PMAM SIR.....!!!!!! and his inspiration to me.........

It was a lazy Monday and we were reluctantly waiting for our new English Literature teacher, with whom it was going to be our first class.

   After waiting for five minutes, he entered our classroom and he was not at all discouraged to see seven sleepy students greeting him with a united soporific voice. Rather he was ebullient to confront such banal pupils. At first, this seemed esoteric to me but as days passed by, I discovered the reason.

   He was an amicable gentleman, short in stature. His grey hair fell on his shoulder and he was wearing a Nepali cap. His eyes were framed by huge square spectacles and at first sight, he reminded me of Einstein and later I came to know that he was also as talented as Einstein, only their fields were different. He was always smiling and the warmth of kindness was always hidden behind the twinkle in his eyes.

            It was his first class. He smiled at us and then wrote his name on the whiteboard- Professor Muhammad Abdul Mutalib, and below he wrote “PMAM”. Seeing our confounded faces, he explained with a benign smile that PMAM was the shortcut to his name and from then on we addressed him as our PMAM sir.

            As I was saying that it was the first class and so he began the first class by reciting a poem by Lord Byron- “I speak not, I trace not, and I breathe not thy name,

   There is grief in the sound; there were guilt in the fame;

    But the tear which now burns on my cheek may impart

    The deep thought that dwells in that silence of heart……”

            When he first recited the whole poem, Stanzas for Music, I didn’t imagine anything and all seemed pedestrian. I could feel the impotence of my imagination power. He looked at us with kind grey eyes and he fathomed that none of us were able to see what he was seeing in his imagination. So he suggested us to close our eyes and use our imagination to its full extent. He ordered us to listen to him with the ears of our heart and then he recited the poem again, slowly and fervently.

            This time his magic worked! I can’t say about the others but I was simply captivated by the images that magically conjured up inside my head and the spiritual feeling that filled up my soul. Now I could fathom and see Lord Byron’s thoughts, his words and everything felt heavenly.

            It was his first day and we were already under his spell! From that day on, we valued the Literature subject and to all of our own amazement, we started doing well in that subject. We were obfuscated about this quick improvement and PMAM sir explained it to us, the inspiration is the key to start working diligently and we can only start doing well in any subject if we fall in love with it. The only way to fall in love with that subject is to be inspired and not to be ever afraid of that subject.

            I implemented his theory on other subjects and believe me it worked! I was strong in Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics but very weak in English, Geography and History. Just as he said, I ordered myself to fall in love with these subjects and the improvement was dramatic. I started finding them easy and amazingly, I started getting very high marks in them.

            There was a time when no feelings aroused within me when I went through a poem. As a matter of fact, just a few years ago I was not this ardent poet which my friends call me now. It was PMAM sir’s inspiration which helped me unlock the inherent talent of mine and use it appropriately.

            However, inspiration is a matter of willpower and he said that to me ad infinitum. I was never good in Physics and now I know why. I could never fall in love with this subject, no matter how hard I try. Maybe there was no inspiration, or maybe I didn’t try it whole heartedly. Whatever the reason, I know that Physics is not my cup of tea.

            PMAM sir had a very significant impact on me. He changed my view of this world and my way of handling predicaments. He inspired me and his inspiration lead me to believe that we can make this world into a better place if we can inspire others to do good things. He inspired me to take risks, because life is full of risks so why not just take them. He taught me that life is a concoction of misery and joys; we just have to put some acts to balance it. He also taught me that, every man we meet is somehow superior to us and thus we learn something new from each man. Thus we gain knowledge as we walk on the path of our life.

               PMAM sir’s inspiration lead me to start “THE WRITER’S CLUB” in the school I joined for my A-levels but the saddest part was that he was not there to get involved with the club. He died on 17^th February, 2008, exactly five months before the club was inaugurated. I opened the club in his memory and I started doing what he did to me years ago. His inspiration theory! I perspired to inspire the young members and as the President, I tried to mould their keen minds into thinking something good. As a result, fecund thoughts and excellent write-ups came up which in turn inspired others, who believed that they don’t have the talent to write something good, to start writing and inspiring others. Thus in my one year stay with the club, I was able to unleash their intrinsic talents.

            I believe that for us, the impetuous human beings, creativity is the greatest gift and we must use it in the correct manner to create outstanding things without destroying the Mother Earth and her defenseless people.

            I am not that extraordinary student with excellent academic records, whom every good college searches for. I am an ordinary student with ordinary academic grades, who loves to make friends with every compatible person, who respects her teachers and who harbors a simple dream, a simple aim in her simple heart. Paulo Coelho once said that     “no heart has ever suffered when it goes in the search of its dream”. My dream is to become a teacher like my father, my maternal grand fathers and grandmothers. I want to be a teacher, who can inspire her students and help them to develop their innate talents, which they can use in order to make this world a better place.

            I want to pursue my higher studies in a science field and ultimately become a teacher of that subject, but that doesn’t mean I can’t inspire my students. Paulo Coelho said in “THE ALCHEMIST”, that “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”, and I believe that only this institution can help me to make my dream come true and be the person to my students that late PMAM sir was to me- THE INSPIRING MENTOR.