My Teacher

What makes him what he is.

- Elsa Lycias Joel

Teachers’ Day is the day when we get the opportunity to gather the courage to simply take an extra step to give away a smile and wish the most dreaded teacher a happy Teachers’ Day and expect something really nice in return. This used to be a ‘once upon a time’ stunt of mine. As we really experience the impact of teachers in our lives we cannot but remain eternally grateful to what they have been to us. Parents are our first teachers who never get paid in cash but pay a price for what and how a child turns out to be. Over the years of bringing up a child parents also learn a lot of life’s lessons. In a way children also play the role of teachers.

I remember my school days at CSI Matriculation School, Nagercoil. Most students came from well-to-do families. Still, surnames or known names meant something to many. In that small town where doctors and people with private institutions were looked upon as sultans by most people, a few teachers just didn’t care to be partial. A few teachers encouraged, coaxed and applauded every child’s effort in class. Placing on record my loud gratitude to this handful happens many a time when I realise they did play their best parts.

University education, marriage, kids and demands that grew with every stage of their growth, diplomacy and goodwill within our families and towards extended families, jobs and promotions, easy and difficult neighbours, making new and cherishing old friends and for being the humans we want ourselves to be, every day we learn and unlearn extending the process of teaching and learning beyond classrooms.