I do not remember what I studied decades imary school. But I do remember very clearly and fondly a teacher who made a huge difference.
Guruji, as we fondly called him, always wore a neat seamless white dhoti and half sleeve white cotton shirt, his hair oiled and combed. He leaned forward as he walked, and his face looked meditative.
Every morning, we—about twenty children of all castes and creeds, aged 6 to 11, who studied in classes one to five—would wait under a huge banyan tree (named as “wisdom tree”) outside our village. Then Guruji would come to take us to school. There was a thick forest in between infested with wild animals. If one missed the group, he/she had to either go back home or become the prey of wild animals.
Guruji had instructed us to study individually and prepare for class under the banyan tree till he joined the group. We mugged up some rhymes or did mathematical calculations, algebra till he arrived. As soon he joined us, he would ask us to form a line—boys in front and girls behind.
He always carried a strong bamboo stick. Why, you may wonder. He would collect all our school bags and fix them on the bamboo stick and carry them. We were too small and weak to carry the bags. There were no school buses, vans or autorickshaws then.
He had given us each a bead of the Rosary which we wore around our neck before we left home for school. We removed the Rosary from our necks and recited the five decades of the Rosary till we were out of the forest. The teacher was behind us, like a good shepherd accompanying us. We didn’t dare to look left or right in the forest for fear of wild animals. We broke the queue only after crossing the forest. When we reached the school, he would smile and unload our bags. He would then remind us to meet again after class to go back home.
Guruji accompanied the students in and outside the class rooms. He played kabaddi with us. His intentional defeat in kabaddi on many occasions was just to encourage the students of the opposite team. When classes were over, we rushed out of the class rooms, and dumped the bags in the courtyard. He waited until the last pupil came. He then counted the students, and picked up our bags, to take us home.
Between our village and the school there was a big pond with clean water. Guruji had instructed us to take bath in the pond before we reached home. All of us would jump into the lake and have fun for half an hour as part of swimming classes. He swam himself and taught us to swim. As children we thoroughly enjoyed dipping into the pond, splashing, pulling and pushing each other in the pond. He also made sure no untoward incident occurred during the swimming class. After crossing the jungle, we gathered again under the wisdom tree, thanked the teacher and left for our respective homes. Before we dispersed, Guruji would always remind us to complete our homework before we went to bed.
Without any professional managerial skills my guruji had inculcated in us all the values of the present big business schools, management institutes and B.Ed. colleges. Time management was the first thing he taught us to follow without any compromise. This meant to get up early, get ready for a light snack and join the group under the wisdom tree to escape the wild animals. We did not understand then the meaning of saying the Rosary or the spiritual effects of prayers. Providentially, wild animals did not harm us. He instilled religiosity in our hearts and minds already at this age. He also taught us in and outside the classroom to love one another, irrespective of caste and creed.
As part of our discipline, Guruji instructed us to always walk in a straight line quietly without looking left or right. In his fatherly care, he carried our school bags to and from school. In the rainy season he would carry the smaller children one by one on his back over a rivulet. In the winter he instructed us to use firewood to warm ourselves under the wisdom tree and ward off the wild animals before he arrived. He really played the role of a good parent. Guruji accompanied us from morning till evening. He was close to us in our difficulties.
Our closeness as a group bound us together emotionally. I regret having missed capturing the fascinating rare rural classic sceneries on many occasions with the village guruji as we did not have cameras or smart phones then.
Our Guruji did not seek any award as Best Teacher or anything like that. But he did leave behind an indelible impression on the students as a committed role model that we, his students, ever cherish. Many alumni of that school have become civil servants, doctors, nurses, engineers, advocates, political leaders, police officials, army men, teachers, religious and clergy, working all over India and abroad as replicas of their beloved guruji. On Teachers’ day I pay homage to such past and present devoted gurujis dedicated to the formation of students.
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Fr. Alexander Ekka SJ is the Director of Jeevan Vikas Maitri, Pathalgaon, Jashpur, Chhattisgarh. He can be contacted at: 9685858115 WhatsApp: 8959215469; email ID:ekka.alexander@yahoo.com
