Some teachers teach you lessons. Some teach you lessons not found in text books. These are the ones to linger on to a student’s memory throughout his life.
“If your language is not good, then you will not be able to tell your stories.” She used to say to in her typical style. Mrs. Hardev Kaur, a convent, was our English teacher while I was in eighth standard. She was always merry with a twinkle in her eyes and a smile on her face. It was a pleasure to be in her class. Her relations with students was a combination of love and discipline, which unfortunately is unknown to many now a days.
As soon the bell rang we ran to the class. It was a sudden rush for the front seat. She spoke with a peculiar accent and typical pronunciations which we all very fondly grasped. Especially during the recess period we had gossip about what happened during her period, and very amusingly discussed some amazing dialogues spoken by her. Her lectures were studded with puns, humour and we all were very engrossed into listening to her attentively.
She would often go after students for wrong spellings and mistakes while pronouncing some typical words like; ‘Peon’, or ‘Clerk’. If the syllabus was incomplete she would very affectionately call the entire class of 35 students to her home which was near the school and we too very affectionately attended for we got a good treat. Often she would enlighten us about general knowledge and day to day topics. I still remember her humorously spoken content; “Please open the windows and let the climate come in.”