A Tribute to my mentor of English Literature - RIP Chatterjee Sir

There is a bad news for all the ex-students of Jawaharlal English School....

Our beloved English/History Teacher Mr.Robindranath Chatterjee expired on last Sunday (3rd Nov-13) ;( 

What an irony, the person who lit the light of English literature among the students, who initiated the sparks of love for subjects like History and Civics (Social Science) in his students was blown away on a Diwali Night :(

The best ever Teacher who taught History & English very passionately and actually had knowledge of both the subjects. But had to say that he was a victim of dirty politics of JES and never got the respect and place what he really deserved. 

I remember me and my ex-classmate had gone to his home and he said "Wait, don't tell me your names, let me guess....you are "Suraj Gaikwad" of 1999 batch" and also told the name of my ex-classmate. We also got a complement that ours was the last best batch which passed from JES. I have a habit of capturing such memorable moments in my camera as who knows whether we would get another chance of enjoying them...so fortunately enough, I had taken a photograph of him...to which he was shy and I convinced him that I won't put it up anywhere to which he agreed. I kept my words but now I can't resist putting it in this article for those who also really admired him and want to share a glimpse of him through his photo and it would also be a small tribute to him from my side....

Today whatever I write/speak a bit in English is the result of the passion and fire that was ignited by Chatterjee Sir in 9th and 10th Standard. We sometimes used to crack jokes behind his back but I personally always had a lot of respect for that man as he taught me directly or indirectly many things during the school days...

There are lot of memories attached to Chatterjee Sir. 

<> I remember he directed our play 'The Dear Departed' in 9th Standard. My 1st scary experience of acting in a play which had lengthy English dialogues at a tender age of 14. During the same period, I had scored 7 out of 10 in our English paper's grammar section. Usually I used to score 10/10 or 9/10 but this time my score dipped. Sir had commented in front of the class while announcing the scores that these days Mr.Suraj seems to be interested more in co-curricular activities. At first, I felt angry as why is he insulting me in this way but soon realized that I was also among the other English scholars in our class on whom his hopes were pinned. He made us love English literature than anybody else in school days via our favourite Bible of English Grammar "Wren & Martin" and its associated "Key" (both were red in colour if somebody has forgotten it!) 

<> Once an unofficial school outing was fixed by JES teachers for their family members to Mahabaleshwar. Me and few of my friends were asked if we too want to join it along with our parents which we heartily accepted. Sir had come along with his Wife and daughter. 1st time got a chance to see all the teachers along with their family members...their true colours which they showed in the bus which would never been known to me unless I was a part of that trip. Rashmi Miss and Munira Miss were pulling legs of Chatterjee Sir a lot throughout the journey by singing some funny song (non-filmy) which started like "Gaadime Chananana Chananana Hoye Re, Gaadime Baithe Do Bengali..." and then they would add some peculiarity of that couple in the next lines. Every teacher was a victim of this song :)
Whoever had brought some stuff to eat in the bus was passing it to all the teachers and their family members. That trip was like an extended family travelling together for the 1st time together.

<> Daily in the evening after the school was over, he along with his wife used to go for a walk in Maharshi Nagar area. I had accidently met him 2-3 times during those walks during my college days or even after that. We used to have a candid short talk which was equally pleasant for both the parties. The way students show respect for their teachers, their teachers also can convey respect and love for their favourite students is what I had learnt from those interactions. That same affection had taken me twice to meet him at his house.

JES had seen some ultimate teachers who were masters in their own subjects like Late. Dhonwad Miss (Marathi) who used to teach poems in very easy tunes which later I realized were tunes of famous marathi songs but it did help us in learning those meaningful poems easily. Love for poems started somewhere from Dhonwad Miss....which was shortly blossomed by Vaidehi Miss in her short stint in JES.

It had Kaveri Miss....another gem of Mathematics...especially teaching geometry was a child's play for her.

JES also had so many teachers whom all the students loved like Flori Miss, Diana Miss, Rashmi Miss (there were 2 with the same name and both were good), Annie Miss, Bharti Miss, Madhu Miss, Munira Miss and the list will continue.....

However it had very less number of Male teachers.....who really belonged to this field and shaped many lives in real sense of those who believed in him and his abilities.

RIP Mr.Robindranath Chatterjee...a real Maestro of English Literature and History..........JES and all the students whom you taught will certainly miss you Sir !!!