Tomichan Matheikal's blog

When I was returning home after dropping Maggie off at school in the morning, two men joined me in my car. They were parents of two of my former students and were waiting for another vehicle which happened to be late. On the way, one of them asked me whether I had given up teaching altogether. “I take a few spoken English classes online for adults,” I answered, and added that young students had started seeing me as a scarecrow whose time had run out. “Come on,” he said instantly, “there are still a lot of students who value quality…” What he said after that will sound boastful on my part if I write it here. “We tend to judge the entire generation on the basis of what a few of them do,” he added having boosted my ego with some adulation. I was quick to agree with him. I told him that I’m in touch with a lot of my past students, including the last batch, all of whom are eminent personalities in their own right. It’s only a handful of students who put me off in each class, towards t...

AI-generated illustration I always believed that generation gap wouldn’t be a problem for me because I had failed to grow up psychologically. My hairs greyed and my skin has begun to show some wrinkles. But I can climb up the stairs with greater ease than a teenager of today. I can challenge my young students to go on a trek in the mountains and I’m sure I’ll conquer greater heights than them with much ease. More importantly, I can smile more sweetly than them. I am more open to new ideas, my blood boils at injustices unlike theirs, I have dreams, ideals and principles… I was condemned to go back to the classroom. It’s for a short while, of course. I’m substituting someone. Initially I was excited. I thought I was getting an opportunity to be young once again. But the actual classrooms have all been terrible disappointments. The teenagers in front of me look so senile, behave like grumpy octogenarians who yawn all the way from morning to evening unable to understand or appreciate a...