TEACHERS AAJ-KAL: ARJAN'S VERSION

OK, Vipul, taking a page from your blog, here!

While I was writing my post, my son who just turned 16 was writing his own version, just for fun. Now that the contest is over, I present his thoughts on the subject.

I must emphatically add that this is pure, unadulterated Arjan Banerjee--not a word has been changed; not a punctuation mark has been altered; not a thought has been injected or edited.

I am immensely proud of what Arjan has produced. The maturity of thought he's exhibited is way beyond his age!

Forgive me if I sound repetitive, but just let us wonder….in how many ways do we take our teachers for granted???

Before we delve any further in this topic, we should ask ourselves…what makes a teacher?? What miraculous component of characteristic alchemically transforms a normal human being into a teacher? And I would like to note, here, that I am talking about true teachers, teachers who really care; whose primal desire is their students’ success. These teachers take their students’ failures as their own; and when their students do well, they revel in their success. These teachers, I think, are composed of a blend of great knowledge in one or more fields, wondrous compassion and natural talent and love of teaching. These teachers are very rare and it is them that I will be referring to when I say ‘teacher.’

In all cultures around the world, a teacher holds a place of great respect and importance in a person’s life. In English, ‘teacher’ is listed as synonymous with ‘mentor’ and ‘guide.’ In Indian culture, a ‘teacher’ is (or at any rate was) a ‘guru,’ possibly the most important figure in a person’s life. A teacher is a person who can show one the way to, not only get by, but do well in this tough world. A teacher imparted to his or her students the knowledge that he or she has painstakingly and assiduously gained, through great trial and sacrifice, for little or nothing in return.

Down the ages, the role of a teacher and indeed what a teacher is has definitely undergone a complete metamorphosis. In the ancient days, in India, teachers were exclusively highly educated Brahmins who were well versed in practically all subjects. They taught their pupils the scriptures and martial strategy, yoga and archery, hymns and swordsmanship… they were indeed all rounded teachers, fervently revered almost as deities. The role of the teacher in a person’s life was possibly of greater significance than anybody else. He was indeed a mentor and guide.

In today’s world, true teachers are nigh impossible to find but when found, there can be nobody who can shape and mould a person into an infinitely better human being. In the world as it is now, we are in desperate need of true teachers who will have not only academically but also morally superior students. The lucky people who are taught by these teachers will also have a higher regard for nature and exist at a higher state of awareness about nature’s present plight.
In the future, true teachers shall become even more necessary than they are now. If we continue as we are, the world will certainly be in dire straits… threatened both by the threat to nature and by humankind’s foolish animosity towards one another, at all levels of society:- individual, inter-family, between social strata, state wise, nation wise, between different religious factions, and finally maybe even on an international level. We need true teachers to spread the message of peace, harmony, coexistence, toleration and mutual understanding. It is only true teachers who can actually teach us to think in perspective, to think beyond ourselves, to put ourselves in others’ shoes. Teachers teach us that unity is far stronger a structure than those that are divided; to have unity in diversity.

To return, finally, to the question I put forward in the first line of this essay: - in how many ways do we take our teachers for granted??? In my opinion is that the best example to show this is the fact that we have a teachers’ day in the first place. We take teachers for granted to such an extent that we have to remind ourselves, annually, not to???? The idea itself is ridiculous.

Frankly, I think that the concept of teachers’ day is an insult to the hard work that teachers put in day in, day out.

Thank you for reading this.