The Biggest Teacher Of All!

Dear Readers,

Undoubtedly, education is the cornerstone of a civilised society, a conscientious nation and a progressive world. Educators, are therefore, deservedly cherished and revered as the crucial architects of ongoing generations, which will harbour a peaceful present and a thriving future. We owe much more than we know to our teachers. Their influence in our lives extends way beyond the classroom – it sparkles through our youth, adulthood and even old age.

When we reminisce our days in school and college, it is our teachers we first recall. Also respectfully called ‘Guru’, the teacher is an awakener with a big heart, who helps shape little minds. They mean the world to us, which is why we celebrate our fabulous educators with great zest every year, on 5th September – Happy Teacher’s Day to all!

But, be it Teacher’s Day or Guru Purnima, there is no denying that the biggest teacher of all is life itself. In fact, it is said that life and time are the two best teachers, because life teaches us to make good use of time, and time teaches us the value of life. And sometimes, Mother Nature intervenes to speed up our learning process and throws in the occasional googly, like mankind experienced not too long ago, in the form of the Corona epidemic.  And boy, did ‘Professor Pandemic’ turn out to be a strict teacher …fast-forwarding our learning curves with such gusto, it literally took our breath away!

The undoing of the human species with the onset of the novel coronavirus brought life, all across the world, to a screeching halt! The curfews and lockdowns, mandatory norms – social distancing, wearing masks, sanitization routines, et al, forced us to step back and re-introduced us to those lost parts of ourselves; and to reflect and re-evaluate it all – our vulnerabilities, our strengths, our fears, our priorities, our lives.

Hopefully, most of us were able to learn the lessons from this deadly yet holistic experience. And hopefully, all of us, who made it through, were able to redefine and augment our sense of gratitude for all that we are blessed with – and one of those foremost blessings, is our teachers. In the words of the great Aristotle, “Those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents, for these only gave life, those – the art of living well.”

A big Thank You and Happy Teachers Day to all our wonderful educators and mentors… and to life!

Have a lovely weekend!

– Anahita