Two Emails – Work to feed your Soul
The subject line in the email dated March 21, 2016 read, ‘Interview for direct recruitment to the post of Assistant Professor under School of Education (UR)’ Tripura University. At 50, when you receive a call letter for an interview … well I was very excited. Emails, phone calls …, flew thick and fast, I asked my friends – tips for interview, what does one ask, what does one say, how should one prepare … and a range of queries – my friends and well wishers, may you continue to stay forever Blessed, were supportive, kind, patient and above all very optimistic. One even declared, ‘once you are in, we are planning our next years’ LTC – a trip to Tripura, along with my friends!’ The optimism was infectious!
At around 08.00AM on April 17, 2016 the date of my interview, I checked my email, there was this email, with the subject line, ‘Notification regarding postponement of Interview under School of Education’. The intense preparations, the good wishes and …!! Two e-mails, and what a range of emotions and feelings!
How does one make sense of such events? I remember I shut down my computer, went for a walk, physically moving yet mentally fixed, seeing, yet unseeing … erstwhile emotions of anxiety and excitement now replaced with … I really do not know … hard to name …!
Trying to make sense of it all, I wondered, just what it means to be a teacher, enabler, facilitator, learner… I believe it is to perpetually sit between the unexpected and the routine, joys and sorrows, excitement and disappointment, failure and success, hope and despair – pondering, searching … as to how does one reach a creative balance? How does one find purpose and meaning in a moment, job, relationship, why life itself … rife with rejection and inner struggles? What happens when your work doesn’t match the aspirations you have for it, and how can you help yourself to overcome obstacles to reach creative fulfilment?
At some point in my existential angst, I emailed, called … my friends and well wishers … to convey to them the news of the ‘postponement of the interview’. I was greeted with, ‘Do not know how to react this situation but something good must be waiting for you.’ every one of them …not in the same words but, words to the same effect - now how does one make sense of this!
What is the potential for such ‘twists and turns in life’ to lead one to throw away everything in order to start again, to bounce back, to beckon the resilience in each one of us. I want to believe that the vision and mission of teachers, enablers, facilitators, learners … is to work to feed the soul, and to nourish a positive outlook that can make it all okay.
At around 08.00AM on April 17, 2016 the date of my interview, I checked my email, there was this email, with the subject line, ‘Notification regarding postponement of Interview under School of Education’. The intense preparations, the good wishes and …!! Two e-mails, and what a range of emotions and feelings!
How does one make sense of such events? I remember I shut down my computer, went for a walk, physically moving yet mentally fixed, seeing, yet unseeing … erstwhile emotions of anxiety and excitement now replaced with … I really do not know … hard to name …!
Trying to make sense of it all, I wondered, just what it means to be a teacher, enabler, facilitator, learner… I believe it is to perpetually sit between the unexpected and the routine, joys and sorrows, excitement and disappointment, failure and success, hope and despair – pondering, searching … as to how does one reach a creative balance? How does one find purpose and meaning in a moment, job, relationship, why life itself … rife with rejection and inner struggles? What happens when your work doesn’t match the aspirations you have for it, and how can you help yourself to overcome obstacles to reach creative fulfilment?
At some point in my existential angst, I emailed, called … my friends and well wishers … to convey to them the news of the ‘postponement of the interview’. I was greeted with, ‘Do not know how to react this situation but something good must be waiting for you.’ every one of them …not in the same words but, words to the same effect - now how does one make sense of this!
What is the potential for such ‘twists and turns in life’ to lead one to throw away everything in order to start again, to bounce back, to beckon the resilience in each one of us. I want to believe that the vision and mission of teachers, enablers, facilitators, learners … is to work to feed the soul, and to nourish a positive outlook that can make it all okay.
Labels: Creative Balance, Existential Angst, Expectations, Teacher Education
posted by aquarian at 11:35 AM
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