My experience as a teacher

24 November, 2008

As a young girl I wanted to be a teacher. Just like any one else I have also had my share of experiences, which changed me as a person or in other words are life-altering experiences. As a teacher, I have had three such experiences.

I THOUGHT long and hard – is there a single moment in my life that stands apart from the rest? Just like any one else I have also had my share of experiences, which have changed me as a person or in other words are life-altering experiences.

As a young girl, I always wanted to be a teacher. The huge water tank on the terrace of my house would be my blackboard and my siblings would be students, who were sometimes replaced by thin air. I would spend hours and hours teaching on my terrace and I continue to do so (see how I got stuck to this noble profession of teaching).

The desire to teach, took me to the school where I taught before coming to Bangalore.

It was not just a school for basic learning but had a high aim to create better human beings not just scholars. There not only the students benefited, but also the teachers learnt a great deal about teaching and purpose of teaching. This was my first life altering experience in Darshan Academy, as teacher and a teacher’s trainer.

After coming to Bangalore I again wanted to resume my career as a teacher, so was always on a lookout for better opportunities where I could harness my knowledge and give better direction to my career. Many told me that in this materialistic city or in other words in this IT hub it was difficult to find a job of my choice. But my wait bore me fruitful results. Unnati was an answer to my long wait for a meaningful job.

This was my second life altering experience. Here I came across people from various backgrounds trying to create a future for themselves and people who design the path for them. Here the students who come are raw, somewhat like a lump of clay, which is gradually moulded in a form of a beautiful sculpture within three months. They go out and start their lives anew and are able to take up the responsibility of their loved ones.

The tremendous amount of joy you feel when you actually meet them after they get their first salary- it’s simply incomparable to any worldly pleasure. I actually vouch for this because I have felt the joy run down my eyes in the form tears when I met Manoj of 15th batch came with a box of sweets for the entire staff. How exalted he was!

He seemed to be on the seventh sky. This was my third life altering experience in a month’s time. I call it a life altering experience because this was my first meeting with Manoj and still I could relate to his happiness in a manner as I would with a student whom I would have taught. When he offered me sweet the only thing I could say was – God bless you!

I had actually understood the nursery rhyme, which I often sing to my son:

The time to be happy
Is now.
The place to be happy
Is here.

And the way to be happy
Is to make someone happy
And we’ll have a little heaven ride here.