A Homage to The Teachers of My Life

The influence of teachers extends beyond the classroom, well into the future. – F. Sionil Jose

Hello friends! Wish you all a very happy Teacher’s Day and our remembrance to Sri Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, the first Vice President of India, on his birthday. He was a respected teacher, a philosopher and a statesman. On this day we pay homage to all the teachers and life teachers who, with their painstaking perseverance with us, helped us to carve out a niche for ourselves in this world.

Its the sum total of teachers’ valuable guidance, which mould the shapeless clay into a fine art. The teachers enhance our traditional education and knowledge. The life teachers are the one who relentlessly provide us with precious inputs to navigate through the trials and tribulations of life, successfully.

Today I would like to specially thank my school’s principal when I was in class five, Vajpayee Sir. He was a national award winner for the Best Teacher’s Award and received the prize from the President of India. He had a keen eye and watched each of the children of the school like a mentor. He would call the children individually if he detected any anomaly and asked the chlid to rectify it .

Once I was called to his chamber. With lots of apprehensions  when I entered, he ordered me in a stoic voice, to pick up a book and put it on my head. I was puzzled, yet complied, he then  asked me to walk. I obeyed and did it with great concentrationfor the next five minutes, “That’s it”,he murmured ,”From now on you will walk as if a book is balanced on your head. You tend to walk with hunched shoulders, this will rectify it”.

Believe me , when ever afterwards I got up to walk, his gentle words reverberated in my mind and I sincerely followed his instruction. Soon the flaw in my walking posture is corrected. I got the confidence to walk straight. In so many  students, he was able to spot individual flaws and ensured that it was duely corrected. Hat’s off to him!

Among life teachers I  must thank my parents and most particularly my mother in law and my husband. When I got married, I was merely a twenty year old doing her graduation, as it wasn’t considered anything unusual at that time. After marriage,  my mother in law took me affectionately under her tutelage as I practically knew nothing about running a household. With lots of patience and care she taught me the tricks of the trade, right from the scratch. Now I can safely certify myself a seasoned housewife, credit goes to my mother in law, the teacher!

At last but not the least my gratitude goes to my husband (as the saying goes, Pati Param Guru), for convincing me to persue my studies. It’s only due to his encouragement, I managed to secure my Bachelor in Education (B Ed) and Masters in History and then in Education respectively. I did it along side taking care of the education of my children!

Today I can vouch that all these people’s priceless guidance which turned a shy little girl into a self confident woman who can negotiate through life with conviction. I bow to thee!

Wishing you all health, happiness and peace.
Adieu for now.

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