Happy Teacher’s Day – Celebrating The Ones Who Taught Us Best!
Teacher, professor, tutor, mentor, guruji – so many names for someone who has changed your life in a significant way. Brad Henry once said, “A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning.” And for many of us, some of life’s greatest lessons have been taught by unexpected people. Whether it was your class teacher who coached you to success or your mother who was the first to hold your hand and propel you forward – a good teacher isn’t restricted to classrooms or formalized settings. Regardless of where and when you received the lesson, the idea is to express your gratitude and acknowledge that it was well learned!
To celebrate these inspiring human beings, we are asking all our readers to contribute a short paragraph about their favourite ‘teachers’ and explain how their ‘lessons’ changed their lives. We will use these tiny tales to celebrate our gurus – both traditional and unconventional this Teacher’s Day! To lead the way, Team KYS have some anecdotes to share:
For The Love Of Teaching
Jaideep shares, “I would like to thank Kiran sir, who taught me at MIT Manipal. I remember an incident, which took place in 2010, when Akash, my friend, and I were developing an online quiz software tool. Kiran sir was helping us voluntarily, and he wasn’t going to receive any recognition for doing so. Akash and I went to Kiran sir for a review at 6 pm after our classes. Kiran sir had also finished his classes for the day. Review comments were critical, and he suggested a lot of improvements. We started working on the quick fixes and forgot to keep track of the time. When we looked up, it was already 10 pm, and Kiran sir had no plans to leave! He had a family and home to go to. For us, it was just a project to complete! Kiran sir sat with us – helping and guiding – till we finished that particular module. By then it was 1 am! This incident taught me what giving really means – and how you can be a gift to the world while not seeking credit for your contributions.”
Father Knows Best
Nandini says, “My father has been a teacher to me even though I have never really thanked him on Teacher’s day (or for that matter any day). One beautiful thing that I have learned from him is “preparation is equally important as execution”. Be it a Pooja in our home or me taking a train somewhere. I have seen him make blueprints of the schools, roads, and bridges he has built. The amount of time and dedication he gives to making detailed sketches on a butter paper and the number of pillars calculated taking the area into consideration – he captures the minutest details on paper. That’s the kind of preparation where you are self-sustainable. He never really ‘taught’ me – he was just himself and caring for what he loved – he taught by example!”
The First Teacher
Pranita shares, “My mother has always told me to be a good human being and a responsible citizen first. She never expected me to have goals about how much I should earn by the time I’m at a certain age or what my ‘status’ in the society should be! All her lessons were about being socially responsible. She taught me that when you constantly work on yourself to become a good human, everything else will fall into the right place; all the questions will find answers, and most of all, you will be peaceful and find true happiness, which is ultimately what everyone wants. I’m so grateful for these lessons of love, kindness, and compassion, which were caught by me not through her words, but her actions.”
Leading By Example
Anjali says, “I come from a large family filled with very opinionated people with huge hearts. Though each of them has taught me many things – through words and actions – today I’m focusing on my eldest cousin. A successful documentary filmmaker, a staunch feminist, and an amazing mother, sister, daughter, and cousin – I feel like I could write a book on how much I admire her. She is the trailblazer of our generation and followed her passion. She also unconditionally supported me when I wanted to do the same. Her work as a documentary maker is beautiful and incredibly inspiring. In fact, I’m pretty sure she is the one who taught me the importance of small yet powerful stories. Every time I watch her work I’m amazed, humbled and grateful. But her on-screen work isn’t half as wonderful as her off-screen persona – she’s a force to be reckoned with in more ways than one. I’m so proud of her and grateful to be able to wander in her footsteps.”
If you have a story to tell about someone who inspired, challenged and motivated you – please share it with us! We believe that the best teachers are those who teach real life lessons, which stay with you forever. Post your story on social media and tag @KnowYourStar. You can also use the hashtag #TheSchoolOfLife and #TeachersDay. If you don’t want to post your story directly on social media, you can fill in this short form, and submit it directly to us.
Thank you for taking the time to read and participate in our #WeekOfLearning. We are all students and teachers – let’s take the time to express our gratitude to the ones who came before us!
This is foe a couple of English teachers who inspired me to write ….Miss Jyothi Swaroop ( Ms Jo) and Mrs Gordon…oh all those years ago in Rosary Matriculation, my deepest respect and gratitude!