Affection

 I love the form of a woman as a mother. I love to see a woman as a mother more than in any other role. Therefore, as soon as I entered the school premises, the mother in me was alert even before the teacher woke up.

Pari's brother, Rajendra, entered the first grade. Being a small and motherless boy, he never left Pari's side. Naturally, Rajendra used to sit in my class with Pari. He may have become stubborn and very emotional because he lost his mother's protection at a young age.

Initially, a stubborn boy was the image before my eyes. One day, Ravindra got a wound on his leg and came crying. Holding his hand, I took him to the kitchen and applied turmeric on the wound, lovingly taking care of his head. Of course, all this happened unconsciously and out of habit.So I was not paying attention to Ravindra's face, but he was looking at me the same way. After this incident, I realized that Ravindra was lingering near me. He was sitting nearby with a slate pencil. One day, he was crying outside because he had fallen. Pari came running to the classroom. There were tears in her eyes and worry on her face. "Madam, Ravindra fell; he is crying."I went outside and held him close. . I ran my hand over his head lovingly. He calmed down. During the meal, Pari could not eat unless Ravindra sat down. He kept repeating his mantra of "I don't want to eat." Go near him and hold his hand. Ravindra, who would not listen to anyone, would sit down to eat quietly.

Gradually, I began to realize that he was hungry for love. He was very young when his mother died. That 

 With a little love, Ravindra would be happy and would hang around me all day long. A few months passed beautifully. As Ravindra said, he would study as he pleased. However, if his father went out of town, Ravindra would not stay at school. Therefore, it was necessary to keep him close with love as much as possible.

Many such children meet me every year. They need not a teacher but a mother. But I am fortunate enough to be Yashoda every time—a fountain of affection that never dries up. The more you feel, the more it flows.

Relationship with the divine

 

Due to my rude nature, I get along with very few people. Apart from my family, only one or two people have been able to enter my emotional world. The rest, whether relatives, colleagues, or acquaintances, are all kept at a distance. At home, my husband makes me angry by saying, "You are the number one rude lady. Everyone is afraid to talk to you." But I don't care. On the contrary, everyone is surprised that any child can become like me in a moment. Even I am surprised. In any school, the students from my school make their home in my heart, and then our emotional world is created, just like theirs and mine. There is no place for any formality or self-respect in this. "Children feel safe with you. That's why they remain so carefree," one day, Sir told me. "I have observed this many times." But I feel like this is a gift from the house of gods. Whether it is a student or any other child, I feel that enjoying it is the happiest moment of my life..At that time, I forgot all my sorrows and worries. Some incidents happened in such a way that some events occurred that strengthened my faith in this divine relationship. 

We went to call the children to the pada. Of course, Amit, Soni, and Sapna came with us. The school and the pada are one and a half km away, so our group was chatting as we went. Since the parents were mostly out in the fields for work, the place was quiet. Some students met. I would have accompanied them to school. We went from the pada to school. The girls were chatting away. Amit and I were coming back. We came to the highway. We turned left, saw the cars, and started crossing the road. It was a four-lane highway. We came near the divider. My attention was on the girls.. . A truck was coming from afar. "Sapna, Soni, the truck is coming. Stop!" I continued my chatter. The girls were standing on the divider chatting. But I was afraid; would they notice the truck in their chatter?In this confusion, I was unaware that a car was coming from the right at high speed. I was standing on the highway. Amit was looking at the car. "Madam, the car is coming. Come on," he said with fright.. I was looking at the truck like a fool. Finally, Amit stood behind me so that he would take the first impact of the car and Madam would be saved. As soon as I realized that Amit was not around, I turned back. Then I saw a car coming from somewhere. I quickly pulled Amit closer. "Madam, I have been calling you for a long time. You weren't paying attention."

"My son, these sparrows were chatting and looking at each other," I said, waving my hand over his head. By now, both the car and the truck had left. We crossed the rest of the highway, but I was still thinking about his behavior . So much love! Even though the car was far away, was that child afraid that the car might hit the madam? He stood in front of the car to save me.

I was calm until I reached school. We both walked silently, my hands on his shoulders. This same Amit used to take great care of me when I was teaching in first grade. I love to make the students sit in a circle, and I sit on the floor near them to teach them. However, the floor of my classroom was bad; there were many cracks. From those cracks, scorpion babies came out. When the scorpion appeared, Amit's attention was on me. The scorpion came out right next to me. Immediately, Amit said, "Madam, scorpion." Saying this, he brought a small stone and killed the scorpion. This happened at least once every day.

Seven to eight girls, like Radha, Manisha, and Pari, wanted to cross the highway. I was watching them as they did so. While crossing the road, Radha's mask fell onto the road. We stood at the divider. Just as Radha was about to go to get the mask, I stopped her and started to leave. "Madam, don't go! A car is coming; I'll go," Manisha shouted from behind. Just then, when I came back with the mask, the girl immediately started crying and hugged me.

An awareness campaign against tobacco and gutkha was ongoing. The students wanted to understand its ill effects. While speaking, I said casually, "We will start the tobacco and gutkha ban from our homes. At home, we should help our parents and grandparents understand."

"Madam, we are young. Who will listen to us?" Manisha started saying.

 "Explain to them that tobacco and gutkha cause many diseases. Many people have died because of this, and we need our mommy and daddy. Then they will definitely listen. Because if we don't have mommy and daddy, we will worry about ourselves."

"We will come to your house! You will take care of us," Arya immediately said.  

"Yes, ma'am, we will come to your house," the other girls also started saying.  

I couldn't stop my laughter. Whatever thoughts are in our heads, children dispose of them in a second.

