I am thinking I picked the coolest title to write about.Did I just admit that? Now wait a minute,Ranu ,why do you think that? Is your imagination perked up, nothing is automatic in life? Yes technologically we are way ahead with machines,they all seem to have that feature called,”Automatic”.I am sad to admit my brain does not fall in that category.
I was always advised not to talk or write shop,but this is my only hope.I have spent countless moments teaching,surely I can find something befitting for this title.
It was the month of September,a new school year,like my colleagues I was waiting to see the kids that were assigned for me to teach. Soon enough I hear the vice principal’s announcement, ‘You are in Mrs. Asgar’s class’ these words were followed by a line of thirty kids marching into my classroom.I watched them as they walked past me.Like a box of chocolates,they were assorted,boys, girls,happy,sad,indifferent ,they were in different sizes and shapes. My job was to teach them and not worry about their size.There was one thing that caught my eye,the indifferent girl.This meant either it was my impression or she really didn’t look excited about school. Could it be, I did not look like the other teachers, I was from Bangladesh,wearing a sari,which she did not see before,then again my pronunciation may be a problem. I thought about all these things in a matter of seconds.
I took out the register and called each ones name.Nearly all of them acknowledged their presence,except miss indifferent. I always knew,if there is a problem,’you nip the evil in the bud.’ I tried to put my brain in auto mode,but nothing was happening,if it was a machine all I had to do was click to ‘On’ position and the machine would do the rest. My brain refused to co-operate. A week went by and I couldn’t find an easy solution. I did what I thought was the best way of dealing with the situation.I told the principal about my concern.He looked at me and smiled,(I was thinking is he smiling because it’s too early to be confronted with this kind of problem?) I don’t know what he thought but I am faced with a kid who might become a problem for me. His suggestion was to make an appointment With her parents. I saw the parents a week later,,without losing a second I told them what was on my mind.Her mother smiled and told me, she expected a call when her child first started school,five years ago,since no one called she thought her daughter was doing fine.For her it wasn’t something she didn’t expect,but why it took so long. It seems she did not like school,since she was five years old.She could not enjoy the summer months,after summer she will have to go to school,thinking about it made her feel unhappy.this was the case every year. I didn’t have to feel it was my dress or anything else,it was the word school that gave her the feeling of nausea.With the help of her parents,I was able to change her ill-feeling of school. After this I saw ,’Miss Indifferent’ with a beautiful smile on her face every morning,always ready to do her school-work.
My box of chocolate had a tiny one that gave me a bitter taste in my mouth,but became sweeter as the days and months went by. “Mama dear I agree life is like a box of chocolates.You never know what you’re gonna get”, I lucked out mine had one bitter chocolate,but I was able to fix it before it became too late!
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