THE PROOF OF YOUR GOODNESS AND WORTH

 

“If you try to do your best, there is no failure.”

Mike Farrell

 

Throughout my school and college years, my marks had been very poor… Just like Raju Rastogi’s (Sharman Joshi) in the popular Hindi film, ‘3 Idiots’. Long before this film had come, (2009), I was asked the same question by my interviewer when I had gone for my first teaching job at the Atomic Energy Junior College (1981): “Your marks have been consistently low – any reason?”

Raju had a clear and composed answer to this question: “Fear, Sir.”

Somehow, I was picked for the ‘temporary’ job… and, like the new Raju, who had come there not with a begging mindset, but with the confidence, that even if he was rejected, he would not be disappointed and afraid, as he would certainly figure out what to do with his life – yes, I was telling the same thing to my own interviewer, :”Sir, I am passionate about teaching… That’s the only thing I will be doing in my life.”

I got that temporary job at the junior College; but, with that, I got my permanent and crucial break. It’s about 45 years since that interview… I have not done anything else in my life except teaching. Even in training programmes and writing process, I see myself only as a teacher. I have been privileged to reach out to thousands of young students over these years. But, none of them – neither my students, nor their parents - have ever asked me about my ‘poor marks’ in school and college.

Well, I am a great survivor, you may say. For, the coaching field, which I have been operating in, is ruthlessly marks-oriented. No matter how lofty are your ideals, and how passionate and inspiring teacher you think you are – at the end of the day, they assess you, judge you by the marks scored by your students…

Not true?

Let me correct: Not all parents and not all students do…

I don’t remember assessing and judging my own teachers by my own poor marks. They did their best and taught to all students in the class without discriminating anyone. Like the farmer in Jesus’ parable, the seeds that grew up gloriously were the ones that had fallen on the fertile soil… Other seeds died as they had fallen either on the pavement, or on the rocks, or among the thorns…

When the teacher does the best he/she can and the student does the best he/she can, there ends all the reasoning…

When my students fail in their internal exams or secure poor marks in the finals, I try to calm them down and encourage them to keep trying, keep a definite dream and follow it… “Marks are the by-products of your work, not the main products,” I remind them.

Well, it’s not as easy as it sounds when it comes to conveying the above message across. Fortunately, even if the message doesn’t get conveyed right now, in due course of time – when they all look back on their paths – it does.

The old saying goes: “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” Maybe, it is so. But, the proof of your goodness and worth, certainly, doesn’t lie in eating it once… but, in the many, many, many eatings!

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic’s: 1. www.youtube.com  2. www.istockphot.com

 

Video: Filmy Duniya