Do you believe in The Butterfly Effect? Everything you do have a rippling effect on the universe in an unimaginable way? I am not sure about that. But I am sure about one thing, every person you meet, every conversation you have, always have an impact on your life.
Professor Amey (I am not mentioning the last name intentionally) was my Biology teacher in higher secondary. Biology was never my one of the better subjects, still I scored 91% in my board exam because of him. (I scored 87 in English and 95 in Physics, just bragging.)
How? Because of Amey sir. He is the most charismatic teacher I have ever encountered. The only reason why any student feels a lecture boring is because the subject is monotonous for the teacher; but Amey sir used to teach everything with so excitement, like he had discovered it for the first time, in the class itself. He had a voracious style of teaching which can grip attention of every student and to top it all off, he was gifted with a decent sense of humour (which is kind of hard to come by in the species of lecturers).
I still remember the time when he was taking a class while his wife was in the hospital delivering their first child. Who does that? Who misses such an important personal moment? I definitely couldn't do that. That's the height of professionalism for me.
I was in my first year of Engineering when I received a call from him. He said he wanted to meet me, so I went. I came to know he got laid of from the college due to some inner politics he wasn't keen to discuss. He was working part-time at some coaching classes. I asked him why he wanted to see me and he said, 'just to catch up'. I asked him why me and he said that he always reconnect with his old students whose contact info he has to get acquainted with their career choices and to guide them. This man was going through a big change in his life but he spared time just to know what's happening with hundreds of his past students? Again, who does that?
I don't remember much of the conversion, it was 8 years ago and mostly consist of me babbling about my college, my interests and future prospects, while he listened patiently. But I do remember some of the things he said.
These might not be his exact words but what I could recall best and translate: "Never underestimate yourself. People will undermine you on every chance they can get. Don't give them this chance. If you don't respect yourself, no one will and if you doubt yourself, everyone will. Remember, you'll never get what you deserve, you'll always get what you think you deserve. So dream bigger, aim higher, be greedy, there is nothing wrong about that until you are not hurting anyone. Set your standards way beyond your ability and give you hundred percent and then some, just to be sure, and everything will be perfect."
He was one of the best in his field, struggling in life, still he said these words with such authority that I just sat in awe. I respected him a lot already but he just gave me a hundred more reasons.
That was the last time I saw him. I called him after my graduation. I came to know that he is working as a head of his faculty in one of the best colleges of city. He congratulated me and I congratulated him. It has been 4 years, I haven't get to talk to him since then, I might after finishing up this post. No matter how hard you try sometime it is just too easy to lose contact with people. Still their words always remain with you. Even now whenever I feel down and disappointed, I remember my encounter with my most favourite teacher and refill myself with the spark I had seen in his eyes that evening.
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