Taare Zameen Par

This is not a film review. I'm sure the blogosphere is full of glowing reviews for this film, and I'm sure you can find them easily. In fact, I think that you don't even have to read a review to go watch this movie. Just trust me, and watch it. Its something every person should do - watch the movie, I mean. Not trust me. :)

Few words to sum up my experience of the movie though: Powerful performances, moving music, untold story.



As I was watching this song on TV today, I thought about the teachers in my life. Of course, there's my Mom and my Dad, and they've done the very best they can.

I'm slightly surprised to realise that my mental list of inspirers has English teachers in the majority. But then again, given my love for the volatile, young language, I can't be much surprised. In particular I recall Mangala miss, who drilled into me the finer aspects of grammar in 7th standard, as a result of which (I suspect) I caught the intricacies of Deutsch grammar quite easily.

Then there was Mary miss, who was and still is, my hero. She was responsible for my transformation from girl-who-never-speaks to sociable chatterbox. I owe the overcoming of my "fear of people" to her. She taught 5th grade. In high school, I had the good fortune of being taught Biology by teacher Alfonsa, her daughter.

I remember our music teacher, Micheal Jackson. I don't remember his real name. He always had a harmonium with him. I knew, he knew, everybody knew that I sang like a crow, and yet he encouraged me to sing. He encouraged everybody to sing, for that matter.

There was teacher Asha, my high school drill teacher who used to make us take ridiculous postures in the name of drill. Aslam Pasha, our basketball coach, who used to bark "goodshot" even before we started our lay-up, so that even if we missed, it would still remain a "goodshot".

There was our Yoga teacher, who told us not to crack our knuckles. I still do it anyway. Teacher Mamata, who encouraged my love for writing. The librarian (Name forgotten, face etched into my mind) who encouraged my love for reading (I have read a record number of Agatha Christies in high school while my friends were reading Sweet Valley and Mills and Boon). DVN sir and BGS sir, who made getting through the gruelling 10th and PUC years easier. Teacher Letitia, who used to call me BP(Don't ask why). Teacher Nirmala, who was soooo patient with my Kannada and my handwriting. My cousin Vidya who taught me painting on pillows and other quaint things, my aunts who painstakingly taught me to braid my hair( I wasn't very bright in that I guess). My cousin Sandeep, who succeeded in teaching me to make tea the right way without ever realising it, my driving teacher whose instructions (speed kod bedi! - Don't increase the speed!) echo in my head, my swimming teacher(I was his slowest student, according to him, but it doesn't matter because I'm a total water baby now :)). The list goes on...

My most recent teacher (Of course, the learning never stops. I learn from life and those who have something to teach.) was Kunal, under whom I learnt German (A1) for four months. Its kinda fun, learning and earning at the same time. Moreover, we got to learn some of the culture too.

I studied in four schools (2 primary, 1 secondary, 1 high), 2 colleges(1 pre-univ, 1 under-graduate) and at my workplace. There have been exceptionally good teachers (the kind you'll always remember, no matter what you become in life) and there have been exceptionally bad ones(the kind you remember and make fun of at reunions). All of these people have shaped who I've become, so they all deserve mention. The good ones deserve an extra pat on the back for making me the extraordinary girl I am. :) Cheers to teachers!!