Tribute To My Teachers

TRIBUTE TO MY TEACHERS

Whatever I am today, it is because of them!

I candidly proclaim that I never wanted to be a teacher. My dream was to join armed forces of India. But I was forced into this profession by my father who was on the verge of retirement when I finished my graduation. Like every body’s traditional father he convinced me to join B.Ed. Little did I know at that time what this noble profession was holding for me. It had love, respect, status, adventure, feat, quest, campaign, venture, happenings, travel, fun and what not. You name it and this profession had it for me. The best of all is that you never grow old as you are always in the company of youngsters so you remain young as long as you are a teacher.

Today after completing 38 years and 33 days in teaching I still feel and have the same energy that I had at the time when I joined as a teacher in one of the best schools in India i.e. Sainik School, Chittaurgarh Under the Ministry of Defense, Government of India as the youngest teacher at the age of just twenty one. I proudly say that I was born there as a teacher. I feel honored and privileged to have started my teaching career at that prestigious Institution that has given a large number of civil servants and armed officers including the Chief of Army Staff to this our beloved Country.

Today I feel whatever I am, I am because of my TEACHERS and I must salute them and pay them my heartfelt gratitude.

I thank my father for his that hard PUSH that brought me into this wonderful profession. Fortunately my father was my first teacher when I started my schooling from M.C.D Primary School, Kucha Chelan, Delhi (Urdu Medium) where he was teaching and I joined class 1 in the academic year 1966-67 the year he was class teacher for class 1-A. He was very strict teacher, very much disciplined, hard task master with no compromise on principles. I remember him breaking my TV Toy when he saw me playing in the middle of his lesson. The very next year he was promoted as Head Master. He was transferred to a far off school so I continued in the same school and now in the second standard my teacher was Mr. Rashid. He was loving, caring and he specially loved me as I was an obedient son of his colleague. I still remember he used to chew betel leaf and his lips were always red/ pinkish. I liked that. He taught me for two years class 2 and 3.

I was transferred to another school namely M.C.D Primary School, Turkman Road, New Delhi (Urdu Medium) as my elder brother was posted in that school as a teacher.

Mr. Yusuf was my teacher here and he taught me in 4th standard. I remember only one thing that he used to ask me to clean the black board when it was full. And I loved doing that for him.

Next year my brother Mr. Rais Ahmad, was class teacher of V-A and he got me transferred to his section. He was gem of a teacher. He would play with us and teach us through various games. A very friendly teacher he was. All were really lucky to have him as a teacher at that age. 

This school was only a primary school, so I had to go to Govt. Middle School, Pahari Imli, Old Delhi (Urdu Medium) for 6th standard. I was there till grade 8th. I remember my first class teacher in grade 6th Mr. Ayub. Oh My God, he was so strict. A tall, handsome, well dressed teacher but he would hardly smile. He was a great actor too. We came to know later on. He acted as Mirza Ghalib in a serial at Door Darshan. He taught us science. I loved Mr. Rajendar Singh my English Teacher who taught me Alphabets of English in grade 6. He was an excellent teacher from Haryana.I too remember Mr. Laiq (English) Mr. Rahimuddin (Mathematics), Mr. Tanvir (SST), Mr Shareef and Mr. Rafiq (Urdu) They were all wonderful teachers. It was only Mr. Shareef who slapped me once and till date I don’t know why he did that. But He used to appreciate my reading style (When I would read stories like Abbu Khan Ki Bakri and Essay like Behs o Takrar) and the way I used to recite one poem of Allama Iqbal (Parinde Ki Faryad)

I joined Govt. Boys Higher Secondary school, Zeenat Mahal, Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi (Hindi Medium) for my 9th Class in Commerce Stream.

