As I clean my desk, I stumble upon my class 10 scrapbook, filled days before I passed out of my beloved Alma mater, St.Johns High school. Unable to contain my excitement I flip through a couple of pages and smile and laugh . As I reach the last page, my eyes dart to a message scribbled in red ink, it reads “May God be with you in every test (math’s!) of your life… best wishes, Grover Ma’am! “. I let out a little laugh and my eyes feel moist.
The calendar approaches the 5th of September, indeed a very special day in the lives of our dear teachers and beloved mentors. Formally celebrated as ‘teachers day’ across the nation in honour of the birthday of the second President of India, academic philosopher Dr. sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.
As far as my memory takes me, for this special day we’d all visit the local florist a day before to pick and choose beautiful flowers ranging from the pretty crimson and sun-kissed yellow roses to the sweet scented tuberose. How can we forget picking up those greeting cards from the local bookshop and then filling them up withpleasing yet meaningful messages. On the T-day itself, going from class to class and handing over those magnificent bouquets and cards and seeking blessings from our teachers. And then again for good grades and ‘peaceful’ PTMs wishing the dreaded teachers was customary! The entire atmosphere was full of fun and frolic where all teachers and students reported to school as usual but the mundane activities and classes were replaced by activities of celebration, thanks and remembrance. The responsibility of teaching was taken up by the senior students to show appreciation for their teachers. A special drama was staged in the school auditorium where the students dressed up as teachers and enacted them, leaving everyone in splits of laughter!
My paternal grandfather, a retired physics professor, feels grieved at fast depleting teacher-student relations. As time has wound its way through the cosmic clock, the quintessential relationship between teachers and students has undergone a metamorphosis. The personal touch is missing, where crucial ingredients like respect and awe seem to be fading away. Students have become casual and disrespectful towards the ones who not only impart mere knowledge of numbers or letters or facts but inspired hope in us when we felt dejected, ignited our imaginations and instilled in us the golden virtues of patience, humility , et all. We must never forget, if it were not for our dear teachers we would have never been what we are today.
For this teachers day, I am reminded of these awe-inspiring lines by Dan Rather, “ The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called ‘thruth’” . For you dear teacher, a thousand times over .
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