Tenure : 3 months
Designation : Computer Teacher
I upgraded my NIIT course from I year to 3 years of GNIIT Curriculum.I even got a watch for upgrading myself – in fact sometimes I think that it was for the watch that I upgraded !!
Anyways I was in immense hurry to complete the course. As time was running out . I was already 25 (in 1995) – I had several things running on my mind parallel-y! First & foremost was my marriage with Somnath (Somu). I had no inkling of his existence also – I had no contacts with him – but then I always used to counsel myself saying that we need’nt be in touch physically as we share a strong Spiritual bond !
But then He had said once that we will have 2 kids ! This had come to me as a surprise actually as I had thought that we will not have any physical relationship just like Lord Ramakrishna never had any physical relationship with Sarada Maa. But anyways , I thought that He must be having different plans for this life.
But the one thing that was now eating me up was the fact that if I were to have a baby – 2 for that matter – I must get married sooner since after 30 , chances of giving birth to a baby suffering from Down’s syndrome (Idiocy) is highly probable and I certainly never wanted to have such a life with a handicapped baby – because of my own fault !
Then again I had to be the working ‘other half’ to Somnath since he was just a devotee who would just worship the Goddess whereas I will work to make both ends meet – This was my plan that I had derived with the meager brain that I had !!
So in order to finish off the course faster, I did 2 semesters simultaneously .
Along with doing the course simultaneously, I also took up a part time teaching job ( Rs. 800/- per month @ 3 days a week class for 2 hours per day)
They were 11th an 12th class students – very mischievous & talkative batch.
I was allotted such a schedule that students of Class 9th to 12th will sit and take computer class notes from me . I used to teach them Computer Fundamentals, Basic and D-Base (which I had myself done while at Ambala in a small local Computer Centre attached to a Sanskrit College).
Front Benchers vs. Back Benchers
One day I gave them all a task of writing file names etc. I wrote on the board and started taking rounds in the class watching who is writing what. To my utter dismay I found out that the Front Benchers had completed the task whereas the 2nd bench onwards students were just sitting with blank copies !!
I asked them to write and their facial expressions were such as if they had seen my face for the first time !! I then realized that Teaching is not my job ! – I completely was taken aback by this incident – I asked each one of them about what they felt about the Computer classes and 90 % of them said that they did not follow anything that I had taught them for the last 8-10 days !!
The Front benchers (10% of them ) said that my teaching style is perfectly Perfect – but by that time my self esteem had been sufficiently harmed. I decided to leave but handed over the job to my sister.
My sister later told me that the students had confided to her that I used to go very fast and they were afraid to ask me anything !! AFRAID !? of me ! Honestly I never thought that anyone could be afraid of me also ! It was news to me !!
After completing 2 yrs of GNIIT, I was placed at The Park as a Trainee Executive.
A IX class student sang ..kind of eve teased me !!!
One day I was wearing a Rajasthani Salwaar Kameez with mirror work done over it! I was passing by the corridor when a 9th class student sang thusly : “badan pe sitaare` lapete huye` – oh! Jaane` tammanna kidhar ja rahe` ho” ( a hindi movie song which means ‘ oh! Dear, where are you off to with shiny stars studded to your body”)!
Boy! The dirty look that I gave that fellow—I’m sure he’ll remember it for the rest of his life ! What I was surprised at was —What audacity he had to sing at a Teacher !! – such utterly and crassly bold these school children had become I thought ! Even I was in school some 6-7 years ago—but never did anyone of us (ie. my class boys) would have dared to make a pass at his teacher !
