The Mentors..

Part punishment, part fun but full of learning.. That is what I would describe the teachers and mentors that I have had over the years.. Starting with school and throughout my career and life, I have had the good fortune of being on the receptive end and am grateful to each and every one of them..

Many of them have passed on but lessons remain, characters remain etched and events unforgotten. I wish to share some of them with you, my readers.. one at a time.

The most formidable of them is reason for the ability to express myself. She was adorable with a large presence draped in a red and white Bengal cotton saree. Thick black rimmed glasses adorned her big eyes, her red “bindi” found prominence on her forehead, tongue reddened with a recently chewed “paan”. Fingers had many rings and the shaking of them in front of my face would quickly change the frown into a smile and her unique booming voice would cast a spell over the dozen small frames sitting on low green tables and benches in the large mansion which was converted to a school.

“One, two, three, go!” followed by a slap on the teacher’s table would have us scrambling through our canvas bags or aluminum boxes to reach for the concise dictionary which was a must to be carried to school. The first person to find the word would shoot up from the seat, with a sense of pride and accomplishment and would read out the word and the meaning, knowing well that the one mark would be carefully listed against their names. The ultimate winner at the end of the year would be a proud recipient of a classic novel or story book presented at the annual day functions.

Gulliver’s Travels still takes pride of place in my little library.. god bless you Mrs Ghoshal.