If you are wondering what the term ‘Kurukshetra’ means it was a place of war as mentioned in the epic narrative ‘Mahabaratha’. The history behind this historical locale is that when King Kuru chose this land at the banks of Saraswathi river to settle and performed a supreme sacrifice to embed the place with spiritual values and virtues. Lord Vishnu, a Hindu god, granted him two boons as he was extremely pleased with this selfless act. The first being that the land would be known forever as a holy land, Kurukshetra (the land of Kuru) and the second being that a man who dies on that land would automatically earn a passport to heaven.
Now I am not sure if the modern day classrooms can be compared to holy lands or f I die in the classroom teaching I would go to heaven but classrooms have definitely assumed the characteristics of a battlefield. Hence, when innocent, ignorant and inexperienced university students training to become teachers come to observe lessons of their supervisor with such radiance and enthusiasm at the the start of the day, my heart goes out to them. I can guarantee you that not because I am a good Samaritan but because I am certain that by the end of the day they would be disillusioned when their dream bubbles burst and the harsh realities of being a teacher dawns on them.
I have had a few university students (observing one of my challenging classes) who were relieved to hear the bell ring at the end of the day and who literally fled the school premises but not before remarking “I don’t think I can do this!” However, what took me by complete surprise was this eulogy given to me by one such university student aspiring to be a great teacher in future, which I think is valuable to share with my friends out there.
A Writer's Exposé 