A Teacher’s Notes | On his Students ❤️
This blog
post is
an encomium to the indomitable spirit of our students, especially in the post-pandemic times, jotted down here, from my own, personal
observations.
First and
foremost,
post-pandemic, it is so heartening to note that, students have become more resolute, more dynamic and more vivacious
than ever before!
We could
sense an abundance of vivacity and vibrancy on them. Such talented young minds and hearts, fluttering all around like butterflies –
participating in Competitions, winning prizes, presenting papers in
Conferences, publishing books and articles, and gladly volunteering to help
others.
 |
| Manimaran, II MA English, Best Director Award, Indian Short Cinema Film Fest |
Initially, we had thought that the pandemic would cause a dent to their vibrancy. But we were
quite mistaken at that!
The love,
the commitment,
and the determination shown by our students today is indeed, heart-warming and awe-inspiring.
Yes! Kids
today are
so mature, so focused, and they are so sure of their priorities – on what they
want to do with their lives.
Two
months ago,
I received a lovely mail from a II UG student of English Literature, that reads
-
Respected Sir,
I am
S.K.Vishnu Prasath from II BA English…. I presented this research paper in SDNB
Vaishnav College for Women, Chrompet. With all my courage, I send you this
paper. Due to the restriction on the submission date, I was able to refer to
hardly six sources….”
I was
simply delighted
to receive this mail, as it was from a II year UG student, who didn’t quite
have to present a paper at all, but out of his own interest had presented a
paper.
So I promptly wrote back to him,
saying,
Dear
Vishnu
Prasath,
Greetings.
Felt
so happy to go
through your paper. It looks highly impressive, and well-structured.
Congratulations
on
presenting your Paper at SDNB Vaishnav College. We are so proud of you.
Keep
up
the good work, Vishnu Prasath.
Please
do meet
me sometime this coming week during the Coffee break time, 10.20 to 10.45 am in
the SRO.
Would
be
so glad to meet you.
Keep
up the spirit,
Vishnu.
Best
wishes,
Dr.
Rufus
The very
next day, he promptly
showed up at the Records Office, at 10.20 am, and I congratulated him on his
paper presentation. I then gifted him a beautiful diary, asking him to document
whatever he does, every single day, as it would enhance accountability and
thereby enhance one’s academic performance! He gladly agreed. Then I asked him,
out of all curiosity, ‘Well, Vishnu, what made you present this Paper?’
He
replied,
‘Sir,
last year,
during my first year, I had come to you at the Deanery to show you my
certificate. It was a certificate for bagging the first place in Dumb Charades
competition.
At
that time, you
told me just one thing. You said, ‘Vishnu, this is great. Congrats! We would be
still more happier, if you can present papers in Conferences and show us those
certificates. That would make us still more happier.
That’s
because
presenting a paper requires a lot of reading and research. It requires one to
organize their thoughts and ideas into a coherent formulation. It also adds
value to society. Your thoughts and your ideas can contribute to knowledge and
thus transform society for the better’.
I carried
this thought
in my heart from thence on, and set out in right earnest to work towards it.
That’s how this paper happened, sir,
he said proudly.
How
sweet!
You may want
to read Vishnu’s creative vibes HERE in our past blog post.
The second
quality, is that
lovely spirit of gratitude on them, that’s such a great delight to all of us
their teachers.
Every
other day, this past one month, we have had a bevy of these kids making a beeline to our cubicles to bid farewell to us
their teachers.
And
students
who are pursuing their Programmes abroad, writing to us with a grateful heart,
on how MCC has shaped them.
Just giving us all a little sample of the hundreds of such notes we, their teachers receive from them. Beautiful values that they caught all by themselves here at MCC!
 |
| One of the cutest messages of gratitude we had received this year from one of our past kids! |
No, we
didn’t teach
them anytime to write back to us. They do it quite spontaneously, and straight from
their hearts!
As they say, some lovely values are caught! not taught!
They come
looking
for us, and once they spot us – they have such a great joy on them, and
sometimes over a cuppa coffee, and at other times over a cuppa tea, we discuss!
Some write to us their sweet cards,
some give their sweet messages on Whatsapp, and some others send us their
emails.
 |
| What a sweet note of gratitude from a III UG kid! |
This
nobility
is something that makes our kids today so special, by all means.
Again, no one taught them that!
 |
| Yet another lovely note of gratitude from a final year PG kid! |
No one
advised
them on that!
 |
| A cute and lovely note of gratitude from a final year PG kid! |
A student
from II year UG
in English, brought us all, a lovely box of chocolates, and a gift tagged
along, saying, ‘Sir, this is from my first salary, that I received from my
part-time work’.
 |
| from a II year UG kid - to all his teachers |
How sweet! Goes without saying that, gratitude indeed is the most powerful catalyst for a person’s success, peace, prosperity and happiness in life!
 |
| A lovely note of gratitude - from a final PG kid |
Thirdly,
their lovely attitude
– of taking good suggestions and reprimands from their teacher in the right perspective!
I
remember a month ago,
when I had gently reprimanded a student for submitting her assignment late, and
on yet another occasion, when I took a student to task for bunking her classes!
To my sweet surprise, I found both these kids taking my reprimand cheerfully, in the right spirit,
and bouncing back with double vigour and soon started proving their vibrancy in
classes. They’re now the super-best in their respective classes.
And almost
every other day,
we get to hear about our students – shining in all walks of life, achieving the
seemingly impossible, making the bestest mark, carving the cutest niche - for
themselves, and making us all proud!
