An interesting encounter.

This morning at breakfast one Indian guy walked up to me ,gave me a good stare and asked " Excuse me ,were you a School Principal? I said "Yes" and guessed he must be one of my former students and indeed he was>Told me his name is Baskaran and he related to me his impressions of me as a Headmaster.He said "Sir,you were always walking around the school with a cane in your hand.You were very strict and the moment we hear your footsteps,everyone would be at their seats.We know you are a fierce disciplinarian but actually we all loved you"
I was so touched and happy that Baskaran ended up as a ship pilot and is one of the few involved in this kind of work.We talked about teachers then and now and he said he was fortunate to be under the guidance of good teachers or he would not be where he is today.Its so gratifying that as teachers our students recognize what we did for them and sadly enough he said teachers today are not what they were.I am inclined to agree .Its not that the teachers are no good today but they actually have no chance to teach,what with all the projects and meetings which they have to attend.This is because we have the unfortunate case where the direction of education is determined by politicians whom we know do things for their own self glory.
Gone are the days when we can think of teachers who exerted such big influences on us and gave us the most important ingredients for our character which is one of the things we took from school other than knowledge.I can still remember some of teachers who had such charisma that we tried to be like them,hardworking,strict,disciplined and knowledgeable.I remember one Maths teacher who could draw such amazingly round circles with his hands and no instruments,I remember my literature teacher who brought us to the world of Shakespeare with such vivid dramatization that we all listened with open mouths all the time.
School those days were fun and we teachers had such great rapport with our students and would do our very best not only to give them the knowledge which they needed to pass their exams but also to shape their characters.
As teachers it is painful for us to see what the politicians are doing to our education system and the future of the younger generation.