Now we have to show our eccentricities to all and sundry as per Sunday Scribblings!
Eccentricity to me means idiosyncrasy! Behaving oddly/out of norm/not conforming. To some extent, all of us are eccentric. At one point of time or other, we behave in variance to what is expected of us. At an oddity to ourselves. People who are closer to us sometimes are shaken out when we do not react the way we are assumed to knowing our nature.
I teach mathematics and occasionally science in a school catering to the so-called lower strata of the society. My appointment says teacher in mathematics. However, at times I wish to teach English to those students who do not know a word of English. That is just a minor aberration.
In India, teachers wear typical Indian clothes like sari or the salwar-kameez/churidar kurta. I do stick to that but I sometimes desire to shock my students by wearing outlandish dresses with knee-high boots/cowboy hats and darkest of glares with short spiked purple hair! I should not miss out the various body piercing or the metallic kaleidoscopic finger rings. What I would not give to see their faces just once. They do not expect that from their very proper staid teacher! They do not even know me to be crazy rock music fan. I look more of the classic type though my thoughts are in dissension with that.
In India, elephants and camels are normal sight on a road though not as common as cows! One of my secret wishes is to have a hippopotamus for a pet. I do not know when and why it came into my mind. I have had visions of myself walking the streets with a hippo in lease or maybe riding him. If not a hippo, at least I should own a rhinoceros.
So do you consider those eccentricities or normal? Alas, these are mere thoughts..:(
Click for more eccentric behaviour.....
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* Please don't forget to read and comment on my review of "The City of Angels" by John Berendt. It would be much appreciated.
47 comments:
I LOVE this about you! Eccentricities are the spice of life, they make us interesting and unique.
How fascinating you are. This was so fun to read. YES! Shock your students, if you don't then who will? Be that one teacher they had that showed them that there is more out there than what they see every day... show them that there is a whole great world of diversity out there... proud of you. Teachers are todays unsung heroes. Thank you.
So... you go to all the trouble to mention your hippo... but no name?
What would you call this lumbering pet if you ever got one?
See you soon,
Scarlett & Viaggiatore
What fun learning about these hidden idiosyncrisies. I'd love to hear about what happens when you dress up and shock your students :)
Not sure about the rhino, but yes, I can see that coming into school in an outrageous outfit (outrageous in context, that is) can be extremely tempting...
You're my kinda girl Gautami, I hate being predictable, I always like to surprise!
I think these eccentricities of yours are endearing. They're what make you unique instead of just a robot like every other robot.
This is such a great post!
You are hilarious!
What a fun teacher you must be!
And I would just LOVE to see a camel walking down the street! I'd most definitely bring THAT home for a pet!
A rhino huh! hmmmmm!
Oh! Man! Now, I see why I thought you were cool in the first place. I do similar things and I'm quite convinced that it helps students to enjoy their learning (and thus learn more effectively). By the way, I'm convinced of this because I do have some evidence. It isn't just 'cause I want to believe it (though I do that too).
fantasies!
A pet rhino. Priceless! How do you clean up after one of those?
scarlett: Pupil see teachers as some one who is a sour puss! I try to dispel that while teaching. I have a great rapport with my students.
Now naming a hippo is not difficult asnaming my lioness. I would call HIM hippoto! or hip in short!
becca: Me too..:D
space: yes!
lotus: I do shock my students at times!
dewey: I needed that!
bohemian mom: Do visit India. You can see camels, elephants and cows in the middle of the roads!
steve: why don't you gift me one?
bongo: cool? Me? hell no!
magic eyes: yup!
herb urban: Now I never gave cleaning any thought!!
While I do not teach, I am a sign language interpreter in a high school in the US. Reading your post, I think I would like to shock my students by wearing a sari! I could only imagine their faces...
Michelle sent me!
My son has had a lot of eccentric teachers. One insisted that squirrels were secretly planning to take over the world.
Ha-Ha! A terrific post, Gautami.
I'd love you to teach me some mathmathics - my weakest subject really. :-)
Believe it or not, Hippos kill more people in Africa than all other wild animals combined!
(except mosquitoes)
I know that they look rolly-polly and comical wiggling their little ears.
Many of us still think of the cute ballerina hippos in Disney's Fantasia but in reality they are cantakerous 2 ton SOBs that attack people on land and in boats.
This Tuesday the last two imported White Rhinos in Zambia were shot by poachers..very sad, but hey, the herbal medicine market in the Far East demands rhino horn for those 'horny' old men.
That drives me mad!
This is a great post. I don't think I will be posting this weekend because it's a very busy one.
I remember when I was teaching in the USA, a lot of teachers cultivated little eccentricities --maybe more like idiosyncracies, as you said. It doesn't seem quite so frequent in France.
Actually I probably will post. I just got an idea...
