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

Full name of J K Singh was "Jhar Khande Singh".. it was a peculiar name. When I heard the name,  I could not believe that its his name as every body had given him a name "Jalebi Kachodi Singhara". Now I can correlate "Jharkhand" with his name

When I came to Secondary section i.e. class V , J K Singh was the class teacher of 6B. A man of very short height , always smiling, used to wear Dhoti Kurta and clean by heart. He used to teach English in that class. His core competence was History but he also used to teach English in junior classes. On one day, our 6C and 6A sat together in 6A (first floor) as most of our teachers went to Victoria ground for Annual School Sports preparation. He was teaching History and topic was "Pharaoh" i.e. King of Egypt ( Chapter was under "Misr Ki Sabhyata" ). For the first time in class 6 , somebody was teaching History in his own words. In our 6C , R S Rai used to teach history and he used to read the book as it is without value addition. Quite possible, R S Rai used to think that a lecture may not be useful for a class 6 boy. But on the contrary, in other section i.e. class 6A , a teacher was giving lecture on Egypt and Pharaohs. I still remember, he told that Pyramids were built up before Christ and Pharaos had different god. They were not Christians. It was his lecture which created a spirit in me to visit Egypt and see Pyramids. Finally , I managed to visit  Pyramids twice in the year of 2008 and spent time in Egypt. Tantia High School was very fortunate to have such a hard work teachers who used to teach students full syllabus. 

J K Singh , no doubt, was pure from heart. Sometimes, he used to beat student without fear but ultimately he loved students of the school. We always used to Pranaam him and senior students used to create mockery of him due to his short height, bald face but no students criticized him. I do not think he had any enemy.

I do remember that J K Singh delivered his speech on the next day of the death of General Zia Ul Haq of Pakistan. We all were not sad and even he was not sad.. but he was bound to express his condolence on the death of General Zia. But just after his expressing condolences, we students reacted with smile and laugh... he accepted that Indians are least concerned on the death but he had to speak on it for one minute as a gesture of gentleman. Then he continued on his speech on other topic.

http://tantiahighschool.blogspot.in/2015/09/whats-app-groups-of-tantia-high-school.html

Whats App Groups of Tantia High School - 1992 batch

The batch of 1992 are still in touch. Regularly boys are exchanging messages and enjoy. Sometimes they just create fun of each other and sometimes they just keep on writing anything. Sometimes quiz then sometimes messages touching heart. Recently , a unique thing was observed... Dr. Siddhartha's son is studying in Miranda House Kankurgachi. There was an informal competition that which student gets highest number of likes at facebook. Siddharth appealed ...and we group members took it as a mission.... it was amazing to see that people were taking interest religiously and their spirit was telling that we need to make Siddhartha's son the winner. Interesting Sanjay Kulthia advertised it as his own son and got some hilarious comments from his friend circle :) :) There were a few serious member who were updating us with the latest numbering ... like Vikash ... he was religiously updating. I smelt that we all would be happy if Mayank wins.


In that group the lively members are Sunil Chapparia who ensures that nobody should forget that we all are men !! He keeps on sending messages and photos .... some of them are the best collections .. award winning collections.....


The main promoters of both the groups are Vikash Khattry and Pawan Gupta..... the group talks a lot but nobody talks about school... no hassles  atleast boys are still in touch. Even after more than an year.. we could not manage to add everybody .. there was a talk to amalgamate both the groups but could not be possible .. the reason is still to explore.


The khinchtani of Sunil Saraogi and Sunil Chapparia have lessened these days. There are many drink lovers and they just keep on sending photos of their images with bottles and glasses... their eyes tell they are enjoying drinks with old buddies....

Friends post their vacation pics, share proud moments when their children do something good, we send RIP messages if a member loses any family member. We sometimes work together to vote at facebook for a competition , then we sell extra IPL matches tickets .... these are good things of our group.


Sometimes , we see Ego clash also. Recently there were sharp arguments between Amit Sharma and Vikash Khattry.

With the passing of years.. our friends have developed habits to consume Alcohol and they just praise each other for posting pics with Rum , Whisky, Wine.

Keep the groups alive and keep on sending comments boss..

http://tantiahighschool.blogspot.in/2017/05/mr-j-k-singh.html

Top five exciting events of Tantia High School

Our school was very much successful in organising events. Students were trained to a great extent in participating and organising small to big events. Principal also takes active participation in small to big events. Top five events of our school were


1 Annual School Sports
2. Annual function
3. Independence Day / Republic Day
4. Saraswati Puja
5. Antakshari


Great events !! Still refreshed in our memories !!

