<p>Terrible is the soft sound of a hardboiled egg cracking on a zinc counter and terrible is that sound when it moves in the memory of a man who is hungry,” recited Nicole Sumner. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The verse being from a Jaques Prevert poem ‘Late Rising’ was the first ever that Sumner had read growing up as a child. Now in her 50s, word ‘terrible’ is something which Sumner is quite familiar with. <br /><br />“I didn’t pass my English in 12th grade. I had a cover with no diploma certificate in it and at the college ceremony I was too embarrassed. I did rest of my education in a community college. It was then when I began to think why do students fail and why do some succeed. Because I had failed and I didn’t understand why?” Sumner told Metrolife in a candid chat. <br /><br />It would take many a year for her to answer these questions. “I understand now that I wanted to do so many things, and yet, I was made to fit in a square box,” she added. <br /><br />Now a teacher at the American Embassy School, Delhi, Sumner is helping her students to break open that box from which she had liberated herself years ago. <br /><br />“I was in a school which said that they believed in peace but they didn’t teach peace. I wouldn’t let that happen to any of my students,” she said. Sumner has been teaching arts and music in Delhi for the past five years. <br /><br />Born in New York State , Sumner grew up in Rome after her parents moved from United States. “I lived there with my family, when Rome was not a tourist destination but a locality which housed working class people,” she said. <br /><br />From Rome to United States, and now in India, Sumner’s life seems like an elaborate journey which is filled with music, poetry, theatre and of course her favourite ‘street activism’. <br /><br />“My first protest was more of a family affair. In 1968-69 my parents, my two sisters and our dog stood in a corner of our town to protest against the B1 bomb that Vietnam was pounded with. We put a sign on our dog which said, ‘This K9 says no to the B1’,” she said. <br /><br />Art and politics seems to be a family trade for Sumner, with her mother a professional violinist, sisters in visual and video art and a husband who is a jazz drummer.<br /><br />“We married just before coming to India,” said Sumner. Her arrival to India in fact is quite a colourful story. “In 2008, I was attending a workshop in integrating Chinese music into American music. I met this person named Sky and I emailed him the same day,” Sumner said smilingly before continuing, “I wrote to her that I wanted to see how she running her programme in Florida as I was under the impression that she taught there. She responded that she doesn’t teach in Florida and in fact was a part of the American Embassy school in Delhi. She wanted me to join her and I did so happily. It was fate.” <br /><br />Laced with theatre studies in Seattle and a Masters in inter-disciplinary art education and a teaching credential in music, Sumner arrived in India after teaching in public schools for almost 15 years. “Schools are going global especially international schools. They are sharing best practices at a speed never seen before through our technology, conferences so on and I want to be a part of it,” she said. <br /><br />Sunmer also mentioned about her other activities which has made her fond of the city. “I like teaching here but there are other things which I get here, for instance having workshops in poetry or participating in other socio-cultural movements in Delhi,” she said. “If there is anything I want to teach here is that, you can put something out there which is not perfect which is not complete,” she concluded.<br /><br /><br /></p>
<p>Terrible is the soft sound of a hardboiled egg cracking on a zinc counter and terrible is that sound when it moves in the memory of a man who is hungry,” recited Nicole Sumner. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The verse being from a Jaques Prevert poem ‘Late Rising’ was the first ever that Sumner had read growing up as a child. Now in her 50s, word ‘terrible’ is something which Sumner is quite familiar with. <br /><br />“I didn’t pass my English in 12th grade. I had a cover with no diploma certificate in it and at the college ceremony I was too embarrassed. I did rest of my education in a community college. It was then when I began to think why do students fail and why do some succeed. Because I had failed and I didn’t understand why?” Sumner told Metrolife in a candid chat. <br /><br />It would take many a year for her to answer these questions. “I understand now that I wanted to do so many things, and yet, I was made to fit in a square box,” she added. <br /><br />Now a teacher at the American Embassy School, Delhi, Sumner is helping her students to break open that box from which she had liberated herself years ago. <br /><br />“I was in a school which said that they believed in peace but they didn’t teach peace. I wouldn’t let that happen to any of my students,” she said. Sumner has been teaching arts and music in Delhi for the past five years. <br /><br />Born in New York State , Sumner grew up in Rome after her parents moved from United States. “I lived there with my family, when Rome was not a tourist destination but a locality which housed working class people,” she said. <br /><br />From Rome to United States, and now in India, Sumner’s life seems like an elaborate journey which is filled with music, poetry, theatre and of course her favourite ‘street activism’. <br /><br />“My first protest was more of a family affair. In 1968-69 my parents, my two sisters and our dog stood in a corner of our town to protest against the B1 bomb that Vietnam was pounded with. We put a sign on our dog which said, ‘This K9 says no to the B1’,” she said. <br /><br />Art and politics seems to be a family trade for Sumner, with her mother a professional violinist, sisters in visual and video art and a husband who is a jazz drummer.<br /><br />“We married just before coming to India,” said Sumner. Her arrival to India in fact is quite a colourful story. “In 2008, I was attending a workshop in integrating Chinese music into American music. I met this person named Sky and I emailed him the same day,” Sumner said smilingly before continuing, “I wrote to her that I wanted to see how she running her programme in Florida as I was under the impression that she taught there. She responded that she doesn’t teach in Florida and in fact was a part of the American Embassy school in Delhi. She wanted me to join her and I did so happily. It was fate.” <br /><br />Laced with theatre studies in Seattle and a Masters in inter-disciplinary art education and a teaching credential in music, Sumner arrived in India after teaching in public schools for almost 15 years. “Schools are going global especially international schools. They are sharing best practices at a speed never seen before through our technology, conferences so on and I want to be a part of it,” she said. <br /><br />Sunmer also mentioned about her other activities which has made her fond of the city. “I like teaching here but there are other things which I get here, for instance having workshops in poetry or participating in other socio-cultural movements in Delhi,” she said. “If there is anything I want to teach here is that, you can put something out there which is not perfect which is not complete,” she concluded.<br /><br /><br /></p>