There was a neighbourhood grocery shop from where our household groceries were routinely purchased. Keen to be of some help, one day I asked my mother to let me go and buy whatever was needed for the day. I was very young. She asked me to buy just half a seer of whole moong so that I would not have to carry much weight. At the same time, it was her way of letting me enjoy the feeling of being helpful.

The grocery shop was crowded with customers. The man behind the weighing scale was serving them swiftly and efficiently. Even so, customers were jostling with one another to catch his attention first. Since it was my first visit to a shop on my own, I simply stood watching the scene and made no attempt to push my way forward.

One of the shop assistants, a young boy who was perhaps to the shopkeeper, noticed me. Recognising me from the neighbourhood, he singled me out and asked what I needed. I told him that I wanted half a seer of whole moong. He weighed the lentils and said, “This is half a kilogram, which is a little less than half a seer.”

                                                                 Teachers’ Day

I panicked. My mother had specifically asked me to bring half a seer. It was my very first purchase, and I feared she would never again allow me to help with the shopping. So I insisted on taking half a seer-not a tola less. Looking at my anxious face, he smiled gently and said, “This weight is according to the new metric system. Pao, seer and maund are no longer in use. Take this home and tell your mother. She will understand.”

Still a little worried, I returned home. My mother looked concerned, and I blurted out the entire incident. She burst into laughter and lovingly reassured me. Of course, she knew about the change to the metric system. She had simply used the old measurement out of habit. She then explained the new system of weights and measures, much of which went over my head at that age. That was how I learnt about the metric system. That first lesson has remained fresh in my memory and returns to me whenever I think about the relationship between teacher and taught.

A curious mind never stops exploring inventions and discoveries. Electricity and the electric light are among those inventions so deeply woven into our daily lives that we often take them for granted. Most of us know the name of the inventor, Thomas Alva Edison. There is a famous story about Edison, though I cannot vouch for its authenticity. Yet I cannot help recalling it whenever I think about teacher and taught.

Thomas Alva Edison was not considered a brilliant student. In fact, he was regarded as a poor performer in school. One day, he was sent home with a note from his teacher addressed to his mother. Edison handed the note to her. She read it, hugged him lovingly, and said, “Your teacher has written that you are far too intelligent for this school. They do not have teachers capable of teaching you. From tomorrow onward, I shall teach you at home.”

Delighted by what his mother told him, Edison never returned to school. Instead, he studied at home under her guidance. She encouraged him to read widely and nurtured his curiosity. Years later, he devoted himself to inventing the electric light bulb and went on to make countless other inventions, becoming one of the world’s greatest inventors.

After his mother’s death, Edison came across the old note she had preserved. When he finally read it, he discovered that it actually said he was the weakest student in the school, incapable of learning, and that the school could no longer teach him. His mother had transformed those hurtful words into words of encouragement. She saw the potential that others had failed to see, and the world knows today what Thomas Alva Edison became.

Anyone from whom we learn something in life becomes our teacher. Some teachers understand that every student learns at a different pace and therefore exercise great patience. Edison was fortunate that, although his school teacher lost patience with him, his mother never did. Some teachers remain patient yet are so strict that they appear harsh, even cruel, to their students. In the Gurukul tradition, discipline was paramount, and reverence for the Guru was unquestioned. Every teacher has a unique way of dealing with students. The respect expected from students and the affection expected from teachers naturally vary from one relationship to another.

Today, the internet has become a teacher for almost every learner by providing access to knowledge of every kind. Unlike a human teacher, however, it has no awareness of respect or disrespect, affection or indifference. It neither expects admiration nor offers encouragement. It asks only to be used wisely and responsibly. Yet, for all its vastness, the internet can only provide information; it cannot replace the warmth of a reassuring smile, the patience of a caring teacher, or the quiet confidence that one human being can instil in another.

Whether we are young or old, we are constantly learning throughout life. The distinction between teacher and taught exists only in relation to the knowledge being shared at a particular moment. Every stage of life brings new lessons, and every lesson brings a new teacher. Sometimes that teacher is a parent, sometimes a stranger, sometimes a book, and today, very often, the internet. The identity of the teacher may change with time. In the journey of life, we keep exchanging roles. It is not the classroom that creates a teacher, nor the textbook that creates a learner. Life does both. Every encounter teaches us something, every experience leaves its lesson and every person we meet becomes either our teacher or our taught. The day we stop learning, we stop growing; the day we stop sharing, we stop teaching. Perhaps that is the enduring beauty of life-that we are forever both, teacher and taught. life continuously moves us between the roles of teacher and learner.

Who, then, is the teacher? A parent who patiently explains, a stranger who removes our fear, a mother who believes in her child, a book that broadens our mind, or the internet that places the world’s knowledge at our fingertips? The answer is simple: a teacher is anyone from whom we learn. And, in life’s endless classroom, each one of us is destined to be both-teacher and taught.