Indrani paused after receiving her platform recognition on the receipt of her PhD. At the end of this graduation ceremony, she’d be delivering the response to faculty on behalf of those who’d graduated. She blinked her eyes to try and penetrate the audience sitting out there through powerful stage lights and her eyes focused on her parents sitting in a prominent place toward the front along with her mentor Cynthia Graham. It’s surprising how memories can flood into the mind in a matter of seconds, and she reviewed her first introduction to Ms. Graham as she moved on to take her seat with the other graduates temporarily. It had been fifteen years but that first day she became aware of her mentor was vivid in her memory as he glanced at her in the audience.

It was her college first year and Ms. Cynthia Graham had entered the room carrying an armful of books and headed for the teacher’s lectern where she paused to deposit the books on a side table and rapidly opened her laptop placing it firmly in place on the lectern and carefully plugging in the power and HDMI cable. It was obvious she’d done this countless times before as the whole exercise took her only seconds. She then typed rapidly and turned to view the screen on the wall behind her to the right to see if the image on her laptop screen was visible on the large wall screen. The packed room of thirty students watched it all with a mixture of amusement and awe at the speed at which Cynthia moved things along.

Cynthia then eyed the students starting at the back left hand corner and her eyes travelled each row of students to the front while her lips moved counting. Satisfied, she smiled as she spoke. Her voice was musical and authoritarian. Each student made a mental note not to mess with this young lady as they were used to do with some of the other teachers who came across as distant and lax in their initial class introduction for this semester.

“Good you are all here, and now we will take a few minutes to get to know each other. My name is Cynthia Graham. I’m working on a PhD in linguistics, but I’ll be teaching you creative writing this semester and I can promise you that you will have plenty of work to do to convince me you deserve a good grade at the end of this semester. While you are expected to listen to what I teach you I expect you to be peppering me with questions and debating what I teach so I can see you are serious students who want to learn and not just get a grade. If I notice you are not engaging and debating my questions and statements, then I’ll assume you are not interested in the class and will urge you to seek another class that interests you more. I want to see you grow in knowledge and show your creativity in what you present to us for review each class and you will be subject to peer review on what you present.”

Cynthia turned to the pile of books on the table and rapidly selected another screen. She checked to see it was on the big screen.

“This is a list of required reading, and you will find all those books in the library. I expect you to give me a summary of what you’ve learned after reading each book and you can hand it to me whenever you have each one finished. I will look it over and if I don’t find you’ve done more than repeat the summary on the back cover then it will be returned to you to read and analyse the content again. I know the content of these books intimately so bluff will not work.”

She laughed as she saw her students looking at each other with raised eyebrows. Obviously, some of them were going to find the going difficult but she hoped they’d hang in there because she wanted to teach them writing required discipline if one was to hope to publish someday.

“Any questions? You can approach me at any time by appointment of course in the office unless you find me wandering around the campus and want to talk. I have all the time in the world to see you succeed if you really want to.”

There was a collective sigh of relief. At least she was approachable.

“Now for the fun part to start with. This first class is mostly orientation to what you’ll be expected to do this semester and I have printed out a sheet for all of you which will outline how I operate and what you can expect from me as the semester progresses and the work you will be doing in each class. You can pick up your copy from me on the way out and it contains the list of books you’ve already see on the screen to save you taking notes and the format expected in summary for each book. Right now, we will get to know each other.”

Cynthia flipped the laptop screen again and turned to see if was on the big screen.

Briefly each one of you will now tell us your name, where you come from, anything unique about you you’d like to share with your classmates and how you’ll be using this class to progress you toward your eventual major and graduation.”

She pointed to the back left hand corner.

“Starting with you in a couple of minutes address the class and answer the questions on the screen and then quickly finish so we can hear the rest of the class in turn.”

Now and then, someone would make a humorous presentation and the class would laugh with teacher joining the class in laughter. Then the turn came for Indrani van Dort, and she stood confidently to make her contribution.

My name is Indrani van Dort and I’m originally from Sri Lanka but have lived in this country for most of my life. My grandparents own one of the largest tea estates in Sri Lanka up in the hills, but my parents are in education here and I hope someday Ms. Graham to be able to stand where you are standing and teach as I love literature and learning.

There was silence in the room as they studied their teacher to see if she was offended by that statement, but Cynthia smiled at Indrani.

“I will do everything I possibly can to help you achieve that dream, Indrani. Now next person to report we need to move along quickly now as time is getting away and there are a few more things I want to deal with before we dismiss this orientation class.

After class as the students were collecting their hand outs before rushing to the next class Indrani waited until the end and approached the lectern apprehensively. Perhaps she’d been a bit rude in her remarks and she’d apologize as she really liked Ms. Graham and wanted to get off on the right foot so she could take advantage of her expertise. Some of the seniors who’d attended the creative writing course in previous semesters had strongly advised Indrani to take a course under the direction of teacher Graham as she was the best. She also taught the history of English literature and teaching English as a second language. Cynthia smiled as she saw Indrani approach her uncertainly and decided to put her mind at rest.

