Monday, September 06, 2010

Sahi Sikhaaya ... !!

I think Teacher's Day might be the least celebrated of all special days. Or ... maybe thats relative ... some people attribute a lot of importance to this day and why not? It makes perfect sense to raise a toast to some of the most influential people in one's life ...

I too have been blessed with the presence of such individuals in my life and I found it pretty strange that I have never looked at this day as a special one ... no wonder people call me emotionless ... dratch ...

I started my education at St. Mary's ... not the popular school (with pretty girls :)) but it caters more to aspirants who want to become teachers ... so how did I start at such a place? These aspirants were our teachers ... they were first taught to handle 3-4 year olds and then graduate to higher grade classes ... what's the logic? It should be easier to harder isnt it? :P

Anyway ... I dont remember any specific teacher from St. Mary's but there was one who taught me how to play on the swings and see-saws ... I just have a vague memory of how she looked but nothing else ...

I moved to that beauty of a place called Bishop's High School ... a stone's thrown away from St. Mary's ... an all Boys school (it has changed now to Co-ED ... dratch) ... a place ruled by the canny Mr.B.W.Roberts who taught us to BE THOROUGH (the school motto or tagline) and a place where I met the most amazing teachers ...

Started off with the cute Miss Fernandes in KG ... she was perfect for Kindergarten kids ... curly locks and not too strict ...

I met her polar opposite in Miss Pathak (most of ladies in Bishop's were unmarried ... not sure of the logic) ... a strict middle aged spectacled women ... she knew when to crack the whip ... Standard 1 helped me realise that everything in life is not cute like Miss Fernandes ... :)

Standard 2 threw up a very different kind of teacher in Mrs. Pope ... she was 4 feet 5 inches in height married to a 6 feet 2 inches Mr. Pope ... the Bishop's version of the Bachchans ... she was very affable and not too strict ...

I was then the student of my favorite teacher till date ... Mrs Daniels ... she was the one who convinced me to work harder and come up the ranks ... improved my hand writing ... she made us participate in Art related activities like painting or carving ... she even made me correct books of classmates ... come on ... Mrs Daniels was also beautiful ... I dont know if I had the senses to identify what 'Beautiful' meant in 1990 ... but I would say she was good to look at ... :)

It was Mrs Desilva in 4th ... again a middle aged grumpy lady ... she was always on collision course with Mrs. Daniels ... they kind of didnt get along ... Mrs. Desilva too wanted me to correct books of my class mates and Mrs Daniels had come to know about this and she had given me quite a verbal pasting that I should discontinue with it ... but at that time I kind of didnt know what to do ... :P

In between, we had subject teachers too ... like the so called aunty teachers in Mrs Singh and Mrs. Randhawa who taught us Hindi ... the irresistibly knowledgeable Mrs Sharabali ... and the effervescent Mrs. Forester ... the most bizarre teacher I have ever seen ... in a cute way ... it was as if she had grown old entirely in Bishop's ...

It is a big transition from 4th to 5th ... the Building changes ... we were now in Middle school from Junior school ... and who better to welcome us than Mr. Baskaran ... the man with the swagger and a unique way of teaching and talking ... a heavy South Indian accent ... we were also introduced to caning by him ... and he taught us Science of all subjects ... goodness gracious ...

We had 2 class teachers in 6th ... Mrs. Highland and Mr. Dolas. Mrs Highland was quite a practical lady. She went about her job in her own way which was quite professional. She was also a pretty lady and she was a perfect foil to Mr. Highland who taught Chemistry in Senior School ... she taught us Geography ... she went away midway to be with Mr Highland abroad and was replaced by Mr. Dolas ... a person capable enough of being the school Hitler ... anything was possible for him using his cane ... his slaps ... Gawd ... he also thought of himself of being the school hunk ... forever displaying his charisma (or trying to) to the lady teachers ... but he was not bad at heart ... taught us History ...

Enter the joker ... Mr. Chavan ... the bald headed, duck-walking, India-loving Hindi teacher who was our class teacher in 7th ... he corrected papers just by looking at the name of the person ... if its some one whom he liked ... it would be 8/10 ... else 4/10 ... end of story ... he wrote the most compelling patriotic songs during the School Concert ...

We were now in Senior School ... and we had to start wearing trousers instead of shorts ... Chemistry, Biology and Physics made an entry ... and Mrs Girija was the perfect teacher to not start off our Senior life :P ... she had strange habits ... she kept chewing something ... people said it was Tobacco ... I would say you need guts as a teacher to be chewing tobacco in Bishop's ... she kept shaking her legs vigorously when seated ... and lets not even get into the explanation ... she taught us Physics ...

