It has been already a year, and it is Teacher’s day again today. And all of us will wish our teachers, either in schools and colleges, on Facebook, WhatsApp or might even call our old teachers. Some will be filled with nostalgia about the special celebrations which were held on this day.
While our school and college teachers did a splendid and noble job, dedicating their lives to enlightening us, breaking their heads over some cracked minds, they were not the only ones who taught us.
One of the most important teachers in Indian society is Sharmaji ka beta. When you feel you have realised the true purpose of your life, he will inspire your father to push you into medicine or engineering. When you feel you have garnered enough guts to quit that job and go backpacking, he will emerge again to remind you that you have to follow the conventional milestones of completing a degree, getting a job, a car, a house, and a respectable spouse.
When you write your first poem and post it on Facebook, Sharmaji ka beta will be posting about his promotion. When you post about your road trip through Himalaya, he will be posting about the office sponsored foreign trip. He is the biggest teacher to remind you that your life goals should be society approved and your happiness should be mandated by social norms and customs.
Image Credit: Movie – Tamasha
If the Sharmaji ka beta is pursuing engineering, how can you think about photography or painting? When he is joining an MNC with a 6-digit package, how can you wear your pockets deep with the dream of your start-up?
So, while the teachers taught us the standardised material from textbooks, and some even taught us to follow our dreams, the ideal Sharmaji ka beta taught us that the society is not yet prepared for your dreams. From the standardised exams and competitive grades, you cannot take the path of yellow bricks. You have to face the real world with real responsibilities, even if it means buying an iPhone with EMIs and cancelling your dreams to ever see the Northern Lights because you have to repay the car or home loan.
All hail to this teacher for showing us that adulting is not an option, it is the biggest and longest exam of your life.
