A child participates in a fancy dress competition on Teachers’ Day at Sinthiya Lobo English School in Uzan Bazar on Wednesday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Sept. 5: Little Sushmita had the best day of her life today, dressed like a fairy with a flowing white robe and even holding a shiny wand. For the kindergarten student, school should have been like this every day.

Today, she had the luxury of living out her fantasy because it was Teachers’ Day and all the city schools held fancy dress competitions of sorts.

Tanvir Ahmed, another tiny tot, carried a big bouquet for his class teacher, who was all decked up for a day set aside for the teaching community as a mark of respect to Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan.

Though it is not an official holiday for the schools, no lessons were learnt as students greeted their teachers with flowers, cards and assorted gifts.

Very few students were dressed in their uniforms today.

“It is nice to sometimes get out of the uniforms and come to school in casuals,” said Anismita Sharma, a Class VIII student, who was dressed in a pink dress and matching pink boots. She also carried a bunch of pink roses for her favourite class teacher.

The florists had a field day as their business tripled.

A florist at Ulubari said he sold his entire stock of fresh flowers before noon. “I had been to school, too, but don’t remember Teachers’ Day being such a big, colourful affair. We wished our teachers and that was all,” said the florist, not regretting at all that times have changed since he was in school.

A teacher at an English-medium school said she was showered with flowers and cards.

“It feels nice to be pampered once in a while. Otherwise, teachers have a very thankless job,” she added.