Unforgettable

As I entered the school premises, a child saw me and came running towards me. A few more followed and soon they were all around me, asking me a million questions. Some of them came and hugged me and held my hand. I had a tough time trying to talk to all of them, so as not to make any one of them feel left out. ‘Suma, how are you?’ ‘Why did you leave the school Suma?’ ‘Did you like my project?’ ‘We miss you a lot’ ‘please give us your phone number and email id’ They said these and a million other things. One child wanted to show me that she had recently got braces on her teeth and that she felt they made her look ugly. I told her that she looked beautiful and that brought a smile to her face. Another child was annoyed as I was not in the school on his birthday. I meekly apologized and wished him. Yet another child wanted to know whether I would return to the school and I assured him in the negative. And all this took place just inside the main entrance of the school premises. People who had come to visit the school, parents who had some work in the school office, security guards at the gate, all of them witnessed this. I felt extremely awkward, but the kids didn’t feel that at all. I guess when we are grown up we stop taking things as they are and start analyzing things for no reason, in the process we forget to enjoy what is ‘there’. Never in my life have I been loved and wanted so much. A teacher who saw this scene, came up to me and said," How can you even think of leaving these children who love you so much?" All throughout my school life I tried so hard to set in, to gel, to be a ‘part’, but failed. And now, here I am………..when I quit trying, I have it all in my lap…… I was working with a school as an English mentor for the past one year. The past one year has been the most memorable time of my life. I recently left my job (if one calls it that). The above incident happened when I had gone back to the school for some winding up. The kind of love I got from the students cannot be described. I was just a normal person who mentored children, but these very children made me feel at the top of the world, made me feel that I am an incredible person from within. It is an experience I can never ever forget.