It all adds up to a set of rules. Mathematical rules. Miss one step and your efforts are wasted. As a retired Maths teacher, Balearansing Ramdhony, author of the play In a Tear and In a Smile, could – I’m sure – write a whole book on the merits of precision. You know, this constant concern which makes you look up the meaning of words in a dictionary before you use them. This ever-itching need to polish sentences which drives pens bent on creative writing.

Sure, it takes time and energy to lift the bulky thing off a shelf. And then, there’s the sheer annoyance of flipping through the pages. But technology has made it possible to have electronic versions at the tip of the keyboard. Less than a minute – I checked – to know that “sacrify” is unknown to users of the English language.

What about poetic license, you’ll say? Of course it is never out of place in a play, especially In a Tear and In a Smile. Readers are supposed to smile at the happy ending arranged by the playwright, not be amused by his clumsiness with language.

A play is not just pretty dialogue; it is about talking to get somewhere. Ralph and Juanita’s teacher-pupil romance takes too long to unravel. Too many civilities negatively affect the play’s rhythm. We even tend to rapidly scan the lines to skip introductory sentences.

The subject is gripping enough: a schoolgirl who is irresistibly drawn to her teacher. The opening scene of the third act, where Ralph, the love-stricken teacher, talks to a photograph of his pupil, because he does not understand why she shies away from him, is particularly affecting.

The conversation turns into a hallucination. Lost in his dream, the lonely lover hears the voice of the absent one, sees the eyes of Juanita move, fall on him, follow his movements and even cry. Difficult to stage but powerful. The clashes between Juanita and her elder sister Anita provide strong moments too. Action, which shows that Balearansing Ramdhony can get over his rambling habits.

In a Tear and In a Smile is a play in five acts published by Star Publications, India. Its ambition: handing out advice to teenagers. Even if it chooses the long way round to reach the target, we cannot but commend this first literary effort from Balearansing Ramdhony of Vacoas.