The unofficial last day…

Today 1st March 2017 became the last day of my school..

As expected from the inefficient school management, it was moved up from tomorrow. I was completely unprepared for this & I thought so were the students. But in the last 2 years of fiercely protecting them against such inefficiencies, I forgot how resourceful they are! As soon as it was announced today is the last day (at 12:20 pm when the school leaves at 12:30 pm), the students managed to do EVERYTHING they planned with WHATEVER available resources!

What my students did?

Their uniforms became writing boards – with each student writing a message. They wanted to write on our dresses as well but we didn’t wear the one which we were supposed to. They got water from somewhere & played ‘Holi’ since they won’t be able to play on the actual day (next day being Algebra paper). They got marker refill & used it as Holi colors (thank God, we don’t use permanent markers!)

They wrote notes to me & discussed what to do for the farewell party quite efficiently. Responsibilities were delegated & roles were assigned.

What my students felt?

I wish they had expressed what they were thinking. All I could see was, how can we find the best way to do everything in the given time. Most common theme was to tell me to not cry on the farewell day. Some thoughtful students (who wanted to write on my dress) wrote me notes instead. Here is one sample.

What I did?

I just stood there – looking at all the frenzy around. I wrote on the BMC uniforms of all the students. I gave pens / papers to those who hadn’t any. But mostly, I was a mute spectator of this event. I wanted to shout at them for the water throwing but I refrained from my natural instinct because well; LAST DAY! Lastly, being the hyper-organized one, I did one last discussion about next steps of farewell party & called it a day!

What I felt?

I thought, I would be relieved.. No more rushing out with shoes in one hand & dupatta in the other at 7:10 am. No more checking of papers or dealing with illogical BMC circulars. No more dealing with students answering back, being stubborn OR being rude. But surprisingly, I felt the opposite of it.

I was worried about how they will deal with the upcoming boards. I was sad that I will not have this one place (a class) to meet all my students. I was pensive about what % of my kids after 5 years will call & tell me, “Didi, I have graduated with honors!” But most importantly, I was thinking about if I did anything worthwhile in the last 2 years. I was thinking if I made any difference in their lives OR were they better off without me?

I thought I would choke thinking of all these thoughts & just then Sachin (who wasn’t going to come to the farewell as his last rebellion against me) said, “Didi, aap tension mat lo, mein aa jaunga farewell mein!” And just like that I smiled…

Purpose and Potential

On a historically monumental day (26/11), I had a session @TFI (#teachforindia) on how to cope up with adolescents.

Why did I attend this session? Because at 34, I’ve forgotten what it was to be an adolescent or how to behave like them! And if you read the issues I’ve been facing lately (read here), this session was sort of the need of the hour! Fast forwarding to the end of the session, I don’t know why I expected that I’ll get something like ‘10 ways to deal with adolescents‘ OR ‘quick guide to solve adolescent issues of your class‘- because I didn’t get any! Instead, like most sessions @TFI, I ended up questioning myself – whether purpose & potential of one’s life get defined by academics? 

In most sessions at TFI, I’ve heard people say that if you had to choose between behavioral development in kids & academic development, prefer the former! A staunch belief in #TFI ecosystem seems to echo ‘make them better human beings‘ as opposed to ‘make them smarter students‘! Obviously, I’m not suggesting that we make them smarter students at the cost of being good human beings. But at this stage of life, where hormones are doing disco – with temper tantrums, look conscious behavior, unexplained opposite gender attraction is rampant – can we not use academic excellence to fight all these complexes?

A lone warrior, in all those sessions – I argue my case every single time since I know how single-minded academic focus helped me in my life! Unsurprisingly, this session concluded that a non-academic goal (sports, dance, etc.) will help you deal with adolescent kids & I found myself up in arms with the speaker. An accomplished Gandhi fellow, his vast experience couldn’t be overcome by my academic arguments! His belief after such extensive work in this sector was much stronger than mine. And his final argument silenced me completely! “An engineer & MBA; yet you are here in TFI while your friends are in banks, consults etc. So, which academic achievement fits your current purpose?”

