AUTHOR: Nandini Malhotra, Principal Universal Academy, Tarn Taran & Author of The Classroom Alchemist.
One shouldn’t opt to be a teacher unless and until one is ready for the roller coaster ride and a race that excites the heart with its daily dose of adventures. Many have attempted to define ‘education’, ‘teacher’, etc based on their wisdom. As an educator with less than twenty-five years of experience, education for me is “working with small wonders whose brilliance radiates on me as I travel on my journey of self-discovery”.
The train to self-discovery ran both ways. As I began to deal with children, I not only discovered their inner potential and inspired them to awaken the giant within but also discovered myself. Each time I asked children to push themselves I began to break my inner barriers. My conviction about the creative powers of my children grew deeper & stronger as years passed.
Like Maya Angelou, I too believe that “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have”.
I am blessed that some of their creative ideas and works inspired me to get on the bandwagon. I will come to my creative streak a little later.
The best part of being an educator is activating the learner in you. I was so deeply involved in this process that inadvertently I began to face challenges in my life because each day I saw my students face theirs. Many of my students took their challenges by their horn, others struggled while some fell. My learning was that whatever be the challenge it can be overcome.
Over the years my life intertwined with the lives of my children & little did I realize how I was able to help a few children who had deep wounds, lacerations on their souls, and certain complexes. In those days I had no knowledge that a modern counselor has. However, today I can give any school counselor a run for their money. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not my pride but the confidence that makes me say this. When years later many of the children who had ‘failed in school’ returned with their success stories and insisted that I was the center of their success I realized my hidden potential as a counselor.
It was no wonder then that recently when I was “severely positive” and was in the hospital with trauma both mental & physical, the success stories of my children ‘flashed upon my inward eye’ and like Wordsworth, I too ‘danced with the daffodils’.
As a student of Sanskrit, I had heard about the tragic incident of how the female Curlew bird was agonized by the death of her male partner when a hunter shot it. This incident was witnessed by Valmiki, which led him to pen down the tragic story of the separation of Ram & Sita. In my case too ‘शोकः श्लोकत्वमागतः’।
I was able to draw inspiration for Valmiki’s action and turn my catastrophe into creativity.
On the hospital bed in the midst of fellow ‘positive patients,’ the life stories of my children flashed by and thus was born, “The Classroom Alchemist” my first anthology of short stories in English.
The Classroom Alchemist’ chronicles stories of young minds who couldn’t discern that they were broken and needed help until they were healed with love and compassion by mentors. There are stories of mentors who had yet to learn, themselves, important lessons of life while educating children. Every single story in, ‘The Classroom Alchemist’ reinforces the fact that children may forget what the teacher said, but they would never forget how they felt when the teacher said it. If they felt encouraged, they would never fail to smile in gratitude. When the bond transcends the four walls of a classroom and becomes a guiding force in the school of life, it magically transmutes the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Beautiful indeed