My Teachers!

Dear @sociallifein30s ,

So nice of you to remember your teachers on this wonderful day! We all have those favorite teachers and those teachers to whom we were favorites. I am truly blessed to have had wonderful teachers who made a difference not just to my character but also to the subjects!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings here. Happy Teacher's day!

 

There are so many good and bad memories of school and college life. My math teacher in High School could solve the most difficult arithmetic question verbatim but the moment we requested him to explain it step by step on the blackboard, he almost flinched but managed.

 

Thanks for starting a thread for the teachers who changed our life for good.

I always believe teaching should be the most renowned and most sought after job. Teachers should earn a better salary than other professionals. Because, they are they are the molders of our dreams. Apart from parents, it is the teachers who are behind what we are today

I am blessed to have extremely caring and professional teachers in my childhood.
I had a teacher who always believed that i am special. When my own parents did not believe in me based on my academical performance (I was just an above average student), this teacher believed I could reach heights, and be the topper in life down the line.
She always encouraged me to learn public speaking, performing arts and English language (English was not even the second language in the country)
She is super happy about me today, and always encourage her other students to find their own path.

This teacher has become a grandmother recently, and was very excited to welcome me for her grand-daughter's 31s day function during my last vacation at home.
She told my children that she always admired my curiosity to learn and understand things than just memorize the subjects like the other students who were the class toppers back then, and believed my curiosity for knowledge will take me far.

It is hard to see this kind of teachers who know you better, have faith in you and are genuinely happy for you. I am super happy that i've found one in my life.

I also have a very bad experience with another teacher, who was a professor in my university.
I have passed all the exams in flying colours and was busy doing my final dissertation to end the cycle. That's when my own grand-mother died, and I had to return home with a heavy heart.
I needed a couple of days at home to grieve and also to console my mom who was equally in pain.
I requested this professor to extend the deadline for submission a bit for me, and was ready to submit all the required documents to validate my request.
He initially agreed, verbally though!
I believed in him, and took 1 week off, and when I finally submitted the report, he refused it, stating late submission. He wasn't ready to listen to my reasons and sent out the results. I had to wait one more year to receive my degree because of this.

This has miraculously helped my career path.

Guess what..... I joined a bank after my first degree, and hoping to submit the result of my second degree to be upgraded to the junior managerial position. Since the degree got delayed, my promotion was withheld.
I felt extremely inferior to work in that bank when all my peers got promoted, while I was not.

This is when i was asked to work part time as a translator for a diplomat. Since I badly wanted to get out of my banking job, I decided to pursue this translation job (temporary though) seriously and received more opportunities.
Once a UN diplomat identified the potentials in me to serve for the agency, and taught me the pathway.
The next year I joined the United Nations, and there is no going back after that.

I still thank my university teacher for with holding my degree. If not for him, I would not be here today.

 

Dad & I entered a posh bungalow in Chennai through a tall grill gate. A man watering plants stopped us and enquired. Dad told he had come to meet prof of maths Mr Venkatraman of Vivekananda College. He said wait for a while and went in. Ten minutes gone by.

The gardener never returned and we were disappointed and in dilemma. We advanced little ahead toward the building and there a man attired in traditional white dhothi with a long towel over his shoulders sporting sacred ash on forehead and ear studs. OMG he was the same gardener changed his attire before speaking to us.

My dad introduced himself stating that he hails from Kumbakonam and sharing the same native village as that of professor. Little more conversation, they found they are distant relatives.

Now dad felt little at ease and mentioned about the purpose of our visit. He desired to look at my marksheet. Dad handed him my SSLC Book - which had my XI standard board exam Mark's all hand-written in red ink. At one glance of this marks, he pursed his lips that expressed his dissatisfaction and said with such low marks in general science and math, am no good for science or engineering or commerce stream and at best he can secure a seat for me only in arts courses like Bachelor of english literature or economics.
Dad could not say yes or no nor I could say any thing to my dad.

Dad wished I pursue degree in science in a prestigious institution. He tried in vain.
But mother took me to & could secure admission in government college to pursue science stream and later she managed to get me scholarship. After graduation securing first class, I did engineering .

It was annual day final year engineering. That Maths Prof. Venkatraman was presiding over the function. I received him on to stage and handed him a bouquet. He looked at me sharp fir a while.
His memory was sharp. He remembered the last meeting me with my dad. He hugged me with moist eyes. He only said “God bless you” with moisteyes.

 

@sociallifein30s,

When I talk about school experience, it is not something recent. I am talking about 1960s.

My first interaction with a Ramakrishna Mission school headmaters was dramatic. There were no KG classes those days and Std 1 is the first admission into the school. My mother took me to meet with the headmater and he rejected me stating that I was only 4 1/2 years old and asked my mother to bring me back again when I am closer to 6. I immediately put my hand into my pocket and offered a coin (Kalanna) to the headmaster asking him to admit me. That, I guess, is my first experience with bribing. He smiled, refused to accept the coin, but admitted me into the school. Once an inspector visited Ramakrishnan Mission school when I was in 2nd Std and I was pulled up to tell my name and I replied my name adding an affix of 2 C meaning my Std and Section making everyone around me to laugh.

The next unforgettable teacher is my math teacher in the middle school when I was in Neyveli. He happened to be my close friend's father but used to be strict in the class. He drilled arithmetic and math problem solving into my head. He was instrumental in my ability to do math well later. Then my high school Algebra teacher who expected his students to master Algebra. He used to mention that even in our sleep, we should be able to answer questions. He always used to have a ruler in his hand and threaten us if we make mistakes in the class in answering his questions. Those days, punishing the students in the class is not considered an offense.

Later when I was ready to take the public S.S.L.C. exam, I was hit with the underage problem to appear and it was all of my teachers who supported me by recommending that I was fully fit to take the public exam and I still have underage exemption certificate attached to my S.S.L.C. book.

I gratefully recall everyone of them at the evening of my life.

 

Every male member of the family for the last 4 generations are Engineers. My father got tired if it and advised me to pursue something else. But my weakness in Math in my early student years is an irritant for both my father and older brother. They kept berating me making me work so hard. When I reached high school, I started performing better. My interest in Math increased but my dad asked me to pursue B.Com. And go on to do CA. But I still chose Commerce, Economics and Mathematics in my P.U.C. I went on to score full mark in Math (Algebra, Geometry and Trigonometry). After that I pursued B.Com and then CA. I completed my CA in 1977.

 

What a nice feel good thread! Loved reading everyone’s stories and experiences