Be good for (in) what you Do — it'll work

I have a grouse against some science and mathematics teachers. More often than not, they’ve left me cold with a sense of foreboding. I am dead against typecasting people. But feel compelled to write this because I suffered at the hands of some teachers who at the outset talked of the difficulties and not of joy.

Only the other day, I met a couple of senior mathematic teachers and was mighty relieved I don’t have to sit in their class. These gentlemen teach at schools and also coach kids for the big IIT exam and other engineering entrance tests that every kid in town wants to crack.

One of them held out this particularly dark prospect. “Practice, practice, practice. The key lies in practice,” his voice rang out – eyebrows corrugated, not a trace of a smile on his face as he almost threatened to put kids through a wringer to make them IIT-ready.

“Study 12-14 hours a day from day one and you won’t have problems. Don’t do that and you’re in serious trouble,” he droned. A clutch of students sitting in a firing squad straight line heard him in silence – eyes wide shut, jaws dropping.

He made it very clear that his drill was for the IIT exams. The plus 2 syllabus wasn’t his bother. “Do all that at home.” What about the joy of learning? Sorry, you’ve got the wrong address.

Frankly, I can’t blame this guy for being the way he is. He’s out in the market and has a success potion to sell. Given the crowd of enthusiastic young faces at his doorsteps, he must be mighty good at stuffing his smart recipe down eager gullets.

“Classes begin at 6.30am and end at 9.30am, that’s when I get ready for work. Teaching is a passion and I love it when my students leap over the IIT hurdle…It’s the toughest test to clear and needs dedication,” he says. The teacher’s magic tuitions come at a pretty steep price and he cautions: “Come to me only if you mean business. Don’t waste your parents’ money.”

Numbed by the master’s sternness, I stepped out on the pavement and gulped in the evening air. Many years ago, an equally stern mathematics teacher had humiliated me and shut me out from learning the numbers saying: “Go. Ask your parents to buy you a watermelon. You are good for pulling rickshaws.” This was after I had scored a zero in a class test.

He had left me with a steely resolve to succeed despite not knowing how to put two and two together. Later, when I picked up arts, they told me I was no good and had taken the girlie-girlie way. Science was the man thing. Bug guys with brains became engineers and doctors. Commerce was just another option. BComs are buddhi com (dimwit), they scoffed. Never mind if CAs and finance wizards commanded the big pay packets in the jobs bazaar.

No disrespect meant, but I never could see wisdom in cramming my head off and believing nothing else exists just for an examination, which might be as tough to crack as IIT. Also, I didn’t see sense in seeing non-IIT, non-science, non-mathematics graduates as lesser mortals short on grey matter.

The moot lesson life taught me was that doing anything well was difficult. To be among the best anywhere needs sincerity and dedication. A good BA is just as valued as a good BTech or an excellent MBBS. You are a dud if you have a medical degree and say I don’t know much about the heart. It wasn’t important, wasn’t expecting questions from that chapter, so I skipped it. Haven’t we met engineers who get flummoxed when asked to fix a broken fuse?