Gurur Brahmmo
Gurur Vishnum
Gurur Devo...Maheswaraha
Gurur shakshath para brahmmam
thas misri guruvae namaha....
(excuse me if I have not written it correctly in English..)

Teacher’s Day 2012 is celebrating as usual on the birthday of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakhrishnan. A honour to the visionary who made significant contribution in shaping Indian Education system. Dr Radhakhrishnan was the first Vice President for the Republic of India and was the second President. He was a teacher and is remembered as pride of the profession. And this day is in honour of  Dr Radhakhrishnan who excelled as a teacher.

However as per the Hindu Myth 'Guru Pournima' is considered as the day to pay reverence to the 'Guru' or 'Teacher' The full moon day in the month of Ashadha (July-August) is known as Guru Pournami. This is traditionally the time when seekers offer the Guru their gratitude and receive his blessings. This is the concept oriented approach imbibed in the rich legacy of Hindu culture.

Well the importance of this day is endless and might as well be celebrated on both the days. As it means remembering our Gurus, but for whom, we would not have scaled these peaks. Yes parents gave us 'jeevan' (life) and Guru gave us gyan (knowledge). I remember an old saying about the teacher who in modern days is called as a mentor. The parent is the first teacher to the child while the teacher is the second parent to the child. True in its larger meaning, the statement is worth its salt, every word written.

Flash Back: Remember those nimble fingers of yours that were held to write letters on the slate under the first teacher's guidance. Then later the Maths sir in your fifth class, who bribes you with chocolates and makes you learn the addition and subtraction. When ever the addition was made, you got more chocolates and you smiled. But when subtracting, chocolates were lesser on hand and you frowned. Then the tenth class Biology teacher who gave undue importance to you and spoke in lengths on an embarrassing session of human anatomy and at the end you felt it as an adult class. Then in Eleventh (+1), the physics sir who was puny and always used to run to the washroom. Next was your thermodynamics lecturer in graduation and last not the least your professor who taught you management principles. Well the list is endless.

And now let's leave it at that and come down to the present context. Recently I went to my home town with my sixteen-year-old daughter and on her insistence we visited my school, a small place. There we met my old teacher, with shivering-bent body he looked up to recognizes me. When I recalled him my name and about my parents, slowly he realized and smiled in approval. I hope this is a regular experience to one and all. But the fact out here is the teacher remained at the same place but after learning from them We have scaled unknown peaks in profession.

That very moment I realized that this was circle of life. But do we have such dedicated teachers today, yes of course. However the teacher might be, he or she must be reverred for their inclination to see the best of you on any given podium. They would sincerely pray and strive for your excellence. That is an ideal teacher and offering your obeisance to such a soul, is one's ardent duty, to upkeep the Guru-Shishya principle. Thanks sir for what I am today, your blessings....  (With inputs from internet-AW AarKay)