Lessons beyond the Classroom
A Chalk piece, my English Teacher and the Turning Point
Beyond the Classroom lessons:
I was feeling bored in my English class. I was then in Standard VIII. That was 53 years ago!
I thought I was the only one so bored—but I was wrong. Several of my classmates were also bored!
But not one of my classmates. He was sitting in the front bench. He was following everything the teacher said and was even asking questions!
I wanted to distract him as well as provide some fun for my other friends.
I had with me a full chalk piece that I broke into bits so that I had enough ammunition. I aimed from the fourth row, where I was sitting, at my classmate in the front row.
The chalk piece missed the mark. The second one narrowly missed—but landed on my teacher.
The teacher turned around and gently asked, “Who threw this chalk?” Bodies don’t lie! All the eyes of my classmates turned to me.
The teacher said, “Ramkumar, meet me in the staffroom during lunchtime.”
I was petrified, but I knew that this particular teacher, Shrimati Buch, was a kind teacher.
I gathered myself and met my English teacher in the staffroom.
She asked, “Why were you throwing chalk pieces inside the classroom? Were you feeling bored?”
I honestly told her, “Yes, I was bored.”
She asked me if I read storybooks.
I said, “No.”
She told me something that shaped my belief system and invoked in me a desire to start reading books.
She said, “I know that you are brilliant, and brilliant people should not throw chalk pieces in classrooms!”
She asked me if I had gone to the library. I replied, “Not even once!”
She told me to go to the library and start reading books. I said that I would.
She then told me that I had to write in the school Darpan yearly magazine. I was aghast. I asked, “What? Me writing in the school magazine? No way!”
She was not impressed with my answer.
I asked her, “On what topic?”
She said coolly, “The mischievous things I did in class.”
The bell rang. She said, “Ramkumar, I know that you can do it!” Saying this, she walked to the door—and I did too.
She went to some classroom, and I went to the library.
From that day, I was an avid reader of English storybooks—from Enid Blyton to James Hadley Chase, to Hardy Boys, and a little later to Arthur Hailey, Robert Ludlum, Sidney Sheldon, Jonathan Black, and many more.
I wrote the article for my school annual magazine. I felt enormously delighted.
But for my class teacher, I wouldn’t have been reading so many books.
I have written many articles for Frozen Thoughts, Infinithoughts, Wake Up India, The Theosophist.
Reading has helped me understand the mind of the author, his narrative, and different perspectives.
Over the last 2½ decades, I have been reading books on Philosophy and Spirituality.
I have authored 3 books as well—Not Just a Joke Book; Wit, Wisdom and Everything in Between; and The Essence of Spirituality.
All this was due to my lovely class teacher—and thanks to my bad aim with the chalk piece!