“Happy new term ladies and gentlemen. I’m glad to see you around and sound. As we start this term, our employer has hired a new teacher of English and Literature, Madam Fatim for our school,’’ she shifted her gaze to where the said madam sat and continued, “feel welcome madam. I believe that the enormous workload in that subject will be a thing of the past. At the end of this meeting, I’ll hand you over to Sir Fazul as one of the teachers of the same combination to show you around.” Those were our Principal’s of Excellence remarks during the opening of term two staff meeting. I nodded.

Fatim was an outstanding lady that I fell in love with on the first sight. From her curriculum vitae, I had learnt that she was five years younger than me. She had attended a village primary school, Tasbih Primary School where she had emerged the best before joining the prestigious Aisha Girls’ High School. There, she fully blossomed. Her involvement in both curriculum and co-curriculum activities revealed an all-round lady who would not only help our school scale the heights of academics but also exploit its talents. Her national certificates in Drama and Music marketed her without a second thought. After excelling in secondary school, she had joined Iqra University. Her prowess was unraveled as she acquired the most coveted and envied First-Class Honors Degree from such a university that was and still is respected on the world stage for its standards. It was ISO certified! In addition, this was not a common fete especially with the Linguistic Majors. To her, I believe, the sky was not even the limit! She had simply conquered it!