My 10th grade Physics teacher.

It was my 10th grade Physics practical examination. I don’t remember the exact experiment that I had to do for my exam, but I’ll never forget the short interaction that I had with my Physics teacher right after the exam.

Usually for the public practical, we have two external teachers coming in to the school to evaluate the students. As was the norm, we had two external teachers that day as well. For the board exams, we need to pick the experiment we need to perform, by lot. I don’t remember it perfectly, but I think I got a beam balance practical.

We need to measure something and get accurate measurements. I don’t exactly remember what I measured, but for some reason I keep getting wrong answers! That too this was my PRACTICAL board exams ( it is a very IMPORTANT examination in your Sophomore year )!!

Of course now that I’m 40, I know it wasn’t the end of the world, but back then in my physics lab, I was sweating, trembling and scared to my bone. I thought I would fail my Physics paper and not be promoted to 11th grade and all those weird imaginations were spinning around my head!

Finally I finished my practical exam and exited my physics lab. I was evidently distressed.

We had just had a new Physics teacher to our school back then. Her name was Ms Anita. She was gold. Pure gold. A gentle and a loving soul.

She saw me after the exam. I was walking a few feet away from her. She called me. I slowly walked toward her. She said, “Don’t worry Varna, I have asked the external invigilator to give you full marks. It was a small error. Dont worry.”

I have often talked in my blog about words that get etched in our memory. That is one simple act of kindness that was etched into a young teen’s heart. Her gentle voice and her genuine care for a student is something that touched me deeply.

After I got married, my sis-in-law said that Mrs Anita and herself were closely related! I was just amused to learn that Anita ma’am was now my relative too, through marriage.

Last week, I heard this testimony from Anita Ma’am. It took me few days to get over it. If you have 10 minutes, do give this testimony a listen. Trust me, it will be a blessing to you.