LEARNING TO DROP THAT TEACHER'S ROBE











“When the student is ready, the teacher appears.”

Well, it’s very old and accepted.

How about this one: “When the teacher is ready, the student appears”?

Frankly, I believe, the second one is as old and as profound as the first one… Dare I say this: It may not be as accepted as the first one… but, certainly, it is more profound!

Like all, I have been a ‘classroom student’ long before I became a ‘classroom teacher’. Today, I feel flattered – often get carried away – when hundreds of my students compliment me, wish me, praise me, glorify me on days like today – ‘A Teacher’s Day’… When many of them say that I had been their ‘Best teacher’… ‘Favourite teacher’ etc., I find myself smiling with a deep sense of surprise and embarrassment… It takes me back to my own school and college days…

Was I a bright, brilliant, the Best student during any of those years?

Far from it!

Was I a favorite of any of my teachers?

I don’t think ‘feeling’ so!

But, were there my most favorite, most inspiring… the Best teachers in my life?

Yes, there were and I still remember them.

Today, when I reflect on this phenomenon called – ‘My most favourite teacher’... ‘My most inspiring teacher’… ‘The Best teacher’ etc, I have the simple wisdom to understand how that had happened… Yes, when those teachers came my life, I was ‘awake’… I was ‘ready’…

It is said, “No one can teach you; yet, you can learn.”

Read that again: “No one can teach you; yet, you can learn!”

We all are able to learn from our teachers – both inside and outside the classrooms – only when we make ourselves ‘teachable’. That openness, that willingness to learn is what the readiness all about…

And, have we not heard this: “Teaching is twice learning”?

That’s what fascinates me about my profession… I feel blessed when students feel I have been one of their favourites… inspiring… the Best and all that. But, frankly, there have been hundreds of students, I have not been able to ‘touch’, make any difference… It is just not possible in life.

So, was it because, when the student came in my life, I was not ready?

Seriously, a student does appear in a teacher’s life… to teach the teacher… It’s all about making oneself ready to learn… and, drop that ‘Best-teacher robe’ one tends to slip into, often!

A Happy Teacher’s Day to all my students, who keep me awake and ready… teachable!


GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.: Arundhati Sen

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi...
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How ...
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or pain...
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...