Randeep the melody

Many people in this pic have made their presence in this A2Z series

A phone call came from an unknown number the other day. “Is it okay to talk to you now, Sir?” The caller asked. The typical start of a conversation by an influencer. “What’s it about?” My usual response looking forward to something like: “I am so-and-so from such-and-such business firm…” And I would cut the call. But there was a surprise this time. “I am Randeep…” I recognised him instantly. His voice rang like a gentle music in my heart.

Randeep was a student from the last class 12 batch of Sawan. One of my favourites. He is unforgettable. Both Maggie and I taught him at Sawan where he was a student from class 4 to 12. Nine years in a residential school create deep bonds between people, even between staff and students.

Randeep was an ideal student. Good at everything yet very humble and spontaneous. He was a top sportsman and a prefect with eminent leadership. He had certain peculiar problems with academics. Answers came promptly from him if you questioned him in class. But when it came to writing, there were aggravating problems. I consulted the school’s counsellor once about this but it didn’t help because the counsellor was going to leave the school soon and the new management of the Queen wasn’t interested in anybody’s welfare.

Randeep was the kind of student who could be relied on for anything. Entrust him with a responsibility and you could forget about it because it would be carried out with meticulous dedication. 

When Randeep was in class eleven, the principal-in-charge initiated some new practices in the morning assembly. One of them was a weekly motivational speech by me. A short speech of 3-4 minutes. I normally presented some winner from history who made it against all odds and students appreciated me liberally. It should be emphasised here with bold printing that Sawan had its unique ways of appreciating people’s endeavours. Whatever good you did never went without many a good word from all quarters including the administration. This is something that I never saw in any of the other institutions where I worked. When RSSB took over completely, that culture gave way to criticism and negativity. My weekly speeches came to an end too.

One of the students drew my attention to Randeep’s fascination with my speeches. He was exempted from morning assembly that year as he was in charge of the newspaper distribution. Now, remember that Sawan was an exclusively residential school. So our routine was quite different from that of other schools. The students were woken up at 5.30 in the morning and made to do some exercises in the playgrounds. Then they had the ablutions. Classes began at 7.10 am. Breakfast after two periods. Then morning assembly in the auditorium. At that time, a couple of boys would be busy distributing the student edition of the Times of India in every classroom. Each student received a copy of the newspaper and they were expected to read it during the free times of the day. Randeep was to oversee this newspaper distribution. But every Thursday when my speech was there in the assembly, he would entrust the responsibility to a friend and join the assembly. “Just to listen to you,” he told me later.

He had the same passion in the English class too. He was the most attentive student, I would say, and he questioned me whenever he had an issue with what I said. My teaching was never confined to the lesson alone. It would go from the lesson to the contemporary world and its affairs. For example, if I was teaching Alphonse Daudet’s story ‘The Last Lesson’, my discussion would glide from the story to its themes of nationalism, role of mother tongue in nationalism, and so on. I courted controversy time and again. But my students were extremely open-minded though many of them never agreed with my views. Randeep too disagreed with me occasionally but his affection for me did not wane ever.

When he was completing class 12, we were all getting ready for the death of Sawan school. [See previous two posts for details.] Nevertheless all the rituals went on as usual. One of those rituals was the farewell programme for class 12. We, teachers of class 12 and the House Masters, had made all arrangements for the farewell programme which was to begin at 6 pm in the auditorium. At about 5.30 pm, R K Sharma (House Master) gave me a call to inform me that the class 12 students were all missing from the hostels. I gasped. RK and I started searching for the students. Where could such a large number of students vanish from a walled residential campus?

Finally we espied them in the laundry area. Randeep was one of the leaders who envisaged and executed this boycott of the farewell. They were against the RSSB management, they said. They refused to accept our (RK’s and mine) explanations. Our view was that the farewell had little to do with the management. Randeep and friends were adamant about their decision and we, their teachers, became helpless.

The surprise came the next day, however. One of the leaders of this rebellious move met me personally to tell me that the management was forcing Randeep and the other leaders of the rebellion to give a written statement that I was the teacher who forced them to boycott the farewell. I smiled because I knew that Randeep would never give such a statement. Not only Randeep, even the others who led the rebellion wouldn’t. Randeep would die for me if necessary.

It is difficult to find students like Randeep. I always considered myself blessed as a teacher because of students like Randeep. Nine years after our farewell, Randeep and I still enjoy great friendship. Yes, friendship. It is possible for a 64-year-old teacher to have a deep personal bond with a 27-year-old former student.

When I told Randeep the other day that I was planning to present him in this A2Z series with a pseudonym, his instant response was: “Use my name, why not?” He was so sure that I wouldn’t do him any injustice. Well, young man, the melody that you are deserves a better post than this. Wait until we meet again.

PS. I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z 

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