Teachers Day

Today is Teachers Day. We all have old memories of our school and college days and the teachers that taught us, etched in our minds- some fond others not so fond. There were teachers who were loving, kind, affectionate, taking personal interest in our growth and development. Such teachers were our ideals and we not only adored them but aspired to be like them. Others were strict (though not always a negative attribute and in fact, sometimes required), temperamental, distant and not quite helpful in the sense we expect our teachers to be.

As we move ahead in life, while we have no teachers in the sense we understand teachers in the parlance of school and college, we come across teachers of different kind, because learning does not stop once we are out of school and college, but is a life long process. I was a science student, who didn’t understand the B of Banking, but the first counter clerk who taught me how to post debits and credits, the Head Clerk who told me about the double entry book keeping and need to daily tally clean cash book and General Ledger, the Special Assistant who guided me about how to apply interest, the Field Officer who painfully took me through the nuances of CMS (as CMA firm was earlier known), my Regional Manager who exhorted me to finish my rural stint as my daughter was very young, a senior who gave me an opportunity to work in the Bank’s credit department that proved to be the game changer- the list is endless, but each one was a teacher in his/her own right. These are all silent invisible influences in one’s life whose contribution we realise only much later, by which, the time to convey our thanks to them is already lapsed. They may no longer be around us or in some cases in this world.

While these special days are important as they draw our focus to a particular aspect that is signified by that special day, for certain things, we should not wait for any special day or occasion. One such thing is expressing gratitude to those around us who add to our personality ( personal as well as professional), at times rather subtly, but it can all mean so much in medium to long term. Thanksgiving to parents, elders, seniors, mentors, teachers, guides and the almighty should not be slave to any particular day or occasion but a daily chore before going to the bed. On this teachers day I pay my obeisance to all those who helped me reach where I am and become a person that I am.