Dear Sir/Madam

I realised yesterday was Sept 5 . This day is celebrated in India as Teacher's day. I remember we used to have a small celebration in school. When we were in high school, we would buys gifts for all our teachers. This was stopped when we went to Class 12. The school came up with a policy of not to buy gifts to teachers but we could show our appreciation in form of cards/flowers. Though all the teachers who have taught me have shaped me into what I am , I am recollecting few of them today:

Ms Chokandi: She was my first teacher when I was in nursery. She was a terror. I used to be so afraid of her that I used to come up with excuses to miss my school. To be very honest, a teacher for atleast Kindergarten should be loving and caring.

Ms Usha: She taught me in Class 1. She was a very sweet person and loved me a lot. I was thrilled when she became our class teacher.

Ms Usha: Incidently I had another teacher by the same name when I changed school during my primary school. She was a nice teacher and used to teach almost all the subjects. I have fond memories of her. In a final exam for Social Studies, I scored full. She was so thrilled to inform me. But I replied that it is not possible as I had left a question(which was for 1 point). She said she would still give me full score because of honesty. This incident had a lasting impact on me.

Mr Radhakrishnan : He taught us for a very short time , couple of months. But he was one of the best Science and Math teacher. He aroused our curiosity for rational thinking. We actually cried when he left our school.

Ms Raman : She was our Hindi teacher - nice and loving person. She used to borrow my favourite ink pen for correcting papers. Somehow she used to love the pen as much as I did. After I finished my primary school, I actually gave her the pen. It was a tough decision for a small girl. But I felt it less painful when she smiled and gave me a warm hug.

Mr Ramaswamy: Our math teacher. I used to be good in math and all my friends used to tease me with him as it was quite apparent he liked me. I used to be annoyed and upset with my friends. Looking back now, it gives me a hearty laugh. Subha, if you read this you are gonna laugh your heart out.

Ms Madhavan : Our Chemistry teacher in middle school. She was tall and very strict . It used to give us pleasure to tease her. She used to get annoyed with almost each one of us. She had a habit of talking indirectly that we could never get what is she scolding us for. I remember when once a volley ball hit her head , she hid that in the library. We had our own fun time retrieving it. Even though she gave us tough times, she made our middle school years eventful.

Ms Padma: Our Physics teacher. She was a nice teacher with a heavy mallu accent. Incidently she was also a close friend of Ms Madhavan. So annoying her also meant facing Ms M's wrath.

Ms Uma : Our history teacher with a great dressing sense. She had a good command on her subject . She made history very interesting and we used to look forward to see the beautiful sarees she would wear to our class.

Ms Pillai: Our Biology teacher. She had an unfortunate accident due to which she lost her tears. Her class used to be entertaining mainly because of her heavy mallu accent and also she lost no time in picking up student's fault. Almost all of us has faced her anger. She was a feminist. Along with biology, she would also tell us about rights of woman. When we learnt that she has three girls - Tara, Meera, Hira, one of the boys commented "Good she did not have a fourth girl, else her name would be Jeera". :)

Ms Mythili: Our Geography Teacher. Along with geography, she used to be involved in all the cultural activities in school. We had a great time singing and dancing with her.

Ms Aggarwal: Our chemistry teacher in high school. She was a good teacher and a good motivator. I still remember the day I went to meet her after our board exams. There was few days left before the engineering entrance exams. She gave me a a nice motivating talk and pepped me up.

Ms Usha: Our math teacher in high school. A very balanced person with a good command of her subject. Apart from math problems, I had few nice converstaions regarding life and career in general.

Mr Natarajan: Our school principal. Even though he never taught us, I always used to admire his personality and his command of English. Incidently, he was also my mom's teacher and she was his pet student. It was a great honor for me when I gave an extempore speech on behalf of students on his farewell day.

Mr VP Manchanda: Revered teacher with a high command of his subject. When I used to go to college, the traffic in Delhi used to be horrendous. Once he had seen us changing buses in a traffic signal instead of a regular bustop. The next day, he gave us a lecture on our promised future and said life is more precious and we should not risk it to atleast Delhi traffic ways.

Mr VK: A teacher with a great sense of humor. He would actually time the practicals in a way that I do not miss my University bus to get back home.

Mr NK : Arc is going to laugh at this. A teacher whom me and Arc dreaded but we have to admit, his are the only subjects that we can still recall without glancing into a book. Also the fact the night outs we made to complete his projects made our friendhip stronger if nothing else.

Mr AJ: A sweet nice teacher on whom both me and Arc had a tiny miny crush. We used to get excited by the the fact that his initials were a combination of our first names (A and J.. crazy, right. I agree)

Mr SKM: He taught us Computer Architecture and few other subjects. One of the professors, whose class we would bunk and whose assignment we would delay without any hesitation.

Mr Bhattacharya: Our Electronics prof with a heavy bong accent. We would bunk his class and go around the univ eating bhel puri et all. Apart from teaching us, he would also tell intersting stories.

Mr Aggarwal: He was actually an adhoc teacher for teaching us Parallel Computing. Once we were deciding date and syllabus for our exam. When he mentioned the syllabus to be covered, Arc commented that it was too much as we also had other projects/ subjects to work on. He looked at her and commented - I never see you in class but you are the only one to object. We had a hearty laugh and till date tease Arc on this.

Mr Haimovich: He took my first class in this land of opportunity. Even though he never interacted with students much, I have respect for his command on one of the most interesting and captivating subject - Wireless Communications.

Mr Jacob: Revered elderly gentleman who taught us Electrical Communications. Once his TA entered our class and handed out a surprise quiz. We all fared badly. I felt so horrible that I went to speak to the Prof regarding my test. He laughed it off saying it was not even counted towards the grade. He just wanted to shock us :)

Mr Boris: Network Topology Professor, who would talk less about networks in communication and more about networks in life. His class used to be very interesting featuring stories he learnt from his life.

Ms Sirin Tekinay: My idol. A very smart, talented and intelligent professor of Wireless Communication. I would love to be in her class any day at any time of my life.

I should not forget the teachers at my home:

My mom: If I can even be half successful as her , I would be more than happy.

My brother: I learnt more math and physics from him than any one else. I attribute all my scietific reasoning to him.

My dad: In school, it was my mom and brother who made sure I score well. But I do remember the words of wisdom he has imparted to me during my various phases life. He would always be an inspiration to me. I remember an advertisement of Boost that used to come when I was a kid " My daddy strongest".