Just the other day, I was sitting in my DS class, headed by Prof. Aditya K. Jagannatham when he decided to talk about his chemistry teacher and the role that his teacher played in his life. I found that very amusing. I do not find myself to be that kind of person that compliments his teachers long after parting ways, merely because I have always tended to study on my ones. It is not that I have not been a respectful bloke. I have always been loved by my teachers. And so I decided to sit in a thought train and thank all my teachers, and the lessons they gave me. Isocrates quite rightly said, 'The root of education is bitter, the fruit is sweet.'

Mind you, an educator and their approach play a big role. I always knew it did, but metrics always emphasise the correlation better.

Take these lovely readings for example. 'In the context of the components of teacher characteristics, the effects of all dimensions in the framework were found to be significant. More specifically, student achievement was found to be influenced at the greatest level by teachers' personal qualities, while it was least impacted by instructional management.' You can read the entire paper in detail here.

It is as clear as day that my parents have provided me with the biggest teachings of my life and they continue to do so. But this one is for those that have been forgotten in time. Straight of the back, I do recollect the lunch hours at Ms Emery’s classes. They were some banging days of my life. I still have this vague memory of me walking up to the stage to collect this certificate and feeling like the biggest deal, the way my name was announced. That one sits out in my head for some reason. Can not leave behind Dipika Ma’am, for her math teachings. I do peculiarly remember Ms Shilpi Panja. That was the year I had jumped from IB to CBSE to ICSE and I was quite young, but I am very sure my habit to write and learn has been picked up from there. I do not know what I would be doing academically without it. I also picked up my interest in tennis from there. That was one of the most complete schooling experiences I had. 

There was this temporary coach I had in my tennis academy for about a week and a half. I do not remember his name any longer. But, man did he make us run. I do have immense respect for him. It used to be painful back then. I understand its importance now.

I would also like to thank the teachers I had through the 3 most pivotal school years I have had. That would be Ms Reena Sharma in 8th grade. Ms. Manju Malaviya and Ms. Puja Arora in 10th grade. And Ms Bijoya Mitra in 12th grade. 

See, Ms Reena Sharma is special because it is her boost I used all the way through school. She valued me quite high. I reciprocated that respect in my results. That was one of my most successful academic years. I was a constant rank and I enjoyed that. Although 9th grade was similar 8th grade had a different feeling. It is where I learnt multitasking is what I would say. 

Ms Manju Malaviya taught me a lot about being calm, not that I got around to using much as can be seen through my 11th and 12th grade. But, man she was a calm woman. I would attribute it to her age, as I was in her office almost every other day, with my set group of friends and she would always be so cool with it. 

Ms Puja Arora was a cool teacher. Her lesson was kind of different. She sort of showed me that nothing can be taken for granted. She kind of did me dirty. She sort of robbed me of a city-wide podium finish with the internal gradings. It is kind of funny to look back at it now. 10th grade was weird for that. I was in this school, and I really wanted a city rank, but my school decided to be too true and gave us grades for what we deserved. But none of the other comparable schools in the city did that. They gave a boost to their kids, leaving us in the dust. So, I changed school. I still laugh at the decision I took then. I went to the school that gave good grades. Well, this is partly true. I just used selective bias to make this look like the reason. That is a good story for another day. But, after that incident in 10th grade. I, for the most part never really academically flaunted anymore. I do feel like that might have hindered me a bit, but that is what I pinpointed as the reason for having received bad internals that year.

Come 11th and 12th grade with Ms Bijoya Mitra. I have immense respect for her. I was bratty back in those grades. I guess something that came and went with age. But she always kept me down to earth and kept me going through, so that I could end school on a successful note. 

I have had some good professors in my undergrad until now as well. I mean I have only done 3 semesters but Prof. Sudha Radhika and Prof. P K Thiruvikraman have been some cool professors even with the minuscule interaction I have had with them. 

Some notable shouts would be, Ms Rachna Randhar for just being able to deal with me. Every teacher that wrote a good note to me (especially Ms Parul Singh and Ms Dipika Patel) and every teacher that gave me my awards, grin face. And myself, for coming this far!

I quite enjoyed writing this piece. A short trip down memory lane. I should write about such stuff more often.