5th Sept – Teacher’s Day
By Vimal Kapoor
The past is always with us, for it feeds the present. I remember, in the morning, I used to walk to St Thomas’ School; the school boundary wall would loom up after crossing the busy Darshan Lal Chowk. During morning hours, the road used to be a flurry of activity as students arrived on bicycles, tongas, and scooters. After school started it would settle down and become quiet. Those were the superlative days, and in our case, they became even more rewarding and enjoyable because we were blessed with erudite and accomplished teachers to guide us. I firmly believe that a school, no matter how renowned, is merely concrete walls and empty playgrounds without good teachers and cannot stand out without the skilful role of the teachers. The true strength of a school lies not in its buildings but the teachers who shape our lives within its walls.
Our Principal Mrs Ghose was a disciplinarian by nature. She was a formidable figure in the corridors of St Thomas’. It was a well-known fact that any student who came near her had to pass through her inbuilt scanner, and ninety-nine times out of a hundred she would reprimand him/ her about some shortcoming—unruly haircut, unpolished shoes, dirty socks, the shape of trousers, missing badge, grimy nails… the list was endless. We used to whine and grumble about this relentless inspection then, though now we appreciate that she wanted her students to look well turned-out and sophisticated in life. Whether it is Sunder Pichai, Sachin Tendulkar, or Shashi Tharoor, a teacher’s contribution in shaping his or her student is priceless.
Schooling is the most decisive phase of a person’s life as he or she is passing through delicate adolescence, a stage from where they can either go on the right path and succeed in life or go wide off the mark and ruin themselves. With this in mind, a teacher who has already handled hundreds of students, successfully understands the fragile mindset of the pupil and in a friendly manner tries to win the student’s confidence and trust.
Every school is a temple of learning, but the truth is that children learn far more from who their teachers are than from what their teachers say. A teacher’s temperament, integrity and ability to connect with young minds leave a lasting imprint, sometimes more lasting than the syllabus itself. In this aspect too we were lucky to have brilliant teachers like Mrs Jain, Mr Ganguly, Mrs Upadhyay, Mr Dhillon, Mrs Grey, and Mrs Katoch to guide and mould us, while Mr Moses and Mr Buttler White inculcated the significance of sports and physical fitness.
Mrs Murphy would take care of our injuries and stomach cramps— fake as well as genuine. Occasionally, when I failed to do my homework, I would go to her infirmary to steer clear of that particular period. The smell of medicines and disinfectants would invade the nostrils as she would advise me to lie down on a solitary clean bed. I would return sheepishly as soon as the period was over.
A number of my batch mates like Madhu Vohra, Rita Chhabra, and Shalini Nambiar are consummate teachers, while Lalit Mohan was the Principal of Seven Oaks School and has retired recently after a successful and rewarding stint. Rupa Sridhar also retired as Principal at a Mumbai school. Congratulations to each one of you for carrying the torch forward and passing your accumulated wisdom and knowledge to the present generation!
At the primary level of the education system, during middle and senior school, we used to look forward to our teachers not only guiding us in our studies but also teaching us how to conduct ourselves in this big bad world. There is no doubt that education is our passport to the future, and teachers are our navigators and pilots because in this ruthless and highly competitive world education gives us that extra edge. Happy Teacher’s Day!
(Vimal Kapoor a Dehradun resident, is passionate about literature, creative writing, cricket and exploration through travel)
