Talk about India, from India with you

Good morning/Good afternoon/Good evening my friends, wherever you are! This is 8:00am. 5th September, 2015, Saturday in India. Hope you are doing well there!

5^th September, is a special day for all the Indian. India has been celebrating Teacher's Day on 5th September, since 1962. The day commemorates the birthday of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakhrishnan, a philosopher and a teacher par excellence, and his contribution towards Indian education system. Dr Radhakhrishnan believed that "teachers should be the best minds in the country". 

 

Dr Sarvepalli Radhakhrishnan

On this day, we gratefully remember the great educationist, apart from honoring all the teachers that have made our life much more knowledgeable and fulfilled, as serving as our beacons of light.

To salute all the teachers, I want share some more stories of some respected teachers of India.

Savitribai Phule

Savitribai Phule was a social reformer who along with her husband, Rashtrapita Jyotirao Phule, played an important role in changing the women’s rights in India. Savitribai Phule is the first female teacher of the first women's school in India and it wasn't an easy job! She started a school for girls in 1948 along with her husband; it was a cause for outrage in the Bramhin-dominated city of Pune.

Life was never easy for Phule as a teacher in the school, upper caste people were against setting up school for the girls. They pelted stones at her and threw dung on her. She faced oral abuse from all quarters of the village. During this time Phule also voiced her views against  child marriage and Sati.

When the village was struck with plague, she relentlessly helped the kids and used to hand feed about 2000 children. Unfortunately, she succumbed to plague and died in the year 1897.

 

Nissim Ezekiel

Nissim Ezekiel was an Indian Jewish poet born to a family of teachers in Mumbai. It is said Mahatma Gandhi brought simplicity and clarity to Modern Indian-English prose and Ezekiel made Indian-English poetry easy for the people.    

Ezekiel started his career as a head of the Department of English in Mumbai and also was a visiting professor at the University of Leeds. He translated many Indian poems and was considered to be a world renowned critic and playwright.

During his time Ezekiel guided many poets on the ways to approach the poem. He spent many of his years in Mumbai reading and making literature easy for school students.

He was also awarded with the Padma Shri and in the year 2004, he died of Alzheimer.

 

Dr Manmohan Singh

Long before he became the Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh was a teacher. He has held various teaching positions in the Panjab University, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi and the Jawaharlal Nehru University among others.

 

Rambhau Kundgolkar

Rambhau Kundgolkar, born in the year 1886 was popularly known as Sawai Gandharva. He was a well known Hindustani vocalist and an avid follower of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan.

Sawai Gandharwa was from Kundgol, twenty km south of Hubli, in Karnataka.

Although not from a musical family, he developed interest in music from a very young age. After discontinuing his education, Pt. Gandharva's father put him to Balwantrao Kolhatkar .From Kolhatkar, Gandharva learned many compositions and also mastered a few taala. Kolhatkar died in 1898, leaving Pt. Gandharva with no one to guide.

Sawai created his own students who are presently following his legacy. They acknowledge him as a great trainer who had made them great artists. Some of his students were Gangubhai Hangal, Basvaraj Rajguru and Pt.Feroze Dastur

In 1942, at the age of 56, his career ended after he suffered a paralytic stroke. However, he continued to teach till he died in the year 1952.

 

Ustad Alla Rakha Khan

The greatest exponent of the tabla, Ustad Alla Rakha Khan or Alla Rakha Qureshi was also a beloved teacher to many, many students.

Known as Abbaji to his disciples, he liked most of his contemporaries ran away from home to learn the musical instrument of his choice.

Eventually he would become the first artist to play a tabla solo at the All India Radio -- making everyone sit up and acknowledge the importance of the instrument that is usually an accompaniment to string instruments or vocals.

By playing with Hindustani as well as Karnatic musicians, Alla Rakha bridged the gap between the two styles of music.

During the peak of his career, Pt Ravi Shankar would only play with Alla Rakha at concerts in India and abroad.

Quereshi was also the teacher for two world famous tablaists, who are also his sons. Zakir Hussain and Fazal Quereshi are now leading the legacy built by their father.

Quereshi was able to teach and produce two of the greatest jewels for Indian music, made him one of the best gurus in the world. 
Alla Rakha died on 3 February 2000 in Shimla due to a heart attack, which he suffered on realizing the death of his daughter, Razia.

 

RK Narayan

The man who gave us some of the most endearing stories of Swami, his friends and Malgudi was once a teacher though for a very, very short while. He is RK Narayan, who failed a year and took four years to complete his BA was never really taken in by the idea of having a full-time job.

According to RK Ramchandran -- his younger brother -- after he completed his graduation, his father insisted that he get himself a paying job because he never thought of writing as a secure profession.

So using some contact, he got the author a teaching position at a school Chennapatna near Mysore.

As it happened the headmaster asked him to substitute for a physical training master. Narayan protested but was shown the book which said that he would have to perform any duty that would be asked of him.

So even as the boys waited for their drill master to arrive, Narayan put in his papers and returned to Mysore. And that was the first and last job he ever held!

There are so many teacher's are there in India; who deserve to be appreciated. Here I mention those, whom I can remember now!
Well’ that’s all for today! Take care of your family and yourself! Have a good day/ afternoon/evening/night! Namaskar.