Teachers and India

Teachers and India.

So, today in Varanassi, we are riding around visiting temples in yet another Tick tick with our new driver/guide, Sukol. He's actually very engaging and knowledgeable about Indian culture and religious customs.
At one point I mention that I'm a teacher and he gets very enthusiastic. He tells me that in India, "teacher is better than GOD". I laugh, because I'm sure he's joking and he turns, stops his Tuck tuck (which is something you just don't do in India) and says that it's absolutely true. He says there is a special day in July called Guru Purnima, which means "the full moon of the guru" or teacher.

Get this. On Guru Purnima, students go to school, but they don't have lessons. Instead, they bring gifts to the teacher and bend down (yep) and kiss the teacher's feet and ask for her blessing. No exaggeration here. Straight from Sukol's mouth.

I tell Sukol that teachers are not so revered in America and he is shocked. Yeah. The kind of stop-the-Tuck-tuck shocked. He says that it is a great honor to go to school in India and students are very grateful because their teachers help them to be successful and have a better life. He says that the teacher is more important than God because you need to have the teacher teach you before you can know God. Makes me want to rethink the division of church and state ( just a little)

I start looking around and I start to get the idea. Little, hungry, sad kids come up to me and ask me for pens. The kids in those uniforms look healthy and happy and very different from the kids that tap my hips and put their little hands to their mouths and ask for "fooood pleeeease".

Mukol, another Tick Tick driver tells me that the schools are very strict. You have to "wear clean uniform every day". You have to shower every day. You have to buy books and notebooks and pencils. I see the kids walking home from school in their little uniforms and they are full of life and great positive energy. It's a privilege to go to school in India and they know it.

I'm having a delicious South Indian dinner with Rosey, a caretaker of a B&B in Ganeshpuri, who invited us over for dinner one night. When I told her that sometimes it frustrated me that my students didn't seem to care about learning, she gave me some thoughtful, obvious and helpful advice. What struck me about her advice was that she had such strong clarity about the truth of what she was saying.

"You take one aside some time and you say, 'Your parents have worked hard so that you can come to school and be successful in your life. Your teacher works hard to help you to be successful in your life. Now you must decide if you will work hard to be successful in your life." Rosey's advice, and what I have seen gives me a thoughtful perspective about the privilege we all have with free, quality education.

Too bad Guru Purnima happens in July. I'd like to declare it a national holiday, but not a day off for the students. I wouldn't mind a new scarf and having my feet kissed a few times.