Assistant Professor and TEFL-certified teacher from the Central University of Chhattisgarh willing to give lessons of language, literature, and life to anyone who loves and lives to learn...

Find out more about Dr Vikas

• Tell us more about your subject. How did you develop an interest in this field?

  I can say that I didn't choose English but English chose me to become a teacher of it. I was not the brightest student in my class but somehow I had a firm knowledge of programming languages, philosophy and English. As the SSC exam went by I realised that it was time I chose something for myself (perhaps my first and the most difficult choice). I had always had a bad time learning Mathematics which automatically shut the doors for choosing Maths and Commerce as my +2 subjects and Science too involved Physics which would drag me back into calculations. I didn't have much of a choice then, Arts it was. Once into it, I realised I was perhaps meant for it. I ranked in my HSC and was felicitated with a Gold Medal in my graduation, maybe English loved me more than programming and philosophy did (or even more than I loved English) and the graph of progress never went down since then.

• What or who is the motivation behind you choosing to teach & why?

  It feels like teaching is something that pacifies me like a saint is pacified after a deliberation on life's greatest secrets. My profession satisfies me. The happiness on the students' faces, the smiles I see when they enjoy the class, the laughter we have when there is a joke cracked in the class seem like gifts of this profession. Who would not want a profession with so many gifts?

• How does your work help society?

  Engineers build the future, Doctors save lives, Lawyers make justice prevail and Businessmen run the economy, but we teachers help them become what they are.

• If you had to think of a role model for your work, who do you think of & why?

  Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. The reason is simply because he had the blessing of having his last breath used in doing what he loved most: Teaching.

• Tell us about your hobbies outside teaching.

  I like playing Cricket, Basketball, Boxing and Swimming. I am also fond of Poker and love reading and composing poetry. I have a lot of poems on my Facebook timeline and many more in my notes.

• Do you have an anecdote to tell us about your student or professional life?

  Actually yes! I first realised that I can teach in 11th standard when one of our teachers tried to embarrass me by asking me to explain the Continental Drift Theory. Somehow I explained it so well to my fellow mates that they couldn't resist applauding for me, which struck our teacher dumb. I realised my potential of teaching and also the possibility of it being my future. I think the cosmos works this way, what is best for you comes to you one or the other way. You just need to realize it in time.