By 2014 Fellow Shirijung Hang Rai 

He’s in his sixties- our Head Sir- and is one of my finest memories of Shree Ganesh Secondary School. The first time I saw him, he was standing on a table and trying to get some files from a 10 feet high cupboard. I delicately took a photo of him and was laughing insanely inside.

Shree Ganesh Secondary School had a lot to offer me during my Fellowship. I got one the best teams of teachers to work with, extraordinarily enormous love from students and of course the Head Sir (he has retired from the school). He was kind not only to me but also to other teachers. I still remember the numerous times that he called me up when I was struggling to find a room for myself.

He’s very loving, supportive, caring and humorous, but is also short-tempered, from whom you could expect a series of trash-talk. Sometimes, the way he talks, reminds me of Eminem’s rap. That’s why I often called him Eminem.  Anyone- the peon, students, teachers, parents or even the district officers- could be his target. But I knew he didn’t mean those words whenever he scolded. It was just one of the pieces of his youthful persona. Whenever he joined his hands to make any of his requests to me, I sincerely felt bad because I really respected him. One day, I went with him and Badri Sir to pick koirala ko ful. Badri Sir climbed the tree and picked the flowers. Head Sir and I also collected as much as we could. It was only at dinner, while enjoying the koirala ko achar (pickles), that we realized none of us had actually taken the permission to pick them.

Some days we could see him standing on a table and shaking off the dust from the old files, some days he would be in an under-construction toilet plastering the tiles, some days mixing cements and plastering the school gates, sometimes fencing the school premises and sometimes cooking the day meal for students. Some days he would come to school soaked up in sweat after a door-to-door visit to the homes of students who didn’t come to school regularly. He is that kind of person who respects all sort of work and doesn’t hesitate to do any, along with running the school’s administration. Even I have learned from him the importance of valuing all sort of work and living a simple life.

He objected me only once during my entire teaching term and it was when I requested him to go and talk to the parents of a student who was getting married. I wanted him to go, talk and postpone it and he wanted me to end the discussion. He shouted at me and scolded me but I didn’t get angry at all because I felt he was as helpless as I was to do anything in the student’s case.

He taught a lot, sometimes spent two-three hours in the same class. Teachers outside wouldn’t get angry, but would be worried, as their classes were disturbed. The regular district programs and other events didn’t allow Head Sir to teach regularly so he taught for longer hours whenever he had the chance. He used to come out of the class apologizing to the subject teachers waiting outside.

Sometimes losing his glasses inside the jacket through the hole of his pocket, he would chase a bus thinking he might have left his glasses there and would finally realize that it was hanging by his sweater. Sometimes his glasses would slip from his sweater inside his shoes and he would realize it a few days later while putting his feet inside the shoes. He would share every bit of such funny incidents with me and I would laugh like there’s no tomorrow. Not surprisingly, he would join me too.

He used to call me sano bhai (little brother), and teased me for eating pork. He would be very artistic in demonstrating how I would eat and how the fats would come dripping through the sides of mouth and of course end his mockery with a loud laughter. I always encouraged him to eat pork as he had never eaten it before and was a very big fan of non-vegetarian items. Once he did so, and got sick for two days. He told me he did a puja for Kul Deuta and vowed never to eat it. I asked if he liked it and the answer was yes, so I told him he should have vowed not to eat it inside the house but could eat outside. A blare of laughter surrounded the atmosphere at staff room.

Believing in the power of teamwork, he always encouraged inclusion of everyone. He laughed with me and shared his sorrows too. We bonded like friends and like brothers. The bond we shared was not just that of a Teacher and a Head Teacher but of a father and a son.