Thats where you'd have found me today, at around 10 am, not as nervous as I'd thought I'd be. I was in the company of friends and didn't have any major responsibilities for the day, so I went in with a clear and curious mind. One of the first things to greet me gave me the slightest of tingles, where kids sat in neat rows and columns, wearing a pleasing and sharp white dress. Memories of how the white dress used to be such a problem for me, it being the mandatory uniform twice in a week for us n all, came rushing back as I'd usually get some stain or the other on it. The kids, however, were doing some drills under the steady gaze of the PE instructor and the steady rhythm of the drum! Oh how I longed to be in the school band for the Independence and Republic day parades, and especially to be the drummer! The bugle and the flute were way too weak and inconsequential for me, as the drum dictated the march past of the chosen ones!
Back to the little darlings. We were a bit early for class, so we stood outside the entrance and my other two friends, who'd already been teaching there for a while, stepped out of the view of the kids cos apparently they start calling out with 'Sir! Good Morning Sir' and 'Hello madam' and stuff :)
And of course get lambasted by the PE dude...the terrifying PE dude; with probably a cane or a wooden 'scale', not hesitant to use it if needed, and rather callous with it; demanding and more or less getting the attention and respect of all students...Heh!
And then I accompanied Naren, as I was just to sit and observe him 'teach' today, up a flight of stairs when it happened; a totally random kid, making his way to class, said to me 'Good Morning Sir'. And since I'd recently started picturing myself as a teacher down the line and had also started thinkin about it a bit, this really struck a chord somehow. Good Morning Sir. The boy wasn't essentially showing ME respect. He hadn't seen me ever, hadn't known me. Yet he'd made me part of the fraternity somehow...Well!
And then, class was in session! In a few minutes it was obvious to me that Naren was in a beautiful place with these kids, where there is respect as well as playfulness. The kids knew their limits but could push Naren just a bit. And Naren allowed himself to be pushed, but not too far. With no set curriculum to be taught to these kids, who're so brimming with energy and self-confidence, the theme of the class was more free-form infotainment than structured knowledge imparting. And nothing like dividing the class into two sides and having a competition between them to get the juices flowing!
Mind you, when I say self-confidence, there's none of the arrogance/egoistic behavior that I so repeatedly see in ppl nowadays. It is a happy, pure and fearless method of confidence where innocence rules more than anything else! Even in kids, I see nowadays, that at a very early age the innocence factor, which is so so key and so needs to be present, is missing due to a large number of factors. But not the case here. All their emotions were pure and honest : Complete and utmost exhilaration at somebody in the team cracking the answer; Absolute despair at the opposition doing the same! No hidden intent, no malice : just get what you feel, out there and move on to enjoying the next moment. It was like drinking out of a chalice....I felt and experienced life today :)
I'm going back there next week. I may not feel the same high that I felt today. But I'm sure there'll be a different set of emotions there, as I enter "my class" for the first time............