Mr. Nawabul Hassan was my Class teacher and he used to teach us English. He was a teacher with handsome personality and beautiful handwriting. He would always stress on good handwriting. We all had tough time with our grammar and handwriting. Then he got promotion and was transferred. Mr. Yadav took over as English Teacher. He was a contrast. Mr. Nawab Ul Hassan used to be smartly dressed like an Englishman but Mr. Yadav was always in Dhotee and Kurta a traditional Indian dress. He would teach us poems also through translation. I still wonder how he could translate Lucy Gray and The Solitary Reaper of William Wordsworth. But He was good at heart. Mr. Mathur taught me commerce and accounts. He was a very simple teacher. Straight to business. Would never smile. Hindi vocabulary of his subject was tough for me. But I had no choice so struggled a lot but finally I used to pass.

Mr. Abbas Ali Chaudhary taught us civics. He was very innovative teacher. I still remember his ways of sudden testing in the class room. No one could take him for granted. A hard task master he was. Mr. Abdul Sattar our economics teacher was as simple as Mr. Yadav. All children loved him for his simplicity. He was good at explaining statistics.

How can I forget our Sports Teacher Mr. Singh. All of us were his fans as he loved us the most. We always looked forward to his periods. Our Kabaddi Team, Kho Kho Team, Volley Ball Team Basket Ball teams were district Champions. And I was member of each team including athletics.

Our batch of Higher Secondary (the three years course) was the last of its kind (1977) as 10+ 2 pattern was introduced after that. I got through higher secondary examination and moved to Aligarh Muslim University for my graduation. My elder brother Mr. Tanvir Ahmad was already there as a research scholar and he got me admitted to B.A. (Pol. Sc. Honors) with English Literature and Economics as Subsidiary subjects.

I had my Primary and Middle school education through Urdu Medium, Higher Secondary through Hindi Medium and now for graduation I had English Medium. You can imagine what a tough time I must have had. 

My first University teacher that I remember was Dr. Shan Ahmad as he was my advisor. A great Research Scholar, a great writer. We would always find him in Maulana Azaad Library in his chamber that was allotted to him. Always busy in reading and writing.

My next wonderful teacher was Mrs. Santosh Nath a teacher of English. She was always like a mother to me. It was because of her that I got interested in English language. I was very weak but she had a lot of patience with me.

 Next was Professor Maqbool Hassan Khan who taught us Shakespeare’s As You Like it and Macbeth. I have never seen a more dedicated teacher like him. He would call us on Sundays and holidays and spend hours and hours teaching us. At times he made us behave like those characters in those plays.

Prof. Zahida Zaidi was another teacher who impressed all of u. She used to teach us poetry along with Prof. Ishtiyaq Abidi who taught us William Wordsworth. An excellent faculty we got to teach us. How can I forget professor Waqar who taught us “Animal farm of George Orwell. I still remember the popular dialogue “All are equal but some are more equal than others.”

Professor Bilgrami my teacher of political thought/ political theory, I can never forget. I used to imitate him. Professor Hassan Ahmad the simplest professor of all. He used to cough a lot. I remember once I wrote on the board (Formula 44 is suitable for Dr. Hassan Ahmad) before his arrival in the class. He saw it and just smiled and said the advisor should see me in my chamber after the class. I was so scared. I visited him and he just said with a smile “Thanks” I was just dumb. Do we have teachers like that now? 

My Economics teacher Prof. Mannan Khan always used to give references of foreign writers. He would never give good marks if we mentioned any Indian writer. So students very cleverly gave references of some foreign writers only to get good marks in his subject.

After graduation, I moved to Education department for my B.Ed. course as my father pushed me into that as I mentioned earlier. Here we got teachers like Prof. Mehtab Singh, Professor Shariq, Professor Sajida Zaidi, Professor Shareef Khan and Wajahat Hussain and Prof. Khan Kammu Bhai as he was popularly known. He was a very rich person but used to come to department on a bicycle. I still remember his demonstration lesson that he gave us for teaching of English. He impressed me during his first lesson itself. Such a lovely and friendly teacher he was.

