To my Teacher -

Thank you. For everything you’ve done. For everything that you do. And for everything that you shall continue to do for us. It is with utmost grief that I am writing this to you ma’am. I was told this wretched day would come, but never told when. I was in tears when I knew how quickly it had arrived. But then again, I am happy. Not only because you will find happiness outside of Madhava Kripa, but because people elsewhere, whatever you do, will have access to a fountain of knowledge that us students were once privileged to drink from.

I do realize that goodbyes are indeed extremely tough and no amount of words I say, or actions I perform, will ever equal the amount of love and blessings you have showered us with. It is with a very deep heart that I write this to you ma’am. I sincerely hope we stay in touch, and the rest of my life isn’t worthless, because it is your teaching, your love, and your care that has made life worthwhile until now.

For the past three years, I had been taught social science by one teacher. She was wonderful. Most appealing and really fun. It was indeed sad to know I wouldn’t be taught by her when I would move on to high school. And I couldn’t deal with that detachment. In three years, I had grown so close to her that I was in fact, unwilling to proceed with my studies. But that was senseless. I couldn’t do that.

The only thing I could do was wonder as to who would teach my favorite subject the next year. Ma’am – I am ecstatic that it was you. I am proud to say that I was taught by you. A teacher who didn’t fear to go off topic and teach us values, a teacher who stood her ground, a teacher who nurtured her students as they were her own, and a teacher who, time and time again, evaded and overcame personal obstacles to pursue her love of teaching, you were much more than just a teacher. You were a mother. To all of us. And I thank you for that.

I remember distinctly, it was the first day of our online classes, the second period to be precise, when I was introduced to you. I used to picture you as a tyrant back then. A devil. A dictator and much worse. And trust me when I say this, I was overwhelmed when you made me look like a fool, proving those rigid and horrible stereotypes I had blatantly wrong. Because right from the start, you were that dependable teacher. That person that we could count on, day in and day out, whom we knew would do good for us.

I was in tears when you gave us your last remarks and I am in tears now as I write this piece. It is with a heavy heart that I remember our first class, when you started it off with a question, and then taught us each topic, by moving from that question, to another one, and then another one. I was awestruck. The way you went about the lesson. The way you were open and transparent. And, truth be told, I was quite fascinated by your way of teaching.

You drew my attention that day with just one sentence. When you said, people think arts isn’t important and only the STEM subjects are, trust me, as a future arts student and possibly a future law cum journalism student, I couldn’t agree more. I was thrilled that I would be getting an opportunity to interact with a teacher with as similar interests as I.

By far, you have been one of the most influential and amazing, not just teachers, but mentors, guides and people that I have met. Your views on policies and politics might be a bit different than many of us, but I cherish that I have learnt a different perspective from your teachings. Trust me, and I speak for the whole of Madhava Kripa when I say this, your absence has created a huge void in the teaching administration of our school. I wish you the best of luck ma’am, wherever you go, whatever you do.

I have seen you, personally striding over obstacles, the most recent being your husband’s unfortunate demise. Now, any other person I know would be devastated and rightly so, but you ma’am, you were unbreakable. I know the amount of difficulties you have faced, with your mother in the hospital too (And I pray that she recovers immediately), you have been firm and bold in your stance against life’s problems and you are an inspiration to all of us. You have taught us that when life throws something at you, turn into stone and let the problem keep hitting you, one day, it will bounce back.

I will miss your classes, all of them. Those politics classes where a few of us would have heated debates, those history and geography classes where you would willingly share all that you knew, not only restricting yourself to the textbooks, and those times of fun, those conversations about cartoons, those talks about life in general and those deep, meaningful sessions you would have with us will thoroughly be missed.

I never thought I would connect to a teacher so much, but your compassion and your love threw that theory of mine down the drain. I am lost for words as I write this but I think it is essential for you to know what an impact you have had on us. From day one, right till today. You have been a constant source of inspiration and motivation for all 180 of us, and I speak for everybody, including the staff of our school, when I say we will miss you.

I have connected with you more than I have with anyone. Your knowledge makes me regret not falling into your class. But now, I feel relieved that I was not in your class. For had I have been in your cohort, trust me, the feeling of emptiness wouldn’t let go of me. The feeling of detachment wouldn’t go away. I would be much more broken than I am right now. Your classes were supremely fun. They were engaging, interactive and as a student, one couldn’t ask for much more. I had only heard good feedback and comments from your previous batches, whom I now envy. Why is it they got to absorb your knowledge for so long, and us only for three months? I connected with you so much over the past few months that letting go wasn’t an option ma’am.

You have a tremendous hold on all of us and it is not easy to let go of that hold this quickly. I am very emotional about your leaving and the whole afternoon was spent in tears, writing this message to you. I know, the medium of teaching was different this year with the pandemic and all but truth be told, you were extremely adaptable and effective when it came to getting your thoughts across the table.

I will forever, cherish those times that we spent talking about Hitler or Robert Mugabe. I shall cherish those instances when you urged us to think critically and out of the box. Those times you taught us values instead of blatant politics. Those times you interacted with us like a friend as opposed to being a feeling less dictator. And ma’am, as far as a democracy is concerned, there is no better democracy than your class. A class where everyone enjoys themselves, everyone participates and everyone has faith, trusts and loves the teacher. If and when we come across a class like that, it sure as hell is yours.

Because, ma’am, mere words cannot describe my feelings for you. Those words are not even a fraction of the amount of love I have for you and it was indeed unfortunate that we weren’t able to meet face to face in class. But that being said, it is not meetings that make us appreciate each other. It is interactions. And through a series of fascinating classes, you have brought out that amazing factor of intelligence in us all.

