A girl of 9
years old was very fond of her teacher. But to her utter surprise the teacher
didn’t have any warmth for her. She has humiliated her so many times. Those
were the days when child psychology was not so prevalent in school curriculum
and education was not child centric. The little girl was very good at singing.
Once there was a solo song competition and there were twenty participants. She
sang a beautiful bhajan and bagged the first prize. Everybody patted her,
blessed her congratulated her. The teacher too came near her and said that you
sing all right but the boy who stood second is better than you in every way.
The small girl touched her teacher’s feet to seek blessing.
The girl
didn’t know that whether she got the actual blessings or not but she made a promise
to herself that she would prove her teacher wrong.
Everybody
forget the incident that day as life moves on and it does not care for these
petty things. Moreover at that time children were supposed to be highly
disciplined and almost could not imagine any freedom of thought and expression
like today’s children. Those were the days when there were no computers, very
less TV sets (who owned were always under the jealous eyes of neighbours).There
were abundance of Radio sets and definitely open playgrounds where children
used to play with heart filled desires. No air – conditioned room with playing
consoles. There were poodles, meadows, rainbows, brooks, trees, story books of
Enid Blyton to enjoy and spend the spare time.
With time
the little girl grew up but fortunately with an empowered mind. She lived by
the poem – “where the mind is without fear”.
Not only she has dwell on its actual meaning but added some of her own
to it.
The girl who
desire to live her life at her own terms. No she is not bohemenian, just a free
flowing heart. She believes in taking life as it comes. Thanks to her
upbringing that she has grown up in an empowered environment.
After 20
years she met the same teacher on facebook. Alas! to her dismay the teacher could not
recognized her but remembers all the other classmates. Again life has given her
a big humiliation after 20 long years. She could see the teacher commenting on
her old buddies wall : you were my best student beta . The teacher may be not
abreast with the latest teaching psychology where every child is teacher’s favorite
one. And being impartial is the buzz word as every child is special in itself. After
few days of persuasion the teacher finally could recognize the little girl and
added her to her friends list. The girl was overjoyed!
Time passed
by, one day as an inherent nature the girl gave a general status on her social
network site. Most of her friends liked it some pulled her leg and few
speculated as well. The high spirited girl enjoyed them all and replied at her
best.
But again
amongst these there was statement which needed to be read between the lines. A
deliberate attempt to discipline the free flowing thoughts of a carefree bird.
A bird who knows no boundaries to live, her domain is the high sky and her soul
travels the core of the earth.
But this
time the young woman decided to be vocal about her childhood humiliation.
Please do
not misunderstand the young woman that she wants to take some revenge, which
will be a narrow thought.
The young
woman is also a teache , but of this generation with recent trends. The
education today is child centric and the CBSE board has done everything to
implement CCE and eradicate humiliation and corporal punishments from school
and develop a child both scholastically and non co scholastically.
MORAL OF THE
STORY à Dear friends we are living in 21st
century where experimental life is in. Artists have experimented even
Rabindranath Tagore’s creation with their own blend. So let us become teachers
and parent to our children where the boundaries are not cemented but permeable
membrane where the child can breathe freely. He can express his innate thoughts
and feeling not only on social networking sites but to your heart and in their
cohesive cocoons. Please allow your child to live freely on his or her own
terms. Believe me it is true that we need to discipline our child and teach
them big lessons on morality, but please remember that your child too has so
many things to teach you. You can learn from your own children, students. Just
a small change in attitude is all that required.
Happy Reading!!!
