An Obituary on teachers day!

                           

Good evening Fellow toastmasters and dear guests.

How many of you have watched the Hindi movie Bhag Milkha Bhag. (Run Milkha Run).

In this movie about the legendary Indian Athlete Milkha Singh there is a scene where Milkha is felicitated by old colleagues from the training academy amidst a lot of camraderie and fun.

Everyone at his Alma mater is heaping praises upon Milkha for his achievement in winning so many races.

Milkha then, quietly goes upto his Mentor Havaldar Gurudev Singh and transfers the medals from his own neck onto his mentor’s neck while thanking him for being there for him when it mattered most.

This shows the kind of regard that Milkha had for his teacher which prompted him to bestow this honor on Gurudev Singh.

In order to illustrate how a teacher can have a positive influence on his or her pupil, I want to talk about a teacher of mine who later went on to be the school principal to the delight of the students. (Honest)

I am talking about Fr. Tony Fonseca, a sports-loving, silver-haired, smart-looking Maths genius, who also put his school on the sports map of Mumbai besides helping students understand Newton’s laws and the theorem of Pythagoras.

Fr. Tony's methods were ahead of his time.

I remember that I had learnt one of the first lessons in team-work from him during the inter-class football matches. Father Tony used the black board to explain that we should not try to dodge and dribble past the opponents and instead we should use short passes! (Analytical and logical)

Coming to Father Tony’s teaching methods, the examples that Fr. Tony used to give in his Physics and Mathematics class, made remembering the subject child's play, they were that simple. (honest)

For instance, for explaining the principles of magnetism and how opposite poles attract, he spoke about how boys from our school (A Boys’convent) were drawn towards the window sills, during recess at the nearby girls convent.  

Another incident I remember proved to be one of my earliest lessons in planning and preparation.

Well, our class had to visit SnehaSadan, an institution for orphaned children which Father Tony was closely associated with, for charity and gift the children therein, from the money we had collected during a fund-raiser campaign.

As we were undecided on what gift to buy, Fr. Tony gave us an example that if you have to buy a gift for a man he would like to receive a shirt, whereas in case of children they would take to sports as a fish would take to water.

A few of us went with the sports gear and we were pleasantly surprised to see that Fr. Tony had prepared for the entire class to be there at Snehasadan. That was the degree of preparedness that he believed in.

For Fr. Tony service was a way of life and he often took time out to visit the homes of children and the children whose homes he visited were indeed blessed.

It was not a surprise to me when I learnt that Fr. Tony was the one who was instrumental in getting ex-students from our class to collect on the occasion of the 25th anniversary Alumni reunion.

I had sent Fr. Tony an SMS to wish him on last New Year's eve and received a reply after a while saying Ratan have a great year and keep smiling. That was his trademark style.... spreading smiles.

Moving on as I recall the contribution a great teacher makes to the life of a student, I would say that

You educate as well as reassure.

You inform as well as inspire.

You open our minds as well as our eyes.

 You've touched our lives.

Yes, You are truly the Unsung Heroes.

Just like the olden days on Facebook...

Its strange how most of the people who like my status messages on Facebook happen to be school friends, people who were with me in the formative years of life, people whom I grew up with.

There are people with whom I interact with on a daily basis, people who have achieved a lot in their lives, just like my school friends, but the uncanny resemblance in the way we think happens only with this bunch of guys.

The latest example is "India against corruption."

Being an AOL ite, prompted by my Guru's (HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar) vision for India, I was following the activities of those who were leading this movement, but when this became a national issue, I could see many of my school chums voicing their opinions strongly in favor of Anna Hazare's fast and against corruption.on facebook.

Thank you facebook for bringing us back together. I hope the party never ends.Well each one of us is 40 plus but its like school kids laughing on each other's jokes, egging each other on, pulling a fast one or pulling each other's legs in general.

Virtual back slapping bonhomie and camaraderie, appreciating each other's achievements or even the children's', complimenting each other on the newly found hobbies and on attempts at keeping fit and healthy, none of us are getting any younger, remember!

The lucky ones do get to meet each other during the periodic Saturday Do's in suburban Mumbai and the rest savor the Snaps and the Stories. Yes some of us have started showing signs of wising up, a receding hair line , but the child within each one is still the same and will never change forever. I am sure of that.

We are blessed to have some of our teachers as well on Facebook and it is indeed a pleasure as it is because of them that we all have become what we have.

Viva "HFHS Classs Of 1984"

Class Snaps- HFHS, Andheri, Mumbai. Courtesy: HFHS schoolmates.

Class I

 Class I- I am in the 1st row (standing) fifth from left. Not many memories except from the seeds of long-lasting friendship sown with some of my classmates, with whom I am in touch, through Facebook and Whatsapp mostly but also personally met a couple of them in recent times like Rajeev Warrier, PV Ramakrishnan, Jagdish Damodaran and Jaideep Shetty.

Class III

Class III-I am on the extreme left in the 1st row (Standing). I was encouraged by Ms. Sacrament Rosario was our class teacher  to participate in the English Elocution Competition which I won. I recited the poem "The Lone Dog". I had enjoyed reciting the poem but hardly understood what the poem was about. I am capturing the poem below for those who may like to go through.the wordings

Lone Dog

Louis Untermeyer, ed. (1885–1977). Modern British Poetry. 1920.

Irene Rutherford Mcleod. 1891–

" I'M a lean dog, a keen dog, a wild dog, and lone; I'm a rough dog, a tough dog, hunting on my own; I'm a bad dog, a mad dog, teasing silly sheep; I love to sit and bay the moon, to keep fat souls from sleep. I'll never be a lap dog, licking dirty feet, A sleek dog, a meek dog, cringing for my meat, Not for me the fireside, the well-filled plate, But shut door, and sharp stone, and cuff and kick, and hate. Not for me the other dogs, running by my side, Some have run a short while, but none of them would bide. O mine is still the lone trail, the hard trail, the best, Wide wind, and wild stars, and hunger of the quest!"

Class IV

Class IV: I am at the extreme right in the 1st row(Standing). I did not have much to write home about except an above average performance in academics.

Class VI

Class VI: I am 2nd from left in the front row(Sitting). My class teacher was Mr. Charles Johnson. He was a one of a kind personality who was quite good to me but somehow I wasn't able to excel in Class VI although I did participate in a couple of competitions without any luck.

Class VII

I am third from right on the front row. I did quite well in Class VII, I won the 2nd prize for Hindi elocution and was above average in academics. Our class teacher Ms. Nancy was quite strict but quite enterprising in the sense that she encouraged us to participate in extra curricular activities.

Fr. Tony Fonseca

I do not have the Class VIII photograph with me. Class VIII was undoubtedly my best year in school . Here is a picture of my class teacher Late Father Tony Fonseca, a great footballer himself. I won prizes for Elocution, Quizzing and being part of the interclass football team.( A Defender!) ...

Class X

Here is a picture of  my last year in school.....the picture of the Class of 1984, Holy Family High School, Andheri, Mumbai.I am sitting in the front row next to our class teacher Mr. Shetty(No relation of mine)! I again won a prize for Hindi elocution. A few of us got together last year...the year we completed 25 years as ex students of our beloved school.......Great Great Fun!!! The picture appears in this blog.