Mysorean

Gurur Brahma Gurur Vishnu Guru Devo Maheswara;
Gurur Sakshat Para Brahma Thasmai Sri Gurave Namaha

Guru is Brahma, Guru is Vishnu, Guru is Maheswara. Consider Guru as your everything. In this world, everything is a manifestation of Divinity. Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma (verily all this is Brahman). All are the embodiments of Divinity. In fact, all that you see is nothing but the Divine Cosmic Form (Viswa Virat Swarupa). [From divine discourse]

Today is "Teachers' Day". Whatever is good in me, is because of my teachers. I have been privileged to have some great teachers teach me.

My teachers were remarkable simply because I was so unremarkable. Teaching me is not an easy job. I can ask so many stupid and arrogant questions that it would put off any self-respecting individual. But my teachers were not ordinary individuals. They had the ability to transform personalities.

Lets start with my school teachers: (We used to call them "aunty" and "uncle" as a mark of respect and intimacy. I consider CFTRI as my school because I remember very less of my earlier school "Srividya". )

• Aunty Saramma was my first science teacher. If I ever managed to even familiarise myself with Biology it was because of her.
  
• Aunty Vijaya was my first kannada teacher. She had predicted, at a time when I had just started learning kannada, that I would be very good at it. It was her confidence that today the only language I am most comfortable with is "Kannada".
  
• Aunty Rukmini was my Hindi teacher. That she did a splendid job of teaching me the fundamentals is evident in the way I am able to change dialects within our National language.
  
• Aunty Prabha was my most prominent Social studies teacher. Well, she excellently taught us Geography, History and Civics. But I loved her most for the way in which she treated us like her own kids.
• Aunty Raina was my first mathematics teacher. Today Mathematics is my favourite subject. Need I say more?
  
• Aunty Sujaya was the headmistress of the School for the entire length of my school-life. She was this exceptionally strong person who had the ability to spot talent in a person. And also, by far, I haven't seen a better English teacher! [An interesting incident about Aunty Sujaya. When I had applied for admission into CFTRI school for my fourth standard, she had refused on certain grounds that we shall discuss later. And on the day when I went to receive my TC (Transfer Certificate), I clearly remember Aunty Sujaya telling my dad, "Aditya was among our best students. We will be losing a bright student". I never knew she thought so well of me till then.]
• Aunty Rajni Mary Mathew was my Mathematics teacher during my high school. She was an intelligent lady and knew how to get the right things into the student's head! As a result, my scores in mathematics during high-school was always above 90%.
  
• Aunty Atmajyoti was my first sanskrit teacher. She was one person who had infinite patience. We tested it to the extent that she had shed tears one day in class. Today, when I feel the need to learn sanskrit from the roots, I miss her a lot!
• Aunty Veena Murthy was my tenth standard class teacher and I liked her a lot. She was very frank and to the point. I have always liked such people. She used to teach us Biology and English.

And last but not the least:

• Uncle Ranga was our Physical Education teacher. He is the "Grand Old Man of CFTRI School". He could coach you on any game. And is a person of rare character and spirit. He has practically moulded generations of CFTRI students into the good human beings that we are today. He was loved by one and all. And you are sorely missed Sir!

I used to go for tuitons for mathematics and science (to get that state rank!) to one Mr. Pradeep. Great man! He used to teach with so much of patience and focussed so much on hardwork that I picked up the habit of revising mathematics by way of working out the exercises given in the text book over and over again. He had presented me with a "Hero Pen" with which I used to write my engineering exams. I passed my inter exam with the same Hero Pen Sir!

There were so many great teachers during my intermediate stint at Hyderabad. They were just so perfect with their subject that you would at times sit and wonder,"How on earth does he solve these problems in 5 lines of work?". Physics problems from Irodov, Halliday & Resnick were all solved in a matter of minutes.

There was one Mr. Suryanarayan who was a Don in the World of Calculus. His style of teaching was so simple and clear that I became a fan of Calculus. He used to be called M1 at college. [It was a system to label teachers as M1, M2, so on in SRM Junior college/ Special Coaching Centre]

There are so many teachers who influenced me and my way of being during my engineering and MBA days. Here's a snapshot of a few of them:

• Dr. T. R. Seetharam [TRS] taught us Thermodynamics for a single semester and I could sense the control he had over the subject. It was complete. [If I passed the subject effortlessly scoring 65, it was all his 'anugraha'] His control over students was much more. He commanded respect naturally. So much that one of my seniors annd close friend, went and fell at his feet before he left for the US to do his MS. That was something even I wanted to do, but never got a chance because TRS retired during my pre-final year.
• Mr. R. Dattakumar is our friend, philosopher and guide. Placement officer of NIE. Extremely cordial with the students. Demands respect when he enters class. A quality guru! Teaches with innovative methods. Doesn't give grace marks [Like other lecturers, but still ranks among the favourite lecturers at NIE]. His internal tests are the toughest because they are practically oriented. He tests your understanding and not your ability to recall! That's why I probably never scored well in his tests! ;-)
• Dr. T. V. Subramaniam [TVS] was our professor during MBA days. He was a king of subjects that were related to Supply Chain Management and Production! He was an expert on business strategy and was a consultant to various bigwigs of the corporate world. He once told us a story of how he was invited by Manpreet Brar to deliver a talk during Ranbaxy's supplier meet. He had apparently introduced himself as a "student" of management in his letter to him. TVS is approx 80 years old and I am yet to meet a more learned man than him in the field of SCM. If he considers himself as a student, then the others can only claim to be teachers by designation!
• Mr. Ramanujam Sridhar was our professor for Advertising and Public Relations. His knowledge of the subject came from his tremendous experience of being in the industry for a long time. He runs a successful agency now. His concepts were clear. And without any doubt the best in the business. He maintains excellent relationships with his students and is still in touch with me! I like him for that!
• Mr. Tarun Kochhar taught me performance management in a way that, though it seems as if I cannot remember most of it, I am confident I can easily design the PMS of an organization based on his inputs. His fundas, as they call it in the B-school, were clear. And he made sure we enjoyed throughout the length of his session. He would sense when we were getting tired and would give us a break. An ability to switch professions is something that's rarely found, but Tarun (as he prefers to be called) has switched from HR to Sales to Marketing to Brand Consulting with equal ease.

These are some of the teachers of mine who have touched my life in a way that it has changed for the better since then. I am grateful to each of them and also to those who I have not mentioned here for helping me learn. More important is the fact that all of you taught me "how to learn". This thanksgiving note is long overdue and is written with every word meaning what is said. Thank you!