Wednesday, June 01, 2005

A teacher who never taught me, taught me something today.

I attended a seminar on education at the National Institute of Education today. The first two talks almost killed me (what on earth was I doing listening to 'A case study on international, non-government and government schools in Brunei' anyway???).

But the last talk was special. I met someone whom I shall refer to as 'Sayesha's inspiration of the day'. The speaker was a teacher who teaches Design & Technology to secondary school students. Short in stature and boyish-nerdy in looks, this speaker not only woke me up, but he effortlessly wooed the audience. With pure passion. As he presented his case, it was more than evident how passionate he was about his job, and how much satisfaction teaching gave him. The way his face lighted up as he showed us his students' work was amazing. And just like that, sitting there and listening to him, I felt a sense of renewal within myself. All I wanted to do was absorb some of his passion and add it to mine.

I am very passionate about my job, yes. But sometimes, in the daily grind, I feel like I'm starting to lose it. And then I panic and I recover quickly, but I wonder, 'Did I lose some of the passion during the transition? I hope not!'

All of us do (or at least want to do) what we like. But once in a while, we need a little help in continuing to like it.

I hope I continue to meet such people who renew my passion for my job and my hobbies.



15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Like Mark Twain said: "The secret of success is making your vocation your vacation.
Since we spend most of our life at work, it is but natural for us to want to feel a sense of passion for what we do! And then when you love what you do, you do your best and the resulting sense of achievement is such a heady feeling!

Anonymous said...

Oh! I have been meanign to tell you this for a while. I liek the colours you use for your posts. This is a combination I adore and well green is a favourite :)

Anonymous said...

Wow!Yeah, such teachers are very hard to find, which actually are very passionate about teaching.
I know what you mean.Being passionate about your work is very very important, otherwise there's no point in doing it!
Like they say-"If you do something you love, you won't have to work another day in your life"!.

P.S.Are you an indian too?(Saw the movies like dil chahta hai and others in your profile, so was just curious...lol

Kaps said...

There is a saying that "If you don't get what u like, you have to start liking what you get". It is very difficult to come across a contented person these days. You are one of the exceptions!

Anonymous said...

It's strange how on the day you need something the most, is the day you'll find it everywhere you turn.

I was getting a bit tired of my work, getting sucked into the routine of just working and not enjoying it enough. Then I met a few people throughout the course of the day, that, like that speaker, were passionate about their work. You could see it in their eyes. And your post is a healthy reminder yet again, that its time to rekindle that passion, and get back to the roots of why I'm doing what i'm doing.

It can make working so much more fullfilling and rewarding.

Good post.

:)

Sayesha said...

Thanks guys,
Hope the note about the teacher rekindled your passion as well. And yes, I totally agree that your job must be something you're passionate about -- reason why I dropped my first crappy engineering job after three months and joined the publishing industry in spite of the many raised eyebrows, including my parents'.

My take is -- if I am gonna get up every day at a crazy hour like 6:30 am for something, it had better be something I am crazy about! :)

ps: Sumedh, yes, I am an Indian (if you've read some of my other posts, it's pretty obvious, isn't it?). I live in Singapore, yes, but quoting from DDLJ, "hum toh hindustan ko apne dil mein liye ghoomte hain!" :)

Anonymous said...

hehe.lol.
Talking of DDLJ, do you know that it has been re-released in the theatres recently, as some theatres had still not stopped showing it ever since it was previously released?It has completely some 502 weeks or something!And people still go to watch it!....lol

Sayesha said...

Sumedh, I think it is so amazing. In fact, I had mentioned this in my post of 16th May.

I myself watched DDLJ for like the tenth time last weekend. In fact, I was gonna blog about it. That post is still due :)

Anonymous said...

I think 'passion' is the element that differentiates between teachers and great teachers.

My dance and music teachers are quite old by age, but when they teach, you feel like you have been transported to another era.They behave as if they are still 20 yr olds.

The best part of learning with them is that they are neither concerned with the fees nor concerned with the time. Sometimes my classes (which are supp to be 1 hr) have run to 3 hrs.Nearly everytime, I have to remind them that they have not collected fees fm me.

The sort of passion they have is very contagious, cos when you learn from them, you start feeling like you want to match their passion in your training.

Anonymous said...

Came here thru Sambhar mafia... Liked your style.. got you linked buddy...

Anonymous said...

In fact a passion for what you do - on the job or off it - in any profession - is what makes someone stand out in a crowd.

But then very often passion - as in the context where it is most commonly used - can go overboard. As a kid my Achamma (my grandmother) used to tell me this story of Naradamaharshi and the farmer.

Once Naradamaharshi asked Lord Vishnu who is his most devout follower. He was quite sure of the answer. But surprisingly it wasnt what he expected. Lord Vishnu pointed out a farmer who was going about his daily grind - tilling and looking after his family and in between praying to him. But Narada was quite furious - how can someone who is perpetually praying to Lord Vishnu not be more devout than a farmer who only does it once in a while. The answer was - its not praying full time that makes someone devout - but doing what his duty while finding time to pray.

Similarly we all have a duty I guess to perform - not everyone is lucky to pursue something they are passionate about - esp. with the kind of competition that we have in India. Having said that - I also have to say that amongst those who are lucky enough to actually pursue something passionate only a very few actually put in the effort to find out what they are actually passionate about. This is rather sad. And then the mad rush for the highest paid salary.... ah well... ce la vie!

Ah, someone's talking about DDLJ, I still watch that movie once in a while. I first saw Zurich in that movie - never ever dreamt that I will be living there one day. But I watch it sometime to remind me how lucky I am...ha ha ha...

Anonymous said...

speaking of DDLJ, it has been my all time fav movie since it came out...

Anonymous said...

what I keep asking myself is what is it that forces a person to drag oneself out of bed every morning and go thru the monotonous drudgery everyday even if one isn't passionate about what one does?...and there are so many who do that! Is it just to get the cheque to pay one's bills?...is it just the money??...is that reason enough to keep one motivated? its just the vacuum one tries to fill either thru one's passion or thru materialistic things thru which they guage their level of satisfaction, the more, the better it is, tho its shortlived compared to the former ones.... Hmmm...2 kinds of people in this world again...but still left thinking about all the reasons that force any soul to wake up every morning...??!!

Harini Sridharan said...

I soo relate to your feelings. My professor was a great inspiration just because his passion for his work just oozed out of him and it showed. Very nicely written :-)

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