The Beginning of a meaningful life

A life of fulfillment and creation…

- Ajitha Paladugu

I vividly remember my very first teaching assignment in a school in Gujarat. I was fresh out of college and just emerged out of the cocoon of the academic world. I had come home to spend the summer vacation with my parents who happen to be educators themselves. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do next. In the meantime, my dad had dropped off a couple of resumes in schools nearby. The very next day that I had landed in my parent's place, I was called for an interview. After a grueling recruitment process that included written tests, GD and a panel interview, I was informed of my selection and given a letter of appointment.

That was my very first taste of 'success' and I lapped it up with glee not realizing at that time how ill-prepared and ill-equipped I was for the daunting task ahead, when I plunged head long into this unchartered territory. It was definitely no cake walk! The school was a residential school with children from classes I to VII – most of them were children of NRIs. Imagine that! A brief training module for 3 days did little in terms of prepping me up for the onslaught of wailing children and inconsolable parents handing over the charge of the little ones to a bunch of freshers (with no prior experience of handling children, forget about educating them!) The parents and their wards experiencing separation anxiety, made us the teachers, look like villains.