What would I be if not a actor?

People often ask me,what would I have been,if I would not have been an actor!
For sure, I would have been still writing the log book in the engine room,of some oil-tanker,on the Pacific ocean,knee deep in oil and grease in the bilge or if given another chance,I would have been a teacher,as Trisha,a dear friend from Orkut, has very correctly pointed out!
Well.... in my student days,it all started,quite early, with the mandatory intention of earning pocket money,but soon I realized that teaching and imparting knowledge to a young mind is a rejuvenating experience and gave me immmense immense immense satisfaction!!
Since my first student,Samrat,a boy in the 8th grade, while I myself ,was a mere 10th grader and was waiting for my I.C.S.E. result…...all through my I.S.C exams and then my Marine Engineering Apprenticeship period at the Calcutta Docking& Engineering Works and Garden Reach Ship Builders..to the various trainings,classes,M.O.T. exams of D.G.shipping at M.M.D....till the time I joined Mobil Shipping as a 5th engineer,I had as many as 53 students,all of whom were more than my children!!Many of whom I fondly recollect! Many of them are well settled in and out of India now ,some of them have married…well..... makes me look like a very aged ‘mashtarmoshai’ doesn’t it?….But really if you cut the joke on me, short… time flies!!
Those 8-9 years as a private tutor,I came very close to the ridiculous educational system and some very dishonest teachers,at schools,who did absolutely nothing to earn their monthly salary!!
The real challenge was not only to guide the intelligent lot of students I had,but the real challenge was to make the not so gifted ones,a participant in the rat race! More often than not I had some amazing records of success to that, which easily made me one of the most popular tutors at that time…!
Teaching was all about friendship with my students....ofcourse i was very very very strict as far as not paying attention to studies went...but apart from that myself ,not being too old in their comparison,I was more of a big brother to them than a typical ‘notes shooting’, boring tutor!! Teaching was all about bonding with them,doing first things first…studying….but apart from that,we went to picnics,film shows..we had cricket matches....we had kabaddi matches....we flew kites...we went out to eat…i cooked for them...we did plays and other cultural events together…we went out during the Pujas together…my house was virtually their second abode!! Many of them still write to me that they had the best time of their lives with me…well even I did!!
Today I cringe to see the same old dishonesty in the approach of many teachers in or outside schools,dishonest students who are not directed properly,hopeless students who have fallen back in the rat race….i feel helpless…sad….as I am able to do nothing for them in tandem…my present scenario doesn’t allow me to!! Money was never an issue I ran after in life,it has always been “what my heart tells me to do and makes me search happiness”….and teaching was one such vocation I wish I had still pursued!
But that is not to be..as life has taken a complete u-turn into something, that has given me even more satisfaction, along with my share of trials and tribulations, more than what I bargained for…as an actor…!
to be cont'd..............