If I had figured out my purpose, let’s assume temporarily that it was making money / being ambitious / being at a key position in an organization / starting a company etc. – then I wouldn’t be teaching 41 kids in tenth today. Moving to the non-materialistic spectrum of purpose, if it was being a good human being / leading life comfortably etc. then I wouldn’t be on a lookout for a challenging job post this stint! Moving to my academic-achiever friends, had any of them found their purpose, then I should have had a list of friends who didn’t crib about their jobs, who didn’t experience ‘Monday blues’, who think they are at the right place in their life – but that list remains empty!

With academic excellence as a constant purpose in the earlier stages of life, I feel dazed at penning down my purpose now in a corporate setting! Ironically at 15, I’m asking my kids to pen down their purpose & with board exams looming over, getting xx% is becoming theirs. Is this going to bring more purpose-less people in companies in the next 7 – 10 years?

While I ruminated on this, I found this graphic online. This gave me hope! I know my potential & my passions. As soon as the search for life-purpose ends, then I’m set to change this world 🙂

Because by being your revolutionary self, you can bring about a revolution through your kids! Amen!!!

22nd July 2016

I realized that you are never too old to get surprises.

As I grew older; wisdom was an involuntary fallout so I assured myself that I’m too old for surprises & having a “quiet” birthday is my thing! Evidently, neither of the statements mentioned are true… I totally love surprises & the noisier the birthday the better I feel 🙂

The wee hours..

Staying up would come so easily  to me earlier but that night I struggled to stay up. However, I managed to be awake enough to answer my sisters’ calls & cut a small cake which Viraj got.. It was here that Sam got up in the middle of his sleep, wished me & told me what the surprise in the morning was (it was this card that he made – the very first one!) 🙂

He was the highlight of the birthday. His behaviour was so adorable that I wished everyday was my birthday. He woke up with me (at 5 am), got ready without any tantrums (though tried to convince me that since it is my birthday, he should take leave & celebrate) & was constantly wishing me, hugging me & just being with ME!

 

The early bird gets the worm…

Side effect of being a teacher, you have really early morning. But when the whole household is up & running with full vigor at 5:30 am, you can safely start the celebrations.. Here was cake number 2 I cut & officially got the card mentioned above along with other gifts…

Just look at us… Do we look sleepy to you??

 

Aapni toh pathshala, masti ki pathshala…

All of you know by now that I teach tenth grade. So, it came as no surprise to me that I entered the class & no one wished me. That they actually were their usual cranky self – bickering early in the morning. “They are stressed, don’t expect them to remember,” I thought to myself.

I had got things for my kids but well, you hardly expect a teacher to go & say, ” Wish me, it’s my birthday!” So, I decided to give sweets, chocolates to them as a reward for writing a test – which I had scheduled the earlier day (ain’t I a sunshine!)

Little did I know, that I was SO WRONG about my kids. They decorated the class, got cake, gifts & all the shenanigans & had a DJ party where they made me dance. I was overwhelmed with the handmade cards & thoughtful gifts. They never express love, gratitude but it was overflowing that day & sufficient enough for me to stop cribbing about them not caring! Did I mention I cut cake no. 3 here.

TOW family & friends.

I did cut the cake in the morning but it wasn’t an official cake. The official cake was an Iyengar bakery rawa cake that I completely love. Viraj came home early that day & after playing squash – I cut the cake no. 4 & left for our evening surprise.

A movie (Ice Age 5) & a nice dinner was in the offing. But what I didn’t know was that some of my friends were also going to surprise me here 🙂 After a long day’s work, GS, Archana & Basu joined me for dinner along with kids. A huge shout out to them to take so much trouble to make me feel all loved! Love you guys. Food (& cake no. 5), conversation & laughter flowed while we sat in Indigo Deli.

An extremely content me came home & slept at 1:30 am. Lots of people wished me & some didn’t. But that’s the thing about birthdays – you remember what you had & not what you don’t! You remember how much planning your husband put in on a working day, you smile widely thinking of your son’s behaviour, you feel silly about cutting so many cakes & yet wouldn’t change a single thing of that day. There was something else cooking as well but I wasn’t sure what it was.

Friday birthdays are fun because…

They don’t end in a day. I had an extended weekend of celebrations which included a spa appointment (after school of course), a surprise lunch with my sisters, mom & Niranjan & an evening out with Shruti…

The perfect end for a perfect birthday was a lazy Sunday when both Sam & I got up late (this happened for the first time in the last 4 years…)