I expectantly went to XII Sc”B’ later than I normally do. By a couple of minutes. The writings on the green board were yet to be rubbed out. The class was noisy. I was about to have a mood-swing, when I could see Durga Das making his way slowly towards the board. The next couple of minutes was spent on writing the idioms on the board. Even after all these years, I find teaching idioms a huge headache. So consequently the arrangement was made in consultation with the students that each day just before the start of the class, a student has to present five idioms along with their meanings and examples. It has worked out to a T till now.
I liked the way Indra stared his presentation. “ I know it’s taken me donkey's years to write the idioms on the board. He halted abruptly then and turned to Yeshi Wangmo sitting in the first row. “ Wai, Yeshi. Did you hear me? Can you repeat what I’ve said just now?” Yeshi repeated his words almost verbatim. Next indra requested her to guess the meaning of ‘donkey's years’ from the context. What I liked even more was the way he kept the class on their toes throughout, using his crude sense of humour.
While commending him on his presentation, I expressed the
view that how I wished I could borrow his characteristic sense of humour. I also spoke about my apprehension and fear
that in due course of time they would forget all my lessons, having found them
monotonous and insipid. Students all
across Bhutan are no different from one another. So far as I am concerned, I must consider
myself extremely lucky. They have been
unbelievably encouraging and supportive.
So right after my bleak forecast, someone at the back threw a question
towards me, “ Sir, did you ever want to
be a teacher when you were young?” (A question that they keep on asking me
quite frequently.)
“ No way” I was sorry to have disappointed them. But a
teacher is supposed to be honest, especially in his daily dealings with the
students. “I wanted to be anything but a teacher. I have always believed that in order to be a
teacher, one must have a sound academic background (My VSO colleague of
yesteryears, Ms.Ilish’s words started ringing in my ears. ‘ Qualifications, my
dear Mr.Bhattacharjee, do not make a good teacher………’). I
shared with my class how I had felt some two and half decades back when I was
at Ura Pilot School in Bumthang. That
day I had the blues when Yeshi Wangdi in class-IV, a teacher by his own right now, stood up
to ask me if I was a First Class First from Calcutta University. I was his class teacher teaching all the
subjects excluding Dzongkha, the national language, which was simply beyond me and
Yeshi must have had a lot of expectations as far as the academic career of his
favourite teacher was concerned!
Back in the class Roshan, one of the most ingenuous of the present
batch of class xii students, started talking about a movie starring Salman
Khan, the heart-throb of millions of movie-goers across the globe and Jaganath,
someone with the most religious bent of mind, enquired if I had, by any chance,
watched a Tibetan movie called Samsara. I could gauge from their reactions how they
were trying their best to pull me out from the depths of despair. But the class was getting a bit of clamorous
and one quick look at my watch told me that there was just 25 minutes of the
period left. I had to get the students
back on track. So I asked Jewan about
the rules pertaining to the Sequence of Tenses.
He answered the question as promptly as I could wish. Happy, I started talking about some exceptions
to that rule. I went on lecturing and
explaining about some more rules for the next 20 minutes or so. I heard Dechen
Tshering, the topper of the Mid-Year Exam, uttering something like ‘ Sir, we
should have more of such lessons ….”.
I finally stopped two minutes before the stipulated time. “Now, dear students, let me tell you about something
else. You remember the story that Karma
Sonam Lhetshog shared with us last time? The Story of Ted? You will
remember then the last part of the story where Ted engaged in a bear-hug with
his ‘best teacher ever’ on his wedding day, finally tells her it all? And what was his teacher’s reply? “ No,Ted. You got it all wrong. I didn’t
teach you anything. It was you who
taught me how to teach ……”
Now I have always believed in the age-old adage that good
teachers are not born. They are rather
made. You can really make or mar a
teacher’s career. You can really help me
grow by going through the rules and asking me lots of questions in the next
class. Your questions will prepare me
for the future and keep me ready with all the answers………..”
While coming down the stairs, Parmila and Indra handed me
their articles for correction. Even
after two consecutive periods, I felt reinvigorated and reenergized. Together we will surmount a mountain of
obstacles and , God willing, climb atop.
