This post has been published by me on the occasion of the Teachers' Day as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 2; the second edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

“Who inspires you?”
As k this question to any random student, you will get a wide range of answers. Shah Rukh Khan, Abdul Kalam, Sachin Tendulkar, Celebrity X,Y and Z. There is a very rare sect in this generation of students who gives the answer as a teacher who taught them, somewhere down the line. Ask the same question to person of the earlier generation; say your grandparents or parents. The most common answer would be a teacher.
What has led to the difference in attitude in both the generations?
I narrate a few incidents of my own life to give a worthy answer.
School Days:
School is the starting place for any individual to showcase or at least shape up his talents. When I was in school, I was under the able guidance of many influential teachers, whose competent guidance made me a better individual. One person worthy of being mentioned is Mrs Pampa Choudary, who is the best teacher I have met so far in life. She used to teach us Geography right from the 6th standard till the tenth. The main role for any teacher is to make the student think and visualize. She just did that. Even after 5 years of being deprived of geography, I have a burning urge inside me about geography and I also have career plans to be a geologist. Such is the interest she has kindled in me. Remember, I was in school in the late nineties till the midway of early 2000’s, the time at which brain drain was at its high in India.
Here is an excerpt from an unknown passage, which I found in some old word document, presumably typed out by my Mother.
“Teaching needs three qualities. Knowledge is the first. The ability to pass it on to others, what we usually call communication skill, is the next. Aptitude is the third. Which quality of a teacher is tested in the so-called eligibility tests? TEACHERS ARE born and not made. A teacher is a social entity. A poor teacher tells. A good teacher teaches. An excellent teacher demonstrates. An outstanding teacher motivates. Time and again we hear these proverbial sayings from various sources at different occasions, especially as we near a teacher's day. In a democratic country like India, any one with a medical degree from a recognised institution and medical council's registration can practise as a doctor. One can practise as a lawyer, if he has degree in law and completes the formalities of bar council. Engineers can get a job right away from the college campus. But to become a teacher a person has to write a minimum of three examinations. In education, a teacher is a person who educates others. A teacher who educates an individual student may also be described as a personal tutor. The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out by way of occupation or profession at a school or other place of formal education.
The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself.”
College Days: After school and in the past five years, I have seen a drastic change in the attitude of the teachers. Suddenly everyone became more money minded. The unique privilege that only a teacher and student share, the interactions have dwindled drastically in the past few years. The teachers have become more money minded. Everything is like a business deal, “You-paid-this-much, I-tell this-much” attitude has become more prevalent amongst the teachers. Resulting in the students losing interest on their teachers and vice-versa.
Teaching is a service oriented profession, just like a Doctor’s. The teacher is considered to be free from any vices and materialistic wants. But gradual decrease in the jobs available in the market has led teaching to be a joke. Not every person can become an engineer but everyone can be a teacher. The teachers of this generation took up the area of profession as they want money; they treat it as a milk giving cow, but do not revere it. The passion of the old teachers, which have witnessed in the past decade, has been completely wiped off. There are times when I have seen a teacher shouting, “Me telling this to you is more than enough for what the college pays me”. From what is a service is a service oriented profession, teaching in the passage of years has virtually transformed itself into a money laundering industry. Where the only emphasis is laid upon the profits, but not knowledge.
A true teacher inspires the student to do whatever he wants, but a mediocre one forces him to do what he doesn’t.
This is a very brief post, but considering that I have typed it in a sweet 20 minutes, I consider it quite an achievement.
Before I leave, teachers don’t mean the one’s at school. The first teachers in anybody’s life will invariably be one’s mother and then the father. We should not forget them because they are the main ones responsible for our existence and mental peace. And finally nature, that is the master for all!
I leave with a few interesting quotes,
“A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for others”. --Author Unknown
“A teacher's purpose is not to create students in his own image, but to develop students who can create their own image. “
“Teaching is the profession that teaches all other professions”
Dedications: To my Mother and Pampa Choudary Mam, my favorite teachers in life. To Mou another young teacher (very of the few I have seen!). To Vipul and Shilpa two bloggers whom I respect the most, because of whom I am writing this post.
Please do go through my last post, “The Unsynchronous Chronicles : Psycho Series. Edition 1”. And do comment!




The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton are Vipul, Rajalakshmi, Dhiman, Ranee[1], [2], [3] , Avada, Indian Pundit, Sojo, Aneet, Pramathesh, Aativas, Sid, Pra, Ajinkya, Lakshmi, Govind, Shilpa, Bharathi, Shankar, Mytuppence, Azad, Pawan, Pankaja, Saimanohar, Guria, Shruti, Vishnu,Nasrajan and Richa. Click on their respective names to read their posts on Teachers : Aaj Kal. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.