Fever, runny noses, sore throat, sneezing what I was suffering from today........Oh, I wanted to stay on bed till late..But, no I have to go to school. This is what my condition was today. And yes, I woke up and just became ready to school as I was already done with my lesson plan the day before. So I went and came to know the Elizabeth was leaving today. All of the students were sad. I went in to grade six, but nobody were in a mood to study... they just wanted to make something to present Elizabeth. So I had no other option then to let them as they were not in a mood to study. So what I suggested them is to make a greeting card and write a letter to Elizabeth as from this they would also be happy and I also should not have to leave the class as I could teach them grammar. They did it happily.
Then, I was according to my lesson plans on grade seven and eight but after brake as I moved on to grade nine, the students just were too nervous and were not again ready to learn. I asked them what had happened and they replied that principal sir had told them to make a farewell speech for Elizabeth and they were not ready for that. So again, I had to motivate them. So I closed my diary once again and started to teach them what are the ways of delivering good speech confidently and how to choose good words. Though, I could not teach them according to lesson plan, my class was not useless as they were learning languages and this is what I thought an advantage of being a language teacher as you can teach at any moment even if the students don't want to study. Then after school, a farewell program was organized to bid Elizabeth, who is also a mentor of TFN fellows and the teacher at Jyotidaya, a formal good bye. Every one was excited with a very heavy heart. Suave, my grade nine student was delivering farewell speech and when he went at the front he was so nervous that he came near me where I was standing and looked at me. He started to deliver the speech. He was doing good. But every time, he thought he was going to forget the speech he used to just look at me and I was just there smiling at him giving him a hope that he could do that. He completed his speech, came to me and said."Sorry, I could do as much as you expected from me". Then, I just said, no it was your first time and you were good but try to do much better, the next time. I was so happy that moment.
But I could see that, everybody had started crying, even Elizabeth was crying and the students whom she taught were also crying. At that time we were really sad.
Then, grade eight students brought a cake, Elizabeth cut one piece and gave it to one of the students. She was afraid whether the cake would be sufficient to so many people around there. Then, I remembered Swasthika di....who was always there to cut the cakes in to tiny pieces to make it sufficient for all the people....at TFN house.
And after the program, as we were returning our homes, Suman said," Tears are going to roll down from you and your student's eyes too after two years." This made me think, will that happen?, The tears of students were not just a show off. The students really liked her as she was the person transformed their lives by giving emphasis on what they are interested is, that is she created a football team of girls, which nobody were aware of that those girls wanted to play football and now they are really good at it, and are we going to achieve like her?????
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