Brindha, our new guest lecturer, came storming into the department barely ten minutes after classes. A boy had given proxy attendance for his friend and this was noticed by her. She was enraged that such a thing had taken place, marked all boys absent and came back to the department. A few minutes later, the class rep came in and apologised for the same. I asked for the boy who had done this, since I didn't want to reprimand the rep for what his mates had done, though he could've just informed the teacher that there had been a mistake.

The boy came in and I braced myself for a good shout at him, when he just said, " I am sorry. I've done a wrong thing. I shall never repeat it'. My heart just melted, because here was someone who had done something wrong and had the grace to accept it without anybody prompting him to do it. The boy must surely have his heart in the right place, thought I. I just told him that giving proxy attendance might be fun in movies, but as engineers there are certain values and principles that we must stand for. After all, attendance shortage is something that a faculty advisor and the student can look into. I know the act of giving proxy is not a crime, but it is not right either. Were there tears in the boy's eyes? I suspect so, though I don't really know, but I do know that there are sometimes when a teacher cannot be harsh and when an apology given in goodness must be accepted without reservations. I may be looked on as an inept teacher, but I draw my line between strictness and acceptance of a person as he/she is.

It seems to be my week of guidance and counselling...there was a final year student who needed to just talk to me regarding his 27 paper- arrears. He wanted to quit his studies and take up a BPO job to stop being a burden on his parents. It was obvious from what he said that he did not have the support of his parents...mother unable to help her son as the father is a disciplinarian and threatens to wash his hands off his son if he doesnt mend his ways and studies well. What was I to tell him ... that parents need to support and accept a child's failures and give him his self-esteem or that children need to seek professional help when they notice that their life is getting derailed for one reason or the other.

My sympathies were with the student, since it was very clear that his will to fight had gone and if pressed to continue doing something which his heart was no longer in, he might just lose interest in life. After all, life is something more than studies and knowledge. The only thing I could tell him was that his parents must be informed by him about his results which he was dreading since that was atleast part of his duty as a son and that loved ones need to be told of failures as well as successes. Never mind the repurcussions which were bound to happen...All of last week I have been troubled by the thought that young people go through their life with their own problems of having to grow and take decisions, sometimes painful ones.