My New Home [Archives:2003/647/Education]

By Dr. N. Ramachandran Nair
Home is the heaven-haven of joy,
The abode of one's thoughts, dreams and acts,
It is God's glowing gift to man, lovely,
It is truly the shimmering world for man to spin his dreams.

A teacher is an alert learner in this home,
He is an untiring traveler, calm
Both in the realm of knowledge, forever
And in the corners of countries rare.

I in my quest for knowledge,
I in my zest for service,
Travelled long and wide
To be in the midst of the seekers of knowledge.

Planted in India in south-west Kerala, 'God's own land',
Prompted by grit and catapulted by luck,
Cambridge, London, Guelph, Toronto, Pennsylvania, New York,
Sydney, Tasmania, Hobart, Singapore,
Trivandrum, Mysore, Hyderabad, Mumbai,
Barada, Rajkot, New Delhi, Jammu, Jadavpur,
And such centers of learning, many more,
Became 'my home' in the pursuit of my search
And research to teach and reach
Countless willing learners. Boys and girls, sprightly,
Of diverse age and countries, eagerly
Enticed and enriched 'my home'.

Destiny knows no blinding bounds,
Circumstances combine to carve new riches.
Ah! fresh arenas for me to survey,
The traveler that I am enthused to purvey.

November 6, 2002, offered me a new ken,
I was dropped in Yemen; 'the cradle of Islam',
To 'cartograph' it, linger, live and dream,
Perchance, still more to labor, learn and enliven.

'Lorded' among my new-found children, brim
In a flash full, Sana'a 'fluttered and danced before me'.
Amran, lapped by the uneasy mountains,
Like the hump of camels with reserves of energy,
I, moved by my eager pupils' dear concerns,
Nourished by my wife and daughters and friends
In my journey to the heart of Yemen,
In a trice, found it be 'my new home' to pen,
A radiant heart of light.

Dr. Ramachandran Nair is an Associate Professor, Department of English, Faculty of Education, Amran, Sana'a University. He was formerly Professor & Head of Department of English & Director, Center for Canadian Studies, Calicut, Kerala, India.
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