The unexpected pleasure that is teaching

I have now been a teacher/tutor for nearly 6 years. Well, if i count all the years when i have helped my classmates or my sisters with some of their difficulties in math, it would probably go a little longer than that. And during all these years, i have certainly experienced very different kinds of emotions.
By and large, i now regard teaching as something that earns me my bread. I remember how i would come back after teaching feeling exhausted and also a little dejected because in the very first quarter of teaching when i did so from 2:30-4:30 in the afternoon, i had noticed a lot of students simply not interested in what was going on. The cultural difference accounted largely for the difference between a classroom environment in India and one here in the US. and oftentimes i would come out with a feeling," why in heaven's name am i sweating it out for these dumb-heads anyways?! I have better things i could be doing!"
Soon, a sort of phlegmatic attitude arose since the dejection of teaching began to affect my overall mood. I then viewed the act of teaching as something i needed to do to get my income and that it was going to be something i did for that period of 48 minutes, thats all!
but such an attitude usually takes out any energy or enthusiasm you might have for teaching. so all i did was this: i always imagined that i was an interested student sitting in the audience and so all i wanted to do was teach that version of me !
teaching as such is an art; there is no denying it. and my mom has always been a very energetic and passionate teacher. my mom also tells me that my dad loves to teach too, so i guess it is there to some extent in my genes too. so if i have the enthusiasm to teach, i guess i could be a reasonably good teacher. usually you don't get anything out of it except that you wish to see the student evaluation forms showing you in slightly good light. that is the only thing you get to take back with you.
But there have been a few occasions when some there is evidence that you have somehow touched some students' lives and when that comes to your notice, it somehow makes up for all the displeasure associated with the profession.
I have had 5 such instances. i'll describe them in chronological order.
The first time was while i was waiting at the airport and this girl came up to me asking me if i would mind filling out a questionnaire for god-knows-what. since i had nothing better to do and the girl seemed a pretty attractive looking one, i okay-ed. after the questionnaire was complete, she thanked me again for taking out some time from my "busy schedule" (god, how little they know me!) and helping out with the form. All part of the usual, but then she thanked me further for all the help i had given her in the tutor room. apparently, she was a regular student in the tutor room and that i had on several occasions helped her complete her homework or whatever! i just didn't even remember her face! i had no idea, she'd be thankful for it at all!
the second instance came literally on the street. i was out to the grocery store and one guy called me by name. i, naturally surprised, turned to see this bearded chap standing and giving me a friendly smile. i greeted him and then he introduced himself as a former student of mine, now working somewhere in Columbus. i unfortunately didn't place him properly, told him that and apologized for the same. he told me that in all his years of college life at Ohio State, the TA hours for Math 151 with me were his most enjoyable ones and that he had always hoped to get me as a TA for another course, which didn't happen anyway.
the third case is probably the most long-lasting one. this was a student of mine who was also the best student in the class and seemed reasonably smart. He later came to my office in a subsequent quarter and asked me if i could help him out on some problem in a different course. soon he came to me with lot more questions and then the questions changed from particular problems to general math and then general stuff, philosophy, music, politics and so on; he is still a pretty good friend of mine. and he changed his major from engineering to math and is now looking to a masters degree in applied stat.
the fourth instance was brought to my attention through this guy. he once asked me suddenly if i remembered a particular name and a student by that name. of course, i couldn't. it turns out that my former student and friend met this guy in some orientation program somewhere in the university and that this guy too was a math major student applying for a masters program elsewhere. everyone there was apparently asked if they had any particular role model or someone who motivated them in any specific way. both these guys had mentioned my name and named me as a reason for changing their majors to math!
and the last instance came in the form of a thank you e-mail today. this guy says that he intends to be a professor one day and that he considers me as a major role model in that direction.
It might appear to be an instance of me blowing my own trumpet on my supposedly superior teaching abilities though that is not at all what i wish to emphasize upon. all these instances have only made me feel incredibly elated that i have in some way or other managed to touch some of my students in some way. maybe i might not be an academic at all. but the joy that these little bits of revelation bring about is something that cannot be conveyed in words. They have also made me feel a little more humble and respectful of the truly great teachers of all time, and the indeed noble profession that is teaching.