*

There was a young girl called Ritu

Who knew just what she should do

She wanted to teach

Her goal she did reach

After making a stop or two!

*

At 7, my mind was made up. I wanted to be a teacher.

What a fantastic job, surrounded by kids, and paid to be with them!

I spent all my teenage years gearing up for this career, acting as a makeshift teacher/babysitter at all the family functions, and believe me, with the size of my family, there were plenty!

I got the grades and started my degree at Kingston University. Four years of educational theory, throw in some English and Drama as my subject specialism, with a soupcon of Art, and a large portion of teaching practice, and I should have been totally prepared.

But I wasn’t.

In the third year, it hit me that, what with this new National Curriculum, teaching wasn’t really teaching anymore. It was ticking boxes and ensuring all the Government wanted was covered, whether it was for the good of the children, or not. Teaching was no longer about the kids. It was all target driven drivel.

I was so disheartened, that I remember speaking to my mother on the phone, telling her I didn’t want to teach if it was going to be like this. She convinced me to at least finish my degree, and we could see what to do after.

So I did. Half-heartedly, I limped past the finish line with a degree in my hand. Not the best results, but I was a qualified teacher nonetheless.

During my last year, I met with who I now call Hubby Dearest. In the throes of early love, we didn’t want to be apart, and so a few months after qualifying, I ended up moving back from my home in Birmingham, to Kingston.

I had decided not to find my first teaching job as I hadn’t known where I would end up geographically at the time, so it was necessary to find a job to support myself as a newly moved out young woman.

Cue my entry into the working world for the first time!

I somehow bagged a job in a small designer boutique in the centre of Kingston-Upon-Thames, called Bizoo. It was run by a girl called Zoe, who told me I reminded her of a younger her… funny, as I was at least 2 years older than her!

Now this shop, sorry boutique, was something her Daddy had bought for her, as she really wanted her own fashion shop. They were a very wealthy family. She was half Indian, and half English, and engaged to a lovely guy from some Middle Eastern country. And the funny thing is, that once my parents came to visit, and Zoe’s parents were there. In conversation, we learned that her father was also from Kenya, and he actually knew my mum’s family!

The boutique was frequented by a select number of wealthy clients on a regular basis, and then you had the window shoppers, or those that came to look, but would never be able to afford the items of clothing on sale there.

Honestly, we could have filmed a reality show in this place! There was the rich bored housewife, who would pop in for a coffee, (I learned how to make cappuccinos with hand whipped milk!), a cigarette (it was before the smoking bans, so Zoe allowed her clients to puff away in the shop!) and a gossip, and threw in some shopping too! If she timed it correctly, Zoe would order for lunch and we’d have her and her clients dining in the middle of the shop as the other customers browsed! We would have a local restaurant coming in with the dishes, and serving them there!

Then there was a young Landan gal lawyer who dun good, with her boyfriend who was training to be a Hackney cab driver, doing The Knowledge. They had various relationship issues and we would be the listening ears for either of them when things were going up and down!

Then there was the Gypsy mum and her two daughters named something like Chelsea and Tuesday. Chelsea with a figure to die for, but severe acne, and Tuesday, a little plumper, who came to comment on all the outfits her sister tried! They made a lot of money when they sold a plot of land near Heathrow, where the powers that be wanted to build the new Terminal 5. I remember one day when the mum came in to settle her £200 balance… with £1 coins! “Sorry love, I didn’t have the cash on me so I emptied one of my husband’s machines before coming!” Guess which muggins had to drag that lot to the bank, after counting it?!

I’ll never forget an elderly regular client who came in and decided she fancied these electric blue Fendi jeans. She was a lovely lady, just slightly portly, and short, so any of these designer trousers needed 2 feet chopped off for them to fit her. She wanted to see the colour ‘properly’ so came out of the changing room, jeans in hand, nothing on her bottom half, and waddled to the shop front door! It was like seeing two doner kebabs walking! Oh my!

I got to wear amazing expensive clothes as a uniform, went to fashion shows, and met some fascinating people, but it was never going to be a career choice for me. I was addressed as the Assistant Manager, but I was never going to go any further up the hierarchy, so nine months after my retail initiation, I left.

No job for around three months. I looked hard, but nothing really appealed to me, then I decided to try applying for a banking position in Barclays Bank. I’m not the hottest mathematician, but I can count, and I am great at customer service, so suddenly I found myself as a cashier in the Kingston-Upon-Thames branch.

I spent a year and a half here, loving each moment, being able to speak to so many interesting folk as they came in. I remember a man coming in as we were about to close with a briefcase full of cash, as he had just sold his yacht (as you do!) and we had to all count these notes as fast as we could! There was a lovely elderly gentleman who would come in, each week, to cash a cheque. A fine, dapper man, he was, who loved to sign his cheques, cherishing his independence. I served him until his Parkinsons meant that he couldn’t sign his cheques anymore.

I even got to meet John Altman, the actor who played Nasty Nick Cotton in Eastenders. He would ride his bike from Richmond into Kingston every few weeks to visit our branch!

And there was Jane, the transexual, who rode into town wearing her red skirt suit!

One thing I hated about the bank was that there was a pressure on you, even at the tills, to sell products. You had targets to get a certain number of people signed up for credit cards, loans or mortgages… And all I saw was people being dragged deeper into debt.

I had been back in Kingston for over 2 years and we were no closer to having set a wedding date. By this time we were officially engaged, so the next obvious step was marriage. I took a big step, handed in my notice, and moved back to Birmingham. Well, they do say absence makes the heart grow fonder!

It worked!

Within 2 months of me being back home, we had set a date for the following year.

