Tulsi Prajna 1993 01

SR No.: 524573
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Parmeshwar Solanki
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati
Publication Year: 1993
Total Pages: 156
Language: Hindi
Classification: Magazine, India_Tulsi Prajna, & India
File Size: 9 MB

Page 96

90
TUL SĨ PRA J NA
Heightening Teachers’ Awareness
about their Profession
Virinder K.Sabharwal
During my visit to Kedar Nath this year, I happened to strike acquaintance with a group of three sober-looking, middle aged men. They were well-informed and quite articulate. Two of them were visiting Kedar Nath for the first time; the third one had been there earlier too, about twelve years ago. They were a closeknit group though temperamentally quite different from one another. One of them looked sullen and ill-at ease most of the time. Inquiries revealed that he did not believe in God and had not stirred out of Delhi for the past two decades. This time, the other ttvo friends finally managed to prevail upon him and "forced him to undertake this trip to such forbidding and ominous mountains”. The other person looked like a professional wrestler; he was of a visible heavy build and could waddle with effort. Most of time, he was lost in his own thoughts. The third was of medium build but was the most valuable. He was the one who could humour his companions, keep them together and moving insipid of the difficult ascent. I was able to join the group because of his bonhomie. When asked, I told them much about myself but I couldn't elicit much from them about who and what they were. All that I could learn about them was that the trio was from Delhi and had known each other quite intimately for about 22 years. They travelled in the same bus with us from Gauri Kund to Badri Narain, Whenever I asked them about who and what they were, they shifted the topic. They left for Delhi the next day. At the bus stop at Badri Narain, I took my friend aside and asked who and what they were. It was only then that he informed me that they were teachers from the senior secondary schools of Delhi,
I am often reminded of another friend who is quite fond of visiting places. He tells us proudly, "whenever I check in at a hotel and am asked to provide information about my occupation, invariably my answer is 'Sales executive'. You know if I tell them that I am a school teacher, it won't have the desired impact”!
The point I am trying to make through both these anecdotes is that most male teachers suffer from a guilt complex about their profession. They would be happy to pass for anyone except what they really are. Why this lack of pride in our
January-March 1993