Diary of Meeting on 15 August 2014 - Batch of 92

Rendezvous with old friends on 15 August 2014 was quite exciting. I met , Sunil Saraogi , Chapparia & Ginoria, Prakash, Pawan, Anish, Ashok, Manish Choudhary, Didwania & Thakkar, Sanjay, Rahul, Jitender, Alok, Anand, Ajay, Sandeep, Dr. Sid, Vikash Modi and Khattry, etc etc etc. Thanks for Vikash Khattry to invite me as I was not on  Watsapp !!

We met just outside Bhikharam Kankurgachi and waited for more frenz. Our meeting was quite good and as usual typical Tantia type conversation were being listened from people. In nutshell , all are still same.

• Jain brought Roses for everybody. Thanks bhai... 
• Anish maintained his weight :) neither put on more  nor lost 
• Didwania &  Alok have maintained their charming face. They are still in their twenties
• Dr. Sid was not showing his clinical abilities during our meeting, he looked to be an Alumni of good old Tantia
• Jitender and Ashok - host of the party. Big heart they have and that's good !!
• 
  
• Manish Thakkar , the person whose appearance completely changed. 
• Anand was lost in his dark googles but looked smart
• Sanjay Jain appeared to be more civilised than his school days .....
• Manish Chaudhary ..... as expected .... did not change and perhaps never change. 
• Pawan doing PR.... he left after kachori meeting
• Samir Saraogi -- we need some more guys like him who bind everybody in a chain 
• Sunil Chapparia ... the guy does not speak like he appears to be on Whats app... looked good and still has boyish look. Congrats buddy
• Sunil Ginoria .......fantastic face... he did not recognise me ....also did not put on weight. I beat him in gaining weight 
• Sandeep Bhansali still holds the same smile on his face as it used to be during school days. His smile said he was very happy to meet all of us. 
• Rahul Sonthalia .... his neck was in bad shape.. I hope he is completely fine. 
• Ajay Chaudhary - hhhhhhh , he should leave his beard. Otherwise everything else was good. 
• Vikash -  came late .........Boss leave Pan Parag or Rajni Sajni Gandha ( Ganda ) , it kills your communication skill and interrupts in your speaking abilities ( that means, Public Chutia nahi banegi ). Now he is very matured and gained lots of experience , it appears :)
• Prakash -- I reminded him that we had a fight in school but he forgot me so how could he remember the fight. His face did not change much
• Manish Jalan - Still he has the same lambai and patli kamar !! 
• Vikash Modi - Looked good and Same

Boss not writing for others ......forgot names ..........hope after one or two meetings I shall update this page with the memories of 15 Aug 2014

Manish Didwania and others proposed to go to "NASHTA" in gully behind Bhikahram to have Kachori and Jalebi as it appeared to impossible to enjoy in closely confined Bhikharam. We were not able to abuse each other, cannot talk in our Tantia Style .... So decided to eat Kachori Sabzi and Jalebi in Nastha. The plan was good

Went to Nastha and others joined... Good hot club Kachories with Alu Ka Saag and Garma Garam Jalebis. Jitender , Ashok pl.ayed the role of host. We enjoyed round after round of Jalebi and Kachoris !! 

People were talking about the changed appearance of Manish Thakkar and  Youth of Anand Sancheti. We witnessed forgettable talks between Manish Didwania and Manish Chaudhry. 

Friends appeared to be more inclined on having liquor and they were talking about the evening liquor / cocktail party at Salt lake. 

Enter Khattry ...... he was given a fresh plate of Kachori and we all listened him

Nastha was blessed on that day !! 

Then we all went to have tea at Haryana Sweets near Phool Bagan. There every body on the road were staring at us as some of us came in old form. The voice of us was so loud that it was attracting the attention of people passing. 

People were talking about their common colleagues in previous and current jobs, sharing info about each other. Frenz enjoyed a small argument on Shuddh Hindi sentences between me and Manish. We all reminded Manish that he was once a head boy of Tantia High School. The only headboy who became headboy in the mid of the year after the forced expulsion of a bad working headboy. Manish was not happy to be reminded about those story..

