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The Narrow Corridor:
Moments in a Woman’s Life
Wasi had taught for some time before she joined the Ministry of Education and resumed teaching after retirement. Evidently, she liked to teach and did so without seeking any remuneration for it. After that, she continued to teach even from home. Almost a 100 students belonging to different parts of the country sought her out. She never charged anything because she enjoyed teaching. This is something rather unusual. During her years of retirement, Wasi wrote her memoirs, The Narrow Corridor. According to her, most things in life are beyond us. For example, we cannot choose our parents, nor can we decide how we grow up and what kind of childhood we should have had. She reached the conclusion that there are so many things that are decided for us. She affirms that there is only a narrow corridor in our life, which we can control. For the rest, a large number of things are decided for us. What we can do for ourselves is only within that narrow corridor of life. She writes about it with a great understanding and with a sense of commitment to life. After a distinguished career as a student, she had taught for a while before she moved on to the University of Oxford, where she spent three years. There she learnt that there was no need to suffer from a sense of being permanently beaten even though most of the things are decided for us. We still have lots of options and we should simply learn to exercise them. Since she worked almost all her life she felt committed to a sense of professionalism for women as much as for men. In this connection, she is absolutely forthright. If asked to choose, she was of the view that she would prefer motherhood to professionalism. She left behind a daughter who now has put together some of her autobiographical writings and a few other selections from her other writings. Incidentally she was quite productive and published as many as nine books. One of them that she published for the NCERT was called The Romance of Teaching. Having said this, let some of her insights be quoted here: Life within the bureaucracy was neither a good berth as it was generally believed to be nor a bed of roses. If I had my life again, I never would join government service. It means a life of unredeemed mediocrity. Not till I retired from the Ministry of Education did really understand and enjoy education Good teaching is a composite of many things —knowledge, insight, the ability to communicate and simplify. No teacher gets bad students for, ultimately, all learning is a collaborative process. My only regret is that though I knew her reasonably well when she was in the Ministry of Education, I did not get to know to get her know better than I actually did. She was some one who thought for herself. There is great wisdom in this book and I would like to recommend it to every serious minded teacher, even others. |
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