The other side…..

"By learning you will teach, by teaching you will learn." - Latin Proverb

It was September 22^nd 2008.The first time ever in my life that I was at college when the clock struck 9. The whole college seemed different. It somehow felt strange and lonely for I was no longer a student.  I was standing there at the gates wondering what my new life ahead would have in store for me.

I headed for the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. Being a “staff member” I was offered a seat by the Head of the Department. It felt a bit weird to be sharing the same desk with people who had taught me. They treated me as their colleague and that gave me a feeling that I was important. Actually I have never felt this way before when I was a student .It was still difficult to comprehend that I was here to “teach” students who had been my juniors for so many years. I had no idea how they would receive me. In fact I very well remembered how I had spent four years at college and to be honest I definitely wouldn’t want somebody like me as my student.

I glanced at the time-table and my first hour was scheduled to begin in ten minutes. I pulled myself up and walked down the road past the principal’s room to the S5 block.  It seemed ages ago that I had been a student, walking down the corridor or whiling away time at the canteen. I saw a younger version of myself all around me. I could see myself sitting under the tree with my friends near the IT department and singing songs when our lecturer would be busy teaching about the efficiency of a turbine or explaining the working of a diesel engine. I could still hear my friends teasing me when I tried a new hair style. But now it all seemed so different…..so strange.

As I entered the class, my so called “students” stared at me in wonder. I walked on to the podium and introduced myself as their teacher. I gripped myself awaiting their response when they all rose up with a smile and said-“good morning chetta”. Well yes they still call me “chetta”!!!  Actually it was a really dry theory paper that I had to teach and I exactly knew how it felt to be in such a class. Being a rookie in this field, I was not in a position to introduce any new methods of teaching. So I went on with the conventional method, lecturing students about the evolution of scientific management and contributions of F.W Taylor, blah blah… er sorry students!! For such a subject, they seemed to be surprisingly quiet. I could even see some of them busy writing down something. Was it lecture notes? No way. One girl in particular looked up occasionally as if paying attention to what I was teaching. She was busy jotting down points as I was explaining. Little did I realize that those “points” actually made a sketch of me standing on the podium rather than notes.

Half way through the lecture one boy raised his hands and said “Chetta one doubt”. Aha big surprise…..at least one person paying attention. Anyway doubts!! What if I did not know how to answer them??? I braced myself for the inevitable…… “Are you going to take the class for one hour completely? I mean, being the intro class…” wow I was expecting a whole other question but this one left me absolutely speechless!! I glanced around the classroom. Everyone was preoccupied with something or the other. Some were writing assignments, some were sleeping and some others were chatting among each other, cracking jokes and having fun….. I suddenly missed my college days, when I would be on the other side of the room with my friends and probably asking my teacher the very same question. Nonetheless it was time to grace the students with my exit. I took the attendance which was a real disaster!!! With just half the class they somehow managed to make everyone present.

I walked back to the staff room. It was deserted. I put my book back into the bag and took a seat. My first stint at teaching went much better than I had expected. In fact it was really exciting. I felt very comfortable with my students probably because they had been my juniors for so long…… I closed my eyes and the images of four years at college just flashed through my mind. I no longer felt the pain of missing my college life. All that mattered was that I was back in my own college with a new role to play. It was indeed time to move over to the other side of the class room…..

 I took a deep breath and headed for the S7 block…..