Strivers…

Tomorrow is my last day at Strivers, my workplace and from July 1, I will be known as someone who ‘once’ used to teach there but now no longer does… It goes without saying that I am a little off… the last six and a half months have been awesome, tiring, educative, lovely… and Wow… It is the end of an era… where I have lived completely alone and have yet been hovered over by tonnes of young and restless souls – My students, my home away from home.

I came from Ranchi with an interview in hand and an uncertainty in my heart about what I wanted in the next phase of my life… (the uncertainty still stays put… but I am a happier, better person… all thanks to the people who have defined it and the nine and a half hours a day I spent with them… everyday)

I have lived all the days of my life at Strivers… right from the time I entered the institute till the time I left – I was surrounded by students, of different levels of restlessness and legen-dary awesomeness… some younger to me, most of them my age and a few way elder. So keen I was on adding something to their often misguided lives that I never realized I was undergoing a priceless metamorphosis of my own… and How!

I have learned from their lives, their experiences… I have learnt to read faces… to even read personalities from the way a person writes… the modus operandi is still oblivious to me, but, that it has happened is true.

Their stories have enlightened me… their one liners and titbits have made me laugh… There have been times when their struggles have had resonance with my own, making me hide my face so that they do not see me cry… and I have silently thanked them for adding something indescribable to my life. They have treated me like a friend and I have succeeded in hoisting the flag of this unique friendship up high. They have given me the honor of being their trouble shooter and confidant… and I have tried, with every ounce of energy I have, to live up to their expectations… Their questions are unending… there were moments I felt they’ve just been delivered and assigned to me… making me bring my experience and expertise of babysitting to the fore.

Yes, I have lost my cool with them, but that has been more for their own good than mine… and they have been wise enough to know the difference… only recently I scolded a student for being a pain in everybody’s neck… I was so harsh with him that when I went to the class next day to apologise, his only reply was that I was right in scolding him as it was much needed… that it made me speechless is another story.

Did I mention that I have earned some much needed money in the process… but what I have earned more is Respect. Having to deal with the most difficult of students and managing to win them over will always be one of the biggest achievements of my life.

I thank everyone – my boss cum school friend, my colleagues and subjects alike – for putting up with me, welcoming me with an open mind and letting me experiment, never once questioning my ability… and I thank the God of my understanding for giving me opportunities, each more diverse than the other, to prove my mettle… To Rise, Shine and Strive !