Meshtru!

 Meshtru, teacher, TBH I haven't had great regard for most of my teachers in school or college. For me, teaching is more than just going through subjects and helping me get better at it. It is about grooming a kid to become a better person. Like making them confident, listening, guiding them about what is right/wrong, and being there during tough times, especially for below-average kids. What happened in my student days was the complete opposite. The below-average kids were looked down on, their confidence was shattered by harsh words and almost encouraged to do stupid things. Even though I was decent at studying (but super lazy to read), I did not find any teacher who could make me curious about the subject. 

Stella gang keep telling me how good some of them were but I have no memories of them, so cant consider them to be good or bad. Middle primary was a nightmare. I came from a 'convent' with better English than my teachers I guess and you know how such kids are treated. Like Posh :( Soon I became a local with proper Kannada slang and that was the end of my decent English. I did not have anyone to guide me about books or novels, our librarian was dumb when it came to the knowledge of books and we hardly had any books available. All we ended up was tinkle with suppandi :D

Then high-school happened where the teachers were really bad. They had no idea about the subject and all they wanted us to do was mug up things and vomit on the answer paper. And I was really bad at that. My brain thought in Math, I needed logic, understanding of things, and breaking things down and none of it was available. A small exception was Kannada in 10th Std which made Hale-gannada interesting to me. It had chandassu which had a pattern of writing, yes it had rules and logic like math👍. 

PU in Seshadripuram was decent TBH. The teachers were very knowledgeable and had over 30 yrs of experience. But there was a prob, the class has over 100 students and most of them were in tuition and did not care for the college teaching. The teachers knew it and did not dig deep into any subject. To be fair to them, they did not have the time to complete everything. They did try for the regular students who could not afford tuition. Yes, shady's had a big part-time working students community as it was a morning college. 

Engerrining was a joke. We had very few lecturers thanks to the govt college scene and no idea about what to read. We were given a xeroxed sheet of syllabus and some nerd used to find 80% of it across 10 books and not share it with us lazy bums. I don't know how I read and managed to do well :)

But during this entire period, there was one teacher who stood out. And stood out like a sun in a very gloomy experience I had. And the best part was that he was not supposed to be my teacher and I have not paid a dime for his teaching. He was my neighbor in Mysore (my maternal grandparent's house where I was born) and was one of the most renowned teachers in Mysore, Mr Gopalakrishna. He was Math and Physics teacher in Marimallapas which is the most renowned school/college in Karnataka with so many rank holders. He has written textbooks and was on the board to set the syllabus. I have always called him uncle and not sir.

Most of my school vacations were in Mysore with my cousins. Uncle had 2 kids, Son was almost the age as my oldest cousin and the daughter was 4 yrs older than me and the same age as 2 of my closest cousins. Most days we would spend time in uncle's house playing together. I have written about the kavade game followed by bacchidodu/kai masiyodu. My dominance of the game monopoly (or business as it was locally called) started there. We also tried chess, but carrom was the most famous. They also had a decent garden space for cricket, kallu mannu, tree climbing, etc. Uncle is from a strict brahmin community and is a pure vegetarian. They knew we ate meat but we never discussed it, like ever. Aunty cooked some of the best bhramin food like puliogre, vangi bath, bisi bele bath, mysore pak, etc, and insisted we eat (now you know why we spent most time there). And in most games, uncle used to play with us. He was good in carrom and was a great sport. Not once did he come across as a super senior lecturer to me, he was just uncle. 

For some reason, he did not like tuition and wanted to teach kids in school/college itself. He used to make exceptions for 2-3 kids at home if they are known to him personally or were lacking behind or could not afford school. When the teaching community was making millions (im not kidding, some of them earnt 50 time their salary😱) in the 90s, uncle was super happy with his salary. I could see the fear in his student's face, they were petrified by his presence as he was strict when it came to teaching and did not take any slack. We used to stay away from that room.

When 10th std came, I decided I do not want any tuition, I hated them and was confident ill be able to do well. I was more interested in cricket and watching basketball. Dad was cool about it, mom did not get a say and I was living a lazy life. During dasara vacations, I went to Mysore as usual for almost 20 days. Dad came up with the idea to ask uncle to help me with my math and he agreed. I did not have any reasons to get out of it (all I did in Mysore was sleep 15 hrs, play 4 hrs, eat 3 hrs and roam around). So I was on a crash course and uncle said he will try to cover as much as we can. 

But you know what, I aced it. My math was super good and we cruised through everything real quick. I think I had a couple of days in the end to revise and uncle was surprised at how good I was. He knew I was decent but not that fast in math. While I was in the dreaded room there were few other students who taught. I remember there was this one guy who just did not get it and used to get smacked. Not for his dumbness but for not being attentive. One day I couldn't stop and giggled when he was being disciplined and I got a smack on my head, the only time uncle hit me :) When the vacations were over, he gifted me a question back to work out. I was so confident that ill get 100 in math that dint bothers reading much. On exam day, I panicked and did really badly. I got 68 I think, my worst math score (all 9th and 10th tests I had out of out). I was so mad at myself, I stopped studying for rest of the exams and 1st PU also. Math was my heart and I had lost it. I somehow picked myself up in 2nd PU and knocked it out of the park ;) I did talk to uncle during Dasara vacation and he said I know it well and he has not much to teach :D

My visits to Mysore were reduced from Engg but whenever I was there I made sure I spent time at his house. His daughter who is very close to us got married and relocated to the US, But still, I had it in my routine to go talk to uncle and aunty and it remains the same even now. Food made by aunty is a added incentive ;) 

After retirement, he did try his stint in tuition and made a big name for himself. He also earned well to refurbish his house but in a few yrs he just felt wrong about it. He and his like-minded lecturer friends opened a PU college to teach students. The biggest rule in the college was no one could attend external tutuion and the teachers made sure they taught well. After running it for few years, he retired in his late 70s (standing and talking for hrs every day for 5 decades can take a toll). They still have loads of plants and uncle spends his time with the plants and taking care of the house chores supporting aunty.

What makes uncle is his simplicity and the respect he gets from everyone. He had a luna (with the long seat) for decades and lived a super simple life. He is jovial and always has a nice smile on his face. The impact he has had on his students is wonderful. So many times when we were walking on a busy street in Mysore, his ex-students used to come to talk to him and thank him for his influence. I dont think there can be any better recognition for a teacher than a successful student and I'm sure most of his students are super successful. Today when the teaching world is money minded, he taught us how teaching could be changed by making it better in college and excluding tuition. His college is still running well and is a model others can follow. Still keeps me grounded and I try to influence students for a better future. 

The reason I am writing this blog is sad. Uncle had heart failure last week and was in critical condition. With his daughter in US and son in another town, there was less support. Strange how someone who has supported thousands of kids does not have any to take care. Luckily he is recovering and his daughter and son are back to take care. He might have to go through open heart surgery but might not be viable given he is 84 now. I was supposed to visit but will do it later. I am trying to get a few doctors 2nd opinions in Bangalore. I will visit during the operation and donate blood to him. He has given me such incredible guidance and been a role model to me, a bottle of blood is the least I can do. 

I just hope and pray for his recovery, the world needs many more teachers like uncle. And yes, he is called 'Meshtru' with great respect in my family, he is a teacher every student needs!