Teacher’s Day
“Happy Teacher’s Day” , as I read these posts I couldn’t resist but going down the memory lane , reflecting on the privilege (as now i realise) to have had teachers who define most of me. Indian cultural have always considered teaching as one of the noblest profession with teachers being compared to god. I remember the teaching from my early childhood wherein we were taught to obey each and every teacher irrespective of whether you like them or they liked you!.
“Vidya dadati vinayam”, my father always used to reinforce this to me during my elementary schooling , almost to the point that this is the only Sanskrit Shloka I have retained till now. For those who who don’t know it’s meaning - the Shloka translates to “Knowledge bestows humility”. Interpreting in the larger context this means that as you gain more knowledge it will lead you to become more humble. What this also meant for me was the modesty to learn from others even from those who you might think little of and as you learn and realise the limitation of your knowledge , you become more humble and this becomes a loop.
“Be sensitive enough to read other person emotions without talking to them” , my social science teacher told me in grade 10 and for some reason this got stuck in my mind. The warmness of being able to understand other without talking to them allured me. From then onwards i tried consciously to become a sensitive person and it did made me a better human and now i see why this was the lesson given by a social science teacher!
“Never fool yourself “, our physics teacher told us in the middle of a class and I was intrigued by it because it seemed like a paradox to me then, Why would someone make a fool of themselves ? and yet each day I find fooling myself hoping to get better without doing anything whether it’s health, relationships etc.
Being a good student i have always been close to teachers and have been lucky to found great teachers outside classroom as well but these three has been the most defining lesson in my life till now.