I D Singh - The person who left impact on us !! - Part 1

Whenever I think about a headmaster or the Principal of a school of my kids or we see a principal in movies, talking about teachers... its quite natural that I do remember our very own headmaster Mr. I D Singh of Tantia High School. The baton of the school was transferred from Mr. H S Sharma Ji to Mr. I D Singh during late 70s (correction required). We all heard that , Mr. H S Sharma was very popular in non Bengali schools of Kolkata. He was a personality with a good speaking ability, an idol of discipline and one of the best education guide. When he retired, it was a tough decision to transfer the burden to a person who could run the show and get fit in to the shoes of Mr. Sharma. But, what we heard and experienced, I D Singh was proved to be a person of different league and he created his own shoe and his retirement has filled up a vacuum which could never be filled up and till now the school is suffering. Forget about post I D Singh era, we may discuss some other time, but currently I am motivated to write something about our great principal. I dont know his current status but I am using past tense to glorify him :

• Full name of I D Singh is "Indra Dev Singh" but how could he be an exception ... school boys gave him another name ...Idli Dosa Sambar... but nobody dared to call him by this name.
• We heard that he was an ex serviceman and had a military background. A tall and handsome man. Always used to be the first person to arrive at school and the last person to leave the school. But there were great students like Sanjay Chamaria and Prakash Das of section C who sometimes used to reach school prior to ID Singh. Those students had different objectives to arrive school at first. Will discuss later...
• I D Singh never came to school in chappals. He was the teacher with least absence on account of bad health or any other reasons. His best outfit was cream Safari and it suited him most.His shoes were always polished. 
• During H S Sharma ji's reign, he used to teach History but later on he confided himself to Hindi Sahitya Ka Itihas. Our senior boys used to be his students. From class V to X , I never saw him taking any class or setting any paper for exams. He was a full time headmaster and left teaching for his last 10 to 15 years of service. 
• He was a voracious reader and a regular subscriber of Dharmyug. He used to sit in the second floor and his entire office was visible from staircases. Either he used to read a book , magazine , talking to teachers, guardians or used to prepare for a lecture. 
• I D Singh was a great orator. Monday morning was fixed for him to speak in the assembly hall after the prayer. His speech was always long and I could never understand the inner meaning of his lecutres. Only our teachers could understand the gravity but those were also least interested to listen but they were forced to be present in the hall and listen to Headmaster. Although I could not understand the meaning of his speeches in Hindi but yes... there was a feel that our principal was a great speaker. He used to speak on current issues like "Kaveri Jal Vivad" , " Kashmir Conflict" , " Saddam Hossain" , "Gulf War -1 " , some great noble persons, Disciplines..etc etc. etc. 
• I was one of the team members of the morning prayer team. Only we could see, that our Headmaster also used to sing all the prayers with us with no exception. His lips always used to sing " War De Vinavadini", "Watan ki Raah me" , "Himadri Tung Shring Se" , "Saare Jahan Se Acha" , "Chisti ne jis Jami ko" and on Saturday .... our National Anthem. Prior to these poems we used to chant 7 Sanskrit Slokas .... and those were also sung by I D Singh. May be some ex students do not believe.. but it was an established fact.My fellow team members are witness.

• Our school was Hindi medium but the rules, regulations, discipline were not lesser than a convent school. Every year school used to visit a hill station or somewhere else. It was the period of I D Singh during which the school visited Kashmir. He took school's students and teachers to the residence of the then chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir , Dr. Farooq Abdullah. We saw the picture in annual magazine "UDAY". In that picture, Rajeev Khandelwal was also visible ... hope he remembers. I would be glad if Rajeev can bring such picture. 
• He used to start his speech by saying "Pyare Bachoon" ... he always believed on his students like his family members. He knew the internal abilities of his children. His most loved students, what I saw, were Ram Gopal Verma ( our Head Boy of 1986) , Rama Kant Holani, Rabindra Agarwal, Pawan Bhatia, Vinod Singh Rathore, Vineet and Vikash Khaitan, Manish Didwania, etc etc. 
• His favourite teachers were S K Mishra, D N Jha, Y Singh, P Tripathi, K Singh, B Pandey , N N Mishra, K P Mishra. We could see :) nobody liked him.. I D Singh could play with anybody at any point of time. He could burst out at any student or any teacher. He was a shrewd leader and a perfectionist, never compromising character but most caring person in Tantia. I remember sometimes water supply could be suspended by corporation due to repairing of pipes or any other reasons, But it was the respect of I D Singh .. our senior boys used to bring drums and buckets of water from nearby buildings like 3 No. or street tube wells. All senior boys used to bring water for junior students and we used to drink from Jugs without touching lips. I think most of my friends could have forgotten such stories. 

I D Singh's story cannot be finished in one page... I shall write the blog in parts... Enjoy this one , Refresh your memory , Do remember your Principal ..... till next blog page..

Mr. J K Singh

A Tribute to J K Singh – A Teacher Who Inspired a Lifelong Journey

The full name of J K Singh was "Jhar Khande Singh." It was a peculiar name, and when I first heard it, I could hardly believe it was his. Most people had affectionately given him the nickname "Jalebi Kachodi Singhara." In hindsight, I can now correlate the name "Jharkhand" with his own.

When I entered the secondary section in Class V, J K Singh was the class teacher of 6B. He was a man of very short stature, always with a smile on his face, and dressed in a dhoti and kurta. His heart was pure, and he was always clean in both appearance and demeanor. Though his core subject was History, he also taught English to the junior classes. One day, when our 6C and 6A classes were combined and seated together in the 6A classroom (on the first floor) while most of our teachers were away preparing for the Annual School Sports at Victoria Ground, J K Singh was teaching us History. The topic that day was "Pharaohs" — the kings of Egypt, part of the chapter on "Misr Ki Sabhyata" (The Civilization of Egypt).

For the first time in Class 6, I heard a teacher present history in his own words, rather than just reading directly from the textbook. In our section, 6C, R S Rai taught history by simply reading the book as it was, with no additional context. Perhaps he felt that a Class 6 student wouldn't be able to grasp much more. But in the other section, 6A, J K Singh brought the topic of Egypt and the Pharaohs to life. I vividly remember how he explained that the Pyramids were built long before Christ, and that the Pharaohs worshipped different gods — they weren’t Christians.

It was his storytelling and unique way of teaching that sparked my interest in visiting Egypt and seeing the Pyramids. That lecture stayed with me, and in 2008, I finally fulfilled my dream of visiting Egypt, spending time exploring the Pyramids. It was an experience that was directly inspired by his teaching. Tantia High School was fortunate to have such dedicated teachers, who went beyond just completing the syllabus to ignite a passion for learning in their students.

J K Singh, without a doubt, was pure at heart. Though he was known to discipline students when needed, he did so without fear, always with the goal of helping them improve. He truly loved his students. Despite his short height and bald head, senior students often teased him with mockery, but no one ever criticized him. I don’t think he had any enemies.

One moment that stands out in my memory was when J K Singh delivered a speech the day after General Zia Ul Haq, the then-President of Pakistan, passed away. The students were not particularly sad about it, and neither was he, but he still felt it was necessary to express his condolences, as a gesture of respect. After briefly acknowledging the death, we students couldn’t help but smile and laugh at the awkwardness of the moment. He acknowledged our reaction with good humor, accepting that Indians weren’t particularly affected by Zia’s death. He continued his speech, seamlessly transitioning to other topics.

Looking back, J K Singh was a teacher who truly left an impact on me. His approach to teaching, his integrity, and his sense of humor made him unforgettable. I'm grateful for the lessons he taught me, both inside and outside the classroom.