Yesterday my blog did not have any of my favorite widgets (read music widget) working…… Man I was so depressed!!! I could not think so I just put up some very nice stuff that my friends had sent to me. But honestly I could not imagine not having music in my blog….. so much that these days I just cant do without Bryan Adams, Celion Dion, Kishore and Bethany crooning while I type!!! So I decided to install a standby just in case!!! specially with blogger going into mood swings worse than my PMS ones!!!

I removed a lot of widgets from my blogs thanks to my blog getting linked to sites which are not to my liking and my site got a lot faster. In fact yesterday without the music widget it was even faster!!! In my pursuit for knowledge as to what was happening to blogger I came upon some articles which said that some of the widgets were banned in some of the sites. I decided to take the intelligent route and decided to install an additional music widget by google!!! you just cant take chances these days!!!

Yesterday, I completed my stint of teaching English!!! I was completely touched and heartbroken…… touched by the love that my students showered on me yesterday and heartbroken because I would not see them again…… yeah for the exams but then it is not the same!!!

I had never ever taken teaching as an option in my career. I always thought that teachers are born but I was so wrong!!! My students made a teacher of me!!! I have to say that this was my second best job in my career after CASP!!! All my life I never considered teaching as a career option. I would sometimes dabble in corporate training and do some teaching in management college….. believe me it is not the same!!! They are poles apart!!! In management college, the environment is totally professional also at corporate training.

Here I almost felt like a mother !!! Just like in CASP, I always mentioned my wards as my kids!!! same here I always thought of them as my kids. I never ever felt like that in management college. It is more like imparting information to colleagues. This was exhilarating!!! I simply loved it!!! But then things that you love are like ice cream they have limited shelf life so they have to be savoured and it is to be remembered at all times that it is going to end soon.

Within a week’s time I knew all their names and also what each ones strong and weak points were. I always did like English!!! but I have to say in school I did not like the structured way it was taught to us. So did not take the conventional route of teaching English but a totally unconventional one wherein we just spoke – all of us and individually removed inhibitions that the kids had and we developed as a team!!! We also covered everything that the curriculum had!!! The kids really loved it and it was not straining for any of them. I have to say that D.Y. Patil college was really supportive of the whole thing. Had they interfered in my work I would have left!!!

I joined CASP (Community Aid and Sponsorship Programme) when I was in the middle of tremendous corporate politics and I was so fed up of it. I was heading the HR team at that time and management wanted me to get into the politics bigtime and play it the dirty way not only that….. within days I was also in midst of a strike and lots of other dirty stuff that I don’t think anybody would want to enter!!! I did it but I was so depressed that I did not want to continue working in HR. I put in my papers and was wallowing in self-pity when my best friend dragged me out of the house and took me to CASP. She was a social worker there and I was taken in for a three month stint. I loved it there so much that at the end of one year when they were going to renew my contract I had to leave on personal grounds!!! We were both apologetic, both CASP and me…… more me than them!!!

I looked forward to every morning!!! Going to the community talking to people about their problems….. being part of community activities etc. The best thing I liked was kids!!! I used to spend days just surrounded by kids….. playing with them, watching over their food, studies etc etc on a daily basis. 80% of my kids were HIV positive….. so I wanted to make whatever time they had left as happy as I could. It was a very nice experience….. CASP had given me to take my own kids so I had the liberty of doing just that….. and I was a success at that. I loved it there!!!

There was no politics there and if there was I was not part of it. My job was mostly in the field…. in the community and I saw to it that I did not get harassed by anyone and so I was happy!!! just like at D.Y. Patil!!!

Brainwaves usually come from unexpected quarters…… so did this one!!! This came surprisingly from Dhir who had once told me to go and teach kids!!! I thought he had gone nuts. But it stayed with me and when the offer came I agreed. I don’t think I would have agreed in other circumstances!!! but since the thought was already in my mind I simply said yes!!! So I think thanks are due to DHIR!!! thanks again buddy!!! I owe you big time!!! All in all it was another satisfying stint in my career….. so now I am going back to my beloved research and gymming full time.