It is indeed necessary to dedicate a day for the children who are like the shining gardenias smiling at me in the classroom. Their ebullience sometimes act as the very pulse or the throbbing heart beat in my mundane, lifeless life or the very blood gushing into my veins suddenly improving my mood when life seems colourless. I cannot really explain the worth of children through words as their brilliance is beyond description. Standing before them and seeing them silently pray, I envisage a connection with God. Their wishes, home time good byes serve to wipe away all my pains. Their words, “Ma’am, we miss you” gives me such happiness that money can’t buy. When they leave school and say that they cannot find a teacher like me who teaches so meticulously and that I am the reason of their success, I feel that I have nothing left in this world more to get.

 

Several times I have delivered my speeches on the occasion of Childrens’ Day in my school. I can never forget the radiant faces of my dear children in their colour dresses in myriad rainbow hues, looking like fluttering butterflies- singing, dancing- giving a delectable feast to my eyes on their special day. They invite me to the classroom, make me feel like a queen and have me seated in the chair, give me the delicious dishes brought from their abodes to eat and then ensue a series of photographs to preserve the day in our memories. At that juncture, I know not where to keep my jubilance and even today I don’t know how to express those feelings fully.

 

William Wordsworth is right in his “Ode on Intimatimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood”, when he says that ‘the days of our childhood are the days of our glory’. I agree with Charles Lamb when he says that, “a sweet child is the sweetest thing in nature.” (‘Essays of Elia’ – 1823). I see a reflection of my past school days in my students- their examinations, results, quarrels, friendship and even farewell make me nostalgic and keep my own childhood memories afresh. 

 

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru himself has ventilated his thoughts thus: “Children are like buds in a garden and should be carefully and lovingly nurtured as they are the future of the nation and citizens of tomorrow. Only through right education can a better order of society be built up.” I would like to conclude with Malala Yousafzai saying “one child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world.” Both the teachers and students are quintessential ingredients of the society, so along with Teacher’s Day, Childrens’ Day must also be celebrated to show our love and care for them without whom our lives are truly incomplete.