Re: [Goanet] Tribute to My teachers:-informal and formal-Part I
This is not a riposte to Dr. Kamat's 'a tribute to My teachers' etc., although his post may have prompted me to add my 2 bits to whatever that makes Goanet tick like it does. This is also my general appreciation of Goanet in response to its 16th anniversary. Congrats! I may add here that Dr. Kamat's rectitude in paying tribute to his teachers caused me to remember mine and I was amused by the irony of their contrast: his upright gratitude and my own brand of gratefulness. Indeed I am grateful to people beings without number, yet, while Dr. Kamat felt inspired by them to hunt for knowledge, I felt haunted by mine. I recalled the countless beatings I got from my teachers, and impositions and punishment and a couple of threats of expulsion from school. That certainly must have something to do with our natures. While Dr. Kamat was, I presume, obedient, I was, without assumption, the Huck Finn. Be as it may, 'a tribute to My teachers' made me remember my teachers today for which I wish to thank Goanet and Dr.Kamat. The other interesting post today was by Vivek Menezes about pao and poders. His text virtually transported me through Panjim allies, a ghost-like trail of fresh bread eddying my nostrils, imagined yet as real as only real can be. I have observed over the past couple of years that all that threatening banter on Goanet is harmless brouhaha. Something provokes an argument and before long the issue loses its oomph and is forgotten presently to make room for some other burning issue. Right now JoeGoaUk's identity is burning (I suppose), unless someone else decides to set something else on fire. It is interesting. To me, Goanet is like a large well where in Goanetters jump as if to celebrate some cyber san-joao. I can almost hear Goanetters in a procession singing, Dongra vellya kallginni, paus ghal saibinni!...
[Goanet] Tribute to My teachers:-informal and formal-Part I
Tribute to My teachers:-informal and formal-Part I Nandkumar Kamat “Sa vidya ya vimuktaye’ ‘Vidya bhoghkari, yasha sukhkari, Vidhya Gurunam Guru” “Vidyadhanam sarva dhanapradhanam” “Gurrursahkshat parabrahma, tasmai sri guruve namah” I was raised in the above tradition in a family of GSB traders where nobody was educated beyond a few standards. Then many formal and informal teachers came to my aid as I charted a turbulent , often lonely course of my career, my life and everything else.who were they, those who kept my hopes and aspirations in this life alive?. On the eve of Teachers' day this is a humble tribute to all of themI am here on NET because of them. :Late Tipu Gavade, 101years, Aksan, Madakai, 1991-3 He educated me on the engineering aspects of Madkaim’s vast khazan lands. He remembered all the details of construction of Khazan bundhs, backwaters or ‘poim’, repair works such as ‘thor’, ‘cupto’ and ‘chonoi’. He remembered Goa of the years of first world war. Before I could interview him for Goa Doordarshan, he succumbed to an accident. Recently I met his daughter in law at Madkaim. : An anonymous yellow cab driver, 1970, Panaji: He taught me honesty at the age of nine years. There was a taxi stand near Imperial hotel, Panaji-old praca. Taxis from St.Cruz used to take passengers in the morning for Re. 0.25. To reach early to school, I used to get a lift. When I gave him an eight anna coin, this driver returned me extra change which without counting I had pocketed. Then he caught hold of my collar and asked me- “Tu odxech kortolo?. would you do this again, return my extra change”. I apologized and returned the extra cash and took a vow not to touch money which does not belong to me. : Shrimati Sindhu Kelkar –my language teacher in high school, 1969: I had a muslim friend-Mirsab in high school in V th standard. On the way back from school to Panaji bus stand he used to purchase ‘panpatti’ (scented betel leaves with stimulants) from a gada (kiosk) near Fazenda footpath. Once he offered me a panppati to taste and I took it without knowing that we were being followed by Mrs. Sindhu Kelkar who was also proceeding in the same direction. When she saw me chewing paan, she gave me an angry look and hurried her steps without saying anything. Next day, in the class she asked both of us to stand up and ordered us to write the sentence- “henceforth we would not consume panpatti or any other tambakhu (tobacco) product in our life (amhi yhapude kadhihi panpatti kinva tambakhu khnar nahi) hundred times, show it to our parents and get their signatures. We did it. I don’t know about Mirsab. He left the school and I lost his track. Since that day I have never touched any tobacco product in my life. : Headmaster, Marxist ideological champion S.S. Khanolkar, 1968-75 An old colleague of comrade B.T.Ranadive, when Sa.Su.Khanolkar took over as Principal of Kasturba Matoshri High school (formerly Kanyashala, a wholly Marathi medium high school till 1980s with excellent Sanskrit teaching facilities) everyone was terrified. He had hair trigger temperament and was a strict disciplinarian. I have seen him losing his temper in the class and slapping my classmates on small academic mistakes. I never got his ‘prasad’. I remember him for identifying and promoting my reading habits. ‘Take what you want, as many books as you wish to read’ he used to call and tell me. He gave me first English dictionary-Oxford’s and advised to learn 10 new words everyday. He threw open the school library for me. Within a few days of arrival every new Marathi book used to reach me. “Sant ani Science’ by Prof. Deshpande was then a controversial book in Maharashtra. It had attacked the casteist approach of Maharashtrian saints. It was heavy stuff for me in VIII th standard. But Khanolkar made me read it and develop an idea of rationalism and literary criticism. He also introduced me to Prof. Narhar Kurundkar’s iconoclastic critical books- Jagar and shivaratra-which discussed