And this is what teachers talk about a day before exams!

So it has been a little crazy with the end of year exams and my upcoming trip to the US and shifting out of Mumbai and about a gazillion other things which I don't have the time to go into.
I have been more stressed about the exams than my kids who are pretty bindaas about it and call me a day before the exam to ask "Didi, tomorrow exam? why? what exam?" while I hyperventilate and hope not to die of a weak heart.
I find solace by putting up statuses on facebook about my kids and getting opinions from other teachers.
So yesterday I put up a status message about how I was super tensed about my kids' exams and following were the responses I got from other fellow teachers.
You might have to click on the picture to expand it and read it. I think it's worth it. :)
NOW I know what my teachers spoke about, a day before our exams while all the time as a student I thought that they were chilling and waiting for us to get massacred. Ah! Perspective! :)

The true purpose of a country's existence

You know how most people spend their entire lives finding the true purpose of their existence and spend a lot of time talking about it and wondering when they will find theirs?
I mean I know people who have lived to be a 65 and still wondering what is the purpose of THEIR existence on this planet.

Well for the fact that it is a country, and a fairly young one at that, I think Bangladesh is DAMN lucky that just 41 years after its creation it has found the "true purpose of its existence".

The true purpose of Bangladesh's existence is so that Sachin could one day score his 100th 100 in this country. :P

P.S: I can't believe I have lived in a time when

- I saw the passing of a millenium
- India won the world cup
- Sachin made 200 runs
- Sachin made 10,000 runs
- Sachin made his 100th 100

I feel truly blessed.

and THIS is pretty much why I teach

So after school I usually take all my naughty kids and personally drop them off home to prevent them from getting into trouble and killing or maiming each other. The other day after dropping off two of them, Gaurav and I were walking hand in hand on the road, him humming Chammak Chalo and me smiling and feeling happy the way I usually do after school.
The best part about me and Gaurav is that no words need to be exchanged between us but we can still keep walking and turning around periodically to smile at each other. It is the best part of my day because Gaurav ALWAYS has a guilty smile which is the kind of smile kids give when they know they have done some mischief. He has this irrespective of whether he has been naughty or not.
So the other day while I was walking with Gaurav, I felt this sudden urgent tug on my hand.

Gaurav: didiiii, didiiiii

Me: What is it Gaurav?

Gaurav: That truck ke peeche. Look

Me: (puzzled): Yes?

Gaurav: I can read what is written on it
(haltingly)
Horn. Ok. Please

"I can read everything now didiiiiii" (wide grin)

It is moments like these that make ALL of it worth it.
The Mumbai rains, the Mumbai trains, the dirty slum, the lecherous men, the rotting garbage, the stuffy classroom, the long, tiring days, the sore throat.
Everything pales in comparison to this one moment when the world around him starts making sense for a child of mine who couldn't write his own name an year ago.

This is why I teach.

P.S: This was my 200th post :)

P.P.S: This is my Gaurav.

My bhai! Mumbhai ka bhai wearing my glasses! :)

Hello there! :)

Hello!
(llo llo llo llo)
The -llo -llo -llo -llo my friends was the sound of my hello echoing off the empty walls of an abandoned/haunted house which is pretty much how GBCI has become.

(laughs at own joke, realising she is the only one)


So it has ALMOST been two years since I stepped into this space. This, that was once my comfort zone, once the place i frequented the most, the place I liked most in the world. almost like a relationship. four year long relationship which I broke on a whim and which like all relationships do, took something out of me which I valued the most. My writing skills (if any existed)
I find it impossible now to write. About anything. And all that thinking about what to write wastes too much time. Time which I don't have.
So maybe I will start with what has happened these two years. I am sure all my two readers TOTALLY want to know where I have been up to so here goes.
So the last time you guys read GBCI, I was doing a course in journalism waiting to become the next Goenka asking people uncomfortable questions and making their lives miserable.
BUT I didnt. I mean I did try. So I joined the largest selling English daily in the world and worked for an year and then quit.
Quit to do what you might ask.

"Get married?"  No
"Become a nuclear scientist?"  No
"Go back to software?" Hell! No
"To do nothing. Err?" Haha! No
"To study some more? Dear God!" That was on the cards. But No!

So I quit to become a school teacher.
Haha! What I would give to see the expression on your faces right now.
Like my dad says "You are going down the ladder of success. From software engineer to jounralism to teacher. What next? watchman?"
Yes. So now I teach fifth grade kids in a low income school in Mumbai. And this has to be the best job I have EVER taken up.
More in my next post about what it is that I do and an introduction to the best-est kids on the planet
So long then!