Skip to main content

TO ALL MY TERRIFIC TEACHERS


 The COVID-19 pandemic had brought an unexpected shift to education as schools closed their gates. The familiar hallways of the school and interactions with friends and teachers had suddenly all become virtual. Screens deemed their biggest detractors now occupied the centre stage.

The school system had adapted to a new methodology-Virtual classes. My children had moved beyond the educational system, so the rigours and chills of this system were unknown to me.

Long past the pandemic, I became a student pursuing adult education. My return to education was unexpected. Roles shifted, and I was now being home-schooled with a difference. This time, unlike my previous term decades ago, all my teachers were younger than me.

My classroom was an improvised setup of my home. The computer screen was my gateway to the lessons. I delved into my study material. How different? from the traditional ones. They were the PowerPoint slides.

There were frustrations, technical glitches, and distractions at home. Beyond it, there was learning.

My academic experiences as a homeschooler made me realise the importance of teachers. Wishing on Teacher’s Day had become a long-lost tradition to me. Today, I revive this tradition for myself and express my gratitude to all my teachers, past and present.

Thank you all for what you have done. May you have a wonderful day.
For more stories on Teacher’s Day CLICK HERE

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

WHATSAPP FORWARDS

"You will not read any of my WhatsApp messages and so it is useless to send you anything.” My mother said to me. I acknowledged her by my silence mentally reciting," I read all that you sent to me". So, here I am busy reading all about Indian spices and medicinal herbs used as daily household ingredients, thereby indulging in more studies on naturopathy as compared to any other ‘pathy’ which has side effects. I speed dialled my mother when my patient refused to undergo the procedure of scaling to clean her teeth in favour of 'alum', or "phitkari," a desi nuskha. No wonder patients shirk away from scaling. I ruminate. "I just called you up to confirm if you WhatsApped something to my patient "I vented. Ever since, I have been scrolling through all her erstwhile messages to know more about natural healthier medicaments, their benefits and roles in dentistry and health. Oh! WhatsApp was not there when I was a student. No wonder, my gold ...

THE FRUIT OF LABOR

Notification alerts continued one after the other and I knew it had to be my sister. Next morning her WhatsApp did not seem so interesting. Thank God! I never got up at midnight to see these. There were images of mud, plants and potatoes. Nothing new, I put it aside without a thought and sipped my early morning tea. As I read further, scrolling down the images was her excited note on her home grown organic potatoes. Now that was a bait I asked her "miraculous, since when have you started all this". "While composting for my garden I had accidentally left a potato in the garbage ditch. This was my discovery just today" she answered and I could imagine her admiring those potatoes. "Great guns," I responded. The matter rested after this for a few months. The feathers were ruffled again as she posted images of tomato, eggplants and potato plants neatly planted along the sidewalls, her today's endeavor .Thanks to our family group messaging system, ginger a...

INHERITANCE

As a student I had to commute in local buses as prevalent during those times. My wait for the arrival of the next bus forced me to notice an old lady curiously observing me. I pretended to ignore her but still found myself to be a subject of her curiosity. Undeterred she stared, unabashed I turned my back towards her, only to find her blatantly changing sides to face me again. Realizing my awkwardness in avoiding her she questioned me about my grandparents and excitedly mentioned my mother’s name to confirm my filial descent. She then introduced herself as an old neighbour of my grandparents who had seen my mother as a teenager and my resemblance to her. Thank God! I whispered as I took a seat and bade a farewell to my new acquaintance. Genetics and not Facebook turned out to be the most potent tool in uniting the long-lost, figures in my mind.  As I was having my morning walk session, I could see groups of people performing yoga and yet another group indulged in a discourse on a...