I did my graduation and my B.Ed. from AMU and got a job at Sainik School, Chittaurgarh ( A Boarding School under ministry of defense, Govt. of India) as a teacher of English.

I joined on 2nd August 1982. It was here that my real training and grooming as a teacher began. I learnt so many things from my colleagues and students.

I would fail in paying tribute to my teachers if I do not make a mention of my colleagues who taught me and groomed me for this noble profession.

Major Randhir Singh, the Head Master was the first person who impressed me by his simple and helping nature. Lt. Col C.V.K.S. Rao the Principal taught me how to conduct myself as a good teacher.

Mr. R. C. Wadhera my first HOD at SSC was instrumental in teaching me some bombastic English Vocabulary. Mr. J.N. Bhargava my second HOD taught me why English teacher’s bag has to be very heavy. Mr. Rautela though an SST teacher, he would test my vocabulary very often during games time in the afternoon. Thanks to him that I started developing my vocabulary. He would speak some difficult words every day and look towards me as I would not understand. He would never tell me the meaning so ultimately I had to go to dictionary.

Mr. Ashok Thakur the senior Bio teacher was the ideal for young teachers like me. He was a product of Mayo College so his way of speaking English was superb.

Mr. D. P. S Khati I used to admire for his simplicity. Mr. R.C. Tyagi taught me to be calm during difficult times and I learnt badminton from him.

I thank all my other colleagues like, Mr. B.S. Tyagi, Mr. U.S. Bhagwati, Mr. Y.C. Sharma, Mr. C.S. Dwivedi, Mr. K.S. Kang, Mr. Suredia, Mr. D.N. Vyas, Mr. Saxena, Mr. Porwal, Mr. B.M. Bhargava, Mr. Ravi Chandran, Ms. Nair, Major A.D. J Speedy, Col. O.P. Singh, Mr. V.S. Chauhan, Mr. G.S. Acharya, Mr. M.N. Soral, Mr. G.D. Thapliyal, Mr. H.S. Rathi for their contribution to my teaching skills.

I can’t forget my my Professors like Mrs. Annie David my Course Director at CIEFL, Hyderabad, Ms. Lalitha Eapen and Prof. Sadanand Vishwanath.

In my later part of Education came Professor Mohammad Miyan and Professor Girija Mohammad Miyan ( during my M.Ed. at JMI, New Delhi) whom I consider as my Mentors.

Professor Ilyas Hussain, Prof. Aijaz Massih and Professor Najma were my other teachers who were always ready to help me.

Sayed Hamid Vice Chancellor of A.M.U. and later secretary of Hamdard Education Society taught me many tips of Administration when I worked with him at HPS, New Delhi. He taught that some time if you take a wrong decision, then prove that you were right. He used to say that a delayed decision is more dangerous than a wrong decision.

If I start writing about each of them, It will go into many pages and it will become a book as I remember so many things that I learnt from them. And I believe that whatever I am today, it is because of their contribution.

Thousands of my students (Whom I taught at Sainik School, Chittaurgarh, Rajasthan, Govt. Model School, Ludlow Castle, Delhi, Hamdard Public School, New Delhi, NIMS, Dubai, India International School, Kuwait and Sharjah, and Finally Salmiya Indian Model school, Kuwait)  I can’t forget, though they were my students, but I learnt so many things from them. My colleagues who have been working with me all these years taught me so many tricks of my profession. Believe me they have been wonderful.

All of them have been instrumental in making me reach where I am today.

Thank you all.

You made me believe in myself.

You made me love my profession.

Today I refer my past and present students as my KIDS as my teachers taught me that and my teachers taught me love my kids and love my profession.  

They made me WHO I AM, IT IS MY PASSION, MY CALLING AND MY WORLD.

I AM PROUD TO BE A TEACHER.

A BIG SALUTE TO YOU ALL!

WISHING ALL A VERY HAPPY TEACHER’S DAY!