in my personal and professional life too.
It has helped me to do the same boring
tasks at home of making vegetables
with a cheerful attitude. I am on the way
to being happy, leading a simple and
boring life, routines are something I try
not to run away from, and I think this
is what explains the calm demeanour
of some of the teachers at TYI. For
example, there are some teachers who
work every month on articles for the
magazine, the beautiful people at the
reception who patiently answer the
same questions about the camps over
and over again to the visitors with a
smile on their face and without losing
patience. Boring is nothing.
Having taken care of boring work,
next comes the so called high profile
jobs. If I am a certified teacher,
shouldn’t I just be taking lectures?
Haven’t I worked so hard during my
Teachers Training Course to get a
teacher’s certificate? Then why should I
bother fetching the attendance register,
laying the mats, arranging for the
audio video, opening and shutting the
windows and, if need be, sweep the dirt
off the floor? Have I done so much hard
work to do these simple tasks where I
don’t learn anything? Again, watching
the volunteers in action has helped me
become more aware of the dignity of
labour. No work is big or small, it is
our attitude towards the work that is
important and not the work. I had once
read somewhere that ‘whatever you do,
be the best at it, so even if your job
is to clean the bathrooms, be the best
cleaner in the world’. There are a lot of
people in the Institute who are happy
to do whatever work the situation
demands, irrespective of their social
and professional standing.
Who likes a critique? Don’t we all
detest criticism? But we are the first
ones to find faults in everyone else but
ourselves (me included). As human
beings, we are all well trained to point
out mistakes. Appreciating something,
recognising the good in something
requires effort, but fault finding comes
naturally to us. Again, during the course
I learned that if you can fix something,
do it quietly instead of pointing fingers
at others. If a volunteer has done a
shoddy job, and if you can fix it, do
it quietly without making a hue and
cry. Another helpful attitude to carry
back home where one gets into endless
debates about whose duty it was and
how bad a job they had done.Last, but not the least, comes the
constant need for appreciation or some
form of recognition for work done
well. There are some volunteers who
are attached to this course since 4-5
months. They are the first ones to come
and most of the times they setup the
class even before others come. I doubt
that other than a few of the teachers
or others even notice their hard work
and commitment, but still they are at
their job. Why? A sense of duty and
commitment, probably. Is there any
doubt how they would be at their work
and home front? There is a quote that
says, ‘Unseen virtue brings visible
reward’. Whether someone sees or not,
whether someone praises or not, keep
doing your duty to the best of your
ability.Am I able to practice everything that
I have learned, have I become an
expert? Not yet, but the impressions
have been created and are slowly, bit by
bit, helping me on my journey.23