Then it was Mrs. Mitra ... maybe the prettiest teacher of Bishop's in my time ... did someone say Aarti Saagar? :P well yeah ... she was pretty but she was the music teacher in Junior school ... too bad ... Mrs. Mitra was the quintessential perfect teacher ... taught us Geography ... contours, South-Westerly monsoons, Soils, Volcanoes, Dams ... who cares? when its Mrs. Mitra teaching ... :P

Finally, the most funniest teacher I have met ... Mr. Johnstone ... I think I have picked up waving hands or performing actions while speaking from him ... I used to pull off a good imitation of him in school ... the way he spoke, the way he taught, the way he walked ... everything was funny ... the way he gave examples about Physics ... hats of sire ...

These were just the class teachers ... we had several other subject teachers ... the Principal himself, Mr. B.W.Roberts didnt teach us but his towering presence during the assembly everyday was quite intimidating ... and Mr. Guzder ... a man misunderstood by most due to the way he was ... he seemed very strict and probably was ... but he had a whacky sense of humor ... he taught us The Merchant of Venice for God's sake which was one helluva ride ... I think today Mr. Roberts and Mr. Guzder are most looked upto by the old boys ...

Mrs. Singh was the lady Hitler who taught us Maths, Mrs. Furnell taught us English along with Mrs. Rawlins, Mrs. Jadhav was (and probably still is) teaching Biology ... Mr Aviet tortured us towards History and Civics, Mrs Neena Daniels taught us Chemistry ... another gem of a person ... a great sense of humor for a lady ... Mr Jumbo Fernandes also taught us Hindi ... best remembered for conducting tests on the first day of school ... dammit ...

Mr. Dupratt taught us painting and Art ... Mr Chaudhary helped us pick Craft (Fretsaw, photography, Carpentry) ... Mr Jagtap took care of the Shloks in Sanskrit ... and there were the PT Sirs ... Mr Austin and Mr Wandre ... march-past would never be the same without Mr Wandre ...

It was quite a leap when I entered college ... and I dont have a lot of teachers to talk about from Wadias ... the best I remember is Mr. Joshi ... who taught us Maths ... he dragged the entire lecture solving one sum ... best known for teaching us Determinants ... and there was Mr Mudgi ... who taught us Maths and Physics ... but the most influential person for me in Wadias was Mr Andaar ... he looked like he is a Commander in force ... upturned moustache and a commanding voice ... he was the perfect Department Head for Mathematics ...

In between, I had joined classes for 12th ... where Mr Kelkar was quite close to being the funniest teacher I have met ... while teaching Physics, whenever there was a theorem to be proved ... like e=mc square (pardon me ... I am not writing the power 2 for square) ... he used to say "put it in a box" ... and I had no idea what that meant ... I used to be with my very good friend Nikky ... and I just asked him ... "which box?" ... :P

This was a time when I entered Fergusson ... again a place where I met some great teachers and some really unfortunate ones ... :D

My first encounter was with the colorful Mr D V Kulkarni ... I didnt have the faintest idea that he was the Department head ... he didnt have a lavish way of presenting himself and I was quite surprised when I knew his actual position in college ... an avid gardener ... I must say he was responsible for the prettiest department in Fergusson ... his witty one liners are the ones to die for ...

One of my best teachers was Thakar Mam ... she was extremely professional and very cordial ... I still feel like punishing myself for joining classes on a subject taught by her ... she used to teach us Statistics and Maths ... even Atre Mam was the same ... very good teacher and a joy to talk to ... Joglekar Mam was another bubbly character who taught us Maths ...

Mrs. Page was one hell of a strict teacher ... a disciplinarian to the hilt ... no wonder people were scared of her ...

Snehal Mam tried to be as convincing as possible while teaching us DAA and CCT ... but the subjects themselves were so enduring that we couldnt blame her for not understanding most of the stuff ... Tarannum Mam ... well she was more of a friend to me and I think she was a better friend than teacher ... she taught the most life threateningly boring theoretical subjects and I liked getting into debates with her just to lend some color to her lectures ... not that I succeeded but it was well worth the effort ... :P

There were some mediocre teachers in between ... but still worth a mention for more reasons than one ... Kavita Mam, Deepali Mam. Kukde Sir and the joker in the pack... Sharma Sir ... famous for his outrageous English statements ...

I had joined classes for Maths ... Manisha Deshpande ... more popular as MD ... maybe the most unique teacher I experienced ... her classes were more like a laughathon ... she had so many differences ready about how life is different in Pune and Mumbai ... plus she paid extra attention to her Saaris and her jewellery ... girls paid extra attention to that and maybe learnt a thing or two from her ... she was funny in more ways than one ...

I found an astute teacher in Anand Das during PG ... he probably knew every technical detail of anything he taught ... kind of a genius ...

Every person has something unique and all these teachers have left an indelible mark in their own way ... and I would forever be indebted to them ... I am a firm believer in Education being the best investment of life ... and our parents, even though they do a huge favor on us by funding our education, still end up doing the easier of the 2 tasks ... its the teachers who perform the more difficult task ... of inculcating the right knowledge in us ...

I am what I am due to the education I received ... and I wish to thank all my teachers ... I may have missed some but that does not take anything away from them ...

Jo sikhaaya ... Sahi sikhaaya ... !!