respect to teacher

I am brought up in a culture where teachers are respected more than gods. This tradition of respecting the teachers who implant light of knowledge in our hearts dates back to the age old legends in the Indian scriptures. In all the schools and universities pupils are trained to respect and honor teachers and it is expected from them without any exception.

I was shocked once at the university here in Switzerland when a student from our project group sends a mail telling him to get the handouts for our presentation printed and to bring to the class. If it were in India, it is a justified reason to suspend the student. In India even when we ask a question to the professor we used to stand up in respect to him. Devotion to the teacher is considered as a proper attitude in India.

It is the country where the famous Guru Drona and his disciple Ekalavya lived. When Drona asked for Ekalavya’s thumb as a gift, ekalavya without hesitation cut his thumb off and gave him. Such is the respect and obedience to a teacher.

In another legend in Mahabharata Karna offered his lap for his Guru to sleep and while he was asleep, a Bee stung his thigh and bore the pain as he did not want to disturb his sleeping Guru. It bled profusely and he was in severe pain but he did suffer for Guru Bhakti which means respect for teacher.

With all these back ground when I see such an email, I wonder. “anbei schicken wir Ihnen unseren Handout. Wir bitte Sie es auszudrucken und es mitzubringen.”Another cultural shock. may be a teacher or a professor here in Europe is more a friend.