RESPECT IN EQUAL DAILY INSTALMENTS

Every teacher likes to be ‘pen’pared and ‘booked’ on Teachers’ Day. This addiction, though, at the College level is a recent phenomenon. When we were college goers, Teachers’ Day was considered ‘schoolish’. However, things do change. This Teachers’ Day brings to my mind the delicate image of the House Sparrow. When we were college goers, we didn’t hear of the House Sparrow Day which is celebrated today on the 20th of March every year. The fact that the bird is slowly going the dodo way has demanded the spread of awareness through such ‘Days’. Is the species of teachers too going the House Sparrow way that it needs conservation through awareness via the celebration of a ‘Day’? No doubt, the teachers have faced challenges at different stages of human history. However, the resilience of the teacher is remarkable. Therefore, there’s no cause for concern. One of the first challenges to the relevance of the teacher was posed in the ‘Dvapara Yuga’ itself when Ekalavya achieved mastery with distinction in his discipline through self study. But Drona cleverly kept the teacher’s flag flying by getting Ekalavya’s thumb chopped off by taking recourse to the ‘guru dakshina’ stratagem and rendering him incapable of practicing his art to perfection. Since then, the relevance of the teacher has rarely been challenged. However, in recent times, another bigger challenge has come to the breed of teachers. We call the monster ‘Google.’ The teacher’s relevance is once again questioned as the student can get all his questions answered and doubts clarified by summoning Mr. Google. A mobile phone with a Rs 99/- per month GPRS pack can give the teacher a run for the money. Again, it’s the thumb that’s the villain of the piece. One just needs to press the thumb on the mobile QWERTY key board to summon up Mephistopheles Google with all his answers. Perhaps, this is the reason why teachers see red when students use the mobile phone on campus. You can’t, after all, get all those thumbs chopped off. So now, the target is the gadget. Teachers have other weapons too to face the challenge. You can google your way to knowledge, but you can’t google your way to the examination hall. Here you need attendance, and that too 75%! Therefore, teachers are bound to get a captive attendance with the threat of low attendance constantly staring at the students! To make a long story short, even Google can’t outsmart the teacher. The teacher will always remain relevant. So there’s no worry even if a Teachers’ Day or too is sabotaged by occasions like the Tithi of the Saint. However, on a serious note, the teacher’s goal should be to make himself gradually irrelevant. Only when the teacher has made himself irrelevant, can one say that the student has come of age. Continued relevance of the teacher is not a positive comment on the teacher. To come back to the threats, there’s not to panic. We are too smart to be outgoogled. Meanwhile, let’s just bask in the glory of the day. At the same time, let’s hope that the students don’t spend all their respect and love for us on this day. For you need love and respect in equal installments on all 365 days of the year.