A letter from a teacher

My beloved students,

I've posted here, parts of my letter which I wrote and read as a farewell speech to my 2012 batch XII students. These lines are common to all my beloved students who were and are in my classes. 
Teaching was never my passion. I don't want to live in this profession for long. Yet I must admit that this profession gave me the chance to be with a group of young, creative, talented, genuine group of beautiful people, who taught me life. I stayed in this profession and continue to stay till I quit, ONLY because of my passion of being with you, my precious kids. The tons and tons of things I learned with you, from you, through you, everything I dedicate to each and every one of my students. The little French that I taught you is nothing when compared to the ocean of knowledge and wisdom I received, being a teacher.

I know that we haven’t communicated much through words. I don’t know why. But that never meant that I know you less than I ought to know. I know each one by heart, your looks, movements, walk, gestures, smile, and much more. I can imitate anyone of you as much as you can imitate me. What I mean to say is, whether through silence or words, all of you have made an imprint in my heart, which will always stay.

You may ask then “why this kolavery?” May be it is my reflex as a teacher. I never analyse anything that happens inside or outside the class. I always told you to leave the issues once faced, and get back to your smile and continue life cheerfully. I am not defending my mistakes as a teacher. May be I could do this job better, taught you better, behaved better...but one thing I can tell you confidently is that, I couldn’t love you any better than this, because I love each one of you my very best.

Though it is important to reconcile with ourselves and each other, life is too precious to be wasted by picking up and reliving our mistakes. So I am only trying to celebrate together the genuine love that I gave you and same or much more that I received from you. Looking back, I remain grateful to you for accepting me as your teacher, helping me to complete 5 years in Cluny. People always say that a teacher plays an important role in a student’s life. Surely true, may be few teachers have inspired me too. But I have to tell you the fact that all my students, each and every one of them, play an important role in my life. My students are my teachers and they are the ones who made me a teacher and a better human being.

I always preferred just to be myself, instead of doing or saying things which a teacher ought to do and say. The same way I prefer to see you the way you are. At this point of our journey, I am sure that we have happily tolerated each other.

My students never use adjectives to describe me. They summarise me in one noun, that is, terror. I totally agree to that noun, a noun which doesn’t need any adjectives to describe it and somehow I like that name very much. It proves how well my students have observed me and understood me.

I don’t like counting the number of my falls and failures as a teacher or yours as a student. I just want to thank God for all the precious years which I spent with you and seek His blessings on all of us although our lives.

A teacher has to say bye to her students year after year. That is a part of her profession. Her emotions are rarely seen or known. She stands brave and cool and so do I. My tears turn to prayers and my fears turn to wishes.

No batch has replaced another one, no face replaced another. Each one walks away from a teacher’s life.

I don’t know if the best teacher is the one who’s the most popular...or is it someone who touched your life personally, or corrected you for your good or pushed you to fly to a height which you never imagined to reach or said a prayer which you never heard? My three favourite teachers are, one, who loved me without looking at my marks, another one who tried to make me convince that I can do better, and the third, the one who said that I have a smiling face. I can’t tell you what these three people meant to me and what impact their attitude has made in my life. The first teacher helps me love myself even in my failures, second teacher pushes me to do things which I don’t believe that I can do, and the third teacher reminds me to smile even in worst situations.

So, being a teacher, I do all these three things. I love you no matter what, I push you to a height which you don’t seem to reach and I find something good in each of my students and all these make me a terror!! I may never be anyone’s favourite teacher. But even when I would’ve failed to be sweet in my expressions, if you’ve understood the purpose and love behind my words and actions, I count it as a blessing.

Thank you so much for being my students, for all your love and affection and moreover tolerance, which makes me happy even if I’m called a terror!!