the first teacher

This Wednesday, 29 July, is Guru Purnima — the full moon of Ashadha, kept for teachers for as long as anyone can establish, because it was first kept for Vyasa: the compiler of the Vedas, the teller of the Mahabharata, the tradition's original teacher of teachers.

The custom is simple and has survived everything. On this moon, you turn toward whoever carried you from not-knowing to knowing, and you bow — literally or otherwise.

Bring it to the table this week, ahead of Wednesday — who taught you the most? it doesn't have to be someone from school. The grandmother who taught the fish-shaped roti. The friend who ran alongside the cycle. The uncle who taught patience, chiefly by having none. Children discover their teachers were everywhere; adults rediscover the same.

And if there is a grandparent in your family who was somebody's first teacher — of knots, of cooking, of reading, of holding a pencil — this is a good card to send them, with nothing added.

No gift is needed on Wednesday. Naming them is the offering.