IT DOESN'T JUST HAPPEN WHEN YOU LAY THERE IN THE TREE-SHADE, DAY-DREAMING

As a teacher, I have a greater responsibility: to sensitize my students towards their vocations in life. Teaching my subjects and helping them to score well in exams, I seriously think, are incidental to my basic responsibility…

But then, it’s not easy to fulfill this responsibility. The teachers are just like parents… They love and care for their students’ and children's future… But, when it comes to helping them to choose their vocation, there is only so much they can do…

Every day in my class, I try to do my bit to sensitize my students, drilling in their minds the need to listen to their hearts… Be alone and look within… Look at their icons in life… Identify the thoughts that make them the happiest… The work they would do without being told, without minding the work-hours or the money they would earn… The field where they would add value to the society, empower others as much as they do to themselves… I tell them to look within and find what would help them to express their uniqueness and explore their maximum potential… “Are you in touch with your God-given talents? Are you in touch with your innate strengths and weaknesses? Are you spending time and energy in honing the technical and soft skills needed to progress in life? Do you have the ambition and clarity needed to progress? Are you ready to work hard and with discipline? Who are your role-models? Do you feel the goose bumps every time you think of them? Do you watch the related videos, read the related books, go beyond your text books and coaching classes?” I ask them.

I have been able to help many, many, many young boys and girls to score well in their exams. But, honestly, I have not been very, very successful in igniting in them the ambition to shine in life… That has been one of my biggest regrets, as a teacher…

When I decided to become a teacher in life… The desire to do so just came from within. I was an extremely shy and scared teenager… I suffered from a killing inferiority-complex… I dreaded speaking in public… I shied away from every indoor and outdoor games… Though I was an obedient and well-mannered boy, my lack of self-confidence had affected my studies, which showed in my poor academic performance… The future looked blank to me, in fact, very scary! My parents weren’t enlightened enough to understand my inner plight and direct me. They did what they could do best with whatever resources they had… But, they never deprived me of love…

My teachers, too, did what they could do best… All of them were dedicated and committed… They taught well. But, as far as the direction to my life was concerned – the vocation – they were not able to help me much. But, one of them did… Prof. B.S. Raman, who came to teach us in F.Y. B. Com… He taught me for all the three years of B.Com… and, I sat in his class, right in the middle of  that group of over hundred students – all boys – and, I began to burn inside with the desire to become like him – a good teacher and writer, For, he was a stupendous teacher and writer… He expressed well, passionately… He was idealistic, exceptionally dedicated… He worked more than what was paid for… He went the extra mile… and, those were the ideals my heart was close to… We connected… He become my role-model… He gave me a purpose… the vocation…

Now, you won’t believe this when I say: For three years, Prof. Raman taught me, but, I did not talk to him even once, one-on-one. I just sat in his class and silently admired him, desired to become like him… He did not know what was going on in my heart… He did not know even a boy like me was there in his class… For, there was hardly anything visible about my own ambition…

Much later in life, some years ago, I made a special trip to my home town to meet my Idol and let him know what he had caused in my life… It was like a pilgrimage… I had to visit my ‘Deity’ and pour my heart out… in order to feel relieved of that ‘load of debt’… Sir had become very old and he did not remember me as a student… But, he must’ve felt immensely proud to learn, that he had caused a silent revolution in me without him being aware of it!

When I reflect on this personal episode, I get a definite cue: One always wakes up to his dreams when he is ready for it. I was ready for it… So, until and unless this readiness comes in us, no power on earth can wake us up to our dreams… We shall only walk in our sleep…

And, that’s where my own frustration comes from… I must have been a catalyst to some of my own students in this ‘waking-up-to-our-dreams’ phenomenon… But, there are those countless ones who still walk in their sleep!

A week ago, I was talking to my eleventh-standard students on the issue of their career… Many of them came to my class like a herd… I could sense the disconnect and my frustration was showing up. Why Commerce? No answer. What is the definite plan after twelfth? No clue. A boy, who never came on time to my class and always had to be reminded about his attendance and homework, when asked what was his plan, said meekly, “IAS”…

“Say that loudly, beta,” I prodded…

Yes, I was a bit sarcastic and a lot skeptical. But, I remembered my own state. If my own teacher had asked me the same question and if I had replied, “A professor and author like Raman Sir,” I don’t think, that would have gone well, either…

But, this much had become clear to me: If I knew what I sincerely wanted, the Universe would conspire in my favour… But, Sir, a hell lot of determination and commitment was demanded of me by the same Universe…

It did not just happen while I lay there in the tree-shade, day-dreaming!.

“Where did this IAS dream come from, beta,” I asked the young boy, “Anybody from your family is an IAS?”

“My friend’s uncle is an IAS officer and he always talks about him,” said my student.

“What does your friend talk about his IAS uncle?” I probed further…

“An IAS officer is very powerful… Gets good salary, a big house and car… People respect him,” my student said honestly.

“So, you, too, want to be powerful, get good salary, car and respect from people,” is that right? I asked

“Yes Sir,” confessed my student.

“I have a suggestion to you dear,” I said, “Why can’t you meet this uncle of your friend and take his advice… Particularly about how he had gone about it.” Then I asked my student this, “Have you gathered any information about the kind of preparation you have to do… the kind of mindset you need to possess… Have you checked, if  you have the aptitude and attitude both?”

The boy remained silent…

I turned to the class and asked, “Has any of you heard about a young girl by the name Ira Singhal?

No one had….

“Go home and goggle about her… watch some videos,” I said…

It’s my firm belief, that, in Life, if we follow our hearts, we can achieve whatever we desire. Yes, an IAS dream included!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Aparna Deshmukh

Video: Hindustan Times