Penning the Pedagogues - 3

Finally! I escaped the claws of that raving lunatic, Mrs. Ingrid and arrived in Middle school. I was a big girl now. From now on, our subjects were to be divided and we had different teachers so that we don’t get bored looking at the same face all day long. Yup……..all grown up

MIDDLE SCHOOL
Mrs. Nivedita (English and History) : I believed that my life here would be so much better and she was a sure sign. She was so cute and chubby and so possibly comical! What an absent-minded darling! She told us little anecdotes about how she left her purse in the freezer for a week by mistake and by the time she rescued it, it was all frozen and unusable. Now that’s cold hard cash!!! She adored me and once even said that she doesn’t feel like teaching unless she sees my face in class and of course, the feeling was mutual. The only English teacher I’ve known till date who likes Harry Potter. She had the honour of being the senior most member of my clandestine Harry Potter Fan Club, laminated membership card et al

Mrs. Jamuna (Science) : I remember her has a calm and placid lady with frizzy black hair and a round face. She rarely got angry but she was firm all the same and could hold the class’ attention without raising her voice. But she was good natured and kind. I liked her.

Mrs. Mukherjee (Hindi) : Bengali to the boot and spoke with the same weird Hindi accent as my father (sorry Dad!) She was nice but I really wouldn’t choose her as a Hindi teacher. The only connection between us was that of our language otherwise it wasn’t like I vibed with her or something. Yeah but she would totally be sweet to me at all the Bengali social gatherings and that’s it…..

Ms. Kavita (Hindi and Geography) : As Mrs. Mukherjee’s replacement, her Hindi was upto the mark but you know she kinda scared me. Not the same way as Auntie Bridget or Mrs. Ingrid I mean, she was short, fair with a dimple on her face, had a whiny voice and reminded me of Amisha Patel but you know she thought too much of herself which was kinda comical actually. I wouldn’t want anything to do with her, you know just the kind of person whose path I wouldn’t want to cross. What I did want to do was slap her…she annoyed me so much

Mrs. Patty Hayden (English, Math, Geography, Moral Science…[whew!]) : Scourge of the 5th grade, it fell upon her to teach me Math that year. She made my timbers shiver!! Oh no..was she going to pull a Mrs Ingrid on me? They even looked somewhat alike!!! But as my Geography teacher in 6th, she wasn’t so bad! I even grew to be her favourite. I must say that she was an excellent teacher for that subject. See that’s what happens when you have too many subjects to teach. Last I heard she was managing the Sick Room as well. I remember all the roles she essayed on Children’s Day plays…the dashing young electrician who stole our Principal’s heart (hee hee and to think that Princi was a real life nun), God Almighty and lead dancer of “Ande mein Funda” Oh and did I mention she was ex Ms India, Diana Hayden’s aunt? (I thought she was aunt to Matthew Hayden as well!)

Mrs. Irene Francis (History) : I was scared of her too all right! in 5th but the following year I came to regard her sans feelings. I’ve heard people complain about how boring History was but she made it downright soporific. She might as well sing lullabies than teach. Ashoka took like for ever to complete what with her digressions about people who think attached bathrooms in bedrooms are a social faux pas and a little brother-sister duo fighting on the streets and the like. I might have learned more history from the Shah Rukh Khan starrer. Oh and what was the point of asking us to draw caveman tools in the exam? Who the hell cares???????????

Mrs. Rajni (Science) : It’s really sad about what happened to her husband but she never let it show because that’s the person she was – strong and balanced and of course an excellent Science teacher. She offered her counsel to anybody who needed it and though she was firm, she drew respect and adoration. She had pretty, grey eyes.

Mrs. Sunita (S.U.P.W) : A woman who knew her “craft” well. She was always brimming with these really creative and fun ideas which made S.U.P.W a period to look forward to and she truly had an artist’s eye. I remember her helping me peel a potato for one project (potato- potaato)

Mrs. Vasundhara (Telugu and Singing) : Immensely popular among students so naturally I disliked her. Her “wit” and “sense of humour” endeared her to everybody with the same IQ level as Polyphemus. Always hogged the limelight due to her age and her arthritis. No cultural event without her seal of approval or her enchanting singing performance. I think she would have a great career as a playback singer in Tollywood (not a compliment). A brilliant actress too. She calls me and tells me what a great job I was doing as captain so I truly thanked her from my heart and she remarked dryly “I was being sarcastic”. You know what? I don’t even care what you think about anymore

Mrs. Premgiri (Hindi) : Quite a formidable figure and a very good dancer too, she made it clear to us that there would be no hanky-panky, wishy-washy business in her class. A slap from her would send you reeling (believe me, I speak from experience) But she showed us her comic side too

Mrs Clementine (Math) : Oh my darling Clementine ……..darling she was. Tall and pretty, her every movement exuded grace and dignity. She was relatively a better teacher than my former one. She was strict a couple of times too but sweet all the same. My only regret is that she couldn’t marry a man as tall as her

Ms. Suseela (Telugu) : She was way better than Mrs. Vasundhara, if not in teaching but in attitude. No airs, no graces and sadly, no knowledge of any other language except well….Telugu. It was annoying and funny at times too. I remember laughing at her one class and she thundered “Sayonee, what are you doing?” (in English) to which I unconvincingly replied “Um…..Coughing?

Mrs. Taposhi (Science) : Typical Bengali face and a very untypical screechy voice. Its like as if somebody were bringing their nails down on a blackboard. Her periods were so ho-hum and trouble’s on your way if she catches you yawning in her class (yawning is a natural reaction of the body, don’t you know that as a Science teacher?) Well she got the message anyways and as an effort to liven things up, she promised that starting next week she would devote an entire period every week to discuss current scientific breakthroughs and we were to collect articles that interested us. I religiously cut up newspaper clippings and kept my scrapbook ready. But that period never came. Not the following week. Not ever.

Mrs. Anuradha (Geography) : I save the best for the last. Rumored to have been booted out of Johnson Grammar, she decided to try her luck here and I would not say she was very lucky. She was the butt of jokes of not only the students but the teachers and parents as well. My mother came back ranting about what an idiot she was after a PTM. Wasn’t good at her subject either, but teaching was not her first love as she admitted. Oh no. At 5”1 she could take the Air Force by storm and should be reclining in her desk chair at NASA now but of course she had made this huge sacrifice all in the name of her family. She was shown the door here too. Last I heard she was busy failing some 6th graders in Gitanjali