To Ma'am With Love
I just found out my favorite teacher left school. I have no idea what caused her to and something tells I shouldn't try to find out. Needless to say, I'm sad. So, I decided to do this post.
When I was in ninth, I had a small....incident with the teacher in question. We had to do something called a radio show. We were divided in groups and had to record our voices in CDs. There was some conflict between me and her about the division of groups. My group had already decided on some things and she was about to reshuffle the groups. So, I (I admit I can be really stupid sometimes), said, "Ma'am, please don't mess up the composition of our group". I still curse myself for saying that because ma'am got angry. Ma'am if you're reading this, here's what I have to say about that day- I have nobody to blame but myself for this slip of tongue, I am really sorry and I swear I didn't know what 'mess up' really meant. You would be surprised with the last bit because you were one of the first people to say I have a 'flair for writing' (those were your words exactly) and you would expect me to know what'mess up' meant, but I really was confused about the, well, appropriateness of the term.
In the years that followed, I have had many more incidents with ma'am involving things like running in the corridor and other things. Usually, I don't like 'incidents'. Most of students end up not liking teachers who scold them for their mistakes. But ma'am, every incident with you has been positive. I have never taken it as a scolding, always as sane advice from somebody who would forgive me the very next day.
Ma'am, I admired you not only as a person but also as a teacher. When you taught 'The Tribute', I realized that you sent us into a trance somehow. We paid attention to you, we sat with or backs straight, our minds alert. At the same time, you never forgot that no matter how much we wanted we couldn't treat English as pour priority subject in XIIth. You saw us for what we were and saw our talents. You knew I liked to write and was good at it but also told me that I needed to be careful about the things I said sometimes.
I never told you this but when you told us the story about how a girl from Bangladesh sat on her shoes because she didn't want anyone to steal them (this is in reference to the chapter Lost Springs), I came back home and wrote an article about it (it is in the blog archives and is titled 'For Sale, Baby Shoes, Never Worn'). That's how you are- we take the things you said very seriously. We laughed with you, but never laughed off the things you said.
We were trying to figure out how to give you a good farewell and most idea centred around a party (if you get a surprise party, don't tell anyone you already got a hint from me). But I am not good with parties. I have a blog which is read by people all over the world (with US, India and Scandinavian nations forming my main audience) and I wanted people everywhere to know how good my teacher is. A party could never achieve that, so I wrote this letter-cum-blog post. I hope I achieved what I wanted to.
I know you won't be joining this school again. My mom is a teacher and I know how such things work. She wanted to go back to Delhi and take her old job but she never really could. Honestly, I think you will end up getting attached to the student of your new school and it will feel unnatural for you to come back because it would be like taking a step backwards. But you should know that we loved you and we will miss you and we really hope no matter how impossible it may seem, you will come back to us.
When I was in ninth, I had a small....incident with the teacher in question. We had to do something called a radio show. We were divided in groups and had to record our voices in CDs. There was some conflict between me and her about the division of groups. My group had already decided on some things and she was about to reshuffle the groups. So, I (I admit I can be really stupid sometimes), said, "Ma'am, please don't mess up the composition of our group". I still curse myself for saying that because ma'am got angry. Ma'am if you're reading this, here's what I have to say about that day- I have nobody to blame but myself for this slip of tongue, I am really sorry and I swear I didn't know what 'mess up' really meant. You would be surprised with the last bit because you were one of the first people to say I have a 'flair for writing' (those were your words exactly) and you would expect me to know what'mess up' meant, but I really was confused about the, well, appropriateness of the term.
In the years that followed, I have had many more incidents with ma'am involving things like running in the corridor and other things. Usually, I don't like 'incidents'. Most of students end up not liking teachers who scold them for their mistakes. But ma'am, every incident with you has been positive. I have never taken it as a scolding, always as sane advice from somebody who would forgive me the very next day.
Ma'am, I admired you not only as a person but also as a teacher. When you taught 'The Tribute', I realized that you sent us into a trance somehow. We paid attention to you, we sat with or backs straight, our minds alert. At the same time, you never forgot that no matter how much we wanted we couldn't treat English as pour priority subject in XIIth. You saw us for what we were and saw our talents. You knew I liked to write and was good at it but also told me that I needed to be careful about the things I said sometimes.
I never told you this but when you told us the story about how a girl from Bangladesh sat on her shoes because she didn't want anyone to steal them (this is in reference to the chapter Lost Springs), I came back home and wrote an article about it (it is in the blog archives and is titled 'For Sale, Baby Shoes, Never Worn'). That's how you are- we take the things you said very seriously. We laughed with you, but never laughed off the things you said.
We were trying to figure out how to give you a good farewell and most idea centred around a party (if you get a surprise party, don't tell anyone you already got a hint from me). But I am not good with parties. I have a blog which is read by people all over the world (with US, India and Scandinavian nations forming my main audience) and I wanted people everywhere to know how good my teacher is. A party could never achieve that, so I wrote this letter-cum-blog post. I hope I achieved what I wanted to.
I know you won't be joining this school again. My mom is a teacher and I know how such things work. She wanted to go back to Delhi and take her old job but she never really could. Honestly, I think you will end up getting attached to the student of your new school and it will feel unnatural for you to come back because it would be like taking a step backwards. But you should know that we loved you and we will miss you and we really hope no matter how impossible it may seem, you will come back to us.
Hello ma'am.I hope you are reading this.
ReplyDeleteYou are one of the few people who have inspired me to do better things in life,and to be honest it came as a rude shock to me when i learnt that you had left our school.I also want to add that all of my friends were truly upset at that information, which shows how much everyone loves you.
I remember the previous year you had personally told me to participate in the "Rotary Club" competition for poetry-writing.I was delighted that you thought i was a good poet and that encouraged me to nurture my talent.
But i cannot believe how i forgot about the date of the competition a few weeks later and disappointed you at the last moment.I was so angry at myself but i knew i couldn't change the past.
So i want you to know that I was really sorry about that "incident".I know it sounds immature but i learnt a lesson from that too.
So i only wanted to let you know that we all will miss you and we know you won't come back but we would be ecstatic if you would.
v luv u maam..!!!n v r gonna miss u loadss....!!!do cme back..!!!
ReplyDeleteHello maam,
ReplyDeleteI am very upset and haven't yet come into terms with the fact that you have left the school.
I neither had any interest nor any kind of liking for creative writing. I would score very low marks in that section always.
But today I want to thank you for all your scoldings and your kind help as a result of which i have at least started taking an initiative to work on my writing skills and maybe improved a little.
I just wanted to tell you that we all love you and will miss you.
Please come back.....