Forget Me Not

Dear Miss Carol was every student's favourite teacher. She always stood for the students, in every way possible. Even when the students sometimes committed mistakes, while other teachers insisted on punishment, Carol always insisted that the students be forgiven. Before an exam began, students would sometimes go to her, solely because they felt very cheerful just talking to her.

Michael was Carol's favourite student. He would always read up sincerely on the topic she had done in class, and the next day, he would come to her room with doubts. He was the most diligent student Carol had ever seen. Michael was also very attached to her. He had not missed even one of her classes. He felt that she was the best teacher he had ever encountered in his whole Life.

One day, Carol had to invigilate an exam. The exam was to begin at 9:30 am. At 9 am, Michael entered her room and told, "Ma'am, you have got to help me. I have a contest tomorrow, and the syllabus for it seems pretty advanced stuff. I need you to teach me all that." Carol looked at her watch. She knew that she could not neglect the invigilation duty, or she would incur the wrath of the Principal. Yet, Michael was desperately in need of her help. What could she do? She called up Jane, an old teacher, and told her to go invigilate the exam that she was supposed to, since she herself was not feeling very well. Jane agreed. And so, for about four hours, Carol taught Michael all that was necessary to help him for the next day. When she was finally done, Michael thanked her and left. Just as he walked out of her room, Jane noticed Carol sitting in her room. "Why did Carol ask me to do her
task?" Jane wondered, "She is not sleeping, nor has she gone home, for a person who claims to be sick."

Jane went and reported this matter to the Principal. The Principal called Carol and scolded her. Yet Carol knew that she couldn't jeopardize Michael, and so she told, "Sir, I was actually feeling ill. I was asleep for a while. Then, a student came to ask some doubt. Jane noticed me when the student left, since naturally I was awake at that time. You've misunderstood the situation." The Principal irascibly told her, "You care a lot for the students, don't you? Look, this won't get you very far. I will not tolerate you favouring the students all the time. You seem to pamper them a lot. You need to take a firm stand with them."

After receiving 15 minutes of advice from the Principal, Carol walked to her room, dazed. She had received a jolt. None of the teachers liked her, probably. The Principal was even against her being friendly to the students. Yet, she had devoted all her life for her students. They truly meant the whole world to her. She had not married, her parents had died long ago, she had no siblings, and she lived all alone. In fact, her students were the sole reason for her existence. She showered all her love on them. And now, she was being told to let go of her feelings for
them. What would be the point of her life, then? Would it have any meaning at all any more? She went to her room in a pensive mood.

Meanwhile, Michael was called to Jane's room, and Jane told him what had happened at the Principal's room. She then asked him, "Tell me boy, is this true? Or was Carol lying?" Michael realized that he had unwittingly put Carol into trouble. He replied, "That is the whole truth. She was sleeping when I came. She didn't look well either." Michael was moved that Carol had lied to the Principal just so that Michael didn't get into trouble. And she had borne all the harsh words of the Principal silently, all for Michael's sake. He decided to go to her and apologize.

He went to her room and found the door ajar. He looked inside and saw that she wasn't there. He saw a note on the table. Beside it was a bouquet of the brightest blue flowers he had ever seen. Curiosity piqued, he went in and read the note. His fingers went numb as he read it: "My life has no meaning. I see no direction in it any more. And therefore, I see no point in this life." Tears welled up in his eyes. For all he knew, he was responsible if she committed suicide. He rushed to the Principal and told him of the news. The Principal located her address and the two went to her house. But they found it empty. She had vanished without a trace. They filed a case at the local police station. Yet to no avail. She seemed to have disappeared off the face of Earth. Michael felt that she would have drowned herself in the mighty river adjoining the city. He was shattered.

