Day 68: To all my teachers!

Oh! my cooking interest is coming back, it seems. For me cooking is a phase. It goes through a slope (both downwards and upwards) and also hits a plateau. I think now it is taking a ascent! Yesterday was the day of almond-chocalte cake and today I made Masala Dosa-sambhar. Missed my favourite cocomut chutney as I didn't have the fresh coconut to make it. It was followed with me making 'strawberry jelly' with my two years & four months old kiddie. She loves doing things related to the freezer :-)

We relished good enough dosas (not perfect like the South Indians make) and hot piping spicy sambhar with the movie 'Taare Zameen Par'. I like the music and the lyrics of almost every song of the movie. While watching I realized how important is the role of teachers in the life of a student. Especially for young minds and young bodies, school is such an important place. Therefore, there should be quality in every corner of this place. A big building, fancy uniforms and modern liberal rules are not that the priority than the quality of its teachers. In the movie, the young boy Darsheel Safari plays the role of 'Ishaan'. He is suffering from dyslexia. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke gives the following definition for deyslexia (source- Wikipedia):

"Dyslexia is a brain-based type of learning disability that specifically impairs a person's ability to read. These individuals typically read at levels significantly lower than expected despite having normal intelligence."

The character Ishaan in the movie is very good painter but his parents, teachers and all others fail to notice this. They overlook his dreams and his joy as a young kid of 8-9 years. All that they see is his school notebook with red ink all over and a zero in his results. He is sent to the boarding school and there after some time, he meets his drawing teacher (role played by Aamir Khan) who understands him and discovers that the boy is suffering from dyslexia. He helps him out with his patience, encouraging words, time, friendliness and his interest in his dreams. He is such a good teacher. The movie also showcases various other teachers who only understand that brilliance is reflected in the marks on a report card. They use violence and scoldings to make the students better. So wrong! and so emotional when something like this was shown in the movie.

Through out my academic career (school/college etc) I have been a brilliant student and mostly a first ranker. Today, faces of many of my school classmates float before my eyes and I remember how conveniently they were tagged as 'dull' students. We, the rankers of class, atleast I didn't see them as sort of downtrodden' but

I also followed their tag and in my mind they had the image of dull and weak students. I never tried to think the reason 'why they were weak or dull'. For some it might be real brain-based problems, but for others it might be family circumstances, peer pressure, disinterest in subject, difficult to remove the tag of a 'weak student'. Today, I think I am a bit more broad minded and deep in thinking, I look for reasons behind somebody's behaviour and personality. I try to think before I judge somebody.

Through this post, I would like to thank all of my teachers who supported me, encouraged me to retain my 'brightness' as a student, who appreciated my poetry then in grade seventh itself and confided in me to move forward. They were my great pillars and what I am today I owe them too for besides my family.  The role of teachers is so important in shaping a young mind that it can make or mar the students personality. Their merit undoubtedly lies in the expertise in their subject but I think their real teachings lies in their patience and understanding of a young mind. I am lucky to have so good teachers and I will always be grateful to them.