The Awesome day-1

It was an ordinary day. With usual anticipation for a good day, I entered the staffroom. It was buzzing with activity. Some were correcting the papers, some were having their breakfast, some were doing something that couldn't be recognised. Teachers entered and exited with wrapped record notebooks tailed by random grade-12 students. All looked equally serious and solemn. 

As I kept the bag on my table, I heard the bell. Since it was a revision day, I had to be in the classroom on time. Being late by five minutes, I had to rush, grabbing the books and needed stuff. As I left the staffroom for my classroom, I saw some grade-11 students loitering in the corridor uncannily. I gestured them to enter the class as I passed by. 

One of the boys came from the crowd sticking his hand out as if to give me a handshake. Despite being unaware of the reason, I gave a mild handshake with a doubtful smile, asking for the reason. 

"I read your article in the newspaper in the hostel this morning, ma'am.... It was nice...", the boy went on gleefully. 

I couldn't stifle my excitement. I thanked him and walked past him with a great satisfaction. 

When I entered, the students were present in the classroom. No one had book in hand and I heard their cinema chatterings even in the corridor. Strangely I didn't lose my cool. I settled them all and started monitoring them. 

But I couldn't help ruminating the events... How desperate I was to get my write-up published... How random colleagues motivated me to send an article to the daily... Everything felt like awe. 

It occurred to me a month before,  to send my article to the editor after reading one of our senior colleagues' Tamil article on Hindu Tamil (Vetrikodi). By then I was skeptical if English articles will be published too. But he motivated me to send one to the editor.

I still remember the day. I was on top of my spirit and completed the article at 11:50pm despite my drowsiness and fatigue. Soon after completing, I got it typed and mailed to the editor along with my photo. From that day on I started dreaming of the day in which I could read my write-up and see my photo on newspaper. Unfortunately the days passed into weeks and fortnights but I couldn't spot my article on the paper. I felt low and dejected but told that to no one. After a fortnight, he asked me to resend the article as it might not have been noticed by the editor. It sounded too uplifting to be ignored. I resent the article and waited patiently. 

Every single day, I would check if it got published with a child's curiosity. The disappointment was sickening that I stopped doing that. And today, this boy seemed like a Messiah to me!!!

Far behind all these things, I was excited to see my students' reaction during newspaper reading hour. Because they are impossible!!!! Only they know how they react at times. I was waiting for that hour as I strongly anticipated their from-the-bottom-of-heart appreciations and some funky responses that would undoubtedly drive me nuts.

Time elapsed, I left the classroom for lunch and some of my colleagues in the staffroom appreciated me knowing that. It boosted my happiness.