I still vividly remember an instance of my childhood, where a fortune teller told me that I have the "good luck" to become a doctor, and asked me "how do you like it?", and I quickly said "I d rather like to be a teacher" and he was not even a bit happy about what my reaction to his prediction.
I have proven him, I am not a doctor, and I am closely related to academics, and have been a teacher. And it gives me immense happiness.
September 5th- A day in India when everyone likes to celebrate Teacher's day in the memory of Sarvepalli Radhakrishna, each person having his/her own reasons to celebrate being under a teacher. I cannot deny that I was once with the crowd for celebration just to avoid classes. But this was during the second year of inter at Narayana Junior College (that explains a lot doesn't it). Teaching is seriously not everyone's forte, and I have had some horrible teachers whom I wish to ignore.
This year, Teacher's Day brought a lot of things to my mind. I was on my way to Mangalore, and in the airport I realized that the book I carried was checked in, and I had nothing else to do till I could board the flight. So I went and helped myself with a book. The book that first caught my eye was "To Sir, With Love" By E.R. Braithwaite, and I believe the celebration began from the moment I bought it. I was pretty unwell, but I gathered all energy to make a phone call and wish two very special teachers in my life- my Zoology sir who took lessons in the first year, and my first French professor. They mean a lot to me, and everyone knows how much. But I want to dedicate this post to a few more people.
1. Mrs. Jessica Simon- Honestly, she was someone who scared the hell out of me, and I have spent many nights praying that she should not be my teacher. And later, every moment I regret that my prayers were heard. But the divinity taught me a lesson about being careful while asking things in prayer, and I have been careful ever since. She took may be 5 lessons of social studies at the max, and spent about a week with us, but I cherish all those moments listening to her in awe. She had a very bad temper, I agree. But in today's world we compromise with the temper of certain people who don't deserve it. She was someone who lost her cool only when things went out of control. When in class, she was the ONLY (yes, I dare to use caps to emphasize "only") modest, humble, patient, responsible, caring, mature, and rockingly cool teacher in that entire school. I remember meeting her at a public place once, and I was frozen as though I met an angel, and believe me, she asked me questions about me as a guardian angel would care, and told it in a way a sister would tell.
2. Mrs. Shiela Rao: A woman who taught me to appreciate myself, she taught me how to fight, how to face odd things that happened to me in school, and of all how not to take shit from others. If you haven't guessed it yet, she was a sports teacher in the complete sense. I still remember that day in school when she scolded the girl who bullied me for years. She brought that girl down to tears, and it at least kept her away from me. That was something I could certainly not have done. The way she loved herself, and taught me not to be scared to speak out or punch a person on the face and so many other things, make me celebrate and be happy about what I am till today. Once she told us all that she doesn't care if we didn't wish her on Teacher's Day. But if we had her in our mind for even the shortest fraction of a second during moments of triumph in our lives, she said it was her achievement. As far as I am concerned, I have her in my mind in the most respectable place whenever I achieve anything big or small.
3. Mr. C. V. Pragash: My mother sent me to tuitions as she could not sit with me to help me with studies. I did have tough times in his classes, but in due course of time, within two terms, I recovered from a lot of emotional trauma. I started finding solace in studying, and in getting good marks. He cared for every student as his own child, and balanced classes quite well. I owe all the credits to him for having changed my attitude towards mathematics, and making me like it. Now I have to get back to it, as the teachers in my UG have totally torn it apart, and I feel lost even while making simple calculations. If I got back to teaching, he would certainly be very proud of me.
4. Dr Latha Surendra: She was comfortably over 50 when she taught us Chemistry in our UG. If it wasn't for her, I would have surely not even completed my basic education given how horrible the quality of education was at UG. There was a charm of pure intelligence in her face, and her smile would put us at ease or discomfort, depending on what she actually wants us to feel. Something I never forget till date about what she said "...and life goes on". There will be things that trouble us, but life goes on, and we can't stop. I still respect her for what I have got from being her student.
5. Dr. Sarala Mahidra: Attending language classes will be a bore unless you have someone stern or it is your personal interest to attend it. But a person being stern enough to make you develop an interest to attend a language class is very rare. She is a woman of poise! Way shorter than me, but her aura of knowledge in her field, and the confidence in knowing what comes out of her mouth made a solid impression of her in my mind and heart. I doubt that I will ever be the very soft voiced teacher in class, because my role model Mrs. Sarala was someone who would ensure she is well heard. I get a good lot of inspiration from her to be a good teacher.
Sadly, I have moved out of teaching for the past few months, and I have suddenly started to regret that. "Life goes on..", and I can teach again as I really want to. Now I would like to add about a colleague who inspired me to get back to teaching. He was so happy talking about how much teaching made him evolve, and how he looked at it, and it was quite intense and passionate. Closer to the very end of the listening, I added that I was a teacher once, so I can totally understand what he felt, and how he looks at it, because I have enjoyed such moments as a teacher. I began to introspect why should I deny myself of that feeling when I don't really have to. With so many great teachers in my life, and the blessing of being in the line of academics, I am once again inspired to teach.
