MY “CHARLIE’S ANGELS”

Long, long time ago, on the 24^th of August, 1994 (ya, I still remember the date, thanks to my mother’s “record keeping” habit), my mother took me to a new place early in the morning. I remember saying “I want to sleep” all through the way. But my mother still held on to my hand tightly and made me walk. So we reached that place and the next thing I saw made me cheerful and somewhat nervous too. What I was looking at, was a pool of kids, of my age jumping around, playing, giggling, fighting over a toy. I must say it was some “treat to my eyes”. I just kept on wondering, what place was that exactly? As I was trying to rack through my “almost Infant” brain, an aged lady (may be 48-50 years) kneeled down in front of me and smiled, smiled as if she had seen a fairy or something. She was old, had a little wrinkled face, grey hair, but the way she looked at me and smiled was very striking and it made me blush a little too. She offered me a candy (trying to lure me, ha ha), held my hand and asked me to say bye to my mother. Well, being very frank to you all, I never had this habit of feeling comfortable with absolute strangers at that age, but that day it was different. I just said bye to my mother, moved further inside the room with the lady. THAT WAS THE BEGINING OF THE JOURNEY WHERE I WAS SUPPOSED TO MEET MY THREE ANGELS.

Time flew, years passed and we all grew too. I joined a school, went there every-day religiously (again thanks to my mom for not letting me sleep) and did well in my studies too. Everything was moving on smoothly and it was a “perfect world” for me. I gradually got promoted to higher standards and then one day i came to the 9^th standard. I and all my friends were obviously very happy to be promoted because we were “somewhat senior” students of the school. Everyone was happy, celebrating the feeling of “seniority”. That was the day when god gifted me with my very first angel.

It was the third period and a lady came to our class, tall, slim, wheatish complexion, very simple, yet so elegant. That was my “English teacher”. She introduced herself and the subject curriculum too. Her voice was the sweetest voice I had heard till that day. She had a lot of calmness on her face, serenity. She taught us English for two years consecutively and it was a treat to attend her classes. I remember i used to love to reply to any question she put forth to the class. I always wanted to answer her questions. That was one subject in which i paid full attention to what the teacher is saying. And when i used to give a reply and she used to acknowledge it, i fall short of words to say how good it felt.  The feeling is inexplicable. I had this feeling that she had faith in my calibre, she knew i had potential to make it big and she knew that i did silly mistakes too ( i remember an instance where she was discussing our answer sheets and she looked towards me and said “A-N-G-E-L-S is an angels....and  A-N-G-L-E-S is geometry, ha ha ha ha). In all the P.T.Ms she had good things to say about me and always used to encourage me to keep it up, she knew i had the potential, her way of conveying it was not direct though but i could make that out easily. She helped me in so many inter school competitions, helping me in writing the scripts (sometimes writing the whole thing for me), making me practise in front of her “n- number” of times till it was all perfect. She wanted me to excel, always and i know she felt super proud whenever i achieved something. She was a positive force which pushed me towards the right direction, always.......and it still does.....

Life moved on, i finished my schooling, went into a Hotel Management Institute in Delhi. The place was horrifying (i mean the infra- structure.... i remember the first day of my class i had to go to the housekeeping lab. I was right outside the lab trying to search for it when a helper took notice of my frowning face and asked me what i was looking for, i replied and he pointed towards the signage above the door which said “GREH RAKH- RAKHAAV KAKSH”....which means house-keeping lab in hindi). I started laughing at first and then i got a little scared of what will happen the next day as i had “food and beverage” class.....LOL!!!!

