I got ready to the school and wished my husband a ‘Good day’ and said, ‘Oh! My God, it’s been 5 years since I joined the school as a teacher. He said ‘So you are one of the best students from 5 years now’ as we both knew ‘The best teacher is the best student’….
My School is educational hub which educates the seed (Nursery) and grows it to a teen age plant(SSLC). Not Bad, I thought; I am 30 minutes early to the school (Usually I reach only 5 minutes before the prayers). Sat on the chair inside the staff room, had a cursory look over the news paper…. Later within 15-20 minutes so many interesting events caught my eyes….
n I could see a little girl holding a flower and giving it to the teacher, once the teacher said ‘Thanks’ and patted her, the world was in her hands… I am sure earning few lakhs a month after she grows up will not make her so happy….
n Few children were sharing their breakfast, it seemed as though every child enjoyed the friend’s food better than his/hers.
n Within few minutes the colour dressed cute boy was surrounded by friends. Obviously, the Birthday boy and has lots of chocolates in the hand!
n For a minute, I wondered, ‘Are there so many games to play?’…. I could see kids playing ‘Ring a ring a roses’, ‘kalla police’, ‘ Skipping’, ‘Hide and seek’, ‘Fire in the mountain run run run’ Oops!! Few games which I never played nor heard of…. Also, Serious practice of ‘Throw ball’, ‘Cricket’, ‘Volley Ball’, ‘Kho-kho’ from high school students were part of my observation.
n The common sight of ‘Secret’ telling among the kids was also not missed out…. I saw a girl whispering the ‘secret’ to her friend in the ears even though I could find no body around them
n I over heard the conversation between the 2 kids(I guess U.K.G students). One said, ‘I am ‘say’ with you and never ever will be ‘two’ again…. And the other boy was ready with a chocolate for him. (Ha ha, I really wonder how powerful these ‘two’ , ‘say’ words are…. To be frank, being a teacher I don’t even know how to spell these 2 words rightly in this context)…..
Without my knowledge there was a ‘Smile’ on my face…. I don’t know about others but I was part of all these little events when I was young…. I don’t even dare to ask people if they have experienced all these in their ‘child hood’, if they have not then ‘A teacher’ will be called ‘childish’, I don’t want to take this riskJ…. But, something tells me, no matter how the time changes, these will be part of kids life.
It was not all over….
I could see few future nation builders in the same campus. ‘The high school students’! How and when did they enter into such a different world from the ‘World of kids’? They were busy discussing academic subjects, current affairs, elections conducted within school, regarding new vehicles in the market, movies, film stars, a hotel to go for a treat after the school, their first love, their crushes, exams, model question papers, inter school cricket competition etc etc…. Fun filled yet constructive, powerful talk and thoughts!
‘Tring, ‘Tring’, the bell rang and I mechanically joined the group of teachers in the assembly hall for the ‘prayers’ to start the ‘Good day’.
I have always been advised from my dear one to stop thinking but the thought of those 15-20 minutes was carried along with me to my home. I sat in the balcony with a cup of ‘coffee’ and thought, school is such a important place in one’s life and also the teachers….
As far as I am concerned, I have found my teachers not only in my school but in other places as well. I always found a teacher in a friend, in parents, in husband, in collogues, in neighbors, in a car driver who taught me driving, in seniors, in juniors, in children, in strangers, in animals, in birds….(the list continues, because I never thought being a student is inferior as I know ‘the best teacher is the best student’ and ‘the best student is the best teacher’)
Teaching for me is never a teaching which is thought formally it is just a lecture. The teachings for lifetime may come as casually and as unexpectedly. To recollect a few….
*My closest of friends, very very casually said this sentence once in our college days (I am sure even she won’t remember it now)…. She said, “It is the same hands that hug your husband and it is the same hands that hug your child…. All is in your mind!!!!”…. Think of it….
* I remember, First day of my first job. One of my seniors told me “Interest to learn and the commitment to work will take you to heights…. Don’t get tensed if you are new to some thing, if you don’t know now, you will definitely know it the next day!”…. Don’t you think it holds good for everything in life?
* The teachings from my parents “If you cannot do good to someone, don’t atleast do bad”
* Now, the teachings from my husband
--“Race against yourself and be the best competitor for yourself. Grow up, be better than yesterday and see where you reach….
--“In life, use the ‘past’ is like a ‘rare view mirror, look forward to drive, if you constantly look at the ‘rare view mirror’and drive, you will crash!
--His thought in my words, “Shut up and eat what you get, no comments on food, please”
--“Enjoy the ‘Black forest’ which is there in the hand rather than cribbing over a small cola/lolly which you used to eat….
--“Harsh but truth, ‘It is you, you and only you… always”
-- “Don’t assume things
--“Think it over, ‘what have we done to the society?” (This one surprised me and also always scares me…. ‘If such grown ups think like this then where will I go?’….
--“Read, read and read…. Acquire knowledge”
These are only very very few and will be thought only once…. The teaching continues but you will never know from whom, when and where….
Suddenly, I saw the time, Oops! Its already 7 P.M….. I came inside my room from the balcony, saw the photo of God hanged over the wall and prayed “God! Help me in realizing and acting like what has been taught.…. Teach, teach and teach me, always”
I went out to open the main door after hearing the sound ‘Tak, tak’….
“My teachers, you will be silently saluted, may be not always but atleast once”
