On September 5 ( Teacher’s Day ) this year , I was wondering about what this day meant to me personally i.e. if there was truly any teacher whom I respected greatly ( for a final year VNITian like me , this question is bound to generally yield no answers :) ) . I felt strongly about putting down my thoughts on paper but could not owing to several reasons . And this train of thought was fuelled by a sudden contempt for the college authorities ( chiefly comprising of the faculty ) after last week’s ‘UGLY’ unfolding of events in the hostels . So it’s basically the precipitation of a certain solution of thought influenced majorly by some events in the college last week .
Part I : Ov Moghe In my whole academic life so far , never has any teacher influenced me as profoundly as Mr. D.V.Moghe , a professor who has been teaching me for the past two years in my Dept. in VNIT .
Here are a few reasons why ...
Firstly , He performs the stupendous task of teaching two of the driest ( and by dry I mean REALLY DRY here :) ) subjects in the undergraduate curriculum of Metallurgical Engineering . But you have to ‘see to believe’ the remarkable way in which he infuses energy in the otherwise lifeless subject content . Infact , he has even managed to convince a majority of the students to consider this subject as their favourite or at the least get them to be interested enough to have the heart to attend his classes and the examination .
Secondly , he is one of the very few professors in the whole college who communicates in near-flawless English . Infact , his diction reminds many of the infamous (Word list) GRE-prep book BARRONS .
Thirdly , his sense of discipline might put any army man to shame . In the 3 semesters he has taught us , there has not been a single instance in which he has shirked from his duty. And to complement that , we have responded by never ever ‘mass-bunking’ his classes ( for the uninitiated ; Mass Bunk is an ignominy most of the teachers have to face in the insti . Its a rather blatant way of the students telling the prof. that they don’t give a F*** about them :D . About a week back , he told us about how on the day of his wedding reception he attended the function in the morning and returned in time the same afternoon for his ‘teaching duty’ . Agreed that this act is taking discipline too far but in general it speaks great volumes about his love and respect for discipline .
Fourthly , he is one of the most well-read persons I have ever met . And by this statement , I don’t mean that he is just well-read in his subject field but in all current affairs : from cricket to religion to politics to just about anything . This helps him in peppering his lectures with anecdotes and opinions which keeps us students perpetually interested .
Lastly , on a personal level I have been priviledged enough to share a beer with him when I accidentally bumped into him during my Research Internship in IISc Bangalore this summer . That evening he opened up ( like any man does in the influence of alcohol :D ) to me like a friend and the discussion that ensued was very fruitful .
Part II : Ov Morality Last week in the insti. The ( goddamn jobless authorities ) spoiled the party for certain batchmates of mine by rusticating them from the hostel for smoking and drinking ( in a rather peaceful manner ! ) in their rooms . This , I feel is the height of Moral policing ; I mean HOW and WHY are the authorities concerned with controlling the habits of 21-24 yr old adults here when they have far better things to worry about . That is a right to which only the student himself or at max. His parents are entitled to .
Part III : The Roll It all begins in today’s lecture of Moghe Sir who at the end of the class broached upon the last week’s incident for discussion with the students . Firstly , he said he was ashamed of us because we didn’t do anything about contesting this issue with the authorities . It is easier for me to quote him hence “
The authorities have ABSOLUTELY no right to break open the door of an adult male in the college and pry upon his activities ( apparently the students laughed uncontrollably at this :D ) , whatsoever they may be as long as it is blatantly injuring someone else in any sense . If such a thing would have taken place when I was a student here ( in the 80’s ) , the student community would have caused a major uproar and I for one ( smiles ..) , would never have completed my college education had they ever invaded my privacy in the same way as they did now . “ While we were all stunned by his reaction and his overall pro-student take on this issue , he firmly concluded by quoting Lord Macaulay
“ MORALITY IS PREACHED ONLY BY THOSE WHO ALWAYS WANTED TO SIN , BUT COULD NOT “ . This peroration of his was not greeted by an expected ovation but I could see that in just one verbal swing he had aggrandized his image among his students to a level matched by none in the department or probably in the college .
Personally , his talk left my mind distracted with the thought or rather the possibility :
“ WHY COULDNT THE REST OF OUR COLLEGE AUTHORITIES , FACULTY ( esp. The Director ) THINK ON THE SAME LINES AND MAKE VNIT A MUCH BETTER PLACE TO LIVE IN ?? “ . Moral of the story : We need more teachers like Moghe Sir in the college and we need them badly and urgently . The authorities have wronged the students and let us down time and again in this period of our 3-year stay in the college . I sincerely believe that the college authorities need to have a major soul-check in the near future so that they can salvage atleast some respect from their graduating batches and the batches to follow .
