In Mount Carmel College
I never wanted to teach like my Mum -- NEVER. It was a tough life being a teacher and Mum struggled on without grumbling for us five kids to give us the best education. By teaching in the schools we went to, she was able to get us free seats in the schools which would have been impossible to pay for by my Dad. Five kids on a serving officers salary was a tight squeeze every month and she managed to get it for us by teaching in the same school.
I wore many hats -- ran my own Advertising Agency and made a ton of money and also my own pre school which helped pay for my indulgences like buying a farm in Hoskote and buying super bikes ( cycles) for the boys to compete in the triathlon. Then after getting bored out of my head working full time as a journalist in the Deccan Herald, I left after resigning, to set up the Media section in St. Joseph’s Arts and Science College. I still freelance for the DH and other magazines and The Hindu but I moved into academia and did my PhD.
MCC
In St Joseph’s there was a young man whom I taught in the undergraduate class who always come rain or shine, would help me set up for my PPT for the class in the Media lab. Albert was a slim, self effacing boy who over the two years I came to know really well. One day I just casually asked him about his parents and home and out came a story, pouring from the depths of his soul about how his father had passed on and his mother a housewife was struggling.
His Dad's family were kind and helped with their food needs but his education and fees was to be handled by his mother. “I have got to pay by the end of this month Maam,” he said. “ My Mum does not know where to go for it. The college is giving me a large deduction but the rest I must manage”
One student
I decided to connect with the Old Boys Association of the college and in minutes the Old students not only cleared his fees but also lauded Albert for his perseverance. Albert completed his undergrad and got a good job through a good friend of mine and supported both his mother and brother, till his mother died.
Today Albert is looking to go overseas to do a Masters and try to stay on and emigrate. He needs all the help he can get to realise his dream and I am glad his tenacity and determination is helping him to look for better horizons.
Again -- I noticed a very bright student -- Dev Bastola in another class. An exceedingly intelligent Nepali boy, who had taken the media course. I asked him why he was wasting his time with the course and he said he had got a medical seat but was too poor to join the college. I told him to try again and would get support. Sure enough he got a seat and this time a medical seat in Nottingham.
Another student
A Doctor Old Boy said that seat was amazing and he would help with Dev’s food-- Trevor Viegas. Other Old boys helped too and the Nepal government and his village folk gave him a bursary. My son in the UK and I chipped in and Dev certified himself to teach Yoga and started supporting himself with classes that he ran. Dev has six months left and my heart fills with pride at his ingenious and inventive ways of keeping afloat. His patience and endurance to see the light at the end of the tunnel in one so young fills me with hope for him.
Dev ploughing his fields during his holidays
When I visit he will come all the way from Manchester -- he has moved from Nottingham as the course is superior in Manchester -- to see me and touch my feet. My sons feel good helping him. They were lucky they had a grandfather who knew the value of education and supported them as I could not afford the professional fees.
Albert and Dev are my shining stars of hope in a bleary, horrible world where money seems to be all people care about. It is a shame that people would rather waste electricity and water in the building, rather than help a person in need. What we have asked in return is they get good jobs to sustain themselves. Albert looks at New Zealand and Dev will work in the UK and hopefully bring his parents over. And I am grateful to these Old Boys who never fail to come to a students aid.
