To My Beloved Teacher

This is dedicated to Mrs Baby Sidharthan, my English Teacher who laid the foundation of my education.

 As I look back I see myself as an ordinary school girl who liked nothing other than English and Malayalam (which I can call literature now). I used to score marks just to pass. My parents never bothered about my marks but my father did bother about my grammar both English & Malayalam. I got scolded only when I did badly in these. It never occurred to me that I should become something in life. Then one day when I was in fifth we got a new Social science teacher. She was small with a stern face and big bindhi. Rumors went around that she was too strict, will beat like anything …. If my memory hasn’t failed the first lesson (or this is the first I can think of in the stack of my memory) which she thought us was that of Socrates -the greatest philosopher of all times. There was something in her voice, something which broke the cyst around me. For the first time I wanted to do some thing, something which will make her notice me. The one and only way that my silly mind could think of was to study well. I struggled hard. Though I answered all her questions in the class the maximum I could get was some 16th or 17th in the class (I don’t remember the exact score). To my utter surprise the next year she was my class teacher. I was overjoyed. That was a golden year in my history, a year of transformation, a year of accomplishments. Though my teacher sometimes took only one Para per period, it was worth remembering for life time. I still cherish those stories and poems- the heart felt story of mother Theresa, the top classic David Copperfield, and sad song of unknown Solitary reaper and so on. I participated in story writing competition for the first time in life & I got 2nd price for that. I was among the top 10 in the class and one among the favorites of my teacher. From then on I have strived to keep up the spirits and to be in the top three through out my school days.

 My teacher pulled me up from the pocket road and put me on the main track. The smooth, fast competitive road to start the journey towards destiny. As I started my journey I heard her singing:
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.