Teaching is a very lonely profession and the more you get immersed into it, the more you start getting cut off from the outer world. I guess that’s the case with the starting phase of any profession, the more you work hard in the initial stage, the more isolated you tend to get. This in no way means not being in touch with even the closest of your friends, infact they are the only one’s you would be left with for all others would drift away following your busy schedule. In times like these, its generally the love that you have for your work and the special moments that you have while performing it are what keeps any person going. I have my own share of “The moments that matter” everyday in my own classroom. As most of them involve my kids, they become even more special. I have decided to start writing about all such moments so as to keep them afresh in my memory and also to ensure that as and when the negativity tends to take me down, i shall just have a read and be back up. So, here we go:

Moment no. 1: This one is dated 25th of February,2012 and involves Aman, a super naughty kid of my class. Infact, if you ever get to look into Aman’s eyes, you would surely agree with us when we say that naughtiness drips out of his eyes ( Shaitaani, aankho se tapakti hai uski). Now, on that particular day, we had a half day in our school as the final exams are on so the kids leave after giving their exams. However, i was taking an extra-class and my kids were thus staying back for the full school time.The other teachers were checking their papers after the kids left. I was called up by one of them who was applying vermilion( saffron) on every teacher’s forehead for good-luck. She applied some on my head too. Then, i headed back to my class, Now it so happens that whenever i leave my class for some work, some of my kids gather near the window to have a look at what i am doing. I have tried my level best to stop this by trying all sorts of strategies(including shouting) but it just doesn’t work. So, the word had already spread in my class about bhaiyya getting a tikka(vermilion) on his head. As i entered, Aman said to Himanshi:” Bhaiyya hanuman jaise lag rahe hai” ( Bhaiyya is looking like Hanuman). As soon as Aman said it, all kids started giggling. As far as i was concerned i couldn’t help but smile in embarrassment. The smile had a deeper meaning for me for i knew within that such moments are now limited for me with my kids and i really want to relish them for i know i would sorely miss these genuine moments that are so hard to come by in our mature, diplomatic world(Sarcasm is totally intended here). The kids have a way of making you smile even on the smallest of things. They are all my tiny-tot SMART DREAMERS.

Nakul