My favorite professor

Famous Sanskrit proverb says –asatoma sadgmaya, tamasoma jyotirgamaya, mruthyorma amruthamgaya ! Lead me from darkness to light, unreality to reality and from mortality to immortality. That’s what a great teacher does! I felt this when I met my favorite professor, Prof. Bhavanishankar Rao.

When I opted for Kannada literature, I didn’t realize its impact on me. But today, I feel proud and happy that I made that choice. We were all quite curious about this professor, who always defied the orthodox perception that a student had about literature professors. You know we all have that imagination about literature professors, kurtas, pajamas, black framed glasses, sling bag hanging on the shoulder, bearded man with a book on his left hand. He defied all of them; neither his look, nor his attitude was like a literature professor.

It was our fifth Kannada literature class. The question was about caste system. Do you agree to the caste system? Well, I wasn’t very sure then, what’s my stand on caste system? But I answered – sir, a tiger would prefer to be with tiger and not a cat! Well, that day he just smiled at my answer. Eventually, he just enlightened me about how foolish I was and today I laugh at that answer of my own as I understand the menace of entire caste system and its repercussions on the society. He totally believed that - ‘knowledge will not come from teaching but from questioning. The Kannada literature class was like – Plato’s debate society. Not even a single student would bunk Kannada class. Kannada class was like a mirror to outer world. It was our window to the external world that we were afraid and curious about. Questions, answers, debates, arguments, analysis and further more debates on current affairs, politics, science, environment, technology, corporate, criminal law, society etc etc. it was limitless.

One day I complained in the class that – ‘sir, you are targeting me! Why you ask questions only to me?’ He just asked me – ‘do you agree to democracy’. My answer was yes. Then, let’s go for majority opinion, he said. I was wondering, what he is going to do next. He just asked the entire class to vote. Raise your hands if you want me not to ask her any questions. For my surprise no one raised their hand. Later he explained- look – I don’t want to ask questions to totally a stupid person, because they would never answer. I won’t ask questions to totally a smart person like you, because I know I get the perfect answer. However, I want to ask questions who are sitting on the wall. If I don’t get a satisfactory answer from them, then yes- you’re my last resort in this class. Well, though I wasn’t convinced with his method, it made me proud.

My favorite professor changed my perception about the world outside. He didn’t feed the thoughts in my mind. He just gave me books and asked me to read and then summarize it him the next day. This continued for years and only after my graduation I realized, how these viewpoints made me think and think. He not only respected student’s diverse opinion, but encouraged to reason them out and also develop them. He is an enthusiast photographer, amazing video-film maker, an educationist, a humanist, a great writer, blogger, social activist, computer programmer, an eternal writer, who has written more than 50 books on various topics like computer, law, mythology, education, car driving, politics, religion, economics, share market, trading, photography, agriculture, gardening, logic and reasoning etc,. He was jack of all trades and master of literature. The entire college titled him as ‘walking encyclopedia’. He was the pioneer of progressive thoughts and modern approach. A rare blend that’s hard to find!

This professor, who really is the sculptor of my personality who shaped my thoughts, vision, dreams, aspiration, righteousness, He introduced me to - atheism, existentialism, nihilism, feminism, humanism, logic, reasoning, he opened my doors to reading to traveling, exploring to researching; who gave me the writers like Nietzsche to Bertrand Russell, Franz Kafka to Masanobu Fukuoka, Kant to Dostoevsky, Darwin to Hawking, Ananthamurthy to Rahamat Tarikere, Ranna to Kuvempu to Tejaswi, and put in my mind that “eternal greed” for knowledge and an everlasting zeal! A right teacher at the right time at the right place is the greatest asset one can have!!

He is someone who gleamed optimism, glimmered imagination and galvanized a love for learning – the ones who shaped the person who I am today. His memory sways in my mind for he has brought in the best out of me, which I admire about myself. Great teachers are the sculptors of a great nation, and a good world, truly believe in that!! I wish that every student is blessed with such a gifted teacher.