When I was a little kid (didn’t join school yet), my mom taught me a verse,

"Guru Brahma Gurur Vishnu

Guru Devo Maheshwaraha

Guru Saakshat Para Brahma

Tasmai Sree Gurave Namaha"

Meaning: Guru is verily the representative of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. He creates, sustains knowledge and destroys the weeds of ignorance. I salute such a Guru.

When I hear the word teacher, the people who come into my mind are my school teachers. They were the people who inculcated most of my good habits. Taught me what was good and what was bad and how to differentiate between them. They were my parents in school. There were even times when I fought with my mom saying that she is wrong and my teachers were right. That is because of the trust, I had in them. When I was a kid and people asked me, “What would you like to become when you grow up?” I always replied “Teacher”. They always asked me, “Don’t you want to become an engineer or a doctor?” I always said, “No, I want to become a teacher.” They were role models for me. They showed us what the world was, taught us morals, inculcated discipline. Here are my teachers, who taught me. My first teacher, Mrs Brenda Periera, was kind and gave me chocolates everyday if I was good in her class. Mrs. Sally, I was terrified of her because she was strict. Mrs Nirmala Prasuna, who instilled confidence in me that my English isn’t bad and in fact much better than others who were teasing me that I spoke accented English. She also quite encouraged me to pursue extra curricular activities. Thank you very much mam. Mrs. Fatima, I was never fond of her because I was not her favourite student. :) Mr. Aditya, taught me how exactly to write my name in Telugu. Mrs. Ruby, made Biology quite an interesting subject. Mrs. Savitri, introduced the concepts of Geography. Mrs. Francina, who taught us how to write the cursive writing and punished us whenever we missed a single day of handwriting. Mrs. Ann Monica was quite strict and I wished every day that I should be invisible in her class. Mrs. Aruna taught us the different poems in Telugu. Mr. Raju, who always believed in me. Mrs. Sarita Nair, who made me realize that I had leadership capabilities. Mr. Sainath, who believed in me and helped me improvise my math scores. Mr. Swamy Prakash, who inculcated in me the habit of logical thinking, and made me realize that I had it in me to become a programmer. Mr. Frederick Periera, who made me fall in love with English. Mrs. Uma Venugopal Rao, who made us learn History in such a way that we could not forget it during the exams (Even then I tend to forget it) and made us realize what the real world would offer us. Mrs. Rohini, made our Biology lessons interesting. Mr. Phaneendrudu, taught us how to differentiate between right and wrong while teaching our Telugu lessons. Mrs. Madhavi made us question things to know the answers. Brother Issac, who gave his unending support and helped me realise my potential. Father Joy, who trusted in me with the responsibilities of a leader and made me realise that I was also capable of leading and not only following. I thank you one and all for everything you have given me, for making me realise my worth, my capabilities and made be a good human being. Thank you so much :)

After school is the most decisive period of anyone’s life. And even then, I really had wonderful teachers who helped me in my life. G.V.N.Prasad sir, who helped me achieve a scholarship to join the institute and made chemistry interesting. Aparna mam, who taught me Physics in a fun way and supported me during that stressful period. Sharath sir, who was very considerate in teaching me maths. Shashidhar sir’s witty classes sometimes loaded with sarcasm, if I made any mistake. Ram Mohan Sir’s boring lectures on life, which was hardly bearable. I thank you all for supporting me and instilling the confidence in me that I could do anything under the Sun :)

And in college, there were really a very few people whom I really respected a lot and loved them. Some of them being Sireesha Mam, Nageshwara Rao Sir, Sita MahaLakshmi Mam, Padmaja Mam, Satish sir, Acharyulu Sir, and my project guide, Sai Chandana Mam.

These are the people who helped me shape my life to what it is today. From my childhood till now, every teacher’s day, I was either at school or at college, near my teachers conveying my gratitude and thanking them for being there. But this year, I have decided to dedicate this post of mine to all my teachers, who have made me, realize my mistakes and sometimes even my potential. Thank you very much. All I can say is at each point of my life every one of you had destroyed my ignorance and made me more knowledgeable.

PS : Started as something but it turned out to be something else :)