Shruti..a crushed little life and dream...

Dear little Shruti,
I saw your little face on the TV screen and though I don't know you at all in person, it hurts to think that a kid had to suffer for the negligence of an adult.
I can't get over the agony and miserable pain that you underwent in the last moments of your life.
I can't imagine the trauma of your mother who was waiting for you at the next bus stop, probably after preparing a good snack for her little daughter.
I can't even understand your father's pitiful situation in dealing with the loss of his little baby and also handling the family and case.
I waited so eagerly for the morning newspaper (The Hindu) to see what happened to the culprits, but I threw the newspaper which didn't publish even a word about you.
You were a soul who came for a while and became a victim for no fault of yours.
I love you baby, whoever you are and I feel so sorry and sad that an institution's negligence caused your end.
There is nothing much left in this world for a baby to enjoy. Nowhere is safe for a child to grow. 
When little kids slip into death's trap through a hole in the bus, adults quickly find a loophole to escape.
You studied in a school with 12000 students. One death makes no difference!!
But you come from a home with only one little girl. One death makes all the difference!!
Little one, you were in a place where good exam results were claimed for kids who come from illiterate families. But what a pitiful result it showed in case of a poor child's death!
I would've been proud of that school if they had only a few students; yet cared for them. But not for rearing 12000 for their glorious result.
Who am I to speak out? No one. Where money speaks loud, a commoner like me is silenced.
Shruti, among all, in all these years, surely you got hurt the most.
I will never know the pain you endured when your bones were crushed and your flesh jammed.
I will never know the pain of a parent who lost a baby.
And moreover I will never understand the school owner's inhuman instinct of passing the blame and washing his hands, when the whole world mourns your death.
You left a lesson for all of us to learn. Above all that a person can ever achieve, the priority to be a human and facing life as a human should be fixed.
Good bye little one, to the land of angels. When you are there, watch over the little ones like you, those who go to school waving bye to their parents, those who trip into the clutches of any danger and may lose their life.
May God give you a beautiful powerful mission in Heaven and may you continue your dance with sweet little angels!
Love.....from me...

You defeat me kids...Letter from a teacher - 2

I must admit that the worst moments in my class come when I stand firm, correcting a child. I hate everything that goes on between us, around us, the cause, the consequence, everything. But yet I do out of my instinct and as a part of my responsibility as a teacher. Kid is a kid is a kid. Still, she needs correction. I know, but I hate to be the one who does it.
I was contemplating much on quitting this job not only for this reason, but for many other things that happens in the classrooms and schools in the state and in the country. I wonder if my personality suits this profession and moreover, if I will find anything positive to continue being a teacher.
The subject knowledge or your ability to control a class or the salary that you get; none of these reasons are enough to be a teacher. You cannot continue it just because kids like you or your class or want you to be their teacher. The reason to be a teacher is beyond all what you do or students do in the class.
In my confusion, I was sure that I will get my answers on the way. So I continued my profession this year too, as a teacher. The academic year starts only when the teacher makes sure that all her students have come to the right track of learning and behaviour. The hectic first months of putting them on track always make me feel exhausted. Yet I do it as otherwise the class will run like a marathon, with many quitting the race. It takes so much of effort to make sure that they all have been trained to complete the race almost in the same speed and time.
A teacher is a gardener. No plant in the garden knows why the gardener takes his garden tools and cuts and digs and waters. Everything that he does makes each plant look tended and healthy. Faith in my gardening skills kept me going for so many years as a teacher. When I take my tools in my hand, my students call me a terror and in their flowering seasons they give me the sweetest smile to tell me that they judged me wrong.
I must say that nothing is easy these days because of the pollution that has come to the society. The kids are running on a slushy track. Their targets are so far and so high. Their strength and stamina decrease over the years due to pressure and problems that are too big for them to handle. Making them run, or watching them run, is no fun.  A teacher can just be a companion to help them finish their race.
What am I, a teacher, at the end? A carrier who transports the kids to the final exam halls? I have no answers yet. I even started telling my colleagues to do something else in life, if possible. I fail to find a good reason to be a teacher.
With these thoughts running in my mind, I continue doing my work as always. Yesterday, as I came out of my class, a few students followed me with their assignment, some with their best smiles, some with their sober eyes...the kids who I corrected the previous day... They needed my unconditional acceptance.  
It wasn’t that reason which melted my heart and made me smile. It was their innocent way of trying to get an approval from me. Only a child can do it and only the innocence can make her do it.
Another defeating moment of life. I stood defeated before their innocent expressions and innocent acting. I was happy to be defeated. After all, I believe ‘Love never fails’ and it is found the maximum in an innocent heart of a child.
I found a reason to continue being a teacher; to learn from my students. Thank you kids for showing me the power of innocence and being your humble student is the best thing that has ever happened in my life as a teacher.

The lesson that a teacher learned!

Dads and moms are loved and praised

Friends and lovers are loved and missed

FB transfers the feelings which are never told on face!

Teachers are condemned and stoned

Challenged, mocked and kicked

FB is a school for teachers to face what others teach!
            

With all love and respect to my students and to the student community, to all who were ever students, to all of you, I want to say firmly one thing, a teacher is not the biggest criminal in the society.

            After a long day in school, when I open my FB account, there are so many posters ready to welcome me. People of all ages and professions and status participate in this game of demeaning and ridiculing and educating a teacher. And me I am one of those who you try to teach her lessons. Thanks anyway, as I trust that you all have the best of intentions when you do that.

            “Top 12 Dialogues of a teacher” is one of the most popular mockeries that you use to educate us to have a better dialogue with students. But why don’t you all understand that no such dialogue is needed to teach our subject? Do you think that the teacher switches on herself like a tape recorder to deliver these dialogues? Just imagine the scenes of the classroom which calls for such dialogues and why not make quotes out of them too? And have you ever thought and found out why a tuition teacher never faces the same attack?

            And where are the Dads and Moms who are the most ambitious adults who abuse the kids verbally and physically? “Top 12 dialogues of a parent” “Top 12 dialogues of a child” etc will make so many people homeless and orphans, or childless, right?

            I don’t want to give you answers for these questions. Intelligent as you are, can find out the answers yourself.

            I never knew that the world would’ve been heaven if not for the teachers who change little angels to big demons. And I will never understand why the precious children are still brought to hells called schools and put them under the tyranny of a monster called teacher!

            Newspapers and TV have kept a permanent camera focusing the teacher, and unfortunately I am one. I see only two options. Either I must stop watching TV and newspaper and delete my FB account. Or I must quit my job as a teacher.

            If ever I decide to quit my job and start doing something worthwhile, if I ever live my life without being branded, just because I am a teacher, I will remain eternally grateful to all of you, the journalists, the media people, especially FB which serves as a mouthpiece to everyone to say anything.

              As I tell my students, to understand the love and value of a teacher, you must be a good student. And I am sure that there are some people out there, adults or students, who’ve never stoned the teachers, nor approved of others stoning. I don’t know how to call it in English..in Malayalam we call it ‘Guruthwam’, the sense of respect to the Gurus, the ability to see them without judgment.

             Big thanks to those of my students who loved me, overcoming the instinct to judge and brand me. When I walk out of my job, all that I carry home will be the understanding tolerating love that we shared in the classroom.