When we all think about Ms. Deepshikha, the first thing that comes to mind is the subject, History. However, in the mind of that extraordinary historian, there once lay a passion of being a Radio-Jockey. We were oblivious to her other achievements of being a National Table-Tennis player and a part-time journalist. Nonetheless, her natural teaching ability stems from a legacy of educators in her family.
She lives by the saying, “Always run towards your problem and not
away from them.” This drove her mind to vanquish her fears of the
unknown depths of the underwater and attempt scuba diving.
While we are striving to be optimistic during the ‘Lockdown’, positivity rules her heart and mind. She uses her time effectively by learning to cook South-Indian meals and finds her peace through meditation.
I truly appreciate meeting her each day as she fills our lives with her sunshine smile
Playtime isn’t just for kids. According to Dr Stuart Brown, it’s through play that adults develop social skills, creativity and … wait for it … emotional resilience! As he puts it : “Those who play rarely become brittle in the face of stress or lose the healing capacity for humour”. Teachers also need to ensure they have real interests outside work to stave off stress of – too many books to mark, plans to re-jig and emails to send.
While few people find reading an upheaval task, for our versatile Mrs Vinaya Jaydev it is a passion; a stress buster! She has been a voracious reader and has read books from Enid Blyton and Hardy Boys to Harry Potter and the list is endless. Now, though her reading tastes have undergone a massive change, her passion continues to be the same, as she now enjoys reading science-related books like Richard Preston’s First Light and Siddhartha Mukherjee’s Gene, to list a few. Name a book and one can find it in her library at home where she has a huge collection. There is music for every occasion and Mrs. Vinaya finds music soulful and enjoys it even while driving to school. ”You Gotta Be” by Des’ree and “I can see“ by John Nash are her favourites. She also loves to unwind with Yanni’s Nightingale and Beethoven’s Symphony No 1. Her taste is not just limited to English songs and she has a keen ear for Bollywood songs like “Samjhawan”.
“The rendezvous seemed too short to bring out all the interests of this teacher extraordinaire”
Vinaya Jaydev
