Courage and Patience - Roopa Bhattacharya

A Fearful Student

Fear is one of the seven universal emotions experienced by everyone around the world. Student fears are performance-based anxiety, fear of failure, fear of being laughed at, fear of public speaking, etc... This stems from cultural and familial reasons and individual responses to the environment and circumstances they face. While a teacher cannot immediately solve the deep-rooted fears that the child may have by providing an open, encouraging, friendly and trusting atmosphere in the class, the teacher may be able to wean out the child from some of the fears that he/she may have. It becomes the responsibility of the teacher to set specific rules on values, norms and behaviour that every student is expected to adhere to. Once the fearful child is put in this environment, we may expect him or her to overcome the psychological reasons for their fear. 

A girl was hushed this academic year in my class and never volunteered for any class activity. Hence during the parent-teacher meeting, I asked her mother why she was so quiet and did not volunteer for any activity. After speaking with her mother, I learned that in the previous academic year, she forgot her lines while reciting a poem in the class, and her classmates laughed at her. This made her fearful of taking part in any class activity. I groomed her for inter section recitation competition, in which she did exceedingly well and has now been able to overcome her fear.

An Impatient Student

Impatience in children is another indicator of lack of confidence and self-belief, which they may often try to camouflage through bravado. Counselling the child about the virtues of patience will likely change the child’s attitude and behaviour.

I had a student who would snap at other children and criticize them whenever they made the slightest mistake. This made her unpopular with other children. After noticing her behaviour for some time, I realized that her conduct was just a put-on act to cover her own insecurities. Hence, I counselled her to display patience and be appreciative of others. Once she understood the virtue of patience, her conduct behaviour changed for the better.

Teachers should examine the cause of impatient behaviour in the child and then counsel them.

Roopa Bhattacharyya
Ahlcon Public School
JOL Cohort 2022

Trust and Simplicity - Kavita Devda

Trust means  "To believe".  If you believe in something or someone, then you should have confidence in them. To gain someone's trust we must be believable so that they will have confidence in our ability to keep up our word.  Simplicity means being simple. We should observe simplicity in life and believe in simple living and high thinking. We need to be simple, sweet, polite and humble while talking to others. We should never lose our temper. We can take simple and nourishing food to keep our body healthy and fit. We should be simple while selecting our clothes and wear according to the environment and seasons.

A short incident happened to my nephew who lives in Bengaluru.  His name is Suresh and he is an electrician. He leads a very simple life with his family. In January 2020  his uncle became serious in Rajasthan. He booked a tatkal train ticket and boarded the train on Monday evening at 5.30 pm. He was alone travelling and his family was in Bengaluru itself.  Next to his seat, four more passengers boarded the train after 2 hours.  They saw that  Suresh was alone and wanted to become friends.  They offered tea and some snacks to Suresh, but he did not have as they were strangers to him. After some time they were having dinner. They offered to him also but he refused to have as he had his own tiffin with him. 

At 10 pm those passengers started playing cards game. They told Suresh to join the game.  Anyhow he was alone so he thought it might not be risky to play with them and soon he joined them. By 11.30 pm they all became good friends and enjoyed playing and discussing their destinations. By next morning they became so close that they started sharing their family matters. On the same evening, those four passengers after the dinner planned a trick and bought cold drinks for everyone. They added something in Suresh's bottle but he didn't know about this.

 By 11 pm almost everyone went to sleep. Suresh also slept and he fainted. Soon these four passengers removed the gold chain, earrings, finger ring, watch and his purse and took them.  He had some cash in his pocket. They took that and got down to the next station at 1.30 am in the night. Next morning at 6 is when Suresh woke up and saw all these things and complained to the police about this incident.  He said that it was my mistake that I trusted those strangers. So always be careful before trusting someone while travelling alone. 

Kavita Devda
The Fabindia School

Honesty and Respect - Sensei SHS

Honesty Pays

An anecdote shared by Mr Norden Tamang

It was spring, the air was exuberant as the students of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Puttaparthi were busy preparing to bid farewell to the outgoing seniors.  

A lot of things were happening in the institute; studies had taken a back seat, some were arranging logistics while others were rehearsing and the rest looking after other requisites.

Since it was our responsibility to make all the arrangements, we were hard pressed for time, but we wanted to make the event a memorable one for our seniors and wanted to gift something valuable owing to which we made a trip to the town.

After wandering along the alleys and the lanes of the town, we finally found a store that made customised wall clocks. After bargaining over the price for a while, we ordered for ten pieces and asked for the bill and returned.

However once we reached the hostel, we realised that the shopkeeper had made a bill that was far lesser than the price of the items we had ordered. He had utterly missed the amount. It was supposed to be x amount but he had forgotten a zero in the final amount.

Now a world of temptation opened up before us. Like the fruit of the tree of Wisdom in the Garden of Eden. 

It attracted a few heads that did contemplate keeping to ourselves the generous amount that would be left over for us and how we could help ourselves to a hearty meal with the left-over amount.  

Since we had a few more days in hand before we made the final payment, we all began to feel anxious about our plan; all of us struggling with our own consciences. 

Fortunately some sane voices among us prevailed and suggested that we do not bring to disrepute the name of the institute since it represented a faith that resonated with many, and a lapse of discretion on our part would be something that would haunt our integrity for a very long time. Thus, despite the initial resentment, we all came to a common conclusion that we will inform the shopkeeper about his error.

Discussing all possible outcomes, we reached the shop. Few among us still apprehensive, most of us resolute.

No sooner did we tell the shopkeeper about his error than he jumped out of his seat. It was a significant sum and he thanked us profusely. Out of gratitude, he ordered a simple fare for us that felt like the heavenly manna, for it was presented to us with Respect. 

That day we understood that our simple act of Honesty had managed to uphold the integrity of our institution, confirm our self-esteem and re-instill the faith of the shopkeeper in the student community.

That night all of us slept easy; our hearts light and happy.

                Arpan Rai <mozaisarp@gmail.com> Sensei, Sacred Heart School, Siliguri