Tuesday, September 6, 2016

A GREAT TEACHER AND A NICE GENTLEMAN

I have in my earlier posts written about my school teachers at length, but not to sound repetitive, I would concentrate on one – Sh. Shiv Ram Batra, our Principal in S.D.Higher Secondary School, Shimla, my school for seven years from Class V to Class XI, from where I passed out in 1970.
He came across as a highly principled man, strict disciplinarian and a teacher of Mathematics and English par excellence. In fact he had authored two books –one on English Grammar & Composition for lower classes and a text book on Geometry.His lectures during Morning Assembly were a treat to listen to and a storehouse of information as to what was happening around. We came in direct contact with him only in Class X and XI. For Class X he used to take extra classes in Maths so that students would score better in final exams. I am happy to remember, that we did not disappoint him as seven of us scored 150/150 in Maths in Higher Secondary Part One , the last such exam to be conducted by the Punjab University in 1969. He took regular Mathematics classes in Class XI.
I passed Higher Secondary examination in 1970 , and despite being a non-medical science student,and scoring a seventy plus percentile, for my graduation I sought admission in Humanities as I had planned. After 4-5 days when I went to get a Character certificate, he was disappointed with my decision to leave Science and asked me to reconsider my decision. It is a different matter that I stuck to my decision . This is the kind of interest teachers used to take in their students .
Again it was seemingly an awkward moment when saw me working in a Bank which he visited sometimes being a customer . Perhaps he had better expectations of me. After some years I left Bank and landed a Government job. Some years later when I told him that I had landed a somewhat ‘respectable’ job in the Government, he was very happy.
For about two decades I remained continuously out of Shimla, my job taking me to different places.He was blessed with a long life, though I have no confirmed news of when and how he left this world.
My humble tributes !!

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