The Music Teacher

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Riya sipped her coffee and gazed at the beautiful handmade card with reverence, that her student, Rahul has gifted her on the occasion of Teacher’s Day. Rahul is an average music student and a very shy child. He struggles a lot while playing the synthesizer, but Riya never loses her patience. May be he is gifted in playing some other instrument!

“All your students love you a lot.” Her reverie broke as her husband, Samar uttered these words.

“May be, because I love all of them too. I am never harshly partial.” She replied with a smile.

“This thing amazes me the most. You don’t only love the students who are the most talented, but also the students who don’t perform so well.”

“A teacher can create a magnificent impact in a student’s life. A teacher should enlighten her students and fill them with a zest for life. A teacher is the candle that kindles and rekindles the potential of her student from time to time. Every single child is gifted and has some talent concealed within him. The duty of a teacher is to help her student find his talent and true potential.” Riya said.

“However, all teachers don’t walk in the same line as you do, Riya. They are only concerned with seeing which student is performing well in their subjects or which student is obedient to them.” Samar replied.

“I know that. Some people employed as teachers also dampen the spirit of a young mind with their harsh and unruly words. They never have an idea what a tumultuous impact they are making in a child’s mind” Riya said with a choked voice.

Samar looked at her, waiting for her to speak.

“There was a girl who had to change her school in class eight after her mother passed away. She was so psychologically affected by the loss of her mother and the change of place that she started living in a cocoon. She never talked much in class. She was a shy and introvert person. She was average in studies and she never got the courage to participate in extra-curricular activities in her new school, despite having learned music since the age of five.

However, one day, she thought to participate in the annual concert. She mustered some courage and gave her name to her class teacher. The teacher scanned her from top to bottom and said, “You? Please, don’t even try doing such a thing. You should better sit in the audience and clap for the other participants.”

Her eyes welled up and she looked at her class teacher with embarrassment. Without any sense of guilt, she continued, this time with a sarcastic smirk, “You’re such a cry baby. And you plan to sing in front of an audience? Just go sit and don’t waste my time, ever.”

This incident shattered all her confidence and made her feel worthless. She lost her self-esteem for a really long time, until she decided to be her own teacher and guardian. 

She motivated herself, fought her demons and came out from the shadow, victorious. Today, she has her own music academy and she is standing in front of you, Samar. However, her scars have not evaporated totally. Therefore, she loves all her students and tries to encourage and motivate each one of them. This is her path to happiness and solace.”

Without saying a word, Samar embraced Riya and whispered in her ear, “I am so proud of you and the positive impact you are making in the life of all your students.”

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.