An ode to my lecture: Avele Thirah

Ma'am Avele Thirah

On the occasion of the teacher’s day, I would like to reminisce my days in St Joseph College and a teacher whom I would like to acknowledge i.e. Ma’am Avele Thirah. 

If you asked me, why would you still consider yourself as a teacher, I would use my fundamental business mathematics to improvised that a teacher is a teacher, no matter what they teach, it can be a nursery teacher, high school teacher or college lecture, they all fall in the same category because they are the person who commits themselves to nurture the future kids of tomorrow.

Definition of a teacher for my one mark question, teacher is a person who teaches the students, so they are called as teacher. Well, a teacher is a second mother to a child; it is a person who tries to ignite the poor soul like me to become someone in life, apart from being a dumb kid, even though every student cannot attain their dreams but teachers always have high hope on every student to become someone in life.

Well I cannot generate enough words in my dictionary to thank all the teachers who have taught me in the span of 18 years as a student.  But yes you are one among the lectures I always remember wherever I go.  I always wanted to meet you, greet you “good morning ma’am” when I see you around in the public place, but yes time didn’t permit me to do that.  All I could offer was my thoughts and appreciation for you.

I don’t think I am one of your best or the worst student (haha), people like us always goes unnoticed because we don’t create many problems in the classroom. Maybe I am wrong who knows, sometimes it always worth to have bad memories and cherish them as a lesson to be taught in life.

Rolling back to St Joseph College as a student:

Days, months and years have passed ever since I heard of you and your teaching. If we count by years, I think it’s already five years ever since I have heard from you.

Maybe as it wasn’t a right time for me and you to patch up as a good student. To be frank, I always hated your class Ma’am, so I always ended up with the cold war. If you could remember me, I mostly flunk in your paper; you may smile now because I was a failure in mathematics. Do you know my reason behind my failure; I thought it was an act of revenge to fail in your subject, but yes I am not good at maths either.

Now I realised that I never took anything seriously, when it comes to lecturing, scolding, etc etc. I think I even ended up quarrelling with you sometimes because I was stubborn and arrogant.

I remember those days when you smiled to make things better and I always take in the other way round,  but the bitter truth is you never gave up on me or the students.

A moment of delight:

I still could see your surprise face as I roll back the incident when I passed  in your subject in the  second internal test during my second year,  and you said (Is this really your paper?) not only that you rechecked my paper again to make it sure. For me, it was my proudest moment in front of you, for me (a pass-mark means I’ll be ban from scolding for few days). But as I look the other way round, I realised that you did your job and I crack the test which I had not done before. It was just a moment of time that I realised the fact that whatever you did was for the sake of me but sadly, I only regret now.

I also remember when you would really get pissed atimes and would spend the entire session scolding for what we did, sometime no one would take it seriously and laughed at you, but then you would even upgrade your energy to the next level to scold us again in the new theory of mathematics. Man, those were motherly advice from a teacher who wanted the students to learn something but I was too dumb to understand that time.

Don’t take me wrong, but you were kinda strict, but I could tell you by now that you loved us all like a good teacher does. You would always punish us when we did something wrong and never failed to praise us when we do something right. Today I regret that I feel like I never thanked you enough for your kind encouragement and perpetual patience when it comes to me.

Well, ma’am, you are remembered by me today on the special occasion.

I will and always miss your dialogues, your scolding and your encouraging words that you have lend to me during my college days in St Joseph. I also miss the comfort of how you act as the mother-like teacher when we needed one. I miss the boredom talk of your lecture (haha joking) and the freedom and the time and years spent with you as a student.

Now I miss the freedom as a student which I am not able to attain now.  I have so many things running up and down in my life. I don’t know where to go as I step ahead to look for a job and settle down in life. I am running out of freedom, with more tension and boredoms in my house. But the show must go on. Well I have so many things to express but time is running out..

Happy teacher’s day ma’am, I just wanted to wish you as I am no more a student but your student forever. I am forever grateful that I was your student once upon a time.

To Madam Avelu Thira

Class co-ordinator 2009-11

St Joseph College, Jakhama.