Sir comes to pick me up after school. It takes him time to pick me up after school due to closing his school and other work. Instead of sitting in school for so long, I went with the students. I let them cross the road and then walk slowly so that I can walk as much as I want. But what if my students leave me alone? When their pada comes, they go their own way, and I go straight onto the highway. However, my children come with me instead of going to their pada. Our party starts at a half-kilometer pace. No matter how much I insist, the children don't go back. "We won't leave you alone," they say. The children's party is still waiting. The passing vehicles, the passengers, and the parents we meet in the middle all watch our trip with admiration. Sometimes they even ask questions. When the students saw Sir in the distance, the entire group went back, saying, "Madam, Sir has arrived, bye," and they ran towards their pada.

Where can you find such unselfish love in this practical world? These children are poor in money but rich in heart. If they love, they will die for us. After passing the fourth standard, they will have to go to another school for the fifth standard. They cry because they will not meet me. Kajal and Atul run and hug me as soon as they see me. All these are the flowers of God's house, and our relationship is to take care of God's house. I like my simple life. I love to enjoy myself, my school, and my family. Because this is my relationship with God and my worship of God.

Let me speak

 

Kids always have something to say. Constant talking is just their default state.. Due to our workload, we can't give the children as much time as we'd like. Constant chatter is the constant emotion of the situation. We forget about it, and then our declared sentence starts with" keep quiet." 

In my class, a young girl from the village committed suicide by consuming poison. When I went to school, there was chatter about this. After a while, Priyanka, the third grader, came to me with teary eyes. Seeing the always smiling, playful Priyanka crying, I hurriedly approached her.

"What happened, dear?" My question made Priyanka blush even more. "Madam, my grandmother poured kerosene on herself and set herself on fire. I saw everything from the window." Priyanka was speaking in a trembling voice. I pulled her closer and started pacifying her by rubbing her back. "I didn't tell anyone. I told you now," she kept talking. She was moaning in my lap for a long time.

My first grade student, Mohit, was very quiet and shy. He stuttered while speaking. I started treating him with love and affection.One day Mohit himself came near me and started chatting. While talking, he suddenly said" I was sleeping. Then when I woke up, Papa had a rope around his neck and then Papa didn't wake up at all." I didn't understan what he says.. A girl in the class who lived next door explained it.

""Madam, he was young when his father was hanged. But he saw it." Then I started treating Mohit more gently. When the same Mohit went to the second and started giving a speech, his uncle praised him a lot. 

Rajshree is my fourth-grade student. Due to her addicted father, her mother, who endured abuse from her husband, and the constant fighting at home, she was always sad and lonely at school. She could not bear to talk at all. She was beaten up, and she didn't want to talk at all. I was forced to talk by blowing on the wound. It was great to see Rajshree laughing and chatting with her friends.

"You made me angry; I won't tell you now that we are going to collect all the money and buy you a gift," Kajal was talking to me angrily while eating.

 "Don't tell me you're going to give me a gift," I said with a smile.

 In the second-grade class, they were sharing information about pets. 

A mixed language experiment was going on, my Marathi and their Adivasi.  

"Animals that we like, animals that we like to live with, animals that we like to take care of, and animals that are useful to us are called pets."  

"That means pet dog," Mangal shouted happily.  

"Exactly." My praise increased the enthusiasm of the children and made a lot of noise.  

Each student started talking about their favorite animals. Suddenly, Manisha said, "Actually, my favorite pet is the our madam. But I told you about the peacock." Pari and Aradhana started chattering after her.  

"Yes, Madam are my favorite pets, " Then the class chanted, "madam is my favorite pets, ." I was left confused by this confusion.  

"Madam! How is your favorite pet?" I asked her very curiously.  

"Because we love being with you. We love you so much. We love taking care of you."  

It was difficult to control both the tears in my eyes and the uncontrollable laughter that came from her answer. .As soon as she extended both her hands and i took Manisha close, a circle of sparrows surrounded me. 

Tired of the children's habit of staying at home, I decided that students who were absent would be punished. "But if Madam stays at home, will she be punished?" Arun asked doubtfully. .After holding back my laughter for a long time, I informed them about the leave. From that day on, the children started coming to see me eagerly whenever I began signing the muster.

After the paripath, Satish came to me in the classroom and said, "Madam, you abused me!" I was a little surprised. "Son, when does Madam speak badly?" He shook his head negatively at my question. "Never." Saying this, he ran away laughing.

 Arya, who was in first grade, was being taught subtraction. I was explaining the concept of zero and teaching the example of two minus two.

"Arya, suppose these are two chocolates. If you eat both, how many will be left?"  

"Two," Arya answered my question.  

"How?"  

"Look, these are the two chocolates on top. I will eat them now, and these two chocolates on the bottom, I will eat them tomorrow."

Listening to her explanation, I experienced both surprise and laughter. Children understand examples by being shown actual objects.

Tired of their childish chatter, one day I got angry and said to them, "You chatter so much that if anyone ever comes to school, they will say how much these children chatter. Don't you tell them something, madam?"

Exactly one day, the officer came for a quality inspection. My beloved students followed my orders exactly. Not a single student answered; everyone was completely silent. If anyone tried to speak, Manisha would say, "Shhhhu, don't speak," to silence them. 

After this incident, I even stopped saying, "Be quiet." Being with these innocent souls is like being in the company of God. Where else can you find such unadulterated joy and such an innocent feeling? Often, these children say things that make us introspect and think, "Is this really true?" 

We just need to open the doors of their hearts once, and their call should reach us: "Let me speak."