Happy Teachers’ Day!

Happy Teachers’ Day to all!

Today, 5th September, is celebrated in India as Teachers’ Day because it happens to be Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan’s birth anniversary. Dr. Radhakrishnan was the second President of India and also an educationist.

In India we also celebrate Guru Paurnima – a day to pay gratitudes to our Guru. Guru is an ancient term and concept in India which is not exactly the same as Teacher (which translates to Shikshak in Sanskrit/Hindi/Marathi languages). Guru is much more than a teacher.

However, we also celebrate Teachers Day, specifically to remember and pay gratitude to our (formal) teachers. I consider myself to be a life-long student. In fact my Twitter bio reads: “Student forever. Teacher sometimes.”. And I mean it! I am now a teacher (visiting faculty at a prominent B-school in my city) and I am very passionate about teaching. However, I still consider myself as a student first.

I like to learn – formally or informally. Former England Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said: “Personally I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught”. I’m not sure if he meant in lighter vein or seriously. But the statement makes sense. Learning can be vicarious. It can be without following anyone specifically.

However, I feel that no matter how you learn (formally/informally), you may always look up to someone (or something) who can be your teacher. I would not call such person a Guru – and that’s where the word Teacher comes handy. So I have many teachers who have taught me something.

I look up to Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Steve Jobs as Gurus. They are special! And I might be forgetting a few (only a handful) names which are in this list.

There are many many others – such as NN Taleb, Naval Ravikant, Richard Dawkins etc – who I consider as my teachers. They have taught me something. Or I have learnt something from them.

Among family, friends and relatives there are few who are my Gurus – my parents, my soulmate etc. And then there are many who are my teachers. I value and respect all those who have been “teachers” in some capacity! This post is to cherish their contributions!

“When the student is ready, the teacher appears; and when the student is truly ready, the teacher disappears.” — Lao Tzu

In the end, here is a documentary on Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan after whom we celebrate Teachers’ Day.