My initiation into the world of letters was when I was a four year old. There were no kindergartens, L.K.Gs or U.K.G.s those days. The person who initiated me into the world of letters was Govindan Asan, a poor man hailing from a minority community of Kerala. He left to his heavenly abode after completing his mission on earth two- three years back.
Govindan Asan was a dark, short-statured man ( except for rare occasions when he undertook long-distance journeys he wore shirts) he was often seen clad in a clean white dhoti, banian and towel hung over his left shoulder. He had a habit of chewing betel leaves pasted with lime along with pieces of arecanuts and tobacco.
Our initiation took place not in the cosy atmosphere of a school. Our school was the verandah of the one and only public library in our village. Kids accompanied by parents would be present there at about nine in the morning. Parents, after dropping their beloveds’ in the care of Asan would leave the scene and would make their appearances at the stipulated time to pick them back to the houses.
Asan conducted the classes by seating the kids in a row on one side of the verandah. He would spread sand before them to write the letters in the sand using each one’s index finger. He would ensure to make them learn the letters in the order of their arrangement by-heart. On thinking about the ardous task put in by Asan making a kid conversant with the Malayalam alphabet, a kind of astonishment overwhelms me.
A great respectable man, I feel proud of him.
Never did he try to inflict even a slight pain to a child . To those mischievous ones who played pranks once in a while, he would roll his eye-balls threatening them. He was that much fond of the kids and the kids returned that love and respect in full measure.
Asan till the last moment took it as his mission to educate the kids and must have died a satisfied man. True. He couldn’t save much. Actually nothing. And he didn’t want to. But he was totally at peace with himself. While he was breathing his last, he was living with one of his daughters, with everyone to take care of him.
In our village he had a host of disciples in all walks of life. Whenever he moved along the streets, his disciples always took care to pay respect with bowed heads and a Namaste ( with folded palms across the chest). Never did he forget to return in abundant measure his love and blessings to each of them. He always inquired about their jobs, family lives and parents. In those days only a teacher could command such respect in our society, for that matter any society.
Pity, those days have gone and without looking back with no promises of a comeback.
Today we are witnessing a different scene.
Nobody is to blame for it. Times must have to change, whether we love it or not. Also man’s motives change.
Today he is after more happiness, more pleasure, more money. For him selfishness is not a crime but a virtue and it will continue to be so.
Similar is the case with the teaching world also.
Teachers forming unions for more wages, more service facilities, more job security.
Students forming unions to grab as much as possible by waging strikes against the managements, government, sometimes against their teachers even.
In the cut-throat world of competition market always reigns supreme.
Ayn Rand wrote : Bring education to market place.The lady found a solution in bringing every human activity into the market place. No moral principles, no ethics, who needs them- she might have thought. This market place philosophy played a vital role in bringing down the edifice of morals and ethics in every walk of life.
We can’t find any fault in teachers organizing and fighting for more wages, more comforts, more job-security. They want money for educating their children, they want their future be more secured and for all that they are in need of more money.
Students organizing to fight for their rights, to have a better education at cheap expenses and facilities for higher education at affordable rates – so they have to fight it out and snatch it.
Yes we can very well understand the “plight and predilections” of teachers as well as students. And ourselves.
But Govindan Asan was quite different. He didn’t want more money and was satisfied with what he got. Hence he didn’t think about forming a union by contacting all the Asans’ across the State. The very thought must have been abhorrent to him. For him teaching was a sacred mission. He died a satisfied man.
This is the story of another respectable gentle man. A man by profession, a Professor. Prof.H .S. Sabharwal of Ujjain University. Ujjain always made us proud once. A temple of learning for the scholars, foreign travellers in pursuit of higher studies and students of yore.
Three years back a man who was well past middle age being carried by a group of people from the hands of a few engaged in a tussle was displayed on TV channels. He was breathing his last moments. According to the news reports, he was a reputed Professor of Political Science of Ujjain University. How he was caught in the tussle among students in connection with college University elections – probably when he was trying to avoid clashes between two sections of students. Some persons, I do not know whether they were students, allegedly involved in his murder crossing swords with the respectable Prof. just before the incident was also shown on TVs. On his way to the hospital the Prof. succumbed to death.
The ghastly news hit national headlines and cases registered against a few alleged to have been involved in his death.
His son, an angry young man took it as a mission to bring the culprits to justice and as a first thing in the right direction, fought in the Supreme Court to transfer the case outside the State and his plea was granted by the learned jury. His apprehension was he wouldn’t be able to get justice in Madhya Pradesh for reasons best known to him.
After three years the verdict has come from the Nagpur court acquitting the culprits of all charges. The learned judge while delivering the verdict, noted that the culprits might be the murderers but the prosecution “miserably failed” to prove it. All the witnesses crossed floor allegedly due to threat to them and their families. There was nobody to provide security to them and it was quite natural that they turned defectors.
Himanshu, son of respected Professor, not a man to be taken aback by this verdict, has resolved to go to any great lengths to bring the culprits to justice and hence has decided to appeal before the Supreme Court.
Let’s extend our whole-hearted support to this young man who is ceaselessly fighting to avenge his father’s death.
When the news of the verdict came, the last moments of a professor came to my mind, thanks to the visual media.
And this thought carried me back to a period, where a selfless man of rustic simplicity conquered the hearts of a whole village.
No comments:
Post a Comment