Star Status

"ALWAYS give an autograph when somebody asks you." - Tommy Lasorda

I landed at the airport in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu and for a large part of the day I felt famous. The majority of my companions on the plane had been males, which I was used to since the ratio of men to women in Dubai is approximately 75 percent. I was dressed in the customary all-black uniform, a classic for traveling as I did not draw too much attention to myself and I would not reveal where I was from – at least not simply by sight. I did have on a Pashmina in several neutral tones, but other than that my costume included only my big, curly mane and dark sunglasses. I’d been advised to wear them if I tired of being stared at.

After I used the restroom in the airport, which was clean and orderly other than a few pesky mosquitoes, I walked out and retrieved my luggage from the lone baggage carousel. I walked outside and there was a “Welcome” sign, with my name in large capitol letters. I felt like a star. I gave the driver eye contact and a head nod and he pointed the way for me to meet him on the opposite side of the rope. When I did, with pride and confidence, he took my bags. He was clearly determined to be a gracious host to this outsider and visitor to his small, southern Indian town. From there, we drove on the Matt’s school.

Matt and I taught in Durham together and he was wrapping up a four-month stay in Sulur, in the southern Indian stat of Tamil Nadu.

After I arrived at the Kendriya Vidyalaya Air Force Station Sulur (Kendriya is Hindi for government, Vidyalaya is Hindi for school), we located Matt and he and I went inside. I was impressed by the energy of the school, with its various creative posters and children’s works hanging, and the students were impressed by me.

I went to class with Matt and all the students stared at me excitedly. Matt introduced me and they all said “good morning” or “good afternoon” (it was fairly close to noon, so which one was correct was certainly debatable). The students’ energy was earnest and immutable. Matt gave them permission to ask me questions and they did so with gusto.

“What is your full name ma’am?”
“How do you spell it ma’am?”
“Where are you from ma’am?”
“Which state ma’am?”
“What is our favorite food ma’am?”
“Where are your clothes from ma’am?”
“What subject do you teach ma’am?”
“What are your years experience teaching ma’am?”

…and so on and so forth.

It was one of Matt’s last days as his Fulbright Teacher Exchange was coming to a close, and he would return to Hillside New Tech in Durham after our excursion. He decided to take photos with his students and told them they could ask me any question they like as he did so.

I sat down next to one of the students on one of the benches. One student came over to me with a notebook and asked for my signature. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by students and their notebooks and their pens, and I was signing away. At the same time, the students continued to ask me questions, particularly the girls.

“Do you have any siblings ma’am?”

“Are you married ma’am?”
“No.” I responded with a smile. There was a brief pause, but a pause. Although most of them kept smiling, I could tell they were not sure what to think of that.

I continued to sign and then one of the girls asked for me to fill in her event journal; it was a bit more extensive than the former autographs. I did so, which took a few minutes. The other kids just waited with their pens and notebooks and stared admiringly. Soon, students wanted my phone number, address or email. I did manage to convince a few that it was easier to email than to phone, but some kids still insisted on a phone number. I, of course, obliged. The girls were so beautiful and the boys were so eager to impress and to learn, even the smallest details, it was hard to say no to them.

After that class, which lasted only 30 minutes, Matt and I went to the school canteen and had some tea, and then went to what he referred to as his “criminals” in training, a group of sixth graders. Although they were undoubtedly rowdier (there is a reason why I do not teach middle school) they were still cute. This time Matt introduced me and allowed the students to ask me a few questions then he engaged the kids in an intense round of silent Simon Says. It was a pleasure to watch the students, as equally enthusiastic and eager to please as the other class, although they did have that classic early-adolescent inability to control all of the impulses.

The rest of the visit to the school was similar to my experience with the first class. Most of the children in the school stared at me and waved, and said “good afternoon, ma’am.” A great number of them wanted to shake my hand, so at the end of both classes and occasionally in the hallway, I felt like Sarah Palin working the crowd at a McCain rally, using both hands at the same time to satiate her well-wishers.

I had little sleep as my first flight left Dubai around midnight, I spent the early morning in the Mumbai airport, awake, and then slept briefly on the flight from Mumbai to Coimbatore. I was wearing the same clothes I had worn when I left Dubai the night before, and had not yet had a chance to refresh myself. But the children did not care. I was one their famous visitors from the United States, and they treated me so until the last group of them embarked on the auto rickshaw to go home, from their exciting days at school.