My Teachers and Their Lessons

Hi, Welcome to my blog. This is my first post. So, I wanted to make it special. In this post I am going to introduce to you my teachers and their very amazing lessons which ‘played’ and ‘are playing’ a very important role in my life. These lessons from my teachers helped me to build my character, attitude and almost everything that I am today and I am sure that they will help me in building a better myself in future.

Before jumping in, I would like to thank God and my parents for giving me an opportunity to learn from these amazingly wonderful people in my life.

Like many other people in this world, I too had a lot of teachers in my life. But all of them did not leave an impact on my life. There are some teachers who I keep remembering myself with, every now and then. It is because these teachers never confined their teachings to academics alone. They took that one extra mile to mould their students into better citizens. Here goes my list…

*Note: I used initials because, that’s the way I am used to.

Mr. DVD sir:

He was my mathematics teacher during my 9^th grade. We used to wait for his class very eagerly. Mathematics is one of the most fascinating subjects back then (even now it is). But what makes it so special when DVD sir comes to take class is that, of the 40 minutes session he used to teach math for 30 minutes and the remaining 10 minutes he used to share some of the happiest moments of his life with us. He used to tell us about some amazing moments from his childhood. Unlike many other teachers, who would seriously come to class and teach the academics and go away, DVD sir shared some part of his personal life with us. He gave us a feeling that we were his own kids. It is like he took us on a special journey into his life. This is what makes his class so special. Every day when he left the class we used to have a smile on our faces and we used to wait for the next class.

So the most important lesson he taught was, ‘world is never too small to share your experiences with others.’ So don’t confine your life to you alone. Your life should help others people to learn too. So go ahead, share…

Mr. AKR sir:

AKR sir was my Telugu language teacher during my 10^th grade. His class was always fun. Learning from him is so fun to us. As he was a teacher who used to teach my mother tongue, we used to have a lot of freedom with him; freedom to talk to and express our ideas, opinions etc. He always used to repeat one point,

“Debba tagalanide sila silpam kaadu.” (It is in my mother tongue - Telugu)

Translation: A stone can never be turned into a beautiful sculpture until unless it is repeatedly hit by hammer and Chisel.

By saying that he used to explain, that ‘a man can never become good at leading his life until unless he falls down, taste some failures and then get up, move forward to reach his success’. He also used to mention that we might not understand it at that time, but, we would for sure understand it later in our life. Damn Right he is. After all these years, I often remind myself with his words.

Mrs. NRD madam:

She was my biology teacher during my 10^th grade and whenever I remember her, I remember her clam face. She looks very professional and does things very professionally. She used to help us a lot with our school activities too. One day she assigned me a work. The work is to draw two biology diagrams on two different charts and paste them on the classroom wall. Well, that might not be a big deal for many of the students, but, for me it was a big one, because, I was not very good at drawing (not even now). So I did my best and the next day she inspected my work. After inspecting, she asked for me and I stood up at my bench then she walked up to me and I am very, very scared and tensed that may be I did something wrong. With that fear I was standing with my head bent down. Then came closer to me, with a pleasant tone she asked me why I am bending my head down. I didn’t know what to say so I didn’t answer. Then she gave me a shake-hand and appreciated me for my good work.

She then said, ‘When there is nothing wrong you did, you should never bow down.’  That was the most amazing lesson from her and I follow it till today and will follow it till my end. And that was the very first time I got appreciated for my work in front of my fellow students. So I did feel a bit of shy too.

Mr. RK sir:

RK sir was my mathematics teacher during my 10^th grade. He was one of the oldest in the school. His physical appearance makes us think that he was very old. But the truth is that, he was old according to his age but very young at his heart. He was so active. He made math even more amazing. He triggered that enthusiasm in us to learn math. Throughout the session he never used to rest for a minute. Even we never felt tired during his class. He always used to say that he loves to teach and so he never gets tired of doing it (not even at that age). He also once explained that he can sit at home and spend rest of his life in retirement as all his children were well settled. But, he doesn't like to be retired. He likes to do what makes him feel alive and amazing throughout. So he teaches. And that’s how one should be.

So the most important lesson he taught was, ‘Always do what you love to do from the deepest part of your heart, because it keeps you happy throughout the day and at the end of the day it gives you great satisfaction.’

Mr. Robert:

Robert was my communication skills trainer and he insists not to call him ‘sir’ rather call him ‘Robert’. He was an amazing man. Many communication skills trainers would come to class, explain the tenses, asks students to take notes, give a material, make us talk on a topic and give an assignment to home. But Robert is different, he never asked us to write notes until it is really required. He says that he was against ‘teacher talking – student writing’ method of teaching. He said, ‘rather than doing that we will interact with each other’. He asked us to share anything that we would like to. He used to say that he would be always ready to hear anything and everything we would like to share. It is this approach that made his class so special. There are no rules over there. Open up. Express. Just learn all that you can. That’s it. During my training session with him, I once asked him what are tips that he would give me that I should follow when I go to face an interview.

He said, ‘Not only at interview, whatever you might do in your life, give your best to it.’ That really was a wonderful piece of lesson from him. I may forget tenses or verb forms that he taught me, but, I would never forget this lesson.

Mr. Srikanth sir:

Srikanth sir is my trainer in Software Development. I have been learning from him since June ’13. He is one of the best teachers I had seen in a long time. After my 10^th grade, it took nearly 7 years to come across a teacher like him. In my experience, what many professional trainers would do is that they try to present their level of skill set in front of their students. Unlike them, in spite of having 6 international certifications in software development, Srikanth sir always places himself in the shoes of his students. That’s what makes his class different from others. Teaching is not just a job it is more like doing a great deal of service to mankind. That’s what Srikanth sir does. For him teaching is not just about making a living. It is about pursuing a passion.

That is what he always mentions during his sessions, ‘Pursue your passion, it’s worth it.’ Of all the lessons he taught, this is the most important and incredible one. That too, he used the word pursue, which means never give up till you achieve it and don’t give up even then.

The other very important lesson he keeps teaching is that, ‘Keep Learning’. He says, ‘No matter which field it might be, training programs might come to an end, but, the process of learning should never end. Putting an end to your learning is the worst thing that could happen.’

P.S: I am so happy that I shared all this with you. I believe you too have some great lessons taught by your teachers. So please feel free to share them. Life is too small to learn everything on one’s own. So we got to learn from others experiences too. Moreover, sharing makes learning easier. Thank you for reading my post. Hope it would help you in some way or the other.