I still remember vividly my first day in school after the summer vacation of 2002. I joined a bit late because of a knee-surgery. A new teacher had joined our school to teach us English. Since I joined a bit late, I had missed the guidelines she had given earlier on ‘précis writing’. So, when she came to our class that day and gave us an assignment on ‘précis writing’, I had no idea that I would be bombarded that day. I used to be a fairly good student and used to score the highest marks in English and I was totally unaware of what was going to befall.
I was sitting on the first row that day. After about fifteen minutes or so, she came and stood in front of me. After staring at my notebook for a few seconds she burst. “What are you doing?” These are the exact words that came from her. I was taken aback. When I regained my composure, I did what I usually do i.e. defend myself; the only difficulty here was that I had no idea what I was defending. With each moment she was getting angrier and I was getting more uncomfortable. It was difficult for me to stand up due to the surgery but somehow I tried to pull myself up, when somebody came to my rescue and told the teacher that it was my first day in school after the knee surgery. Thankfully, she calmed down and asked me to sit and then she explained me how to write a précis.
Well, frankly speaking it left a very bad taste in my mouth. Here is a confession to make. I did not like my English teacher much during the first couple of weeks or so. I tried hard to trade places with those who used to sit at the back for the English slot. I was very scared of being humiliated for studies. And since I did not know what else I had missed out when I was on leave I thought it best to hide. The first few pages of my English notebook were pathetic.
However, with time I came into the mainstream and I started fairing well. I stopped being scared and sooner than I had expected I found out that my English teacher was more humane than I thought she was. She encouraged me a lot in everything I did. She patiently read my poems and heard me out. She was and still is more than a teacher. I don’t know exactly how but slowly she became one of the best teachers I have ever known. All I can say is that she has a quality – a unique quality to see the good in her students and encourage them to use that goodness. And when I say ‘goodness’ it is not just in studies, it is the goodness in the person.
Very few people get to meet such wonderful people in their lives and I am truly blessed to be one of them. Today is her birthday and I wrote this down so that I can tell her how much she means to me and how important and influential she has been in shaping me into what I am today. Thank you, Madam. Thank you for being my teacher, my friend, my philosopher and my guide. Wish you many happy returns of this day. Happy Birthday. God bless you.
This is for you, Mousumi Madam.
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