You Cannot Choose Your Teachers . . .

About the Book

A woman too has a little self beyond the roles that she plays. That self only craves for that little bit, which has been passed over or been taken for granted. That missing bit, ignored again and again, leads to a vacuum that nothing can or will fill. Draupadi, a woman who was denied childhood, sought love in the valor of the world’s best archer, and the bit in her was crushed time and again—when she had to share her love, when she had to welcome another woman, and the culmination was when her mighty husbands became mute spectators to her public disrobement; no amount of valor on the battlefield could fill those missing bits, which, when denied, left a black hole full of sorrow and bitterness. The vacuum that Sita felt when she had to take the test of fire; no matter that her husband had vanquished the mightiest, but that test, a moment of truth, threw light on that glaring, missing bit.

About the Author

As a student, I was a brat and never thought that I would ever get into the shoes of those people who are on the receiving end. So I became a teacher and have been at the receiving end for the last thirty years. According to me, teaching is a profession that promises the most thrilling roller-coaster ride in the world! In one moment, you could feel like a messiah, and just at the turn of a semester, you could feel like a worm. A teacher in her lifetime plays so many roles that a teacher can even challenge the Big B. But, for me, the greatest high of being a teacher is that this profession endows me with great power; the power to touch and transform lives. But this power brings with it an overwhelming responsibility, and it is this realization that has made me feel that I am a beginner, just starting to learn. As a teacher, I used to incorporate debate, theater, group discussions, role play, street play, etc., to make sure that students don’t sleep in my class. In other words, I used to experiment with methodology, and it was then that I realized that our assessments do not record behavioral aspects of the students. In other words, changes in methodology and assessments need to be simultaneous. I never realized that what I was doing was based on a science—neuro-linguistic programming. NLP is a self-development technique developed in the 1970s by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. Its purpose is to help individuals understand and take control of their thought processes and feelings and use them to bring about positive change in their lives and relationships. By using NLP techniques in education, I have not just an insight into the way the students learn but also developing my own communication with the students and colleagues. Here the communication is not just the words but also your body, your face, your eyes, your breathing pattern, etc. I have realized that the real meaning of communication is the response you get. Today I see in myself an inquisitive curious learner waiting to discover the wonders this vast world has to offer.