Above God

 Aradhana was holding my right hand, and Radhika was walking with me, holding my left hand. Suddenly, Radhika said, "Madam, you are above God, right?" I don't understand. " What? Why do you ask that?"

"Ma'am, my mommy says, Ma'am, sir is above God, so if they are slapped or punished, do not mind. They do it for our own good. They are above your parents, too.

I kept looking at Radhika. The school was closed for almost two and a half years due to Corona. Now the school has become regular, and small steps have turned to school again. But due to such big vacations, children lost their habit of going to school. Sitting still in school and studying meant that children felt punished. There are 100% tribal children in my school. Taking goats to graze during Corona, taking care of younger siblings, spending the time going to the fields, otherwise hunkering down all day. Then suddenly, the children could not sit in school and study all day long. Then, when they came to school, they would play the same tune for the whole day.

"Ma'am, I'm hungry. Can I have a can? Ma'am, water, Ma'am washroom, Ma'am, I'm getting bored, leave it at home".

As a solution to this, I started taking children for walks with me. The school grounds are very spacious, and there is a beautiful temple of Mahadev on the hill in front of the school. We also used to take children on temple trips. Now we started going to the temple every day so that the children could enjoy themselves. Today being Saturday, our students went to the temple after school. Leaving parents at school in the morning, after school, we teachers go to take them to the other side of the highway.

 The same thing happened today: We left thinking that we should take the children to the temple and let them cross the road from there. Of course, if I am alone, the children's minds are full of free chats. . The same pattern continued today. Some were running ahead, and some were behind. Radhika and Aradhana were walking, holding my hand. I looked at Radhika stunned for a moment when she called the teachers 'above God'. All these children belong to tribal society, poverty, and ignorance. Connected to life. I was surprised at how pure their thinking is in such a situation. 

 "Ma'am, how much do we bother you?" "Aren't you angry with us?" Radhika continued talking. "No, I like you bothering me." Both of them were pleased with my answer and started to come closer to me.". But I was thinking. Whenever I ask children about their teachers in urban areas, I always get dry answers. Sometimes we go to CBSC, an international school, for meetings or training. Seeing the mechanical behavior of the students there towards their class teachers was a source of soreness in my mind. When children come to school, they should be happy and rooted in school. Teachers have the biggest involvement in this. The sweeter the relationship between student and teacher, the sooner children enjoy school.This relationship is getting stronger day by day. And it is through this that moral values and sanskar are firmly inculcated. My students are always pleasantly surprised by this. Devesh and Sheetal met once at the bus stand. 'Ma'am, we learned because of you." When they say this with tears in their eyes, our eyes water when we hear it. A mother-son bond is formed when Vikas tells a class friend's jokes while laughing in a crowded shop. Once Deepak and Yogita are seen together in a bank, Her mother came with her. Because of illiteracy, it is difficult to do bank transactions. Seeing their downcast faces, sir helped them all the time. I sat on the chair, and seeing me, Deepak and Yogita came and sat near... We had a great chat.Yogita is incommunicative in school. But here she was also talking freely. Of course, we were so engrossed in the chat that we forgot that we were sitting in the bank. Our chat stopped when Sir called.

 "Bless you! You used to chat everywhere. Leaving the hands of parents, even the children were chatting with you so freely. Everyone was watching with admiration. You had no idea."

 From the day I joined the new school, after school, Surekha used to sit near me and chat a lot. Of course, I did not understand her Pawari language. But she behaved like she was talking to her best friend. I just nodded. There was never any language barrier between me and any of my students. I always experience that affection and love are not bound by language.

We work as teachers with the feeling that it is our job and duty to make and teach students. But we do not know how an anonymous, sweet relationship is created from this. At such times, it feels good that we work in tribal and rural areas. There is no invisible wall between teachers and students. It is an intimate relationship that is "Above God.".