How do we pay tribute to our teachers who left an ever lasting impact on our lives. In school we played truant and made fun of them. Now that we are senior citizens ourselves, we look back to appreciate the foundations they laid for us to be who we are today. With this souvenir we express our gratitude to all our teachers who came in to enrich our lives. We can never forget them.
The Jesuit Fathers
Father Pereira or ‘Parruu” as the boys referred to him was not only the Principal but was also the first among equals who did not teach. For our batch it was Father Wilzbacher & Father Zubricky who taught the ISC Batch while Father Extross & Father Mayer were class teachers of AIHS section. Rohit Bhandari recalls: “During my relatively short tenure in the school, Father Zubricky left the strongest impression than any other teacher during my entire school years. English literature used to always be my favourite subject and Zubricky just reinforced that preference with his dramatic engagement in the books we were reading! And I was truly inspired by his selfless service to the people suffering from leprously. Rakesh Bhandari remembers: “Whenever Father Zubricky saw that some students were feeling sleepy, he used to conduct deep breathing exercises in the class!!! Raphael says it all: Zubricky was a ‘Once in a Lifetime Teacher.’
Sudhanidhi recalls, once when Zuby had gone back home, it was Wilsy who substituted and taught them English briefly. Sudha says, “In one of my English essay I had made a small mistake. Wilsy wrote a half page note in Hindi to explain that mistake and his Hindi was not only good but his handwriting was also beautiful.”
“But how can one forget Father Extross?” asks Sarvatma Dayal Mathur who thinks “Extross was the most ‘Indianised, among the Fathers. No wonder Extross is credited with a Class Song written by him:
“I am a gay Rajasthani
I wear the safa shervani
The safa you see is too big for me
But it was a gift from my Nani”
Before retirement, Extross was the Hindi Reader on Radio Vatican in Rome.
Father Mayer: Pavan do write a sentence or two for Meyer. ….And then there was Father Pinto who taught us Trigonometry. Raphael feels that although “Pinto was exceptional as a school math teacher; he gave too much homework for my liking.” Physics was taught to us by Father Thotuvelil. Then there were other priests who also wore the white cassocks but did not teach. For instance, Father Wilmus, who operated the cinema projector. Nobody knew what was Father Cosgrove’s role but everybody knew he played Golf! Basant vividly recalls “When I was in hostel, I loved to watch Father Cosgrove on weekends, swing from the Church end of the lawn and see most of his shots rolling within inches of each other at the far end!” Our early batch mates also recall Father Bernie and Father Harland who were dearly loved by the children. Naresh Meghani recalls Father Ryan who could lift a 40 kg wheat bag with a jerk of one hand! Father Rosenfelder always looked threatening despite the fact that he was a gentle person. Most of us also recall Father Ribeiro and his close association with Ms. Francis just as Father Grace was linked to Padma Samrat. Well, there was one thing that afflicted almost all the fathers – Smoking! Raman Sarda says: Father Zubriky’s breath reeked of cigar smoke once in a while. And Extross was a Charminar chain smoker
Gentleman Teachers
A flood of images, faces, names come tumbling when one begins to recall the different gentlemen teachers who taught us in St Xavier’s. The most inimitable was of course, Mr. Brandon who was a master storyteller and entertainer. We all looked forward to his period. No work, just fun.
Yash Chow recalls “I remember Mr. NL Jain as he would take 2 straight classes of Physics and in about 30-35 minutes of teaching, would say poker faced “This is Electricity for you.” Apparently, NL Jain had finished entire 3 year syllabus for Physics and Chemistry in one and a half year. When Piyush Mehrotra once said, “Sir I do not understand this step in the equation”, NL Jain promptly said, “it is not necessary you understand everything. Just ‘ajzume’ it is like that!” But apparently ISC guys had more respect for their maths teachers – Mr. Mathai & Shri S.N. Sharma
Mr. Nair was the biology teacher with a heavy Malyali accent. Pavan impersonates Mr. Nair convincingly with his pet line: “Simbly Causing Trouble”! His pronunciation of many words was very typical. While the AIHS gang had to dissect frogs, the ISC got cockroaches, which as Deepak Chibba confessed, “Microscope or no microscope in the dissection of the cockroach, I could not see the brain in 2 attempts. I may have subconsciously decided to stay away from Medicine! “
Somani recalls Pandit Hukam Narain who was a Shashtri and a Sanskrit scholar. He used to wear a Topi and according to Aditya’ he really liked to punch hard on the backs of the erring students. Basant Khaitan remembers that Mr. RL Sharma, our Hindi teacher, was so pleased when students called him guru ji and touching his feet! Then there was the dapper Mr. Simon who taught English. Batch mates fondly recall his beautiful wife who rode ladies cycle and always wore skirts. They immigrated to Canada.
Please contribute on other male teachers like Singhada, Mr. Anand Singh Junia, Mr. Pareek , Mr. Asrani ! Tall & hearty Mr. Sebastian, the Infirmary in charge? Not worth including?
Lady Teachers
Lady Teachers in KG and Prep Classes
Lady Teachers when we in our teens
Lady Teachers that left us gasping…
Lady Teachers in KG and Prep Classes
Naresh Menghani remembers: I Think You All Remember Miss Lobo Our Class Teacher in 3rd B . She was also a Very Nice and Decent Teacher . She Also used to be Very Well Dressed Specially Tight Skirt and Blouse. We used to Reverse Her Name and Call Miss Bolo and She used to Get Very Irritated. Somani recalls Mrs Lal , drawing teacher,used to hit on the knuckles with a ruler. Anil Kasliwal also remember: Nobody remembers Miss P Sinha who taught us Hindi in Fifth standard.I owe my good Hindi due to her.Yes before that there was another Hindi lady teacher good looking Mrs Vijiya Singh in 3rd or 4th standard who also made my foundation strong in Hindi. He akso has a story to tell: Does Naresh remembers Miss Vijaya Singh young pretty Rajput lady who used to come on self driven jeep who taught us some subject in class VI. Anil has a story to tell about her because she confiscated his large magnet and was harsh.
Mrs Anand class teacher
Ms Lobo
Ms Alexander
Mrs. Nigam.
Lady Teachers that left us gasping…
Special mention must be made of those lady teachers who left the senior boys gasping! It seems that every batch mate fancied either Ms Brazz or Padma Samrat or Rama Pandey at some point or another. Ask Srikant Bulak who still remembers Ms Brazz fondly. And Ramesh Tandon says that Padma Samrat was certainly the star attraction each time she walked up the stairs with that famous swing wow-ing the boys of std. 10B. Remember ‘Summer of 42’ the movie! Rama Pandey, / Sudhanidhi Kasliwal: Don’t you guys remember Miss Dawson , the black beauty