Believe me, I have gone through tons of personal issues ma’am. But none worse than losing a loved one. I am extremely apologetic and in fact I meant to write to you back then but I just did not want to give you any further grief. You have been a role model to us all, instructing us how to deal with life, telling us how to overcome obstacles, all while keeping faith and our morals and virtues intact.

But ma’am, as I write this message, from the bottom of my heart, I feel that I shouldn’t lie to you. This message shouldn’t be a box of gold. There is indeed some rubble here and that is what I shall tell you about. There have been times when I have thought you were targeting me by not asking me the answers to questions even after I have raised my hand for a while.

I have sometimes condemned you, behind your back for some unimportant reasons, and on certain occasions, during your classes, I have played online mobile games with my friends, and not payed attention to what you have been saying. I regret those incidents ma’am, and I hope you will be able to forgive me. It is with a heavy heart that I tell you all this but I am doing so, only because you are very approachable and relatable. I certainly condemn myself now, for playing during one of your classes where I should’ve paid attention. I now know that I won’t get that crucial lecture back again. I am sorry ma’am. There is nothing I can do or say right now to safe myself and if you appreciate me for this letter, I hope it is for admitting my fallacies as well.

There were certain times I spoke against you. Questioned myself as to why you were right. But ma’am, the proof that I didn’t mean those condemning statements was what happened in the afternoon. For no other teacher would I cry and speaking from my heart, it was very difficult to know that all of a sudden, a magnificent gem would disappear from the treasury. On the whole though, I am thoroughly apologetic for my immature and appalling behavior. I can assure you, all you will hear about me now, is praise.

You are indeed one strong soul ma’am and nothing I do or say will be equal to the amount of work you have put in for us, and for the school. You teaching and knowledge will always be honored as far as the school and I are concerned and I will do my best to uphold your teachings. Fret not, dear teacher, for if and when we meet on the streets of Manipal, it would be an honor. To meet you, talk to you, and seek your wisdom.

I wouldn’t be wrong if I said that you were one teacher who was capable and successful in reaching out to the whole grade. It was you who proved the stereotype of social studies being boring wrong. You who made Nazism fun, for those who didn’t find it that way, and you, who taught us skills we ought to have in the real world. It was you. And no amount of thank yous and words of gratitude will suffice.

The last few minutes of today’s class will for almost eternity, be etched in my memory. They were indeed quite excruciating and very tough to get over. Your concluding remarks to our batch will be something all of us will never forget. Your mesmerizing yet knowledgeable words were something that stuck inside our minds the way fevicol sticks up two carboard sheets – sturdy and fixed.

And as I did mention above, goodbyes are hard enough on their own. My emotion adds on to the difficulty. I would like to give you a message on your remarks in the afternoon and how they have impacted us already.

You spoke about topics most relevant. Topics most sensitive. Topics people or the society has forgotten about. Respect. Compassion. Empathy. Your speech was touching ma’am. I have never experienced anything so emotional, yet so real. Your words hit us hard, just the way Hitler used to punish the unfortunate Jews – very hard. The only difference was Adolf used to hit them with canes and guns, hitting them hard, killing them while you would hit us hard with your words, make us reflect and then bring us up. That was the difference.

I didn’t pay much attention to your speech today to be honest because I was occupied wiping my tears away. One of my recorded your voice as you spoke and that forty-two second recording will forever be my something to hold on to. You have connected with me in places nobody else could even enter. I thank you for your wisdom. For your knowledge. Your teaching. Your values. And your love.

I would like to also mention that I looked at your WhatsApp profile today. The display picture had a quote in Hindi roughly translating to “Keep Smiling. Sometimes for yourself and sometimes for others.” And you know what? There is nobody who could relate better to that than me and here is why.

The reason is quite simple in fact. Yes ma’am, I will always keep smiling, though today, tears rolled amidst that smile of mine. I smile for myself because I was lucky enough to be taught by you. Lucky enough to have absorbed a drop of the ocean of knowledge that lies inside of you. And I smile for others, or in this case, yourself, because I know you will find happiness in whatever you do, and you will have made a million students successful, along with all their values intact, in the future. I smile for you because you are determined and you are strong. People struggle to break the glass barrier but you have done it time and time again. That is why I smile for you ma’am. That is why I admire you. That is why I love you.

To end this letter, I would like to come back to your motivational speech this afternoon. There were so many aspects I could relate to. So many places where I felt you couldn’t have been more on target. So many places I agreed with you. All because of the importance of that speech. I know people are losing their touch of humanity and I a bloody proud I had a teacher who played a part in changing that sorrowful state we are in.

I will always remember and abide by your words. They were touching and very impactful. I am sure you would have better things to do than read this message and I know your mother is in the hospital, but I am sure things will be back to normal and I wish your mum a speedy and great recovery. She is your mother after all. I am sure she possesses double the strength that you do. Don’t worry. Everything will be alright madam. I promise you.

And yes, those last two seconds of your talk today were the ones that were most heart-warming. You said, and I quote, “And in case if we meet each other”, that was where the voice message ended. But I shall give your voice message an ending of my own, if you permit me to do so.

Dearest Madam – And in case we do meet each other, I shall be ecstatic. I shall be the first person to recognize you and embrace you with open arms. I shall remind you of the fun we have had and I will continue to respect you, admire you, and love you. I always have. And till my last breath, I always will.

PS – Be ready with a lecture in mind however. Because next time I meet you, I expect a wonderful lesson on history, some enlightened discussions on politics and a fountain of information on where it all started, our first class, geography.

Thank you, madam. I hope you remember for I shall do so without fail. I thank you for all that you have done for me and in the future, if there is anything at all I can do for you, anything at all, do not hesitate to contact me. I am only ten digits away. All the best!

Thanks, and Very Warm Regards,

Your most faithful and impacted student - Prahlad