I am relieved from GITAM today. That is definitely good news! No matter how much I tried to keep my feelings to self, it always showed up to people in various things I did over the last couple of weeks. I was not enjoying my stint there. I do not deny reasons for it, but what is more important is I made a decision hoping for something better. I recall a friend and a student asking if I am assured of getting something better, and I had to tell them, ‘anybody in this world makes decisions only because they hope; and the notion of an informed decision does not guarantee a secured future’.
It would be extremely wrong on my part to say I have never enjoyed anything at my last workplace. Because there were a few precious moments I carry into my life forward. My guide takes the top of the list among them. I feel lucky to have been assigned to her–things would have been drastically different otherwise as I came to understand them eventually. I have learnt a few lessons, and produced my first few scholarly publications from this institution–all credit to few who encouraged me. And more importantly, students of this institution have been kind and tolerant to my experimenting ways of living, styling, and dealing with lots of things in the class. I guess I could say experimenting for I have learnt lessons from them, and have evolved after, however little that may be.
My classes on the last working day, today, were nothing special, and definitely not noteworthy. Perhaps, I attribute the failure of not making them memorable to me and me only. But then, I would love to feel that I have done justice to what was expected of me without expecting much from anybody, for over a while now–about nineteen months to be precise. Not expecting was difficult, but it has produced some fascinating experiences and interactions in the course of my time at the institution. Some of them were from students, and I am unable to resist sharing a few names here and what I have learnt from them, and may be go on to say what I could not tell them so far:
Gampa Shravanth Rao: He was the one who asked me “When everybody in the organization works one way, and there comes another one who works differently; may it be for better, don’t you think expecting a change is unreasonable?”. I may not have the wordings right, but close to that was his question. I did not have an answer then, but that ceased my expectation for change. If I were to answer the question now, I think I have a little one, may not be entirely unconvincing. The point is not about expecting change in the system, but expecting cooperation from someone who can change it. It took me time to realize students have the potential to change the way system works, but then not so much time to understand that very few students are actually interested in doing it.
Poonam Kahnoria: This girl is one among those very few with whom I could drop off the information loads I carried in my mind. And she was one who almost always took it with a smile. I think she enjoyed whatever pieces of information I used to share. Not that they were useful, but they have definitely built an interaction between us that made me feel lighter always. Getting a patient hearing always boosts morale; whether, she recognized that or not, talking to her made me feel much better. I wish I could ask her to focus on what is more important, but that might be asking her to stop listening to me too! After all, what I say is not part of syllabus, and after all, I am not the one to give easy marks.
Santosh: I do not recall his full name, but he is from IMBA, Fourth Trimester. Our interactions were limited. But it was a strange feeling for me whenever I found this guy loitering in the campus. The feeling was something close to ‘I wish I could have had a student life like that’. I am reminded of how much I missed being a student like that–curse my overambitious academic and sporting career, I now know I missed what matters most. I find it interesting that he is not just a bundle of energy, but that he controls it. Fortunately, he was the first student who wished me good luck after I received my relieving orders.
Santoshi Manjusha: She just has no clue how many times she must have made me feel embarrassed. Good and bad aside, this girl knows ways of making me smile. I do not recall any other student who has interacted with me in such a tone that makes me feel shy. I wish I could tell her, smiling is not my hobby, but a part of my job. But then thanks for saying it was good. Here is one more..
And you keep smiling too.
Tanay Reddy: This chap is a cool photographer. I think he is yet to discover the value of his ability. Studies is a critical part, but definitely that is not all. This student has already shown me what he is capable of with the camera. If you don’t believe me, just look up for his blog in my blogroll here. I just hope he gets into the line that he likes most. Good luck, Tanay.
Komal Aditya: This student is special to me. We share lots of things in common, for example, our understanding of life, our liking for agriculture, our frustration towards an allegedly urban community and so on. And apparently, he keeps making note of my style change trials, and makes references to which one was used when and how effective that was. Jokes and fun apart, he is one student who I believe has a true understanding of effort and pain. I wish he focused on education a little more, leaving aside all other frustrations.
These are students I can immediately think of from the current brigade, apart from a few impressive others including Linakar (fascinated by automobiles), Sravan (allegedly, a cricketer), Anish (would-be pilot), Pawan Kanuri (a gentle friend of mine I suppose), Divya from MHRM (only student who scored almost full marks in a subject I taught), Aditya Putta (swimmer and reader), Nihar (tattoo designer-cum-smart in lots of others), Divya Jain (an innocent trier), Adrian (a much wanted speaker), Chrysolite (only student who can dare to ask irrelevant questions), Sandeep (quizzer in history), Alka, Kanaya, Prashant, Saurabh (the gang) and lots more… I can think of many students from the brigade gone by, but then most of them are in contact with me on a friendly tone. So I guess, it is not fair for me to make them my students again and write my feelings as a teacher.
All in all, my stint at GITAM was eventful but not sufficient, interesting but common, and made me introspect but largely in its bureaucratic foundations. I am moving ahead, in hope, to MVGR College of Engineering.
Wish me all the best, Friends. And stay in touch!
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