A swanky plush office, her youthful pictures with so many renowned personalities adorning the office walls, a 3 carat diamond ring, nail art and many shaded streaky hair, her expensive watch and simple but expensive saree......meet Mrs Sen, the 'Owner-Principal' of a reputed school in Delhi. Her appearance and demeanor was enough to either intimidate others or make them fawn in awe.
My chance meeting with her took place during my interview for the job of a senior English teacher in the school. She spoke with a subtle americanized accent but sounded very firm yet friendly. She seemed in control but was not at all cordial. How useless and ridiculous my Gold Medal and other degrees, which were achievements I reveled in, seemed to me that very moment sitting in front of her. Later on she also proved it to me. 'Mrs Sen' immediately formed an impression of me, probably a good one and invited me to give a demo to students to assess my abilities. That's a separate story that there were only a handful of students and almost an equal number of teachers in the class trying either to judge me or intimidate me, something I will never know.
Mrs Sen decided to give me the job while all the time making me aware of the so called glaring mistakes that I had made while taking the demo class. I was a bit reluctant to join, so she tried to show her magnanimity by offering me a free cup of tea every day and free bus facilities. Simultaneously in a hushed tone I was told that my original certificates would be kept with her till the time she felt I could work for her. Some people think they own the world, wonder what gives them the confidence?
My queries and apprehensions were met with a stern and most menacing glance as if I had done something blasphemous. To add to this was the servile and embarrassingly obsequious attitude of the wives of some high officials working as teachers in the school whose sole aim seemed to me to please the mighty Mrs Sen. This was not going well with my highly sensitive sensibilities. I was really missing my position of a headmistress in a reputed school which I had quit only recently owing to family commitments. I never realized that money power can give one the confidence of behaving like an academician of international repute and treat others like slaves with sheer disregard to their experience and stature. I also realized that teaching is not the preferred choice of profession and many join it either out of some compulsion or for sheer time pass. When one is offered money, many simply grab it and try to hide their feelings and even academic incompetence in the garb of sycophancy.
To cut the long story short, being a rebel that I am, I was not prepared to be cowed down by their tactics of trying to intimidate new applicants into submission. I decided to say no to a supposedly 'lucrative offer in a top Delhi School' and armed with this new found confidence I marched right into Mrs Sen's office the next day. My decision must have shocked her cause I could see her riding on the horns of dilemma but her ego emerged victorious. She must have been really miffed at me cause when I requested her to return my original certificates, she could only reply by saying "Why would we keep your certificates, we have enough trash".
So here I am, happy and still hunting!!!
