Maha's musings

Dear students, Soon after you leave, your classroom will be filled with other set of children. Other set of impish creatures, chatter boxes, wimpy kids and brainboxes.  Back to square one!   I won't lie that you are the best but I will surely miss you. Your jokes, laughter, the witty counters and every single thing. I even love the way you irritate me. You have always been and will ever be close to my heart. The year with you was eventful— filled with lectures, class tests, revisions and model exams. Every single day was a brand-new learning.  Looking back, I can't recollect what I taught but I can certainly remember what I have learnt from you. It's from you I learnt that the students are not aliens (though they behave like one), It's from you I learnt that the students want a teacher and not an instructor. It's from you I learnt the art of empathy. It's from you I learnt how to keep one's cool even during adverse times. I don't know whether I'll be...

" I am Kalam " the title of the movie is quite elusive that I thought it to be a biopic of our former president Dr.A.P.J.Abdulkalam. later, only when I scrolled through the comments that I came to understand the essence of the movie. The comments were so lavish in praising the screenplay as well as it's noble theme that made me watch the movie. It was an hour and a half long. Every scene and every dialogue was deeply engrossing that it didn't bore me even a bit.  "Chhotu, who cleans vessels at the dhaba; Chhotu who gets smudged with oil while cleaning trucks and busses; Chhotu who looks for food in the garbage bins;  Chhotu who looks after Madame's baby;  Chhotu who tolerates his employer's scorns and beatings; Chhotu who wants to sit on his dad's shoulder and go a carnival;  Chhotu who wants to hear his mother's lullaby;  Chhotu who wants to be praised and lovingly corrected by his teacher;  Chhotu who wants to have a name of his own...

It was purely serendipitous that I chanced upon this movie– "Rough Book" when I was casually surfing through a collection of movies. The very title and the poster convinced me to watch it at once that I directly plunged into watching.  There are countless educational dramas being streamed on various online platforms. They either praise the paragons of knowledge or blame the shortcomings of the education system. Rough Book is nothing different from them. At some places it also reminded me of " Taare Zameen Par" . The viewers are of mixed opinions about the movie but being a teacher, I could very well connect with the characters and travel hand-in-hand with them.  Santoshi, an idealistic Physics teacher is shown spending most of her time reading and experimenting. She has a good teaching career in the beginning. However things take a sudden turn when her husband is caught for taking bribe. When she sees the bribe money stashed behind her books, she gets ...

"Angry River"  by Ruskin Bond Ruskin Bond is an octogenarian contemporary writer. Being a versatile writer, he has tried his hand in various genres ranging from novels, short stories, novellas and poems in English. " The Angry River" is one among his novellas. It is typical of Bond to create down-to-earth characters who can be seen in daily life and are easily relatable. "The Angry River" deals with people living in the lap of nature— Sita, a little girl who lives in a secluded island with her grandparents on the bank of a river. As she has no one else to share her secrets with, she herself makes a doll with her grandma's help, out of quilts and names her Mumta.  She leads a carefree life by spending most of her time taking care of her sickly grandparents and doing chores—cooking, milking the goats and taking care of the chickens.  Once when her grandma's health deteriorates, her grandpa has to take her to Shahgunj, a faraway village a...

Reading books is always an escape from reality. When it comes to reading Ruskin Bond's, it's an escape to a wonderland where there is no place for worries. To add more pleasure to it, the book was suggested by a 14 year old girl.  While we were engaged in an engrossing conversation—all about reading, I accidentally mentioned Bond's" Blue Umbrella " as one of my favourite reads and suitable for children.  She countered me with n number of books— "The Angry River", "The Naughtiest Girl in the School", "Percy Jackson", "Nancy Drew", "Famous Five", "Find-outers and Dog", etc...., the list stretched.  The glee in her eyes and her curiosity enthused me and I assured her that I would read those books for sure. She went a step further and lent her book to me willingly, so that I could read.I felt so overwhelmed and promised her that I would give her another book to read in turn. When I grabbed the bo...

It was around half past three when a white TATA zest came to our doorstep, hooting its horn. Though irritating it was strangely amusing. Three days— three whole days away from the endless clockwork.  With the same josh, I assisted my dad in sorting out the luggage and clambered into the car. It's an unwritten rule that my dad has to sit in the front seat next to the driver and my mom has to be sandwiched between my sister and me.  When it comes to enjoying the trip, we have our own unique ways— my sister, being a recluse, plugged in her earphones and leaned back in her seat. My dad was striking up conversations with the driver occasionally on the wierdest of the subjects that couldn't be fathomed. My mom was closely watching the changing locations so carefully as if she was registering every single detail in her mind and  I was under the charm of the Rahman songs from the driver's playlist. It seemed the songs were carefully handpicked for an ardent Rahmanian. Long drive,...

"Ma'am..." he started.  I responded rather curtly, "What?"  "Why are you hitting so forcefully on the desk, ma'am?", he said recklessly as if he were talking to his long lost friend.  It was too strange for me to react or respond. But he just went on without waiting for my response, "It will hurt your palms, ma'am. Clutch it! Tap this book on the table!!" They were unexpected words of kindness at an unexpected moment from an unexpected mouth. That made me stand tongue-tied half guilty and half ashamed for having turned so savage in front of those tender children. But thankfully they couldn't read my mind. "So? You use book to tap on the bench?", I blurted out with pretended seriousness, staring at him. His response was a wide sheepish grin. By then I understood that I could rant and rave at them but that wouldn't make any sense. So I decided to have rather a light touch on them.  I went again to the board this time w...