Smile Your Way!

We had the Parent-Teacher Meeting yesterday. As an Exam secretary, i had to present the result analysis of year 2011 and seriously, i was nervous. We hadn't had colourful results for quite a time but parents here are mostly villagers and they wont complain much if their children made through to the next higher grade. I had wanted to make comparative analysis of the results but i had thought that it would push my audience to boredom. Despite, i was never good at statistical skills. So i tell them simple figures of passed and failed students and conclude it with a 'Kadrinche'. Round of applaud. I smiled at them more graciously than ever!
Infact most people succumb to 'smiles' and wouldn't even bother to question your faulty presentation if you put up a lengthy smile at the end. I always associate myself with 'smile'. No wonder i can still manage to smile even during unholy adrenaline rush. That is enviable huh?:)
With my fifth grade students, i smile when i pull their ears. I usually stop pulling their ears till i can no further twist my smile to any eligible length! Afterall, smiles do have limits. There are times when students put up those silly smiles after they have deliberately not done their homework. Those are awful times. You need to call upon all the heavenly souls to shower you with patience to handle such cases. In my high school days(at Drukgyel HSS), i fondly remember being taught by an Indian Geography teacher. A senior teacher he was and quite formidable! If you accidentally smiled at the nostalgic thoughts of your own fantasy during his class, he would come to your desk stealthily, and in a lightning like speed, hit on your head with his knuckles. That would sound like a tiny thunder on your head! "Smiling huh?!", he would grin at you. In the same School we had a warden, a Dzongkha lopen he was. Well, wardens were never cool during our times. If you were late during the rising bell, he would come to your room with faint mutter of morning prayers on his lips. He would smile at you, "he he", smile again, "he he" and whoops, a bang on your cheek with his palm! We called him Azha Maarp after those infamous slaps.
Honestly, as a teacher it is a good thing to smile. I cane my students(sometimes only!Excuse me!!) but i smile as large smile as possible. They wont take it to thier hearts and keep grudges.:).
I even smile at Choden when her curries aint that palatable as usual. During such heightened times, i let go it with a tiny smiles in between before i hurl my plate into the kitchen sink!
Now fellas, promise me that you wont show me your germ-infested teeth without a smile? Will you? :))