Some years back, I was teaching in the Pre-Primary section. As we were working with little children we had to draw a lot of pictures on the board to grasp their attention. One of my colleagues, who was newly appointed as a teacher in the Nursery classes, wasn’t too good at drawing. One day, she drew a very big egg. After the children went home, another colleague of mine saw the drawing and asked “Which bird’s egg is it?” “A hen’s egg,” replied the former. “Oh, the hen must have had tough time laying such a big egg.”, the latter said. :D
Once I gave the children of Ist standard an assignment. They had to draw any two things that they wanted as gifts on their birthday. One girl came and told that she drew a girl. I asked her whether she ever got a girl as a gift on her birthday? She thought for a while and said “Okay, this is a Barbie doll.” :P
One girl in the Nursery class used to talk so much that it got on my nerves. Once I scolded her and said “Tum to daadi ki tarah baat karti ho.” (You talk like a grandmother.) “Aapne chashmaa pahnaa hai is liye aap daadi hai.” (Because you have worn specs, you are grandmother.), she replied immediately. I was speechless. :P
I learnt to be careful about what we say to children with this small incident.One girl of the Pre-primary section had the habit of asking the answers of the questions. When she asked for the first time I told her that she should know the answer as she had learnt things. I thought it was a convincing answer but after a while she asked the same question again. In order to avoid her queries I said that I did not know the answer. She got bugged and said loudly “ Teacher ko to kuchchh bhi nahi aataa hai.” (Teacher does not know anything.) :D
A teacher was teaching the Play School class how to give reply to the question “What is your name?” The answer was supposed to be “ My name is so and so.” When she asked a girl the same question that girl showed her identity card and said in Gujarati “ Aamaa lakhyu chhe. Dekhaatu nathi?” (“It is written here. Can’t you see?”). :D
One of my students once asked me “Miss, why don’t you dye?” “Why do you want me to die so soon?” I asked, stunned. “No, miss. I was asking, why don’t you dye your hair?” Imagine the shock that I got. After all, dye and die sound the same. 
… I’ll have to see whether I can copy and paste them from my older blogs … That’s what I used to do till now … But that trying will be done later … Posting a comment in someone’s blog or GB was so easy … We never had to type any code to post comments on anybody’s blogs. 
I thought. I did not give him way. He continued honking like a mad man. After a while, I gave him way. He glared at me from inside his car. If looks could kill, I would have died a thousand deaths that day. 
How could they, at such a young age, fight for such a reason as religion? I thought I had to deal with them in a tactful manner. I called both the girls near my table and asked them what the matter was. One of them told me that the other girl was making fun of their God. That’s why she fought with her. Then I told them, “Why are you fighting in the name of religion? 
Do you want to become politicians when you grow up?” “No”, they said sheepishly. It was then that I remembered that in one of the psychology classes students were told that generalization is not good. How could I state that all the politicians are bad? I immediately corrected myself and told them that there is no harm in becoming a politician but be a good politician. 
After we were stranded in Mattancherry, we realised that the government boats would have been a better and cheaper option. Of course, you don’t get the coziness of private boats. The seats are harder and too many people sit. Some fellows had brought cycles to take to the other side of the river. But at least, with government boats, we can take our own time instead of being worried about boat leaving us in the lurch because there are lots of those boats. So even if you miss one, you will get one soon.