Yet, it is a curious fact of life that the human heart can be subjected to the deepest of Sorrows, yet with the powerful Hand of Time, all the wounds heal, leaving only scars behind. And so it was with Michael too. Twenty years is a long time indeed. Long enough to heal most wounds. Twenty years had seen sweeping changes in Michael's life. He was halfway across the globe now, no longer in the same town where he had studied. He had worked in a few companies. Yet, he was quite disenchanted with life. He felt that his life lacked meaning and purpose. He was working in a company to fulfil another man's dreams, and not his own. Was this all there was to Life? To work for someone else, losing your identity in the process, losing your inner being, your true self? And on top of that, no one would appreciate or even acknowledge the work he was doing. He was just doing it for the money, and there was absolutely no satisfaction. He seemed to have lost his path in Life. As all these thoughts swirled through Michael's head, he finally decided that he would become a teacher. He knew he wouldn't earn much in the profession, but at least, he was sure that he would feel that whatever he did in this profession would be appreciated by the students - unlike in his company, where none of the customers really cared or bothered, or even knew of his existence!

He applied for a teacher's post in a reputed Engineering College. He was given a date for an interview with the Principal. On that day, he noticed that there were other applicants for the same post too. And his heart sank as he realized that all the others had PhDs; he hadn't. When his turn for the interview finally came, he walked into the room feeling nervous. The Principal was dictating some letter to his secretary, a rather old lady, who smiled at him as he walked in. The Principal asked him about his previous experience. Michael told him that he had never been in the teaching profession before, since he had always worked in some or the other company. The Principal was surprised, and asked him, "Then, what made you decide to take up this profession. You were earning handsomely in your earlier job. Why leave that to come to this profession?" Michael replied, "Sir, money might make a difference to my life alone. However, I want to make a difference to as many lives as I can." There was a moment of silence at this. Even the old secretary stopped in her typewriting. The Principal then continued to ask him more about the kind of jobs he had been in previously. Soon, the interview was over and the Principal told him that he would be told of the results of the interview in a few hours, after the other candidates were interviewed.

When all the candidates had finally been interviewed, the Principal asked his secretary, a lady who he respected a lot, despite her age: "Well? Which candidate do you think we should select?" The secretary replied, "Undoubtedly Michael." "But, don't you think he is too inexperienced for this?" the Principal asked. She replied, "No, I have a feeling he would make an excellent teacher. His heart is in the right place." And so, Michael was offered the post, and also a very handsome salary. He walked out of the college dazed, wondering how he could have got the job when he didn't seem to stand a chance - especially since all the others had PhDs.

As he was walking back home, a strong wind blew and with it, something brushed against his face before falling down. He picked it up and saw that it was a bright blue flower. His eyes brimmed over, as he now remembered a day, twenty years ago. He remembered his teacher Carol. He knew that her spirit had always lived on with him, and it was this that helped him bag this job. He decided to write a book before his joining date (which was to be a month later).

In a week, he had already finished writing the book. It was a book that detailed the Qualities of an Inspirational Teacher. In the Acknowledgements page, he wrote: "Dedicated to Dear Miss Carol: Whose memories still live on in bright fragments in her loving students' minds..." He found a publisher who agreed to publish it. Finally, just before his date of joining the college, the book was released.

It was evening, and Michael was sitting on a bench at a park. He resolved then, that since the book itself was a work of love, dedicated to a teacher who had always been so selfless, therefore, he would give the first copy of this book to someone free of cost. He noticed a girl selling flowers nearby. And he saw a bouquet of the same bright blue flowers that had inspired him all these years, and that still evoked poignant memories in him. He bought a bouquet of the flowers, and thought to himself, with tears welling up in his eyes, "How I wish you were alive, Ma'am. How I wish you could see right now the book that I have written which you always wanted the world to know about. You would have been so happy if you were here now."

Just then, he noticed an old lady trying to cross the street, but looking helpless, since there was much traffic. She seemed to be a relic of a bygone era, a person who nobody cared for or appreciated. In a gush of compassion, he walked up to her and helped her across. He recognized her to be the secretary whom he had seen in the Principal's office on the day of his interview. He remembered then his resolution of a while ago, and gave the old lady a copy of his book, and he also gave her the bouquet of the bright blue flowers. He smiled at her and walked away, feeling a warm glow of satisfaction and happiness pervading him.

The old lady looked at the flowers and her eyes became moist. These were flowers she had always loved - they were Forget Me Nots. She cast her mind back to a past now irrevocably gone. After a while, she recalled a more recent Past - when the person named Michael had walked into the room for the interview. He had only cast a perfunctory glance at her. Yet she recognized her favourite former student. The secretary's name was Carol.