5+5 reasons why I am a teacher

new faces always remind me of old times...
i wont lie to you about it; but sometimes in the faces of my students, I see faces of my friends... companions... acquaintances ... it is weird. but anybody who is in the teaching profession will probably agree with me.

university never changes... there's always one or two nerds asking pertinent but sharp questions about this or that...trying to trap the teacher....only the smarter teachers can keep their 'superiority platform' intact (yes, yes i am one of them) at the face of those arrowing queries. Still you can never dislike these kids who make you feel the need for self-improvement every day. And of course, there are the beauty queens ... whenever they open their mouth to speak (which happens rarely) there is a pin-drop silence in the class.. everybody looks at them (or at their mouths to be specific...lipstick and all that).. many hearts palpitate fast as they slowly ask a very ordinary question in an epic fashion. “didn’t I just explain it?” the teacher smiles, while the nerds frown. The class goes on. Then there are the rock-stars; boys and girls -- smart and witty, cool and in-control -- without whom the class is never a fun. And there is the rest of the student populace... who shine dimly and half-dimly in the class. However, it’s not altogether unusual when a rather dim one flashes out like the Halley’s Comet and outshines everyone else.

the first class of a new semester usually begins with “getting-to-know-each-other” type questions… I ask them about their schools, colleges, hobbies and so on… and then I ask them to ask me questions some of the first questions I get are something like this:

madam, are you married?
“No.”, I say, “happy?”
“Yes”, they say, with a chuckle spreading from ear to ear. (didn’t I just sound Eliotic?)

Another FAQ is why did you choose to take up teaching? Now that’s what makes me think. In my very brief three-semester teaching career, I had to answer it several times. Half-heartedly speaking, I gave them half- witty or rather half-honest answers. After all, who wants to engage into a “why” discourse in an Eng-101 class? As I am digging deep into the question today, I wouldn’t mind finding the answer to the big WHY?

My friends in the university are a great influence. Tuhi and some other girls always thought I would be terrific teacher. Once in a summer afternoon I taught them poetry (adrienne rich) basking in the lavish Rokeya Hall lawn … now I realize that they read so little themselves that it was extremely difficult for me not to have sounded intellectual. My friend Moushum also thought I could be a good teacher; but in addition to that, she also knew about my infinite indolence and of course, my near-zero time sense. Moushum never thought I could fit into a 9 to 5 work schedule. cheers dosto! I also think alike… great minds do so.

[to be continued....]