her theory, "A single ant is indeed unable to affect an elephant. But what if a whole colony of ants attacked? If there are thousands upon thousands of small organisms in our body, couldn't they affect us?"

The discussions continued for a long time with arguments and counterarguments continuously fired between the people. Vir enjoyed the discussions from afar and left without adding his opinions to the discussion.

The next day, during the morning lecture, Vir brought out the three unique devices on the podium. The teachers were very curious about the identity of the strange apparatuses.

"The other day, I overheard a discussion between some teachers about the germ theory." Vir began with the context. The people involved in the discussions were embarrassed. They were technically questioning Vir's books so they felt that Vir was offended.

Vir continued, "I was very glad that the teachers were putting the idea of scientific thinking and logical deductions into practice. I hope this spirit continues among all the teachers and is passed down to the students as well."

The teachers were stunned at the compliment and their lips rose to a proud smile. But Vir dashed their pride right away, "But there was something I was disappointed about."

Amira asked out loud with concern and panic, "Did we do something wrong? Were we offensive while discussing? I'm sorry for bringing up the topic."

Vir was dumbfounded that the woman who stood her ground with aggression during the discussion was so timid and anxious in a normal setting.

"No, it's not that. Please calm down Teacher Amira. As I was saying, I was disappointed that everyone discussed the theories but nobody thought about a solution to end the discussion and prove their theory." Vir explained. He wanted to use this as a lesson for the teachers.