A HOT-AIR BALLOON OR A POLE STAR?
D hruv Gupta, who studies in twelfth-standard (ISC), is one of my committed and intelligent students. After completing his high school in Punjab, where he grew up, his parents enrolled him in one of Mumbai’s reputed institutions to pursue his further studies. One of the reasons for this decision was that Dhruv’s maternal grandparents lived here in Mumbai alone. They needed care and support as they weren’t in their good health. So, I had the fortune of teaching Dhruv, first in his eleventh standard, and now in his twelfth. As our P.D. programme was approaching, I spoke to Dhruv about it. “It will give you an edge… It will help you to be confident and assertive,” I explained. Dhruv’s mother, who knew her son better than anyone else did, liked the idea when Dhruv consulted her. Shew knew that Dhruv was a shy boy and needed to be groomed in this area and, hence, was keen on him doing it. But, not his father. “Let him focus on his studies now,” he advised Dhruv’s mother. Y...