The Conquest

When Mamma showed me the ad in "The Navhind Times" , I laughed it off. I badly needed a change of jobs but what she was pointing to, was something I had never thought I would do, even in the wildest of my dreams! She kept persuading me to at least appear for the interview. I ignored her. But my mother is a very persistent woman and she doesn't give up that easily. On the day of the interview, she some how managed to convince me to take a half day leave from office & she forcibly drove me to the venue. Sitting in the front seat, looking at the road, I was still wondering what I was doing. We reached the venue. Everyone around me was busy reciting last minute notes, flipping through some fat textbooks & here I was with NO reference books; holding an old copy of my resume which I had managed to locate at the last minute. I laughed at my own plight coz I got the exact picture of what was going to happen to me in the interview room in a few minutes.

My name was called. I got up & walked to the interview room with confidence coz I knew I had nothing to lose , nothing to gain. Luckily. the interview went well. I managed to answer most of the questions put forth to me. Mamma was happy to hear that but I told her not to keep high hopes coz I knew I had no chance. After the interview, I felt a little bad had I prepared well, I could have got this job but then another part of me said " Oh come on. This job is not meant for you! There's no point in even repenting!".

Two days later, I got a call -"You have been selected for the position of Lecturer in IT Dept. When would you like to join? "

For a moment, I was dumbstruck! I was excited that I'd got this job when I least expected to but on the other side, it suddenly dawned on me what this job would mean. I was going as a lecturer at an Engineering College in which I studied a few years back! A class of 60 curious heads, who is ever ready to pounce on you, the moment you make a small mistake. I remembered the rowdy guys from our class & how they used to make fun of young female lecturers. Did I really want to go through all this embarrassment? I didn't even look like a lecturer, 90% of my students would be much taller than me. How was I even going to engage them for a one hour class? I was getting butterflies in my tummy. As always, Mamma came to my rescue. Being a teacher herself, she told me how lively & satisfying this profession was & since everyone on my maternal side was in the teaching profession, how destined I was to get this job! I thought for a while & finally decided to give it a shot. My life was anyways getting pretty boring with a monotonous job which I was not at all enjoying, so why not try something exciting, I thought. I called up the college authorities & accepted the offer. At that point , little did I know there was still a battle to be fought ahead & this was just the tip of the iceberg!

I joined college on a Monday. It was nostalgic. Lecturers who had taught me as a student, were my colleagues now & I was to share the same staff room with them. The semester had already begun. I was given "Programming in C", a common subject for the first years across all branches. The parting lecturer told me to go well prepared for my classes, as the students were very smart. I always believed that in teaching, the first impression is usually the last impression. I didn't want to make a fool of myself. I had gone unprepared for the interview & had managed to get this job by fluke or maybe due to my destiny as Mamma liked to believe it,but now I was not going to repeat the same story.I decided to pick up all the possible books on C programming I could find in the library & to immerse myself in the subject for at least one week until I face the class. Unfortunately to my bad luck, the Head of the Department announced to me that I was supposed to take my first class on the coming Wednesday, that meant in two days. Now this was the last thing I wanted. I tried convincing him but he wouldn't listen. The sessionals were approaching real fast & I had to cover up the portion. And as if to make matters even worse, I was going to teach 'pointers in C' in my first class.

For my readers from non-computer science background, pointers is a concept in C programming, that I don't know how many of the Computer Science fraternity have truly understood till date. It wont be an exaggeration if I call it the 'Bermuda triangle' of the programming world! A programmer can forever get tangled in them! When experienced professors struggle trying to teach this concept, could you even imagine my plight? I cursed my fate. But soon realized there was even no time to brood about it. I had anyways taken this up as a challenge, so why back out now. The preparations for the first lecture of my life began in full swing. Had I prepared this way for my Engineering exams, I think I would have probably topped the University with record marks.

Finally, the big day dawned. This was going to be either the most special day of my life or the most embarrassing! A few chalks & a duster in one hand, attendance sheet, textbook, notes, OHP transparencies in the other, I was ready to face my battle! The class was rather noisy, the previous lecturer had left the class a few minutes before the actual scheduled time. I walked in straight to the class & climbed the platform.The voices lowered & there were whispers. "Hey, is she a new student?"."No, I think she is a substitute for an off lecture." "Wow, lets convince her & we'll play antakshari in this off lecture." Five minutes & everyone had settled down, I took over.

"Good morning, everyone. I'm your new lecturer for C programming." The voices started again, this time louder. I saw curious pairs of eyes, checking me out. There were others doubting my ability. A long pause & I started off. I have a very loud voice. So even though it works against me in most situations, it was working in my favour this time. As a lecturer, you should be able to effectively communicate to the class, so that the student sitting on the last bench can hear & understand you clearly. I'm not too sure about the understanding aspect of this but yeah, I was definitely audible till the last bench. As expected, my students weren't one of those dumb kinds to quietly listen. They had doubts. Some of the smarter ones, who already had prior knowledge of the subject, tried testing my knowledge by asking tricky questions. I tried my best to answer most of the questions put forth to me. After all, it was my first time & I was learning too. And then,no one in this world is perfect to know everything. I promised to come up with answers to the questions I didn't know, by the next class.

Despite all the anxiety I had faced in the past couple of days, I suddenly realized standing up there how enjoyable the whole experience was turning out to be. For someone who had always been a shy kid, to stand up there , facing a crowd of sixty, I felt so liberated! The nodding heads gave me a boost to carry on. I forgot for a moment that I was trying to explain to them a difficult concept. I realized that teaching was like Newton's Third Law of Motion- Every action has an equal & opposite reaction. My own concepts got clear & I understood so much better after I started teaching. Mamma was right. This was indeed a very satisfying & enriching profession! A few illustrations on the blackboard & some more explanation with the help of transparency slides over the Overhead Projector, I didn't quite realize how time flew until I saw a pair of eyes peeping from the classroom window.It was the professor who was supposed to engage the next class. She was already outside the class waiting for me to wind up with my lecture.

A good one hour had passed by & I had not only managed to teach a new concept to a class of Engineering students but had also managed to still keep them glued to their seats. I still cant forget that moment. It was one of the most special moments of my life. I felt the same way as probably Sir Edmund Hillary had felt when he conquered the Everest. Of course I had not conquered a mountain peak like him, but yes, I had definitely conquered the platform ;-)!