Akash SinghRemembering My Teacher One More Time
Today, I was preparing my table for studies. Each time I do so, I start from scratch. I take out my sticky note and write down the things that I need to complete that day. Those sticky notes then go to my noticeboard, from where the work begins. Today, while listing out the schedule for the day, my mind got stuck to a phrase. Believe me, that phrase is super sticky for me. My professor once said to me, “Akash, it’s time to rediscover yourself”.
You know what, it’s a matter of experience. Sometimes one single sentence, said by someone reliable, redefines you. The same happened with me. One of the great professors, Prof. Yogesh Sir, who taught me Political Science and Global Affairs, said this to me, on the very last day of my Bachelors.
It happened because he got realized that I was going through a tough time. This was in 2014. Like every young student, I was also very ambitious and even curious. I had completed my graduation with an Honors degree in Political Science and wanted to go for further studies, but I was not selected anywhere. Later in 2017, I took the shot.
Although, since then, I haven’t met him, but trust me, recalling him is my daily dose for inspiration. One single sentence said by him has changed my entire life for ever. It makes me smarter, thinkable, and more hardworking, each time I tell myself that Akash’s time to rediscover yourself.
Prof. Yogesh Sir, “Akash, It’s Time to Rediscover Yourself “
He was a great personality and a man of good charm. Prof. Yogesh Sir was very passionate about his work, he used to take his work very seriously. No wonder his teaching skills were at different levels.
You know what! He is among the very few professors on my list who have never kicked me out of the classroom. And I could attain his running lectures, even if there are only 5 minutes remaining for the lecture to be finished. Although it’s a different thing that in such case of being late, I never got the attendance.
He believed in simplifying the topics for everyone. Political science and global affairs were at his fingertips, and believe me, his deep conceptual lectures were like storytelling for whole of the class. No one even liked to miss his lectures.
He was also a man of principles. During the entire 3 years of the program, it might have happened more than 12 times that he had just entered the classroom and said to everyone, “I will have to dismiss my lecture today, as I am not prepared for the same”.
And this thing always used to amaze me. How is it possible for someone who has devoted his entire life to education, completed Masters, MPhil., Doctorate degrees, from the most reputed university of India i.e., JNU and teaching in the same college for last 13 years (by that time), could have said something like that.
But it has taught me something. That if you do not feel like doing something, don’t do that. I always try to follow his teachings. And if, somehow, I could not follow, I remember his saying to me; Akash, it’s time to rediscover yourself.