So yes! One
thing I garner and
gather from our kids today as a takeaway for us teachers is that -
As their
teacher, I guess we
need to pep up our interactions with our kids.
We need to make them feel needed,
wanted and desired.
Indeed,
it’s one
of our most sacred and solemn duties - to encourage them, to motivate them!
Not judge
them, castigate
them or be harsh on them anytime!
Yes! It’s
our bounden
duty not to judge them at any point of time, anytime!
The
moment we start
judging our kids, that’s the moment our minds and hearts become narrow and
shallow! That’s the moment we cease to be a teacher! We take over the ‘pre-eminent’,
‘pedestalled’, ‘ivory-towered’ position of a judge or an adjudicator!
Our
calling is not
to be a judge! It’s to be a teacher!
Last week,
I interviewed
two of our vibrant PG final year students, for more than four full hours, and at the end
of it, I asked them –
‘Well, what
would be your
suggestions for us your teachers?’
The kids
had just
one cute little suggestion for us.
Said they –
Sir, we
would be so glad if our teachers spend more time with us! We would be so happy if we get to
interact with them - as our friends! [You may want to read that interview HERE]
How lovely and straight from the heart, on this, their only wish!
I personally feel that, the
problem hence,
is NOT with the student.
It’s in
my attitude and in my perspective towards my student. If I can spend that little extra time with them, appreciating
them, encouraging them, and never judging them on any count, and never being harsh on them, that’s when
true learning happens.
That’s exactly when the student would really feel liberated, feel cherished, and feel wanted!
Two weeks
ago, I
remember Dr. Kavitha Nair, with SRM University, telling me about the late Dr.
Vishnu Bhat, former HoD of English, MCC -
Sir,
you won’t believe, we all used to spend our entire evenings at Sir’s house in
Campus. Ma’am used to make us all that special chaai, and give us all snacks
all through the evening. And suddenly, we get to realise that time has quite flown
past us this fast, and it is around 11 in the night. My father would then come in his
vehicle and pick me up from Sir’s home. Guess what? Sir used to accompany us
till the main gate to bid us all adieu for the day. Such was the camaraderie we
shared with our professors’,
she said
with such joy on her.
On this
note, just
a few months ago, on one fine afternoon, I had taken along quite a few students
to Dr. Nirmal Selvamony’s house, in my car, for them to have a look at Dr. Nirmal’s
library, and his phenomenal collection of books and magazines, and be inspired in their academic life!
The kids –
Ganesh, Brindha, Maanbu, Harini, Shannon, Pavithra, Joanna, and Anderlin - were so spell-bound and fascinated when they
looked at the unending stacks of books, magazines and journals in the first
floor of his house, - a floor dedicated exclusively for books, books and books.
One among them, Joanna - who came along with us to Dr. Nirmal’s house on that day, told me
that, from that day on, feeling so inspired, she has been going to his library
regularly and interacting with him.
Dr. V.
Rajagopalan
is yet another professor from our Department who is known for his impeccable
personal collection of books, kept neatly stacked in glass cases.
Dr. K.
Ganesh is
another lovely literary soul, [my kindred spirit], who relishes a book as one
would relish a cup of coffee.
The
moment he
buys a book or a kurta (albeit without ma’am’s knowledge) 😉 the first thing he does is, take it straight to a few of us
in the department, and with the joy of a kid glowing on his face, he would then start
talking on and on about the important features contained within the book. The next thing he would do
is, to give it to a particular shop at T. Nagar and have the cover neatly
laminated. And what an impressive array of books he has with him.
This is
the
benchmark!
This… the standard!
That MCC has given us!
Even today, we at the Department of English (Aided) strive and maintain these ideals given by our mighty seniors. All the professors in our Department are exceptionally talented! [Well, that’s meant and meet for another post! A post exclusively on all my lovely, adorable colleagues, right from our beloved HoD Dr. Mekala Rajan to the junior-most coffee-baktha - Prof. John!] 😊
So yes, coming back,
We are so proud
that our kids today, are shining in every way, to make us all proud in their
own beautiful ways! Their own unique ways!
Even two
days ago, two
of our students – Ganesh and Souparno were at Dr. Nirmal’s house, to interview
him - all by themselves. The interview that lasted for more than four hours, was
‘a real revelation, filled with such rich insights from such a great scholar,’
said Ganesh.
Just over
a month ago,
four of our students interviewed our Principal Dr. P. Wilson for more than four
hours, at his Office.
Our beloved Principal was so amazed at the way they interviewed him, so
spontaneously at that, with such insightful, thought-provoking questions, that he promptly
suggested that, the proceedings of this interview could be made part of a Panel
Discussion and hosted on Founders’ Day. And it happened as well! You may want to read on it on our past post HERE.
 |
| Panel Discussion in Progress - Ganesh, Joanna and Souparno with Dr. Joshua Kalapatti |
So Yes! in
short, our today’s kids are the best, the sweetest and the loveliest!
Finally, to end
this
little encomium on a memorable note –
Just a few days into this last academic year, when classes had just begun, I had one of our I MA kids coming up to me with her collection of
poetry. In one of her poems, she had written a line which made me so happy, and which I’m sure will impact and inspire you as well.
I felt so
happy
that, I said, I’m gonna take a print-out of it, and have it displayed in the
glass case on my table. For almost a year now, it’s still there on my table,
inspiring others as well!
It goes like this –
To prove myself worth it all...
How
lovely! Ain’t
it?
So proud
of you all,
dear kids! Keep shining in all that you do!
Be the beautiful shining light that you are!
That’s
because... your lovely little light is so unique! so phenomenal! ❤️
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
