MY HEADMASTER

By the time I completed my school education in 1958, I had studied in eight schools at different places like Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Koraput and Bhubaneswar and I would not remember an occasion when my school at any of these places would be without a headmaster—not even in the Government High School of Koraput. On the other hand, the teachers in Koraput School I was fortunate to study under, had made such a deep impression on me and had sharpened my sensibilities and intellect. I would mention about my respected teacher Shri Fakira Charan Patnaik who would almost hypnotize all the children of the entire class while teaching. If he was teaching tragedy, he would be found weeping with tears rolling down his eyes; while on comedy, he would giggle like a two year old child. Such a genius he was and what versatility his personality had! As if providence had sent him to this world to be a great teacher and nothing but a teacher! When I see him today – he makes special effort to see me when he comes to Bhubaneswar from Nayagarh, I still look in him that teacher teaching me in that class room in the High School at Koraput. While he was the Head Master of Nayagarh High School, he had persuaded me to attend the annual function of the school. I was then the Director of Community Development and Panchayati Raj of Government of Orissa. He also had invited Shri Gopal Chandra Patnaik who was his teacher. I still remember his excitement on the podium while he had his student that is me, on one side and his teacher Shri Patnaik on the other side of his seat. After the function was over, I went to his house at his command and he and his wife treated me to a delicious dinner. His father was sick when he was at Koraput. He preferred to stay on in the school, in stead of being with his ailing father at Nayagarh as he had to complete the syllabus before the examination. One day while he was teaching us he received a telegram delivered to him in the class room by the peon of the school. He preferred to put it in the pocket without opening it. After the class was over only did he go through the telegram which conveyed the news of the passing away of his father. Such was the character of this great teacher and he had made tremendous impact on my personality. My father was the Collector and District Magistrate in Koraput, a highly venerated and exalted position; but this had meant no special favour either to me or my sisters who were studying in the school. All teachers of the school displayed commendable egalitarian approach to the students. The meritorious ones got rewarded through high marks and the dim-wits got special attention of the teachers.

We moved to Bhubaneswar in the year 1957 when my father was transferred to the Secretariat. I got admitted to the Capital High School in the final year of the school. My Head Master was the formidable Shri Ganeswar Misra. The mere mention of his name used to evoke fear in the students. He was happy to get me in the school. Somehow he had come to know that I was good at study and would make him realize his desire of having one of his students in the list of the best ten students in the Matriculation Examination in the entire state of Orissa—a distinction Capital High School was yet to achieve. Hardly did he realize that I was good only in a small school like the High School at Koraput where we were only sixteen students in the class and without much effort I was standing first and the second student was at a great distance. Capital High School was much bigger, competition was stiff. I secured the third position in the pre test examination of Class XI. Bhavani Sivaraman stood first, Biswambar was second. With that performance certificate I confronted the Head Master. He singled me out and asked me to read out in the class the marks I had secured in different subjects. I was scared and started off with the subject in which I had fared badly. “52 out of 100 in Science,” I blurted out and then there was a volley of admonition from him. I could not read out my marks in other subjects as my feeble words would certainly have been drowned in the volley of strong words of admonition. The pungency of the words did sting me; I took my seat. Head Master taught us for some time thereafter and the class was over. His words did have a tinge of remorse and disappointment. I realized that I had let down my Head Master; his dreams have been shattered by an incompetent student on whom he had too high expectations. After a couple of months, we took the test, called the Test before the Matriculation Examination. I improved my position a bit by standing second in the class. I had had no encounter with the Head Master this time. He had made his assessment about me. After a few months, we took our final examination. The results were declared and Capital High School had the distinction for the first time to have one of its students that was me, in the list of the best ten students of the state. That was my GURU DAKSHINA to my great Head Master who had the capacity to bring the best out of mediocrity.

A child has tremendous potentiality; it has the gift of divinity unpolluted by ambition and greed. A great teacher helps a student to blossom. I therefore shudder at the satanic strategy in making our schools starve of teachers. Have real enemies of the state decided to make this state a land of illiterates? Must we accept this situation as normal? I would earnestly plead for revival of all our schools in the state be those at Motu or Jarada; Gurundia or Tumudibandh. People of the state must take a faltering government to task and ensure that our children have a right to study in well run schools.

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