Yesterday evening a sad news came in one of my college WhatsApp groups. It had a picture of a professor who taught us during the graduation days, quarter of a century ago and the message was about his passing. May his soul rest in peace.
A barrage of memories came
rushing on how he used to take classes those days when faculties were not
burdened with political correctness. They freely spoke their mind and acted as
they wished. Getting reminded of maintaining decorum in the class, with a pellet
hitting your head in the form of a chalk piece or at times even the eraser
itself or notebooks flying through the air and out of the door since homework
was not done, were all accepted norms then. They all contributed to the
beautiful nostalgia that we cherish today.
Those were the days when
faculty and student relation was laced with respect and love, something only
next to what we experienced back home with our parents.
On the contrary, I recently
heard from some of the professors in colleges now, where they had to think
twice before making a remark in the class fearing what students and parents
will think and react about the correctness of their remark.
That reminded me of one of
our other professors, Mr D who taught us during our MBA days back in the then
Christ College, Bangalore. It was the initial days of the classes and our first
experience of getting exposed to a professional course that taught Business
Management.
He had a unique way of
delivering his lecture. The campus at Christ was lush green. On one end of the
campus, there was a Birds Park where literally we could see birds visiting in
groups due to the thick foliage. The garden had a gazebo with ample chairs that
could accommodate a whole class.
We were given clear
instructions by Mr D, for us to be seated at the Birds Park before the
beginning of the class. He would join us right on dot when the class time was
meant to start. On day one, we all followed this to the T. Day two, one of our classmates
was late by a minute.
As soon as the student came
up, he gave an excuse on why he was late. We could see a clear change to the
professor's demeanour. His face became stern and when he spoke, the voice was
deep with a scary tone.
Mr D made a statement, which
remained etched in our minds till date and became the Magna Carta for
everything to do with punctuality in our life.
He said, 'You can only have
two reasons to arrive late to my class. Either you must be dead, or you are
dying!'
This and many more timeless
reminders from our dear teachers from yester years, keep us on our toes in our
daily life, even decades after leaving college and working in a professional
environment in the corporate world.
