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This Indian drama is set within a tiny village in the Haharashtra desert during the 1940s and chronicles the experiences of the rookie schoolteacher who has been sent there to educate the shepherds' children. Unfortunately, the simple sheepherders are suspicious of teachers, and he is anything but welcome. Fortunately, one old man and his granddaughter take him in. Now he must somehow convince the reluctant children to come to school. This is difficult, as their parents need the youngsters to oversee the flocks. To make it worse, the villagers have the teacher run a string of sometimes embarrassing errands for them. Somehow the poor fellow's teaching experience is nothing like he had hoped it would be. The plot is based on a 1953 novel by Vyankatesh Madgulkar; he also wrote the screenplay.