the Hindu-Muslim politics in India. Kurundkar’s Jagar can be now matched only with the scholarly tomes of Karen Armstrong. He introduced the system of presenting books as awards for intra school competition. I won several awards in state level elocution and essay competitions only because of his inspiration. He had also admonished me for writing a satirical poem on my classmate. When the girl complained, he called me to his office and said-Can’t you find any other subjects?. Having spent seven years in the high school which lies today in a dilapidated condition - I have come to value his special attention to me in boosting reading habits and creative spirit. : Science teacher Vijay Rajgolkar: 1971-75 Young Rajgolkar from Belgaum under the influence of Soviet brand of Communism was running ISCUS in Panaji with Adv. Arun Nigalye, Ramesh Kolvalkar and others. He was a hardcore rationalist and taught science subjects very effectively. He loaned
[Goanet] Tribute to My teachers:-informal and formal-Part I
Tribute to My teachers:-informal and formal-Part I Nandkumar Kamat “Sa vidya ya vimuktaye’ ‘Vidya bhoghkari, yasha sukhkari, Vidhya Gurunam Guru” “Vidyadhanam sarva dhanapradhanam” “Gurrursahkshat parabrahma, tasmai sri guruve namah” I was raised in the above tradition in a family of GSB traders where nobody was educated beyond a few standards. Then many formal and informal teachers came to my aid as I charted a turbulent , often lonely course of my career, my life and everything else.who were they, those who kept my hopes and aspirations in this life alive?. On the eve of Teachers' day this is a humble tribute to all of themI am here on NET because of them. :Late Tipu Gavade, 101years, Aksan, Madakai, 1991-3 He educated me on the engineering aspects of Madkaim’s vast khazan lands. He remembered all the details of construction of Khazan bundhs, backwaters or ‘poim’, repair works such as ‘thor’, ‘cupto’ and ‘chonoi’. He remembered Goa of the years of first world war. Before I could interview him for Goa Doordarshan, he succumbed to an accident. Recently I met his daughter in law at Madkaim. : An anonymous yellow cab driver, 1970, Panaji: He taught me honesty at the age of nine years. There was a taxi stand near Imperial hotel, Panaji-old praca. Taxis from St.Cruz used to take passengers in the morning for Re. 0.25. To reach early to school, I used to get a lift. When I gave him an eight anna coin, this driver returned me extra change which without counting I had pocketed. Then he caught hold of my collar and asked me- “Tu odxech kortolo?. would you do this again, return my extra change”. I apologized and returned the extra cash and took a vow not to touch money which does not belong to me. : Shrimati Sindhu Kelkar –my language teacher in high school, 1969: I had a muslim friend-Mirsab in high school in V th standard. On the way back from school to Panaji bus stand he used to purchase ‘panpatti’ (scented betel leaves with stimulants) from a gada (kiosk) near Fazenda footpath. Once he offered me a panppati to taste and I took it without knowing that we were being followed by Mrs. Sindhu Kelkar who was also proceeding in the same direction. When she saw me chewing paan, she gave me an angry look and hurried her steps without saying anything. Next day, in the class she asked both of us to stand up and ordered us to write the sentence- “henceforth we would not consume panpatti or any other tambakhu (tobacco) product in our life (amhi yhapude kadhihi panpatti kinva tambakhu khnar nahi) hundred times, show it to our parents and get their signatures. We did it. I don’t know about Mirsab. He left the school and I lost his track. Since that day I have never touched any tobacco product in my life. : Headmaster, Marxist ideological champion S.S. Khanolkar, 1968-75 An old colleague of comrade B.T.Ranadive, when Sa.Su.Khanolkar took over as Principal of Kasturba Matoshri High school (formerly Kanyashala, a wholly Marathi medium high school till 1980s with excellent Sanskrit teaching facilities) everyone was terrified. He had hair trigger temperament and was a strict disciplinarian. I have seen him losing his temper in the class and slapping my classmates on small academic mistakes. I never got his ‘prasad’. I remember him for identifying and promoting my reading habits. ‘Take what you want, as many books as you wish to read’ he used to call and tell me. He gave me first English dictionary-Oxford’s and advised to learn 10 new words everyday. He threw open the school library for me. Within a few days of arrival every new Marathi book used to reach me. “Sant ani Science’ by Prof. Deshpande was then a controversial book in Maharashtra. It had attacked the casteist approach of Maharashtrian saints. It was heavy stuff for me in VIII th standard. But Khanolkar made me read it and develop an idea of rationalism and literary criticism. He also introduced me to Prof. Narhar Kurundkar’s iconoclastic critical books- Jagar and shivaratra-which discussed the Hindu-Muslim politics in India. Kurundkar’s Jagar can be now matched only with the scholarly tomes of Karen Armstrong. He introduced the system of presenting books as awards for intra school competition. I won several awards in state level elocution and essay competitions only because of his inspiration. He had also admonished me for writing a satirical poem on my classmate. When the girl complained, he called me to his office and said-Can’t you find any other subjects?. Having spent seven years in the high school which lies today in a dilapidated condition - I have come to value his special attention to me in boosting reading habits and creative spirit. : Science teacher Vijay Rajgolkar: 1971-75 Young Rajgolkar from Belgaum under the influence of Soviet brand of Communism was running ISCUS in Panaji with Adv. Arun Nigalye, Ramesh Kolvalkar and others. He was a hardcore rationalist and taught science subjects very effectively. He loaned
