A happy blast from the past...

Hello World…

This was three days ago…on April 2nd … around 4 PM, Shruti called up and told me that she’s busy with some meeting at EFLU (she teaches there) and that she’d reach home late…my regular auto person, Mr Ramulu (who ferries me in the morning from home to Secunderabad and from Secunderabad to home in the evenings) had informed me in the morning that he’d not be coming in that day…so, he wouldn't be waiting for me…the college bus dropped me off at Sangeet junction at 4.45 PM and I thought I’d see if any fresh stock of books had been unpacked at Al Classic, my regular second hand books stall near Sangeet movie theatre…as I was moving towards Al Classic, a young man, who was waiting near the theatre gate near Al Classic, came towards me stood before me and said, ‘Hello sir, how are you?’ My initial reaction was of slight panic, as it always happens when things like this happen suddenly…then I thought this was one more salesperson attack of some kind and was about to rebuff him…I didn’t see any bag of any kind or any folder or books in his hand…then I thought he must be someone belonging to some kind of religious order who stop people in the roads and greet them as if they are long lost friends and ply their trade once the ice is broken …but again, I didn’t see any religious paraphernalia with him or on him…moreover he was dressed casually in a full sleeved T-shirt and trousers…and with his hands across his chest…all this happened in a couple of seconds…I looked at him blank…I said, ‘sorry…?’ He then asked, ‘Srinivas Sir, no Sir?’…I said, ‘yes…’ He said, ‘…Sir, I was your student at Amaravathi Grammar School, Sir…’

I was stunned, surprised, happy, and god knows what else…I just looked at him goggle eyed open mouthed…I had taught in that school way back during 1993-95…that too as a part timer, when I was doing my M. Phil…this school was near CIEFL and a group of us research scholars used to teach spoken English and grammar to the high school students there in the mornings…we were known as spoken English teachers…it is 13 years since those days and this young man was my student then…I told him, ‘…Oh my god…it is really wonderful maan, meeting your student after so many years…and that too the student recognises his teacher after all these years…’ I asked him what he was doing these days and he said that he was working in a software firm…as I was speaking, I began to notice that his face indeed looked familiar, minus the moustache and fuzz on his cheeks and chin, he had grown taller…obviously…and like a prize idiot, I forgot to ask his name…I searched around in my head for a name to put to his face…I settled for ‘Praveen’…I am sure this is his name…after I left him and proceeded towards Al Classic…I thought about this brief encounter with my student of days long gone by and realised what my teachers used to say about the teaching profession…no other profession can give you this satisfaction of meeting somebody whom you taught years ago unexpectedly…and this heady feeling of being recognised amidst all the stress, joy, confusion, chaos, tension, etc., that life throws at you alternately with unfailing regularity…Thank you ‘Praveen’ for making my day…I hope I was a good teacher to all of you…may your tribe increase…

Jayasrinivasa Rao