Remembering the Gurus !

       If I am able to write this blog and if you’re able to read it,  it’s all because of the teachers. This post is dedicated to all the teachers in the world.

Happy Teacher’s Day!!!

As soon as I woke up early morning, I searched for the newspaper as it has almost become a habit to go through. On reading the newspaper it struck me that today’s the teacher’s day. I quickly called my mom and wished her a Happy Teacher’s Day not only for being my first teacher but also for being a teacher by profession. She was on her way to school. I also wished my dad recollecting everything from the past that he had taught me. I felt a bit nostalgic after I ended my call. 

I remembered all the teachers right  from my childhood, the things we did for them and the ones they did for us. This write up is just to tell you about how it was back then. If I remember  it right I used to take a rose very often to one of my teachers when I was in first standard especially because she used to let me draw pictures in her class and I felt bad for not being able to remember a thing about her now. In those days I was really scared of head mistress as her punishment was hard. It was like a hierarchy; teachers beat you with a stick on your hand for doing something wrong or being mischievous but if the issue is major head mistress used to enter the scene and her punishment was spanking along with beating on legs. It was almost same in every school those days.  
  
      Then I went to this English speaking school in 3^rd standard. Mr Arogyanandan, was my favorite of all. He was just like his name; healthy and cheerful. He always encouraged me to participate in competitions like speech, essay writing, drawing. All the teachers had a soft corner for me. I was considered one of the smartest kid. Back then we celebrated teacher’s day in a unique way. We gifted hair pins to Madams. I know it sounds silly, but that was the biggest gift we could give them. We, sometimes, even collected money that we had saved from previous one week for this event, which usually summed up to 150 Rs and then we used to buy sweets and mixtures for them. Sometimes with the money left, we used to buy pens for all the teachers. Mr. Murali, taught us biology, Telugu literature and Neuro linguistic program as a result they became my favourites. Head master of this school was partially my motivation to speak English fluently. I was an active participant then and still am.

In 9^th class, I joined Bhashyam Residential School. My biology teacher, Mr S S V, that’s what everyone used to call him , always gave us something to think about. That’s a main quality of a teacher according to me. I still remember most of his classes. He not only taught us biology but also how to lead a perfect life which I regret for not following it. There was an English teacher who taught us how to read books, how to feel the characters in it. He used to sing those poems from the textbooks while other teachers just plainly read it aloud and explained it.

Mathematics was my favorite and yet most feared one. Mr Ramaswamy completely changed my perception towards maths. I always used to see it as some problem solving algorithm but he said, ‘maths is a language to understand nature’ by showing us the same mathematics we learnt in the nature’s applications.

In my Intermediate, Narayana Junior College, Mr Sandeep Sanyal was my favourite teacher for mechanics and Mr Aacharya for Electronics. Mr Sandeep talking about Human tendency said, ‘More challenging the problem is, the more interesting it becomes.’ I completely agree with him.

Mr Aacharya was my inspiration for his punctuality and hard work. He used to be on time for the class early in the morning at 5AM while we’re still dozing off in our rooms. He used to create interest in the subject which is the key factor to learn it. The teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the people with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron.

Happy Teacher's Day!!!

I always learnt something from my teachers till date and I’ll always keep learning. Though they don’t remember us, though they aren’t in contact, they’ll always be in my heart for making us know the unknown. 

If you hated a teacher for some reason, its time to forget it and realize that they played some role in our learning process. Although I couldn't wish every teacher a Happy Teacher's day, I silently thanked all of them.  

P.S: Nearly everyone I met, worked with, or read about was my teacher one way or the other.

Thank you!

I'll keep writing.

Later J

An Evening Beauty!

         As I stepped out of my room checking the clock on my mobile phone for some work I had in town, I noticed that there was a huge patch of dark cloud in the west. I prophesied that it would rain and so took my hooded jacket along with me as the day I don’t take it, is the day it rains heavily. I got into an auto rickshaw as we can’t rely on public transport always. As I was sitting on that tiny seat towards my right with lot of effort for comfort, I could see the sea. It looked like dawn. I suddenly saw that the moon had risen and was more beautiful than before if that’s an apt adjective. It reminded me of Pranav who says and believes that I have a great obsession for the moon and the sun as I always take photographs of them. 

I heard a girl sitting opposite to me say to her friend, ‘today’s beautiful.’

I pointed out at moon saying, ‘if you didn’t notice it.’

She had to peek outside to look at the moon. ‘Wow! It’s nice!’ she said.  She was getting married in a month or two and she was telling her friend that her wedding day too will look the same. Who doesn’t want the weather to be like this?

June to February is my favourite part of the year in Visakhapatnam as there won’t be much humidity in the air relatively.

So let me describe you what I felt that evening. As I said before, it looked like dawn. But no, it was evening and the sun was about to set in a few minutes. I felt bad thinking that this beauty of nature can be experienced only till the sun sets which is trying hard to give all its light before earth turns her back to it for the day. It seemed to me that earth made a deal with the sun and moon to face them during the day and night respectively. I was enjoying the marine drive and the sight of hills with fog near the shore which was clearly visible from distance. There are three hills on the way from my college to MVP colony on this beach road.

I got down near Lumbini Park which is neglected by GVMC (greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation), though that didn’t matter as hardly anyone goes there. I had to catch another auto from there. I couldn’t see the sea till I reached where I should. By that time the sun had set and it was still bright. The dark patch looked like it slowed down to enjoy the moon’s beauty.

Source: Internet. Remember! i didn't have a camera

I was wrong, the beauty existed even after sun set. I searched for a good vantage point to enjoy the shore and moon. I sat on the beach boulevard, made by the Municipal Corporation which is the only good thing at beach, viewing and experiencing the scene. I saw a ship at a distance through an arch with dolphins on either side of the park’s path holding a globe with GVMC carved on it which seemed like they were preventing it from falling. The ship lit with lights looked like it was on fire but then it wasn’t, because I know if it were, there would have been smoke. The moon was now brighter and was exactly on the top of that ship. I wished I had a camera while watching a person trying to capture the moon in his mobile phone camera which, in vain, turned out to be just a dot in the picture. It reminded me of myself trying the same at one point.

Source: Internet. This is how the place looked where i sat.

The sea was gleaming gold in the dark covering the portion I could see between the arch. I imagined that there would be some wireless connection between the moon and the ship, the latter unable to hold the amount of light transmitted by the former, leaking into sea like oil spill which reached shore. But that’s just a reflection. Ufff my engineering mind!!!   

I realized I was away from civilization though the road was just behind me which I ignored. No electronics and no mechanical materials were visible except for the ships which were more of beauty as they didn’t make noise. But I had a task to complete and I had to go. If it was not for this work, I wouldn’t have enjoyed this evening. So I had to let go of the beauty feeling satisfied with what I enjoyed. 

It reminded me of these famous lines from Robert Frost’s poem:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I’ve promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

P.S: The dark and huge patch of cloud covered the moon and it didn’t rain too. I was humming ‘chaand chupa Baadal mein…’

Thank you!!!

I’ll keep writing.

Later J