------------------------------------------------------------------------ * G * O * A * N * E * T **** C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ GARCA BRANCA VACATION ACCOMMODATION LOUTULIM, SOUTH GOA. For R&R; modern/clean amenities; serene, healthy and wholesome location
Visit http://www.garcabranca.com for details/booking/confirmation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Remembering the teachers today A student learns more from the teacher's life, not teaching! It was TEACHERS' DAY in India earlier this week. It has been so since the truamatic year of 1962, with India gaining Goa from the Portuguese and losing a good part of the Himalayan regions of North East and Kashmir& Ladakh to the Chinese. It marks the then President of India, Dr.Sarvapally Radhakrishnan's, birthday even in a generation that may turn around and ask "Dr.Radhakrishnan who?" It is not accidental that the day is always close to "Gokul Ashtami", the birthday of lord Krishna, the giver of the Bhagawad Gita, who is variously known as Gopal, Gopalkrishna, Devkikrishna and Radhakrishna. Dr. Radhakrishna may have got his name from the festival the same way we have "Noel" or "Noela"as the name for someone born on Christmas Day. Gokul Ashtami celebrates the mischief of the youth of the same person who gave the world the wisdom of the Gita. It is a good reminder to some of the teachers today who expect school children to behave like saints, right from Kindergarten to Ph.D ! I wonder what would have happened to the "Makkhan chor" , who reportedly chased the Gopis [milkmaids] during his youth, if he was to go through the present education system in India. Perhaps, he would have become a Computer Software Professional in Infosys or Reliance or whatever ..... or would have set up something like UNLEARNING UNLIMITED of my friend and guide, Architect Pravin Sabnis, now also of QUIZ QUEST fame. In the year itself, alumni of St.Britto High School, Mapusa, have lost four teachers. Madame Christina Pereira from Colvale was the first to go in April. She taught me French in the mid-1970s, after her family returned from Africa. When she entered the class she had to be greeted "Bon jour, Madame" and, thus, no person finished the year without knowing to "say at least two words in French" ! By the end of two years a few of us could even speak a little French. Incidentally, French was a language my mother taught in Janata High School, Mapusa, with her former student and the first MLA of Mapusa, Raghunath Anant Tople, as the Principal. Madame also taught English as did my mother, Gracinda. Madame knew her students by name and would sometimes call out when we were in Mapusa market, thirty years later! Edwin Saldanha was a teacher who found out who did what best, and guided him to do it better than he expected. He had a simple definition for excellence: "ten percent better than the next person". He pushed everyone to their limit and at times we loved to hate him as the pushy "Uncle Sali", a sobriquet that went well with both, his surname and his the village of his ancestors and his residence, Saligao. He started the Goa Bharat Scouts & Guides state unit and pushed a dozen of us[4 boys and 8 girls, including Dr.Meenakshi Martins-Shukla, Dr. Marilyn Estibeiro and Annabelle Pinto do Rosario-Gracias who are still in Goa] to the top, as President's Scouts and Guides. More would follow. All of us remember him with pride. Of course, I did not learn much about drawing, his official "subject" in school. It did not matter to either of us, in class or in life beyond school !! Miss Joyce Lisboa looked pretty even in death. A former "Miss Goa", she remained a spinster by choice. A wonderful French teacher, she taught in St.Britto HS in the late 1960s and till 1973 or so. Even now , she was teaching French at SFX Convent HS, Peddem-Mapusa. Olavo Xavier Mascarenhas was a proponent of the "Mens sana et corporo sano" [Latin for "Healthy mind and a healthy body"] and used the ancient regimen to achieve it. Like coffee, some like it hot and some like it not! It is , shall we say not their "cup of tea"? To me , he was a great teacher and sports coach. I admire him although I wish his ways of "disciplining" were not as close to the Jesuit regime as to be uncomfortable to the current education concepts. Times change and so must we. That is the lesson from the fate of the Dinosaurs and the Dodos. No, not all teachers of my generation are dead. Narayan S.Bhadti is still teaching and has his former student, Shantaram Halarnkar, as his colleague. My very first Scout Master, Shrikant Hegde, is still teaching in the same school. Other teachers have retired on super-annuation, VRS and even on not-so-voluntary retirement but under the VRS package just the same. It is sad that my Alma Mater now also has a teacher suspended on allegations of an unhealthy scam in the Health Department. Getting good teachers has become a problem as it is not so highly attractive a profession today. Today, every smart student tries to go in to a professional course, irrespective of whether it is good for him/her or not. Aptitude and talent assessment at school level is the need of the hour. Fellow Britto Boy and journalist, Frederick Noronha remembers the Principal of his days, Fr.Vincent Catao sj, thus "He taught me that tough and strict people can be nice too...Till today, I think of him when I struggle to occasionally leave the home unsuccessfully with my shirt outside my trousers! He taught us the power of discipline ... and the truism that one needs to sometimes be cruel to be kind!" Obviously, not all alumni of his times will share this view. Neither do I. Of our hero during school days and ever after, Ivan Rocha, Frederick wrote on the alumni Net group thus: " Without whom, I would have never gained confidence in myself, found out that my fondness of reading could be converted into a way to win quizzes (and later, earn from writing!) His cool and calm way of dealing with the 'boys' really inspired us." Ivan Rocha's fans are a legion. Me, too. No one whom he has taught will ever forget Pandurang M. Naik even if they do not know his name. Known simply as "Guruji" he was, as Frederick recalls, " Kindness, politeness, coolness personified. It was amazing for someone to come to a (then) largely Catholic school with a kurta-and-pudvem and be so at ease with the world. I really admired this man." We wish all the teachers good health, long life and prosperity all the way. As a way to pay them back, Goa Sudharop, the Botanical Society of Goa and Britto's Old Boys' Association have joined hands to conduct a workshop for school teachers on RainWater Harvesting [RWH] on 11 September at Institute Menezes Braganza, Panaji. The response is good. (ENDS) Editor's Note: The 46th annual Teacher's Day is celebrated in Goa on September 5, 2007 ======================================================================== The above article appeared in the September 5, 2007 edition of the Gomantak Times, Goa