“And She Called Me Sir”
And She Called Me Sir
It was past 10 PM. The last train to Hyderabad was delayed. I stood alone on the quiet platform, holding a small box of sweets — a farewell gift from my students. The air was damp with drizzle and memory.
Fifteen years of teaching had passed. Some students remembered me. Some forgot. I had made peace with that.
As I waited, my eyes fell on a girl sitting alone on the bench across. She looked around 17. Drenched. Clutching a notebook like her life depended on it.
I noticed the way she kept glancing at me. Not fearfully — but as if… searching for something.
Curious, I walked over and asked gently,
“Waiting for someone?”
She looked at me for a long second and nodded.
“Yes, Sir. For you.”
I was taken aback.
Before I could ask more, she continued:
“You may not remember me. Three years ago, I was just another silent girl in Class 8. I barely spoke. I sat in the last row. I was broken… inside and out. Most teachers ignored me. But you... you once paused in the corridor, handed me a small storybook and said, ‘I think you’ll like this. There’s a quiet girl in here who turns out to be the bravest.’”
“I didn’t read it that day. But I kept it. That sentence… kept me going. It made me feel seen.”
Tears welled up in my eyes. I struggled to recall her face. So many students… so many years. But her words… her words dug deep.
She smiled through her tears.
“Today, I’m leaving to join a journalism course. I want to give voice to others like me — unheard, unseen.”
“But before that… I just wanted to find you… and say… thank you.”
“Because you didn’t just give me a book. You gave me back my belief.”
The train arrived.
She picked up her bag, bowed her head slightly and said, “Goodbye, Sir.”
And then she was gone.
I stood there frozen — the platform suddenly felt less empty.
I didn’t change the world. I didn’t even remember the moment she held on to for years.
But she did.
And that’s the truth every teacher forgets in the weight of daily duties:
Even a single moment of kindness can become someone’s turning point.
Moral
You may not remember the day you changed a life.
But for someone out there, that moment lives forever.
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