The last few weeks have been a very different kind of experience for me altogether. Everyday, I get to do a lot of “seemingly unimportant” stuff that I could not have done otherwise. I use the term “seemingly unimportant” because a lot of my so called over-achieving friends think that I am wasting my talents and skills with this job. They had the nerve to tell me a lot of things on my face. Like-
“You are meant for more meaningful jobs”.
“You must be kidding when you say your job is hectic. How can teaching be hectic?”.
“If you had to teach, you should have had a college or university in mind. Why a school?”
“Don’t you have ambition in life? A school teacher at last?”
I will not go into the other senseless remarks I keep hearing. I don’t even feel like explaining anything to anyone. The people who said this must have all studied in a school at some point of time. And my job is no sinecure. For, making a child understand the principles of Newton’s laws can be more difficult than making codes run in plush offices.
Well, I was a Ph.D applicant when I got this job. And I just love it now. I can be with kids all day. This might not be equivalent to participating in board meetings and making business deals, but to me, it means much more than that. I love the way kids wish me with a smile every morning, the way they cling to my sari while complaining about their friends, the way they give me chocolates and pens on their birthdays, the way they tell me- “ma’am, you are very sweet”, even if they don't mean it. I love the shine in their eyes when I play “quiz quiz” with them in the off periods. I love the way they give me their opinions when I ask them about the latest Harry Potter movie. The kids have accepted me as a part of their life. So though I teach in much higher classes, I sneak into other lower classes whenever I can.
But engineers and doctors and managers think that no job is more important than theirs, and their contribution to the society is way more than mine.
Tomorrow is the Annual Function Day. Today, the stage rehearsal was extremely tiring. Now don’t ask me what is so difficult in making a few kids sing and dance in rhythm. The kids are doing a great job. You should see them dressed as puppets and jokers and monkeys. Tomorrow, I am in charge of the green room. And that means trying my hand at another new job. I will have to dress them up and see to it that they have the proper make up. A good 300 kids. Can you imagine that?
Try telling me, what's so great in that?
sunshine.
“You are meant for more meaningful jobs”.
“You must be kidding when you say your job is hectic. How can teaching be hectic?”.
“If you had to teach, you should have had a college or university in mind. Why a school?”
“Don’t you have ambition in life? A school teacher at last?”
I will not go into the other senseless remarks I keep hearing. I don’t even feel like explaining anything to anyone. The people who said this must have all studied in a school at some point of time. And my job is no sinecure. For, making a child understand the principles of Newton’s laws can be more difficult than making codes run in plush offices.
Well, I was a Ph.D applicant when I got this job. And I just love it now. I can be with kids all day. This might not be equivalent to participating in board meetings and making business deals, but to me, it means much more than that. I love the way kids wish me with a smile every morning, the way they cling to my sari while complaining about their friends, the way they give me chocolates and pens on their birthdays, the way they tell me- “ma’am, you are very sweet”, even if they don't mean it. I love the shine in their eyes when I play “quiz quiz” with them in the off periods. I love the way they give me their opinions when I ask them about the latest Harry Potter movie. The kids have accepted me as a part of their life. So though I teach in much higher classes, I sneak into other lower classes whenever I can.
But engineers and doctors and managers think that no job is more important than theirs, and their contribution to the society is way more than mine.
Tomorrow is the Annual Function Day. Today, the stage rehearsal was extremely tiring. Now don’t ask me what is so difficult in making a few kids sing and dance in rhythm. The kids are doing a great job. You should see them dressed as puppets and jokers and monkeys. Tomorrow, I am in charge of the green room. And that means trying my hand at another new job. I will have to dress them up and see to it that they have the proper make up. A good 300 kids. Can you imagine that?
Try telling me, what's so great in that?
sunshine.
3 comments:
hey, I actually intend to do that sometime, teach kids .. wanted to setup a gurukul type of thing sometime, maybe will do later in life.. lets see
waise to be frank, I never got newtons third law till +2, when i started on my jee preparation, us samay bhi a tutor had to spend an hour explaining it to me. :)
have done a lot of opinion expressing on my blog, will do more today
Sunshine, these remarks are indeed senseless. But there is something else that they are trying to tell you, I think. And that is, don't lose ambition and don't settle for this. Don't be an angel if you can play God.
(P.S.- Angel?? :P *big grin*)
Ok, so now you will be in charge of the green room? Good.. tell us how it looked from the sidelines :)
@abhilash- keep me in mind when you set up a gurukul. You might always be in need of beautiful and intelligent teachers. he he.
@sudipta- the green room experience was amazingly scary, with clothes and stuffs strewn around and the utter chaos!!
@strangequark- I am relieved that I will never go out of job now. Waise you have tall, dark, handsome male teachers in your school? he he.
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