The Surprise - What's Keeping Me Busy

Wow! My last post was wayyy back on 12th April! Thats probably the longest I have stayed away from blogging! But I wont say that I missed writing, because in the past one month I have written more than I would have normally written in an entire year. (I continue to have this dull pain in my right thumb.) But I certainly missed posting and hearing back from you precious people who care to read!

Saying that, I should have grabbed the laptop as soon as my exams got over and typed away. But as I mentioned earlier, I have a surprise for all of you! This very surprise has been keeping me busy apart from my exams. So you want to know what it is?

I got a JOB! (Let me give you a moment to laugh. Oh, you need more than that? :P)

Yes, yes, yes! I got a job! A real, paying job! The Dearest Lady who taught me German last year is off to Germany(!) for finishing off her thesis and I am her substitute in a school! Yay man! I am a teacher!!!!!

Ok, ok.. I know that I am just 19 years old and dont even go to regular college and I've just done the foundation course in German.. But whatever I know is more than enough for the little kiddies who are in class 2, 3, 4 and 5. And seriously people, I topped the bloody language last year! *gloats*

So there I was jumping away to glory in my salsa class. Suddenly, my phone shreiked out naseela naseela tere naina (I'm lame) and pierced through the loud music. I usually dont take calls while the class is on because it all breaks the rhythm. But that day, not only did I manage to hear the phone ring, but I also picked it up. By the end of that call, not only did I have a job as a German teacher, but also as the English Elocution teacher!

The school is in the heart of the city - Connaught Place. Its a small school that goes upto class VII, but thats the best part because I wouldnt have jumped into a HUGE school with thousands of children (they would have killed me). I work twice a week, teaching German to classes II, III, IV and V on Tuesdays and English Elocution to classes I-VII on Thursdays. This school has an uncanny resemblance to the first school I ever attended - Air India Modern, and thats what makes it all the more special. For a moment I actually thought that I was a little girl again with ribbons in my hair!

My dad cant stop raving about me. Well I cant either! My heart is swollen my pride. I take this as a message that teaching can be a worthy option for me. I used to line my friends up when I was really tiny and teach them some nonsense or the other. Then I advanced to teaching the maids english. My badepapa (dadaji/father's father) used to always call me "teacherji", because I would grab a ruler and make him sit down and learn poems. Then the Principal of my 11th/12th walla school noticed my patience with little children, and how they would always listen to me. She called me to her office one day and very seriously told me to give teaching a thought. All these incidents flit through my mind every time I enter a class.

Well, life couldnt have been better. The principal is apparently very happy with my work, and I am over the moon. The children are adorable. There are some who keep doing their own thing and refuse to listen, but most of them are all bright-eyed when I walk in. The very first day, a little girl from class 4 walked up to me and said that I resembled her Masi (Aunt). Then another girl came and told me the same thing. Then another.. By the end of it all, the whole class had Masis that look like me! Then last Tuesday, another girl came up and handed me over a flimsy heart-shaped thing that she had made with her lunch foil. It felt as if she had taken out her own heart and given it to me.

Whom do I thank for these wonderful moments? The Dearest Lady, the Principal for having faith in my inexperienced soul, the children, my parents, myself...? I cannot begin and cannot end to explain how grateful I am to all these people. This is perhaps a new beginning...