My Teachers

Teachers as they say are the greatest gift to humanity. Somewhere I feel they are even above doctors as well. Not to offend anyone but I personally feel it might have been the motivation of a teacher and his guidance that modeled the career of a child into that of a doctor. The best part of being a teacher is that you can never estimate the amount of lives you have impacted and changed. Some directly , some indirectly and some almost just by existing.

Talking of my journey as a student, each and every teacher who has ever taught me has had a sweet spot in my life but two of them have left indelible marks on my overall personalities. The sculptors of my life  Mrs. Vineeta Misra and Mr. Puneet Chandra,  the former being my English teacher from school and the latter being my teacher from coaching.

Mrs. Misra was the most strict teacher in our school, a disciplinarian but she was the most warm hearted teacher the school would ever have.  She believed that one must read to travel beyond the confinements of our society. She registered her pleasures and displeasures with equal assertion over everything. Her courage defied the fragile framework she had. For me she was more like a doting mother who’d motivate me no matter how many times I failed and even covered up for  my bad marks at times of the most dreaded Parents teachers meetings. I remember her always telling me that this world is full of politics everywhere except real politics and one has to be very careful while treading the path of truthfulness. In dire circumstances I never saw her moulding her words. She never was embarrassed if she failed to know something which rarely happened  but on the contrary she would go forward and learn from  students. For her even an infant was a capable teacher because more than 90 percent of things we learn is never from the books..The admiration I had for her changed into respect  seeing every effort she made for studies to become pleasure than burden. She never knew but I was always absorbing all her qualities and today when I face the world I realize that  the courage and the boldness that reflects in my writeups are the essence of her personality. Needless to say she made me fall in love with her subject and I after all struggles that include 4 years of engineering I ended up being a journalist. And I carry forward her words and teachings in everything I write.

Mr. Chandra , a self made man, very raw in his demeanour was one teacher that I pray every students should get once in their lifetime. Though he taught Physics , the class I never was interested in but seeing him teach was in itself so captivating that I could never afford to miss even a single lecture. The zeal with which he taught displayed the sense of  responsibility he had towards his profession. He literally put so much effort as if he wanted all his knowledge to disseminate in our brains. In a class of more than a hundred students he knew exactly what each student was doing, such was his concern. He taught with the flair of a painter painting his masterpiece. Scientifically speaking The energy he created in class was never destroyed and it was transferred from one student to another. Even on days when he was terribly ill, you would not find him resting or taking a leave. I vividly remember asking him once so as to why doesn’t he take a leave. His reply left me smiling and contended at heart. “Your parents pay me with their hard earned money and when I sleep at night I am convinced that I am being true to the work God has assigned me.” He was very optimistic and also an ardent believer of Maa Durga. Ever you praise him and his reply would be “Its because of Mataraani”. The best part about him was that he was a perfect role model for each of us.  I was sad when my IIT result came not because I ever expected anything but I really wanted him to know how much he impacted myself.  Its because of him that I never gave up. I thought it would be sheer disrespect of his exceptional methodology of teaching if I am unable to get good marks in his subject. I secured a decent 80 in Physics exam which was an achievement for me.  He taught us physics of life everyday and I learnt those lessons by heart.