To be a teacher means being open to learning all the time. To stand upon the desk and stay in touch with my inner student. To make mistakes and get used to being humbled.
A scene from an endless, hot summer afternoon in my childhood has stayed with me through the decades. My younger brother and I were playing all by ourselves while our mother rested in her bedroom. On the carpet in the living room, we were playing teacher-teacher, a game in which I always played the role of the teacher and Manu would be the student. Often, we had cousins and friends to fill our classroom, but that day it was just the two of us. I must have been 11 years old and my brother 9.
I was a strict, all-knowing …
Natasha is a writer, filmmaker and communications coach. She is the author of the popular memoirs My Daughters’ Mum and Immortal for a Moment. Her columns have appeared in publications such as Mint Lounge, The Hindu, Outlook, The Globe and Mail, The Indian Express, the Hindustan Times and Quint.
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