Teachers are like lamps who let themselves burn and light your path to success. Well thats how every single student describes their teacher. But my teacher is the unique one. She never took the strain of being my light, instead she took the strain in showing me how to be my own light. She stood next to me when almost every single person was pointing at me calling me "Wrong. Head weighted. Filled with attitude." She was the only one with true advices and care. Sounds more like a mother doesn't she. She's the one who never played a leader's role in my life. She's the one who played the pusher every time I took a step back, and what she really did was push me into becoming "The one".
Tall, elegant and full of smiles is how I'd like to describe my teacher, who helped me write a crucial phase of life was my class teacher since fifth grade. With my grades going low and teachers saying that I was the most distracted student with the wrong attitude, my mother was all worried about me. My mother felt all the distraction and low grades were due to my Karate training which I took up every twice a week. She was all ready to take me out of Karate classes until she met my teacher, who always had my back. My mother told her all about my grades, attitude and the teacher's comments.
Smart and experienced as she is, my teacher assured my mother that every child goes through an attitude change when they enter high school, grades was not an issue to be worried about as she knew I could perform better and she also told my mother that banning me from Karate training would only lead to more discouragement and low marks. That's when she changed my life. Indirectly, though. She also encouraged me to balance both my academics and Karate well enough to make me an all-rounder. In high school, where more importance is given to studies and Board examinations, she made sure I participated in other activities such as debating, dancing and a lot more.
That was the year my performance raised, both with respect to academics and other activities. Well she didn't stop there. She had been encouraging me till I stepped out school. In tenth grade I received the All-Rounder Award from my institution, and one of the persons I would love to thank forever would be my teacher.
What's humorous about the entire thing is, I never knew about the conversation between my mother and my teacher until I got out of tenth grade. This showed me how a teacher brought out the best in me, by just trusting and encouraging me. This only leads to one conclusion. A good teacher may be the captain of your life showing you the exact direction you need to sail in. But a great teacher is the one, who always plays a role without you even realizing it but yet making you the Captain of your own tides. This is my teacher who brought out the best, surprising and the wonderful out of me. Having a teacher like this was a miracle come true. So here is a little word of advice. Ever find a teacher like this, make sure you don't let oblivion take over them. Because some people, are worth fighting for.
-Harshitha Anil Kumar.