We have been hearing good things about Swaroop Rawal (nee Sampat) who was recently seen playing a mother’s role in the film ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’. Swaroop, who’s an educator, has been teaching life skills to thousands of children from all social strata across India (though she is herself based at the Lavad Primary School in Gujarat). For her innovative methods and successful approach she was shortlisted among the top 10 finalists for the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize 2019. After spending decades as an actress in Bollywood and on TV, Swaroop completed her Phd in education from the University of Worcester, UK, in 2006 and embarked on a successful career in education. Swaroop’s methods to equip children become emotionally strong include drama, group discussions, brainstorming, debates, games and drawing among other techniques. As someone who is the wife of film actor Paresh Rawal, Swaroop’s heart, it seems essentially lies in pedagogy. As she says about the recent nomination: “I understand that I still have to reach billions of kids. I have promises to keep and miles to go before I can sleep.” Somewhere along the way this actress amazingly managed to reinvent herself into a teacher. We remember watching her, as a pre-teen ourselves, in the early 1980’s sitcom ‘Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi’ and what a rip-roaring show it was! Playing the sensible and earthy wife of the late Shafi Inamdar, Swaroop ensured for an entirely howlarious time along with her co-stars who included Satish Shah, Tiku Talsania, the late Sulabha Arya and Rakesh Bedi. Evening after evening our clan was regaled by the antics of the Verma family and it remains one of our precious memories of that period. So thank you for Swaroop, for not just entertaining but, more importantly for devoting your life to education.