On This Teachers` Day I Salute You My Star Teachers... Poem by M D Dinesh Nair

On This Teachers` Day I Salute You My Star Teachers...

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SEPTEMBER 5 is celebrated in India as TEACHERS`DAY and the celebration is done on the day which is the BIRTH DAY of Late Dr SARVEPALLI RADHAKRISHNAN [THE SECOND PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDIA]who was a great teacher.

On this September 5 I am paying tribute to 6 of my STAR TEACHERS whom I have ever loved, respected and of whom I have ever been proud as they were and are my great teachers of all times.


MY FIRST STAR

She was all smiles from morning till evening
With a slightly concave frame and curly hair
She was like a guardian in the class
With no stick in hand and we all loved her.
She was perhaps very beautiful too
But I was too young and innocent to see such things!
She taught us English and Geography and
I still remember the big sun and small earth
She drew on the black board
With the smaller moon trapped between the two,
An eclipse explained but for me it was a sketch of beauty.
She was our Lakshmikutty teacher the most beloved
And I pay tribute to her sweet memory on this day.

MY SECOND STAR

He had huge spectacles with thick frame
And he often came into the class like a lightning
As he never wanted to be late by even a minute.
He spoke and spoke in Hindi even as we stared at him,
He taught with care and never fought with hard words
He knew almost every word in Hindi, I bet
But his Hindi was like Greek to Shakespeare.
He was ever merciful to me and my Hindi
And he stood by me when I read the stanzas
Of the day`s poem with unease
And corrected me in almost every line I read.
And he left us to chat among ourselves
Just before the bell
[During the last five minutes Salim Raj and Santhosh my naughty friends would whisper into my ears a lot of mischief about Lucy and Beena who had red lips and chubby cheeks and they sat far from us on their left benches]
He was SP sir whom we looked at with awe
I salute his memory on this great day.

MY THIRD STAR

He was the epitome of learning
His mouth spoke sweet Malayalam
And his heart radiated immense care and concern.
He would come near me and comment on my uncombed hair,
Then he would smile at my face,
Oh what a smile it was!
He used to ask me to read aloud each day`s part
And I still remember how I barked at the text book
As the girls sat closing their ears with both the hands.
When he left the class, we felt like a moon moving out!
He was Cherian sir our beloved teacher clad in white and white ever
I salute him on this great day with my eyes cast on the sky.

MY FOURTH STAR

There was a handsome prince in blue or pink
Who used to storm our brains with his great memory power,
Our Haridas sir, a man pampered by his father
He would teach us how to solve half a dozen problems
In a class in the backdrop of silence all within
And he would never touch a text book before us,
He would tell jokes immortal and we would laugh to no end.
Many a time I saw him smoking alone and
I wondered why he should discolour his red lips
Our timid Lalitha madam often ogled at him
And it was how to begin her romance she thought.
But he, the prince would never look back at her, I bet.
I salute him on this great day of his breed.

MY FIFTH STAR

He sat like a lion on the brown coloured chair
And taught us ‘Twelfth Night’ and ‘Arms and The Man’.
He sympathized with Viola and stood by reason
And his English flowed like sweet melody recited by a singer.
He would be absent once in a month
And we would look at the man in substitution
With disinterest cast on our faces and minds alike.
He used to be a socialist within
And that made him dearer to me outside the class room
When my SFI* comrades called me out
He would nod at me and I could go out.
He is Varghese sir whom I salute today.

MY SIXTH STAR

He had an oval face and a huge belly,
His English was American all throughout.
How terrific his classes were!
That accent, that modulation and those Alaskan tales!
All were a great experience to us all
His reading into Emily Dickinson`s death poems
Was beyond what one could expect from
A Professor of his times or these times.
When he taught the Principal would pass by our class room
With a smile transcending his cloak of white fabric.
We once saw his German Shepherd sitting by him
And both of them looked like two halves of a huge lion.
He was Edmund Peters and
I salute him with my eyes cast upwards on this day.

MY POEM HUNTER STARS WHO ARE TEACHERS ELSEWHERE

You are all the torch bearers of knowledge and wisdom
And you are all to feel proud of being TEACHERS
I salute you all on this day the 5th of September,2013.

POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
MY STAR TEACHERS WERE/ARE:

1.Ms Lakshmikutty- Our class teacher in the 3rd class at St Anne`s School, Kurianad, Kottayam
2.SP sir- Hindi teacher in the 6th class at Sree Krishna High School, Kurichithanam, Kottayam.
3.Cherian sir- Malayalam teacher in 10th class at TPSHS, Trikkur,
4.Haridas sir- Lecturer in Accountancy sir in the pre-degree class at Keats College, Alagappanagar, Thrissur.
5.Varghese sir– Lecturer in English in the B.A Class at St Thomas` College, Thrissur.
6.Edmund Peters– Professor of American Literature in the M.A Class at St Thomas`College.

A LITTLE MORE:

S.F.I* is a Student Organisation in India with strong campus units all across Kerala and West Bengal.
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Nasarudheen Parameswaran 06 September 2013

Frank and straight forward tribute to teachers.Nice recollection.

2 2 Reply
Noreen Carden 18 September 2013

Hello Dinesh a wonderful tribute to your teachers well written and a pleasure to read

2 1 Reply
Dr John Celes 09 September 2014

Truly said and rightly put, SIR. some teachers remain as most unforgettable by getting a place in our hearts forever because of their special and unique nature. God bless them amply.a tribute of a special kind.

2 1 Reply
Tajudeen Shah 11 September 2013

Dear Dineshji Wonderful, enjoyed reading those good academic memories of your good self. I wonder how many of us are lucky to remain in such reverence and love among our students today! Time runs stately with such memories remain shining on our soul's crest. Cheers.

3 0 Reply
Neela Nath Das 12 September 2013

Wonderful tribute to your Teachers.You sketched them with every detail.Loved.

2 0 Reply
Bharati Nayak 11 August 2023

A great poem, I enjoyed every bit!

0 0 Reply
mbiya 29 April 2022

hi

0 0 Reply
Jaishree Nair 29 January 2021

Your style of expression creates a vivid image of the characters...Loved reading the lines.

0 0 Reply
Aryan nuwal 04 September 2020

You gave me wonderful ideas for a poem bro hats off! ! ! ! ! Search my name Aryan nuwal on poem hunter once

0 0 Reply
Kim Barney 27 March 2015

Dinesh, I loved this poem and have voted it a ten. I don't usually like longer poems, but I enjoyed every line of this one. I feel like I now know all of these six teachers personally. I'm always interested in poems about teachers because I was a teacher for 40 years.

2 1 Reply
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