I have got contributions in terms of photo and writing to remember Subodh Babu. Adding them in one place here. I would expect others to comment on this post to keep your Shraddhanjali here :
Amit Paul writes :
Looking back, it’s just a few decades, when I walked into the class with that inexpressible joy of becoming “Secondary student”, no more waking up in the morning to attend the school. In her farewel speech the headmistress said – “you are now grown-up kids”.
Ranjan was our class monitor and while he was busy establishing his self-professed authority on the first day, a handsome bearded fellow entered the class. We were shy. We did not know how to react. And then the voice boomed – “I’m your class teacher; I will tell you a story today”. He walked over to the board and drew a few swans in just a few strokes on the just refurbished blackboard – the story continued for couple of weeks with perfectly interleaved pictures drawn on the board. We were in our adolescence with the spirit of intellectual enquiry, but we were so deeply dissolved, did not understand why the story needed to be over – the “Manos Sarovar Yatra”. After even 30 years or so I can’t forget those days, not sure of any better way starting our journey to secondary education.
The series of those unforgettable pictures started flashing back in more than hundred frames per second when that monitor Ranjan called me up saying Subodh Babu was no more. It’s a kind of pensiveness, a sense of loosing your nearest one. I was overwhelmed with grief. It is difficult to encounter a teacher who is so versatile, so perfect in his professional role.
It’s perhaps around a year and half back when one day Subodh Babu called me saying “I would be visiting Bangalore for Sahitya Sammelan; would be staying for one day after the Sammelan as a guest with you. I was so jubilant. That was the last and perhaps the first time he chatted with me about his goals in life. While that was much personal, I remember telling him about Kalidas Roy’s – “Chatrodal” – Sir was a little lost. We chatted for long, just before saying good night he said “My students have given me a lot, I wonder if I really created these gems, I wonder why they love me so much, I am proud of my students.”
Now as I write this, I realise it was he who was a rare gem in the system. The value he tried to imbibe in us was the value that stired him as a person and sustained him. “Balo Bir, Balo Unnato Mamo Sir” in his voice used to create spark in teens’ blood; an ideal teacher – who had affection for all of his students – a person who could infuse mammoth confidence by his actions. He was a fantastic narrator, a skillful organizer. Art, literature, sketch, oration, recitation were his precious stones attracting youth and pupils. Moreover his open hearted laugh and unhindered communication helped him touch many minds, hearts too. A rare mix of balanced personality.
Like many of us and Subodh Babu’s fellow followers I also don’t have words to express my gratitude to Sir for shaping our minds in those days.
Photo taken by Binoy Chakraborti at joint condolence meeting at school goes below
Photos taken by Suparnada
