18 July 1994 | The ‘Two
Cups’ of Coffee ☕☕
#memoriesfromdiaries 💛
[Same day, 27 years ago]
On
Coffees
&
Corporal
Punishments
As far as hostel life goes, if you wake up late you end up facing the music!
Back then, corporal punishment was the way forward for all wardens, teachers and headmasters alike!
‘Cane up a child in the way he should go’, seemed to be their very own ‘holy’ version of the Scriptures to emulate!
Well, you see, they all used to have the same-sized long and lanky canes with them, that faithfully aided them in giving you that one solid whack of a whacking on your palm!
Some among us had this cute knack of cracking up loud 😫with some added doses of hysteric shrieks and shouts, even before the whack could land anywhere close to their palms! 😉
That, I guess is also the very moment you became aware of the beautiful theatre factory headquartered deep within your very fabric! 😍
This whack of a whacking also doubled up as the drive and the impetus for pavapetta us to fast forward quick-o-quick on our getting-ready time!
Today we had two hours of Chemistry Practicals (Remember those lovely pipettes and burettes of our past school days?) Yes! The same old Mystery oops CheMistry hours only!
As far as our English class of the day was concerned, well, we had a lively Master for our English classes! [He was also part of the Editorial Board for the HSC English texts, Tamil Nadu Text Book Society, back then].
On this particular day, he had divided the class into groups – and for every three benches [in a row] he had appointed a Head for group activities.
Evenings were for our casual Coffees and usual Bajjis. Even back then, I had two coffees per sitting you see! 😋☕☕
Evening, to my joy and delight, Appa had come to see me, and I was so glad! I apprised him of my needs and situation, and Appa gave me money (something that every hosteler cherishes a lot).
Well, now, I would like to compare this past diary entry of 27 years ago, with two incidents in like fashion, that happened just yesterday, 17 July 2021!
Well, the whole of yesterday, [as part of an Interview Panel], I had to sit across the table to interview prospective candidates for teaching positions!
My team members were Prof. DC and Mr. Vinodh!
One particular candidate did her microteaching, during which she explained a situation about a little boy who had been beaten by his teacher - something that had made the boy feel so embarrassed and ashamed of himself.
Once her ‘microteaching time’ was up, and during the time when we had to put forward our questions to her, our Panel member Mr. Vinodh asked the candidate a very pertinent question -
Why do you think corporal punishment is bad?
The candidate gave some good and convincing answers.
Then he [our Panel Member] gently added to say,
‘Well, corporal punishment is bad, also because,
the student might take the cue from these violent acts of the teacher in class, and assume for themselves that, by beating someone or by inflicting violence on someone, they too can easily achieve their objectives or goals, something that is bound to set a very unethical precedent for the kids to emulate!’
How true the fact that young minds take in all that they observe, especially when it ‘comes’ from their very own teachers themselves!
And how important it is for teachers to set very good precedents for their kids to emulate!
This part of his answer was a real revelation to me! How wise an answer and how true as well!
Now, coming to the second incident,
During the entire duration of the interview, they regularly served us our quota of coffee quite promptly and punctually.
Prof. DC, who doesn’t take coffee, didn’t refuse the cup! Rather, she took it from the host, and (much like my lovely colleagues in my department do) knowing my penchant for coffee, placed her cup of coffee near my cuppa, and said,
‘Sir, as usual, two for you!’ 😋
Connect the dots, and you will be convinced beyond measure, that…
Coffee simply rocks!
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| a file photo of a similar share in our Department 😋 |
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