Power of a Teacher

The Tata literature first book award for the year 2021 goes to Ireena Sarangi, please call her with a loud applause. The whole auditorium echoed with clapping and cheering of the audience. She received the award with tears in her eyes and smiling lips.

After collecting the award she graciously went up to the microphone for the thank you speech.

She was a tall lady with a beautiful blue saree and dark expressive eyes. This was her very first award for writing and she was very excited. She thanked her family, colleagues and friends for her success. Along with that she also thanked her teachers. This was a bit uncommon. People wanted to know the reason why she mentioned about her teachers? And thus she narrated her story.

When Ireena was in class 1, they had moved to a new city and a new school. In her old school they were learning words and small sentences in English and she was quite comfortable with them.

But here they were reading small prose and poetry along with questions answers, grammar and so many other things.

Ireena could barely write a couple of words and would constantly cry. She was completely lost. Then came Lucy teacher and sat down near her.

She silently placed an old students notebook from previous year in Ireena's bag and softly said "Keep this with you. Write slowly and practice at home. Learning is fun not a punishment."

Before leaving she said - "Ireena your handwriting is the best in this class. I am so proud of you." And thus the journey of words to phrases, sentences to stories started for little Ireena.

Next year in class 2, Sangeeta teacher could sense Ireena had a knack and interest in writing and story telling.

She always encouraged and appreciated Ireena's effort. When she won an inter school story writing competition, Sangeeta teacher made sure her name was mention in the morning assembly by the Principal. This was the power of a teacher.

Thus the clock started picking, changing days to months and months to years. 

In high school Seema teacher and Bali teacher with two english pillars for Ireena. They made sure kids read, understood, imagined and lived all the stories and plays.

The little girl who was having trouble writing a complete sentence, is now weaver of words. She was growing leaps and bounds and was representing herself in different local and national competitions.

And not to forget Anthony Sir (may his soul rest in peace), who was like the masterchef who added the last pinch of salt to make the dish just perfect. He taught her to enjoy the magic and aura of literature.

One more important thing Ireena carried from school is her sports teacher, Ajay Sir's attitude.

He never accepted no for an answer. His motto was try, fail, get up, dust yourself,improvise, try again and let this loop continue till you win.

Once out of school Ireena's passion was lost in the rat race and grind of corporate mayhem. It takes real determination to walk out of line.

After lot of procastination, she final started living her dream profession of a writer. 

And here she is winning such a prestigious award on her first novel.

Nobody can deny the power of a teacher. We may forget their faces, their names, but whatever they have imbibed within us stays along.

And the auditorium again thundered with clapping and this time every person did spare a moment to think of their school teachers with a little smile on their faces. 

#thank you teacher, #teacher's day