From the Diary of a Teacher
‘ Teacher could you do what you ask us to do? Could you sit beside a friend and speak not too?’ mused a child.
The evening bell rang and it is cacophony all around. A sight to behold if you are just an onlooker-with students at their racing best, weary teachers close behind and not to miss the parents & chauffeurs just as hawks, waiting to pounce. A mad rush -all around those adorable angels who can twirl to little devils in no time.
Are these my very own students? Why this trepidation? By now they are a part of my being, a bundle of contradiction. They pull my nerves apart as I pull them all together but bring a cheer to my heart each time I feel like a lost lass. They make sure I carry a red ink pen by reiterating the same errors over and over but check each time I falter, to make me learn much faster. They scream so loud that my voice so feeble is lost most often but treat me with their little joy and make me feel I’m their world.
It is a marvel how they do it all the same- Living for the moment, being one with the world, laughing and weeping at the same instant. If only I could, I would gladly trade anything for that, even if it means hell let loose.
Looking back I wonder where I left my back pack of instant joy- the delight of licking a friend’s ice-cream, the elation of being the sole winner, the jubilation of trotting along the stretch of sand- picking up shells to build my castle….
As I trace back those imprints of bygone years, I realize how I altered my natural self to yet another being. Oh! A teacher am I? To their tiny eyes I’m the ‘know all being’. I have put on a pair of shoes perhaps much larger than my feet can hold. I know for sure, the path I tread, leads many a little foot. Each of my footsteps are caught and tried. My path should be clear, my footsteps steady. Not a single soul should be forlorn as long as I lead. I value each day of my life with them and savor it moment by moment. I turn each calendar page with fulfillment as my students teach me the art of living.
I am blessed and I proudly succumb to them, as ‘I know that I know nothing.’
Aparna Dinesh
12/02/2007
