The Value of Discipline

Mr. Umesh Bahuguna was my Physics teacher in 11th standard. He was a great scholar & taught students in a very fine way, giving real-life examples so that Physics, as a subject, becomes very easy for them and they can score well in the examination. Teaching was his passion & he always considered his work a moral responsibility & accomplished all his official tasks in a manner that can provide immense benefit to the students.

At our school, during free hours, we used to play cricket on the nearby ground. Cricket was a passion for me & my friends. But gradually we were developing an addiction to it which was gradually separating us from our studies. Once my friends & I were playing cricket during lunch hours. Just after that, we were having our Physics lecture. We were so busy playing that we continued after lunch hours & missed the lecture. Not only we missed Mr.Bahuguna's lecture but subsequent lectures also. And on that day due to some festive celebration, our playground was occupied & we decided to play in the nearby forest area.

But while playing, I and my friends were so involved in the game that we even forgot that it was 8:00 PM in the evening, & our school hours were from 1:00 PM.to.5:00 PM. We just picked up our accessories and rushed towards our homes. As I reached home, my mom & dad were very upset & looking at me they were so angry that I got a good thrashing from my mom & dad both. My grandmother was crying as I was getting beaten up by my parents. My mother was crying. She said, "where were you? Looking at you we can clearly identify that we all were desperately waiting for you & you were busy playing cricket from last,5-6 hours. You have no care for your family."

The whole night I was not able to sleep. It was the worst thing I did, skipping the lecture of Umesh Bahuguna Sir, the finest teacher in the class. The next day reaching school, I first rushed towards Bahuguna Sir's cabin, touched his feet & said, "Sir, please forgive me for my mistake. I am a very bad student. You have always been a kind teacher, but I never realised how much you care for your students. I am sorry, Sir."

Mr. Umesh Bahuguna made me stand at my place & very politely he said, "Don't worry. I am happy you realised your mistake. See, I am a school teacher & it is my profession. I get paid for it & I am well settled in life. But you are in your learning stage. If you study thoroughly, attend all your lectures, and perform well in class tests & examinations, only you will be benefitted.

If you are not coming to school or skipping lectures, it is 100% sure that during that time, you are not studying also.

But if you are sincere, later on, you will get admission to good colleges & after that a good job. This is how life moves. Always remember, we don't follow a disciplined life in order to impress parents & teachers. Discipline is not a matter of impressing anyone, it is a way of life. Now go back to your classroom & study thoroughly. I am not at all angry."

Listening to his words I got a sigh of relief. That day I decided to prove myself the best student in his class & due to God's grace, I did it as well. I studied hard & scored very good marks on the next unit test. Mr. Bahuguna was sincerely happy to see a positive change in my personality & I was happy that I did something positive because of which my teacher forgot my earlier mistakes.