One evening in March, my room-mate came after appearing Maharashtra CET. He asked me - "Do you know the chemical formula of Phenol ?". Before he could give me the options and finish the question, I cut him short and answered - "C6H5OH". He was stunned at the way I was able to answer his question about a topic that I have read almost 8 years back, during my 10+2 days. He said - "By God !! How come you remember all those crazy organic chemistry formulae !!". I said - "I owe it all to my teacher who taught me chemistry when I was preparing for engineering entrance exams." My teacher did not just dictate notes in his chemistry class. Rather he bought chemicals and conducted live experiments and demonstrated students the physical manifestation of everything he has taught. He never stopped at teaching the effect of heat on acidity of water. On the other hand, to substantiate his explanation, he added a trivial piece of information that drinking hot tea causes acidity in stomach. I don't know, whether this trivia is actually verified in the laboratory. But such joking moments made me fall in love with the subject, not only to clear the entrance exams with a decent rank but to remember everything he has taught.
Coming back to present, a teacher is someone who shows you the path rather than dragging you along. Our ancient traditions refer this type of person as a "Guru". A Guru discovers the hidden talents of a student, and nurtures it. This is depicted in Mahabharat during the archery test at Dronacharya's ashram. Yudhisthir was able to see many things apart from the eye of the bird. He had the natural inclinations of being an able administrator who has the inborn talent of assessing risks and collateral damages in an administrative decision. Bheem and Duryodhan were muscular characters who had the raw muscle power needed to fight a mace battle. On the other hand, Arjun was the only student who had the unparalleled ability to see nothing except the target. Dronacharya discovered their talents and nurtured them accordingly. During the stay in Gurukul, a Guru is a father, mother, teacher, mentor and counselor rolled into one. Hence we say - "Guru Brahmaa... Guru Vishnu... Gurudeva Maheshwara..."
Unfortunately, today this beautiful relation is no longer seen. This is mainly because of commercialization of literacy. Here I am intentionally using the word literacy rather than education because the latter refers to the overall development of character and knowledge. Students come to the class to mug up everything thrown to them; be it physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology or even the Shakespearean era archaic English language. A teacher's capability is measured in terms of how many of his caged parrots have been able to mug up and successfully vomit in the answer script. Nobody ever asks the student whether he/she is really interested in the subject or not. The consequence is that every year after the board exam results are declared, the newspaper gets flooded with suicides. Nobody ever asks the teacher about his/her specialization or aspirations. When the learned and revered Guru is under severe pressure due to number game played across the degraded educational system by petty clerical minded accountant level personalities, his frustration rises. And when this frustration crosses the limit, it pushes a Guru beyond the edge. Consequence is that we come across instances of corporal punishment, verbal abuse and even sexual abuse of a student. In other words, a student-teacher relation in today's world is unfortunately a saga of annual speeches followed by vadaa samosa & jalebi blended with nice picture messages shared on Facebook.
No matter how mundane the Teacher's Day celebration might have become, I still believe in it. A teacher is not only a person who takes attendance in a lecture class or a person who gives assignments and evaluates the answer scripts. I believe, anybody and everybody who teaches us something useful and productive is a Teacher. On this Teacher's Day, I want to thank all such persons in my life who have taught me something or the other however trivial it might sound. I feel indebted to my father who taught me how to write. My vocabulary is incomplete without my mother who taught me the first word - "Maa". As a passionate but amateur photographer, I am incomplete without my uncle's knowledge who taught me how to see the world through the lens of a camera. It was my sister who ignited the gamer inside me with a 64-bit Nintendo console & tons of Super Mario cartridges. My love towards gadgets and technology is the gift of my friend who taught me the ins and outs of cellphone hacking and ways to counter it. I owe some of my culinary skills to my infinitely patient friend, who has taught me how to prepare delicacies like Gulaab Jamun and Dal Fry, but never loses cool when I report the cuisine as a "Total Disaster" !! To sum it up, I owe all these wonderful moments & teachings to this God gifted Life and 5th September seems a perfect day for celebration. As they say -
"Never stop learning, because Life never stops Teaching..."
Well said and candidly put. I think in course of time TEACHERS have degenerated into CHEATERS.All the alphabets remaining the same the meaning has undergone drastic change. Some part of the blame can be laid on the door of our changed environment but importantly it is the person who becomes a teacher is responsible. Meaning thereby one must chose to be a teacher to contribute to the society not be a teacher by chance. These days the number of the latter category is on the rise and the former category are gradually become extinct.
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