For My Mother, My First Teacher

She taught me to read and write. She taught me to love. She taught me to live. She taught me to be me.

My mother, who was a teacher to thousands of students, in her 35+years of teaching career, was my first teacher. She will always be my teacher and mentor, wherever she is.

I am not sure how good a student I have been, but I will continue to try. Because she also taught me to learn, and keep learning always. Learn from my mistakes and learn from others’ mistakes too. Learn from my failures and learn from my accomplishments too.

It was in 1998 when I wrote my first “book”, aka my doctoral dissertation. All 200+ pages of that book were dedicated to my parents.

Years passed and I wrote many things — essays, book chapters for academic volumes, articles for academic and other journals, print and online magazines.

And then the time came to write another book. It gives me a very special joy when I open the first few pages of the advance copies of my newly released book, ABC’s of Indian National Education and see this:

 

 To my Mother, my first teacher

Dear readers, I am happy to share that my book on Indian Education is now available for purchase at Amazon, where you can also read a brief overview of the book. And don’t forget, you can always contact me, the author, for any thoughts you may have about the book.

Regular readers of the blog may recall the A-Z series I did on Education in the month of April. This came together as a result of those blog posts, so my sincere thanks to all the readers of that series who encouraged me to think beyond the blog.

I was fortunate enough to get some generous endorsements for the book from some esteemed teachers, colleagues and writers:

This book is a call for an educational approach that values the Spirit and builds upon India’s timeless wisdom of a life-affirming and living spirituality.  

Dr. Jane Brown

  Faculty Emerita, Antioch University Midwest, Yellow Springs, Ohio, USA 

                  

An educational policy bereft of the grand civilizational values of India reduces citizens to humdrum workers aspiring to nothing more than material security. This book provides the grounding essential to make Indians not just masters of the knowledge of the external but keen pursuers of knowledge eternal and internal.  Literally covering the issue, from A to Z, Dr. Mehra lays the groundwork for rethinking and re-framing India’s educational policy.                    

Dr. Ramesh Rao

Professor, Columbus State University, Columbus, Georgia, USA 

This book speaks of infusing Indian education with the Indian spirit. While it is inescapable that children have to pick up future careers, the author is opposed to making education strictly careerist, where childhood is suppressed and learning becomes mechanistic, soulless and joyless.    

N. V. Subramanian

Editor, www.newsinsight.net, Writer on politics and strategic affairs, Novelist, Delhi, India 

This book compels us to take a closer look at some of the fundamental issues regarding Indian education. Presenting the arguments with a modern approach, the book is deeply influenced by Sri Aurobindo’s insights into the essential spirit of Indian culture and Education. All those interested in the future of Education in India and elsewhere will find it thought-provoking.

Kittu Reddy

Sri Aurobindo International Center of Education, Pondicherry

Click here to order

As I look at the book jacket and flip through the pages I see some errors, and after the first few minutes of self-criticism I remember what my mother always used to say — ‘now that you have finished your work, let it go, don’t think too much about it, nobody can get it all right, learn from your mistakes and move on.’ 

And so with this book done, I move on to other projects and other works, remembering her love and with full assurance that she is blessing me from wherever she is. My mother, my first teacher whose love for learning and teaching inspired me to do my best as a teacher, remains the reason for my passion for Education.

I wrote this book in gratitude and memory of all my teachers — past, present and future — who have shaped me into what I am today.

I offer this to That One Teacher who is Present in All.

*******
Linking this with ABC Wednesday, T: T is for Teacher