We took some phtographs and departed........photos now on Facebook ....... 

Perhaps some more meetings like this........in near future..........

Incorporation of an Alumni association of Tantia High School

Dear Frenz,

Please send your ideas to incorporate an alumni association of Tantia High School . You all must be associated with good and reputed organisation. Kindly share your thoughts to establish a good association for we alumni.

The ideas shall be around :

1. Objectives
2. Name of the organisation
3. Governing Body - name of the members , Chairman , president, VP.
4. Forms
5. Fees
6. Activities
7. Development of School
8. Meetings
9. Scholarships and schemes
10. Ideas to attract more students
11. Honour of our old beloved teachers
12. Help to old teachers in case of need
13. Help to our old freinds in case of need
14. Periodical meetings in our school
15. Events of Alumni
16. Web site
17. Accounts, audit, election , programmes, etc.

etc . etc .etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

The most important thing.......... huge number of members and their presence........

Please send your all valuable suggestions...........

You may keep on sending good ideas. at this blog or at the email ID of Vikash Khatry ..which shall be posted in facebook in coming days.......


:)

Yours Bhaskar

Something more on N.N.Mishra ...

Thanks to my brothers for liking my recollections of Tantia days......Lets share some more memories of our great Hindi Teacher . ............... N . N .Mishra ji

It was only N N Mishra who was hard to be utilised by I D Singh for multipurposes. Hence he was given some more additional responsibilities :

• He is the librarian of Tantia High School Library. We were supposed to get one Hindi Book per year to read and return. But were not issued any book from class eight to ten. However, one book I read " Edison ki kahani  in class V , that is still in my memories. After that I could not get any chance to read about the great scientist "Thomas Edison"
• He was the chief coordinator of Tulsi Jayanti , Premchand Jayanti --- i.e. functions in which there was no inter house competition. We used to prepare for songs at Tulsi Jayanti in his Library in the presence of K P Mishra and S D Dwivedi. However, I never saw him singing and to teach how to sing a particular line. Me, Pawan Bhatia, Kunj Bihari Bhatia, Dinesh Vyas ( Now an Acharya -- I appeal every brothers to take his services for Marriage , Namkaran Sanskar and other Mangalik Functions... he is a good acharya / Pandit) , Vijay Agarwal, Vineet Khaitan ( for lecture on Tulsidas ji ) and others. However, the practice were closely monitored by S K Mishra. Sometimes N N Mishra ji was called by I D Singh to update him on practice of Tusli Jayanti and sometimes we had to sing before him... you can imagine ........the pressure of singing before him in his chamber .......... 
• N N Mishra was also a permanent judge in functions of  Antakshari and Inter house Hindi debate. But he was always unbiased at the time of awarding marks during competition. The result of Antakshari and debates were audited by D N Jha and Y Singh and they always used to produce the report with marks just after the lecture of I D Singh after every functions. 
• N N Mishra had nothing to do with Annual school sports. On that day , he used to mingle with classics like J K Singh.
• It was impossible for us to understand the assembly speech of N N Mishra. I think it was hard to understand by a few teachers too. Impeccable hindi was always a challenge for us. Once I heard the word " DRISHITKONE" , after that the entire speech was a bouncer. It was impossible for S K Bhattacharya to understand anything from the speech from N N Mishra
• In our Annual School function we had one section - Hindi 's one act play i.e. EKANKI .. N N Mishra  was the chief supervisor of that One act play ( Natak ). How he used to handle that , its a life long curiosity for me.
• He was our Hindi Prose teacher in Class IX. First term examinations used to held like class test. He challenged us to write answers from Hindi Guide or taking the help of text books ....... he proposed us to take help.........we took help........but none of the boy could pass in that exam. He wrote one line from the first lesson " Meri Jiwan Gatha of Acharya Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi" .. the line was " Mai yadi kisi ka atyachar sahan kar loon , to isse meri sahansheelta ka bodh awasya hota hai , parantu isse mujhe doosron ke uper krodh karne ka adhikar prapt nahi ho jata " ... and he asked the first question from that line " Atyachar kis prakar ka Achar hai" ............. ab kya likhen ????

We realised after leaving the school that we lost a great opportunity to learn a better Hindi. When we were student we did not like some of his lectures, but after I personally felt sorry. 

will update more.............

pls dont consider english general mistakes..........without review I have written everything.

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