Back in junior school, the first week of September would bring in a flurry of excitement and activity. We would invest all our energy in making those colorful "Thank You" cards, practicing our speeches and performances, and organizing a program for our teachers. As kids, we did all this rather mindlessly, following the footsteps of our seniors in school and the advice of our parents at home. It was much later that we understood the importance of our teachers, and why just a single day's efforts cannot do justice to their role in our lives.
It was the transition from school to college that made us realize the significance of our school teachers. Our fondest school memories, our most treasured moments there, all directly or indirectly involved our teachers. The most relevant life-lessons we learnt in school were taught by our teachers. Without them, that educational institution would have been just another concrete building devoid of life and learning.
And the pandemic once again proved how all our schools, colleges and universities are meaningless without the educators. For a batch that has not experienced campus life, all our visions of attending classes in Miranda House are entirely built on the anecdotes of our teachers. While other batches started their journey here by stepping into the red brick- walled campus, we started ours with those cheerful welcome messages from our professors. Our batch shall always be grateful to them for those quick "campus tours" via Google Meet, whenever they happened to be in college, and for those fond memories of conducting practicals that they shared, which motivated us. They patiently supported us through all the technical difficulties we faced in online classes, and empathized with us when our morale was down due to the pandemic.
Words will never be enough to express the gratitude we have for them. Our academic lives would be completely meaningless without their efforts. We all hope that someday, we will be able to achieve what they taught us to dream about, and live by their values. That will perhaps be the most fitting tribute to our beloved teachers.
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