But I couldn’t sit doing nothing for 14 months! So I applied for a job at one of the numerous branches of Barclays around our area, and I got a position in a small but very busy Islamic area called Sparkbrook. Again, I had an interesting time, with lovely boss here, and some wonderful regular customers!

I was off sick one day, that was the day the Twin Towers were hit in New York. Coming back into the banking world, it was a changed atmosphere. Suddenly all Muslims were being looked at with suspicion. We had to question almost everyone about every transaction. Then there was a bank raid one day too!

But I made some good contacts there who helped us out with cost price services, like Marquee hire, for our wedding! I was destined to leave banking then, to marry and move three hours further afield…

Once married, I took some time out to adjust to living with a new family in a totally new part of the country. It was good to not have to rush to work every morning but I was not going to be a Lady of Leisure forever. Teaching had lost its shine, and to be honest, I was a little afraid to even contemplate going back to a school, so I signed up to some agencies, and one got me a temporary contract at a Direct Marketing company. Nine weeks of trying to fix appointments for Nescafe reps to sell coffee machines to small businesses. In this time I realised that selling was not for me, but I loved the atmosphere of the company, and lucky for me, they liked me, so much so that they took me on permanently.

This was the start of nine years working on the inbound helplines for Nestle, Kellogs, United Biscuits and General Mills. I worked in a small team of 5, where we answered calls, took in complaints, and helped with all manner of queries for all these businesses. The company I worked for was also a publishing house, and the editors were forever getting wonderful samples of products for us to sample. You see it was a totally foody company, catering and public house magazines, events geared around the food industry, and we were also the membership centre for the Craft Guild Of Chefs!

I really enjoyed this job, but as motherhood happened, the needs of my kids took precedence. Lil Man was 5 and he needed me to be available to him more so I tried to adjust my hours. The company couldn’t accommodate so I found myself without a job… again. But the three months I spent at home then were priceless. I was able to potty train Lil Princess, wean her off her bottle, start her in a nursery, work more with Lil Man, and generally be the mum I wanted to be. It was on the day of the royal wedding (Prince Will to the now Duchess) that my grandmother -in-law was taken ill, admitted to hospital. We watched the ‘kiss’ over her bed on a small hospital bed screen.

She was on the last stretch of her life, and me being at home meant I could be there for her, my in-laws, and my husband, at a really tough time. When she passed away, it was hard. She had been a dementia patient, and fought with all the family, but had a soft spot for me. Mitu, she used to call me…

But life goes on, and one day one of the school mums mentioned to me that there were a couple of positions going at the school for Bi-Lingual Teaching Assistants. They were temporary, but the hours would suit with children. And to my surprise, I got the job! (Why it was a surprise, I don’t know, they were getting a qualified teacher for TA money!)

So, tentatively, after over ten years away, I stepped into a school as a member of staff.

It was not an easy job. I remember coming home exhausted every night, physically, mentally and emotionally. But I could see I was making a difference to these children, and slowly, that little ember which had been burning away deep inside me, suddenly caught light fully. This was what I wanted. To teach. I loved being a Teaching Assistant, but I wanted more!

Luckily I have a very supportive head who helped me get back into the teaching loop, and when a position came up, she approached me first.

This is how I ended up finally in the job of my dreams, teaching my darling nursery class. Two years in and I am absolutely loving it, wishing I had done this sooner, but at the same time, not regretting the route that I took. I learned so much from all the other jobs and situations I found myself in.

I wonder, had I gone into teaching initially, would I still be there? Many who qualified with me started teaching, and within a couple of years, left due to the pressure of the job, and stress. And looking at the Newly Qualified Teachers now, I feel for them. They are young, and it is extremely hard to get the work/life balance correct at the beginning of teaching. You see many young teachers dropping out after three or four years, or sooner. I think maybe, that could have been me, had I started teaching straight away.

But now, going into this job as a more mature adult, I am stronger, more capable of dealing with stress, and more hard skinned.

I am finally doing what I love. For me, teaching is not a career, it is a vocation, and I feel blessed to have the opportunity to touch the lives of so many children, at an impressionable age. I hope whatever I do with them will stay with them through life, and they will look back on Nursery fondly, remembering that slightly bonkers teacher, Mrs Bhathal, who helped to show them learning is fun!

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About the author

Ritu Bhathal was born in Birmingham in the mid-1970’s to migrant parents, hailing from Kenya but with Indian origin. This colourful background has been a constant source of inspiration to her.
From childhood, she always enjoyed reading. This love of books is mostly credited to her mother.
The joy of reading spurred her on to become creative in her own writing, from fiction to poetry. Winning little writing competitions at school and locally gave her the encouragement to continue writing.
As a wife, mother, daughter, sister, and teacher, she has drawn on inspiration from many avenues to create the poems that she writes.
A qualified teacher, having studied at Kingston University, she now deals with classes of children as a sideline to her writing!
Ritu also writes a blog, a mixture of life and creativity, thoughts and opinions, which recently was awarded second place in the Best Overall Blog Category at the Annual Bloggers Bash Awards.
Ritu is happily married, and living in Kent, with her Hubby Dearest, and two children, not forgetting the furbaby Sonu Singh.
She is currently working on some short stories, and a novel, to be published in the near future.

Read Wedded Stress online

Poetic RITUals

Delve into a book of verse exploring different topics and different genres, all with a RITUal twist.
A collection of poetry drawing on the experiences of the writer, ranging from matters of the heart, love for the family, situations in life and some verses written with a humorous twist.

Available via Amazon UK, Amazon.com and worldwide.

“It is really great to open a book and be surprised in every good way by the contents. I read through the poems at one sitting, delighted with each one to the next. They reminded me in some ways of Pam Ayres work; witty, funny, poignant, some slightly tongue-in-cheek.” Wendy Unsworth

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