“Meet the ‘angry old lady’ of the school but stay away from her as much as you can. Nobody is spared from her wrath!” whispered Sara in my ear as we walked pass an empty secondary class where an old but robust lady was sitting on a chair and going through a notebook with a pile of other notebooks in front of her on the desk.

Sara was my friend from the new neighbourhood we recently relocated to and she studied in this school. She was the one who insisted that I enrol in her school. I was excited as it was my first day and she was telling me about all the teachers and the toppers of the school.

“But why?” I asked.

“Why? Because you will never see her smile ... I can bet on that. You won’t even find her smiling in the parties or festivals. I wonder how her students can bear her!” Sara said carelessly. “But I am glad at least she won’t be teaching us for one more year, we are in seventh and she teaches English to grade eight till Matric,” added Sara.

Didn’t getting the answer for my question I asked again, “Why do you call her ‘angry lady’? What is her actual name?”

“Mrs Hameed. Well, she looks angrily to everyone, so that’s why. Okay, let me tell you, one day, Kiran (our class fellow) went to ask about one of our subject teachers, and she scolded her for entering the room without asking her permission.”

“So, is it wrong?” I asked.

“Well, she could have answered politely. Poor Kiran cried!” said Sara disapprovingly.

“But the teacher was not wrong,” I insisted.

“The other day, there were some kids playing and she just came out and scolded them. The kids were playing and of course there will be noise. It was their free period. She told them to go away ... she never speaks or smiles to anyone. I can’t give you all the examples. You will see yourself when you get a good scolding....” her sentence remained unfinished as we heard the bell rang for the next class.

I wondered how could the kids just assume she was an angry lady, was that all because of her serious expressions? I remembered one of my father’s friend, who had this angry expression on his face but when he talked to us, we found him to be the humblest person on earth.

The days went by normally. I had made a lot of new friends and enjoyed the school very much. But whenever I passed through the corridors of school and peeked inside the staff room, I saw Mrs Hameed engrossed in her thoughts, writing something or sometimes listening to her colleagues’ stories.

I never feared her like other kids did. She seemed nice to me. I never got any chance to meet or talk to her, but I craved to meet her. My wish was fulfilled when one day, one of our subject teachers didn’t turn up and Mrs Hameed was sent as a replacement. I was excited, but the class was nervous.

So when she entered the room, the class observed pin-dropped silence. She politely told us that this was not going to be a regular class, instead a leisure class under her supervision. The class acted dumb. Then she asked to introduce ourselves to her and tell her about our interests.

One by one everyone introduced themselves. She remained composed and kept listening to all with full interest. I saw Sara embarrassed as she realised her wrong judgement of such a nice teacher. When it was my turn, I told her about my relocation in the area and how I got admission in the school.

She took a lot of interest in us and kept talking about our interests and hobbies. We had a lot of fun. Nobody expected Mrs Hameed to be such a humble lady. As the atmosphere of the class was friendly, I took the liberty of asking her about herself. Her expression changed suddenly from smiling to sombre. I apologised embarrassingly.

But she passed a smiled and the next thing she told us was shocking. “My daughter would have been your age if she had not passed away a few years ago due to a serious stomach ailment ... but yes, she loved arts and like you all she loved trendy gadgets ....” the bell for the next period rang leaving her sentence incomplete.

She got up, taking her purse, and said, “So class, I really enjoyed talking to you all. Promise me that you keep your interests and hobbies always alive and your studies as the top priority!” We vowed.

The whole class was in shock. I looked at Sara, she was as numb as I was. That was the moment of realisation — for all of us. How easily we give judgements on others’ looks and behaviour without knowing about their background. Mrs Hameed was our teacher and the kids didn’t even spare such an honourable person from passing their judgement.

Ask yourself kids, how many times have you passed judgement on your teachers? Respect your teachers, and give them love and honour they deserve.

Published in Dawn, Young World September 30th, 2017