Pritam Benjamin I grew up at a time when power was a synonym for energy and strength, not dominance. It had to do with having, giving, and taking strength; academic, mental, and moral from someone who had it in greater measure than oneself. I grew as a teacher in a time when the meaning of power took on the hues of authority, of control and of being in charge. Nothing wrong here, except that it brought complications into relationships and interaction. Semantics apart, power can be exercised, felt, used, misused, and over-used in every walk of life. Rewind to a time, in India, not so long ago, when almost every teacher was empowered by state, society, religion, parents and students to teach, to mould, to nurture, and dole out what wisdom she had accrued in her experience and education. Guru was next, after God. Submit, accept, and revere was the simple code which defined the teacher-student relationship. Fast forward to the present, where the students are in the classroom not only by privilege and duty, but also by right. The point I make here is that a learned teacher is still a valued teacher, but his job is to see that children or learners go from step to step up the school ladder, after which they are pushed out into the precarious business of living. Living in a world of greater complexity than ever before, how much more magnified is a teacher’s task and role! In the current scenario, children lead very complicated and complex lives. Too early, their problems at home and at school make children clamour for attention, in their need for recognition and reassurance that they matter. The teacher’s profile has changed too. She has more to cope with, to be responsible for, and to struggle with. This is not to deny that teaching can and must still be a vocation that is a noble process of giving children what she knows and what they need in terms of learning and living. She must stay focused on the outcomes of her teaching, demonstrating and handling situations that are complex and draining on her emotional energy. She must also keep learning! Classroom management has happily replaced the term “class discipline” in many progressive educational environments. Posing bigger challenges today than in the past, most experts agree it is a timely acceptance that it is not just status quo a teacher requires in her classroom, but a set of coping mechanisms that include her