Anyway, i went inside the room and that was the moment i met the second angel. She was a young lady, short height, fair, very sharp features, she was wearing a beautiful red saari which complimented her complexion amazingly!!! And then i noticed something dangling down her ear...it was a traditional kashmiri ornament. Since that very moment, i don’t know how and why, but i had an inclination towards that lady. (i guess the “same community” Factor does play a MAJOR ROLE). I used to enjoy her classes and all my friends used to make fun of me as they all hated House- Keeping big time (the subject makes us spread cleanliness all around, which one should not expect from a graduation student to do, normally.. ha ha ha ha). She was (and still is) a motherly figure to me. She knew i am a kashmiri too, but she was never partial. For her we all were the same and this made me respect her even more. She was fabulous at teaching and had this zeal of making all of us “perfectionists” in whatever work we do. And whenever my parents used to come to my annual day (as parents of “THE TOPPER”) she had all praises for me and she said that she believed that i will make it big one day!!!

One day, i had gone to college (although i had no intention to). My father had met with a serious accident and he and my mother were in Jammu getting his treatment done. It was the first day of navratre and it was a new year for us kashmiris and i was terribly missing my parents. I had to submit this file to my house keeping teacher. I did it and as i turned to leave she said “NAVREH MUBARAK”. Something really touched me that very moment, the sweetness of her voice, the way she said it, it felt so nice... it felt as if my mother is wishing me. I was so happy from within, i wanted to hug her, touch her feet and wish her, but all i could manage was “NAVREH MUBARAK TO YOU TOO MA’AM” and i left the room. The next thing i know is that i had tears in my eyes...that was the amount of the “motherly effect” that lady had on me....... and she still has it....

The wheel of time moved further and i stepped into my post graduation studies (MBA M&S). Although it was never planned as such, but i am glad it happened, because it made me become “RU-BA-RU” with the third angel.

I remember the first lecture this gentleman had with us. IT WAS SOMETHING GUYS. I mean it was an H.R oriented subject and we were looking forward to a teacher who would be crying over “organizational ethics and culture” all six months. But this gentleman was a class apart. I still wonder why he joined the H.R faculty when he does not behave like one... ha ha ha. He came into the class and the moment he started speaking my head and heart unanimously said “NOW THIS IS AN MBA CLASS”. The problem with this gentleman was that, he never taught the subject the way it was supposed to be taught (or the way we had thought it would be taught). He was different, UNIQUE. He always had some or the other thing cooking up in his mind... a case study, a role play, a questionnaire, a quiz, a debate session.... i mean talk about the variety....( i remember my friends from other sections used to be so jealous of us as their teacher was literally synonymous to “sleeping pills”... ha ha ha ha).

This gentleman is an encyclopaedia. He just KNOWS-IT-ALL. Every class he used to ask us something about a brand or some company and we used to feel, GOD WE KNOW NOTHING. He added fun all around and i totally loved his words, his mannerism, the amount of knowledge this person had....everything...i remember the day i went upto to him and requested him to make me his mentee (our college has this system of faculty being allotted as mentors to each student. My mentor was someone else, but i longed to be his mentee.... that was the effect he had on me). Since that day, he has been my mentor, my guide, my philosopher. He has been there as a strong wall in all my tough times and has showered words of praises whenever i have achieved something. The bond is such, that he reads my expressions and tells me whether i m happy or sad or angry (no matter how efficiently i mask my emotions). Under his guidance, i have changed, changed to become much more mature person, enlightened by his experiences, which he has been so kind to share with me......and which he will continue to do ... as promised by him.....

Our first GURUS  are, our PARENTS, undoubtedly, because learning begins at home always. But what amazes me is that how some people, who are absolute strangers, have the capacity of moulding us, shaping our lives in such a way, that it starts to look like a blessing in all senses!!!

This blog entry is dedicated to these three angels in my life- Ms. Piyali Dutta (English Teacher), Ms. Meenakshi Sumbly (Housekeeping teacher) and Mr. Hargovind Kakkar (O.T.M teacher). All three of you have been a great source of encouragement. You people have been my true guides and mentors and i can’t ever tell you in words how much your presence in my life means to me and how much i value every single word of criticism you have given me, which has indirectly helped me become what i am today....

Well life is not short for me and there are many more milestones to achieve, which i am confident of achieving and making it BIG one day!!! I just hope that when that day arrives all three of you pat on my back and say proudly to the world, “SHE IS MY STUDENT”.....

HAPPY TEACHER’S DAY!!!