“Indrani I was most impressed with your introduction to the class and look forward to working with you to help you achieve your ambition. Nothing would make me happier than to see you at the lectern here someday teaching and sharing your love of literature. That would give me personal fulfillment to see you do that. Now why not drop by my office this afternoon as I’d like to talk with you about Sri Lanka. I think you’ll be surprised after that visit. Tell my secretary I asked you to see me this afternoon and find a time I’ll be there to talk with you.”

Indrani sped off to her next class happy she’d not offended her teacher and wondered why it was so Important for her to be invited to the teacher’s office at their initial class meeting. After that class was over, she sped off to find Ms. Graham’s office and was given an appointment at the end of the day just prior to her teacher leaving for home. Good, that meant she could spend most of the afternoon exploring those books listed on the handout as all her classes were listed for mornings. She could hardly wait to absorb the content of these books and determined to write a thorough summary of what she’d learned in the required format. She had a hunger to learn, and this love of literature had been passed on by her parents. Her mother was a high school teacher and her father lectured in business at the local university.

Late that afternoon Indrani presented to the secretary at Ms. Graham’s office part of the English Department complex of offices. She was told to wait as there was already someone in there and when they came out the secretary went to the door and spoke to Cynthia who indicated Indrani should be sent in. She was seated opposite Cynthia at her desk and waited for the teacher to declare the purpose of the visit.

“Where do your grandparents have their tea estate Indrani?”

“Have you heard of a place called Kandi in Sri Lanka. It’s a famous religious centre but surrounded by hill estates and my grandparents are in that area. It’s called Nuwara Eliya.

Cynthia smiled and nodded.

“My mother was born in Sri Lanka and her maiden name was van Dort. so I’d say that in the tangled web of relationships we are probably related somewhere along the line in the Burgher genealogical records which are kept by the Dutch Burgher Union in Sri Lanka. It would be interesting to see if we are in fact related but I can’t treat you differently to the other students Indrani.”

“I won’t embarrass you teacher Graham by even sharing this conversation with the other students as they’ll suspect you favour me because of that connection. So, I’ll work even more diligently to show the students I earned the grades you give me whatever those may be and don’t expect any favours.”

“I think you’ll agree with me Ms. Graham that we Burghers value education and have been very successful around the world. I’m proud to carry on the tradition and will work hard to make my parents and the community proud of me.”

Cynthia smiled and indicated Indrani could leave. She resolved to make the girl work hard for her grades as hard work for brain and body produces excellence and it was obvious Indrani had the ambition and will to make her dream come true. 

Indrani had taken all the courses offered by Ms. Graham during her college years and her teacher had been exacting in her critiques and merciless in her marking often sending Indrani back to redo her work before earning the highest grade. Indrani knew her teacher was being more exacting with her than with other students she judged did not have the capacity for excellence and this discipline taught Indrani that she had to put in the same effort with her other classes too. She appreciated the challenges this teacher bought to her in every class, and she graduated from college with the highest honours and was the elected representative to speak for students on their eventual graduation. Cynthia Graham watched it all with pride. It had been her goal to bring out the best in her students and she could be justifiably proud of her efforts at each graduation.

After graduation she’d approached Indrani’s parents and urged them to support their daughter through to PhD studies as she had to makings of a future leader in the field of education and casually mentioned it would be a source of pride to the Burgher community to see yet another of their members as a potential international celebrity. This surprised and gratified Indrani’s parents and they resolved to do just that.

In those intervening years Indrani had kept in touch with her teacher and sought her guidance as she progressed in her education. For a few years Cynthia Graham put aside her teaching to do research on ancient hill tribes in Asia who had no written language and construct from their sounds and use of language an organized language structure to ensure their language was not lost and to seek out the historical connection with other languages. It was cutting edge research acknowledged in scholarly journals produced. During those years abroad Indrani kept in constant touch with her mentor now her closest friend.

Now with her hard work behind her Indrani delivered her speech from the front acknowledging those who’d contributed to her success and the general success of her fellow graduates. She paused and then acknowledged her parents who’d been with her supporting at every stage of her educational journey and then finally called Ms. Graham to the front for special recognition. Cynthia Graham was now an internationally acknowledged celebrity and the audience stood in acknowledgement along with those on stage. It was emotional experience for both Indrani and her mentor who hugged while the audience gave their applause.

There was one thing left to do for Indrani now to achieve her ambition of long ago. While overqualified for the post she applied to her old college for a position teaching. It would be temporary as her eyes were now focused on a career in university teaching, but she needed to do this. She was accepted gratefully and with surprise by the college who knew she was overqualified.

She entered the same classroom she’d attended fifteen years earlier. She carried a laptop and a stack of books. She approached the lectern and plugged in her laptop quickly and turned to view the large screen. She turned to the students in her class and counted them quietly, then spoke.

“It’s time for us to get to know each other as we commence this semesters work. My name is Indrani van Dort and I’ll be your teacher for this semester.”

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