Five prominent personalities of the city share their thoughts on their favourite teachers
Dr Devi Shetty,
Chairman, Narayana Hrudayalaya
Teachers make a great difference in the life of a student. My drawing teacher Achuta Rao during my schooling at Pompe High School at Kinnegoli, near Mangalore, has been my greatest inspiration. Besides drawing, he used to teach me Mathematics and Science. I was a below-average student during my school days, but he used to encourage and boost my ego, saying my paintings were very good. This gave me confidence to perform even better in my studies. I used to go to his house early mornings and he used to teach me Mathematics and also feed me with masala dosa for breakfast. Till date, whenever I remember any teacher in my life, he is the one who stands out vivid in my memory, who still serves me as a guide and inspiration.
A. Ravindra,
Former Chief Secretary and Adviser to Chief Minister
Mathematics, which is considered one of the toughest subjects among all students, would never have been so interesting and easy without Mr Sundar Raj Iyengar, my mathematics teacher at St Aloysius School. It was not just teaching, he also combined it with his great sense of humour. It was so impressive that he made it very interesting and our learning very easy. This led me to take up mathematics even in my PUC. However, due to certain personal issues, I had to take up humanities for my higher studies. But throughout my life, Sir Iyengar has been the greatest teacher figure.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw,
Chairman and Manging Director, Biocon
For me, Madam Ann W., my English teacher at Bishop Cotton School, has always been my true inspiration. The way she taught English was so refreshing, creative and inspiring that it gave us a zest to understand the subject more clearly. Even after her retirement, she was so full of energy that she went on to start a school of her own. She has become a friend to me now, still inspiring me.
U.R. Anantha Murthy,
Jnanpith award winner
Yoga Narsimha, my high school teacher in Shimoga, has been my greatest inspiration all through my life. He was a great scholar, great educationist and also a great musician. It was a government Kannada school based in a village in Shimoga district, where teachers really mattered and he was one among them, unlike the teachers nowadays in private schools. He was the only teacher who wept when Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, died.