I wouldn't place them in either category. To me, it shows that you are an individual who is at peace with their own mind and doesn't always feel the need to conform.
Hi Gautami, I think that dressing up or down would be very interesting. Everyone longs to be who they are not who they have to be.
Rose
xo
LOL Confession, just 2 weeks ago, I walked into class with tattoes on my arms and shocked the heck out of my students! One said I just broke their stereotype.
I once had a bumper sticker that said, "Why Be Normal?" and I stuck it on upside down.
Elephants and camels on the road here would be quite an eccentric sight.
i love rhinos! i once watched a documentary about a woman caring for baby rhinos. they are so cute and sweet! i hope you get your funny funky pet some day!
It's so funny that you mentioned having a hippo or rhino as a pet because I was just at the zoo and taking many pictures of those two animals. They facinate me, although not as much as cows. I had a teacher that was a first year teacher at one point and she broke all the norm rules with her outfits. The next year she was dressed very normally for a teacher and after that she was gone. It made me very sad. That was in high school and she was more of a friend than a teacher (I didn't need teaching back then *I was smart* :) I have often wondered if you had to wear sari and about the classes in India but I thought it rude to ask. I wish I had a picture of how big I let the holes in my ear lobes get before I started to let them grow back. In my line of work it's okay. I can dress however I wish. You are such an interesting person, all this just adds to how amazing you are, although I supose in India it is very idiosyncranious. (I do know that I had to have spelled that wrong)
LOL. Loved this post. Being expected to behave in a certain way brings out that part of me that just longs for the "jaw-dropping" reaction that behaving totally out of character will achieve.
You are definitely eccentric. :)
My aunt has an obsession with pigs. She has pictures, books and loads of little porcelain and wooden models of the animal, both serious and funny.
My mother of course wants to own a tiger or leopard.
I'm happy with the smaller cats though I wouldn't mind a pet monkey.
Hee hee- maybe a baby hippo? A very fun post, Gautami- I never knew you had it in you!
As an eccentric it seems normal to me. ;-)
you are so cute! Love the hippo or Rhino for pets!
No, I dont' think you're normal, Definitely Eccentric and that's a good thing! :)
I loove your ideas for pets!
The outfit you describe to shock your students is great! And your pet...imagine dressing with the cowgirl outfit and bringing the hippo to school. ;)
Why be normal? I do know the answer to this, but sometimes, it seems that eccentricities are what it's all about!
What a fun post! I can just imagine what your students would say if they could see that side of you suddenly appear in their classroom!
Yes I can imagine that you might cause quite a stir if you can to school in such an outfit. I woudl love to be a fly on the wall if you did.
it would do the students good to see you live out those eccentricities!
Great post. No pot-bellied pig for you! A hippo. Perfect.
walk to your own drumbeat.
a hip pet hippo, heh. :D
gautami,
Thinking "outlandish" thoughts is normal I think. When you act out these thoughts you will be seen as eccentric. Send Pictures! ;-)
rel
Your wish for a hippopotamus reminds me of the humorous holiday song, "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas." You can see the lyrics at http://soe.hyperchat.com/newchat/u/lisanne/~soe/hippo.htm.
Thanks for sharing!
Go get that hippo!
A hippo for a pet would actually be very cool! Why not shock your students. Actually,perhaps they would not be as shocked as you think. Through your rapport you have with them they might already see that side of you indirectly.
A hippo for a pet - sounds fun! I think you are normal with a fun, wild, side. I suppose some people would think a hippo eccentric. But I think it sounds exciting!
A pet hippo? Interesting but cleaning up that sand box is going to be a major event of your day. But hey, I always wanted a pet penguin. Love the cute birds! Namaste.
Thank you for the blog that made me smile the most, I shall now always imagine your face as you joyously ride a hippo on the main streets of your home in India.
It's a wonderfully fun image to have!
Yes my dear I can see you now - riding your hippo down the streets while wearing an outlandish dress and what's this? yes, purple cowboy boots to match your hair.
Think you're marvelous,
Namaste,
Frances
thanks for this insight into who you are--and who you'd like to try out being... A rhino as a pet--with its big horn--you'd have no problems getting through the crowd
Hi Gaumtami! I'm looking forward to your being back in circulation -- I hope you are having a really good rest and hopefully fun too. I love what you wrote about eccentricities -- this is so great! What a brilliant picture you've created of yourself with purple hair and body piercings and walking a hippo down the street. Very cool!
Interesting! If practiced regularly, such actions turn from mere eccentricities into 'not-doings' – a term coined by the 'new seers' of the New World – a technique used to open the way to higher states of mind!?:)
I loved this insight on your personality. I am an Aries, too. I always am thinking of something outlandish to do like that, but usually just act a little off the wall and don't 'go for it'. Your students are lucky to have you.
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