Chicken soup for teachers soul

Following My Footsteps

‘The best teachers teach from the heart, not from the book.’

About fifteen years back, I taught in a public school. The students belonged to various parts of the country and were from all levels of society.

I was the 4th grade teacher for science and maths. They were such a lovely set of children to be with. They were curious, asked endless questions and were eager to learn, which made teaching an absolute joy. I loved our lively discussions; they always made the lessons more interesting.

One of the girls in the class, Sapna, came from a poor family and I remember her as being a very hardworking and diligent child; eager to please, eager to learn.

She also happened to be handicapped. She had lost her fingers in a domestic accident while helping with daily chores.

One day, I happened to finish my class just before the lunch hour. I decided to stay back to go through my notes before heading to the staff-room. Suddenly, the solitary figure of Sapna caught my eye....

I watched her struggle with her lunch-box. When she finally managed to open it, she sat there, all alone at her bench, and ate. None of the other students approached her to give her company or to share their lunch. It was as if they didn’t notice her presence in their midst at all.

I realised that they were all probably apprehensive about her deformity and did not know how to deal with it. They thought she was different and didn’t know how to approach her.

I realised that a lecture would not shake my students out of their apathy, no matter how innocent or misplaced. It would be of no use explaining to them the error of their actions, but at the same time, I didn’t want them to shun the little girl, a fellow classmate, just because of her misfortune. But what could I do?

Then it came to me ... what if I taught by example?

As soon as this thought entered my head, I took my lunch-box, went and sat down next to Sapna and shared it with her. As I spoke to her and ate out of her box and offered her mine, the rest of the children in class, curious to know why the teacher was being especially friendly to this particular student, slowly inched forward. I called them all by name and shared my lunch as well as Sapna’s. They all seemed to visibly relax and open up to her. They started to chat with her and within minutes, became more comfortable and friendly with her. She reciprocated happily and won over her fellow classmates in no time at all.

They probably never truly understood why they should not treat her differently, but the important thing that day was that they accepted her as she was.

I don’t know what kind of impact I had on those children, but it was one of those moments which stirred me greatly and made me thank God yet again, for giving me the opportunity to be in such a wonderful profession that allowed me to mould hundreds of beautiful, young, impressionable minds. And then to watch those minds bloom, blossom and spread their fragrance of joy, innocence and exuberance.

Sayli Deshmukh

Julie and Julia and my cooking stunt....

Well that's the movie I saw with one of my old friends. The movie was special because it was a wonderful girl time out which started with a bit of shopping and coffee at bookstore, movie and ending with dinner. Dinner was not a part of the plan but just came about as an inspiration from the movie, inspiration for eating good and exotic food.
This is a movie based on life of Julia Child (played by Meryl Streep) and Julie (by Amy Adams) who experiences Julia's life through her cooking and recipes and tv shows. As we entered the theater half knowing what to expect and started watching the promos, we saw the crowd coming in for movie..All middle aged women, 40-60. I guess they were all Julia Child's fans. She had a strong influence on that age group certainly. Suddenly a thought crossed our mind. Since no one of Julie's age came in we weren't sure if we had picked up a right movie. Soon enough the theater was full and the exceptions were 3 husbands again in age group 50-60 and 3-4 girls our age. Anyhow we were still excited since it was movie related to food. And nothing related to food could be half bad.

And that is what it exactly turned out to be. The passion for eating and cooking depicted so well in the movie in a very comedy way kept us hooked. Never was there a boring moment in the movie. The passion, drive for her to follow the thing she loved - eating and cooking in all tiny ways and at the same time a showcase of how well she led a beautiful life with her husband really touched everyone's heart there. The subtleties of relation of the married couples of both generations was well blended and as the movie shifted between generations I realize it only now that how hard the blending of stories form both generations might have been. Since I never realized it during the movie at all :)

The movie rubbed off on both of us and we decided to treat ourselves with a triple cheese dish and tiramisu. I was so moved by that passion that the very next day I decided to invite my friends over and cook something non-Indian for a change. I had tried Sheperd's pie once before and decided on it as a safe dish. To go along with a coconut Thai soup. I had planned to get the Thai soup available at store, since the Shepherd's pie was going to be handful. As luck might have it the store ran out of Thai soup. Awesome! On yet another day I would have swiftly changed from Thai soup to maybe minestrone or tomato soup. But I remembered Julia Child and I was not going to give up just then. Something told me to go for making it from the scratch. Having tasted it at Thai restaurants before I knew how it was supposed to taste, but had absolutely no idea how to make it, except the main ingredient coconut milk. But the Julia and Julie both characters were still going pretty strong. I tried to remember what I saw int he soups in restaurant generally. OK, so mushroom and spring onion. I decided to replace spring onion by Tofu..without a clue of again!

I first started with making cubed tofu and heating then in olive oil till they turned a little brown. Next sliced mushroom in very thin slices and sauted them a bit too. I knew the soup to be bland and did not add any spices to it. Next added the coconut milk and a little salt. Took a good bit of it on spoon to taste it. Yikes..it had the bitter taste of coconut. I again put on the thinking cap, what else..the online recipe did not say ginger, but somehow I remembered tasting ginger in it one time. SO I took the bold step of adding ginger to it. As I tasted and added ginger till it got a good strong flavour. But still though good it was bitter. i scavenged through a couple of more recipes online and as I read lime juice, it made it taste good instantly in my mind. Again I took yet another bold step of adding it one t-spoon at a time. In sometime, I found the soup turning to the taste I was expecting.
The Shepherd's pie turned out well and my friends definitely loved the soup though a little different. I was proud on myself for making the attempt. The only thing I might add next time might be spring onion, but otherwise it could all be the same. It tasted good. I had a great satisfaction. I did not know that cooking could provide that kind of satisfaction. Someones passion can really help discover your abilities. Well I would not go further to call myself an expert cook, but whatever I did I did with all the effort and zeal and it made me happy...Well my cooking graph did stay that way for a week, after which I was too tired, but I would definitely want to keep a copy of this movie and watch it while I cook next time over :D...