Personal V2

Jai Dhari Pandey Master

These are some memories of my teacher who is one of the very special people I have ever come across…

He is around 70-75 now. But he is exactly as he was 10 years before; or may be even 20. Born in India under British rule, in a village near a small town in Bihar, he had his share of the glory. In his childhood, he knew one Gora Sahab who was of course the man in charge of the town. He had two very ferocious dogs. One day, the teen along with a friend managed to do some superhero thing: they killed the dogs by throwing them in a deep crater! I envied him for this when he told me the story. I wanted to do the same! I imagined him fighting the British Dogs and killing them in the end… Superhero! :) :)

Poor that he was and very sharp and intelligent that he grew up into, he lived and studied at the support of some others, including my grandfather. He was a Brahmin and best in two subjects – English and Sanskrit. He finished his post graduation and for some time I think he lived at grandfather’s house also. And yes, grandfather taught him for some time as he was a student at his college…

And then something happened. His marriage was fixed. The evening when his baaraat was to leave for wedding, he fled his house. And the marriage never happen. He is still a bachelor at 70. He joined a Math and took sanyas I guess. He visited many places and practiced Yoga. Surprisingly, he returned home afterwards, but he was to remain a Brahmachari for his entire life… He became a teacher – or tutor to be precise. He taught my father and my uncles. And then he taught my sisters and me too – until my high school.

And being a superhero of the hinterland, he had his own ways. He used to take tea a thousand times a day and even tobacco and paan. And biscuits! One of his popular gimmicks that I hated was when he used to put his finger in his mouth to clean his teeth after eating biscuits. Yukkk :) And the same old blanket that he used for decades… And his bicycle? I think he had retained his childhood one until this time. His bicycle is a living example of how we can manage to move the mountains – all by our will power :)

And when we used to do sums, he took frequent naps: and afterwards patted on his own back when he told stories of how Rana Pratap used to take naps while on the back of a horse. And he taught us what he practiced always: a So.. with inhaling air and Aham.. while releasing it – his breathing exercise and practice…

He had included a dot (.) in his signature, in respect for Indira Gandhi, as he told us. Taking inspiration from him, I had long before included a ‘smiley’ in my signature; even now it is there :)

In old age, he became younger day by day. He became an agent of a non-banking-finance company which was to flee some day as everyone guessed (though it didn’t). And he used his reputation to sell many products – I still remember how Papa painfully told him not to emotionally blackmail him to sell that savings scheme, since it was not a very good product. But father gave in and he won the deal. After some time, he left that business. And all the while he was involved in many other such ventures which I couldn’t track…

How time changes men... As he grew old, he became very-very attached with his brother's family. He took up the financial responsibilities on behalf of his brother's son. He loved his brother's grandchildren very much and one particular kid was his favourite - he always roamed around with him. And he had become too money minded and justified it by saying he needs it for education of his grandson. Some times I wondered if he was following a reverse cycle - people become detached in the old age - but he was getting attached to worldy things. But I could understand his situation.

And I remember the day I told him that I won’t take tuition from him any more. I was in 10^th and studied every hour. And I realised that his way of rote-based-teaching was not useful. His teaching methodology was too rote-based, but very funny. He taught maths exactly as Sanskrit, and exactly as English – and everywhere student had to memorize everything – there was little creativity and innovation… I had started going to one teacher in my school, who taught maths and physics and I was not happy with two tuitions. He was not happy to miss me, and was very serious that day, when father told him about my decision… But it was necessary. He continued teaching my younger sister, and after some time she also left for her boarding school. But a person like JDPM was never to be missed… He was in touch with us throughout.

Even now when I go home, some times I see him, in the same dhoti-kurta, on the same bicycle, perhaps going to some place to teach, and with his brand of smile :) Sir, thank you…