The other side of teachers

Role Reversal

For once, teachers decided to do something different — they sang, danced and strutted their  stuff on the ramp to indulge their students.

The reversal of roles happened at Mount Carmel PU College, the occasion
being the Children’s Day celebrations held at the college auditorium recently.
The hall was jam-packed with students who had come to watch the show.

The teachers confessed that they had practised long and hard to put up a show which the students would like to watch. The programmes were conceived, planned and
executed by the teachers themselves and they did everything that the students normally do — sing, dance and walk the ramp.

Everything from the costumes to make up was perfect.  There were 17 events in all, including a few unique events in which the students were shown the childhood
photos of teachers and had to identify them.

Sarita, a lecturer with the English department, says, “We put together a bunch of 30 to 40 childhood pictures of teachers and the students did a good job of recognising most of them. This was something we have never done before.”  The theme chosen for ‘Mad Ads’ was also in keeping with the taste of the students — it was ‘curls and curves’.
Sr Principal M Sonia says that she was delighted to see her staff pull off such an interesting show. “I really enjoyed watching them perform. They’ve worked so hard,” she expresses.

In another event, the voices of all the teachers were recorded, and the students had to match the voice to the teacher. Dorcas, the head of department of commerce, confesses that the child-like nature of the teachers is what came through.

“We had so much fun on stage. Unmindful of our age, we sang, danced and did all sorts of things that we would have done only in our colleges days,” she says.

The teachers say that they practised after college hours and also sneaked out during classes to get their act right. “For once, the teachers were bunking classes and straying out to practise. The students got to see the informal side of the teachers. We are usually quite strict with them and they find us disciplining them most of the time — but here they got to see the child in us,” explains Pravati, another
lecturer.  

The teachers also dressed up like heroines from the different eras of Bollywood. “We dressed up like yesteryear heroines. Nothing was amiss — from hairdo and make up to costumes. It was perfect,” adds Dorcas.

The students were hooting, cheering and making as much noise as they could.
Rachel, from II, PECA, says, “I enjoyed the Bollywood fashion show. The teachers have taken so much trouble to get the right costume and make up. It was a surprise
for us.”

Nimi, another second-year student, says, “Yellow was the theme — we were all asked to wear yellow. It was a real treat to watch the childhood photos of the teachers. Some of them have the same face!”