On a day like this!

Nothing has been right today! Its just one of those days!!

I woke up in the morning, only to discover that my dormant tooth-ache had decided to make its presence felt. The ache (ache is probably too mild a word for what I was experiencing this morning!) was causing the entire right-hand side of my face to throb rythmically with an occasional stab of lightning shooting out from my lower jaw running all the way up to my temple!

With gritted teeth, I bore all that pain till it took mercy on me and subsided. I resolved to visit the dentist as soon as possible. But since Diwali is just round the corner, I felt I should be able to eat all the Diwali goodies. So, I decided that I should schedule my visit the the dentist only after Diwali was over. (I know that my decision was foolish… but inertia and lethargy scored over reason!)

Cut to the office… where, all of a sudden, a bad case of headache hit me! It was as if ten heavy metal bands were simultaneously playing some rip-roaring music right inside my head. And I’m not exaggerating!!

Very soon, I had burning eyes, itchy throat and heavy eyelids. I was also feeling slightly chilly. I detect the onset of a fever. Lets hope it stays away!!

Just then… the fluorescent tube situated right above my cubicle flickered for some time and then literally in a puff of smoke, blew out!! The acrid odour of an electrical fire hung heavy in the air as the smoke from the burnt out fuse drifted stealthily, clinging to the ceiling. To make matters worse, the smoke detector failed to detect the smoke that brazenly drifted past it!!

After lunch, I did not go for the customary after-lunch walk since it was too sunny. Instead I decided to pass some time by making some enhancements to this page. So, I registered for a free page-hit counter service and put up their code on this page. But as luck would have it… the page-hit counter refuses to work!! You can see for yourself that it shows 000000 even though I know for a fact that this page has been viewed number of times since that code was put up!

Today, Onkar wrote, on his blog, about an article which highlighted the sorry fact that our elected representatives do not know much about the national anthem. I commented on his blog by saying that it was disgusting to see our politicians so ignorant about our national anthem. All very acceptable… you might think! But somehow I mentioned that Vande Mataram was our national anthem. When Sat rightly pointed out my blunder, I felt absolutely embarassed!!… complete with blushing and the works!! I can’t, for the life of me, imagine what possessed me to make such an elementary mistake!! I just wanted to bury my head in the ground like those ostriches!! … In Bambaiyya lingo… ekdum popat ho gaya!!
Onkar even pronounced a punishment for me to help atone my sins!!… He says, and I quote…
“haha…go write janaganamana is the national anthem 10 times..while you are standing on one leg, holding the chalk in your mouth!”

I guess I’ll do just that!! :-)

So you see!!… its been one of those days!!… everything I touched, turned to stone! … somewhat of a reverse-Midas touch!… In case you happen to bump into me today, run away as fast as possible!! ;-)

I just hope that today ends quickly as possible and that I don’t carry today’s luck into tomorrow!!

Cheers!

The Perfume

This is one of the many inspirational stories that we all get from someone or the other via email. It stood out among the many recent ones that I received. So, I’m putting it up here.

As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. But that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.

Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he didn’t play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. And Teddy could be unpleasant.

It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X’s and then putting a big “F” at the top of his papers. At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child’s past records and she put Teddy’s off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.

Teddy’s first grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners… he is a joy to be around.”

His second grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.”

His third grade teacher wrote, “His mother’s death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father
doesn’t show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren’t taken.”

Teddy’s fourth grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is withdrawn and doesn’t show much interest in school. He doesn’t have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class.”

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her
students brought her Christmas presents , wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy’s. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of perfume. But she stifled the children’s laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist.

Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long to say, “Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to.”

After the children left she cried for at least an hour.

On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. Mrs.
Thompson paid particular attention to Tedd! y. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her “teacher’s pets.”

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he’d stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he’d ever had in his whole life.

Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor’s degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer…. the letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.

The story doesn’t end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he’d met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the
mother of the groom.

Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. And she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together. They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson’s ear, “Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference”.

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, “Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn’t know how to teach until I met you.”