Today is a day I can call a red-letter day in my life without dramatic exaggeration. It was exactly ten years ago that I tendered my resignation to that school where I had done my last salaried job (a fourteen-year stint, no less). I had become tired, disgusted and totally frustrated with the way things had been going there (see the letter here), and my wife and I had together decided that enough was enough. Since I obviously had certain rigid standards of which they were falling increasingly short, and since I could not do a thing to turn things around, I should quit, become a free man once more, and try my luck in the open arena of the world, with only God as my master. I can assure you it was not a sudden or painless decision.
I left telling them I neither liked nor wanted the job any more, and I believed I could do much better for myself, still in the teaching profession, on my own. Many of my colleagues said pretty loudly behind my back that I was an arrogant fool who was soon going to get his comeuppance, and even hoped to see me come back in sackcloth and ashes, begging to be reinstated. When I didn’t, and things didn’t work out quite as they had figured, their chagrin knew no bounds, so they mounted a vicious, no-holds-barred whisper campaign to slander me, in the fervent hope that it would ruin my reputation, and force me off the turf for good. God and my family know what we went through and endured. Let me pass lightly over this, though, because the point is that we not only survived but thrived, and ‘Vengeance is Mine, said the Lord’ is one of my most favourite quotes from the Bible: many of these creatures will live to rue the day they spoke and spread evil about someone who had never hurt them – except indirectly, by his own work, showing them up for what they were. One consequence of it that I must mention, though, is that it has not only made me firmly unsocial for the rest of my life but persuaded my daughter to be tough-minded, and have as few ‘friends’ as possible…she will not make the same mistakes I did for so long.
Now it’s been ten years. A whole decade of being ‘unemployed’, a seventh of a normal lifespan, nearly a third of a man’s working life! No middle class man in India with a single income and a family to support and a child to raise quits a safe and cushy job in middle age (I know how little work schoolteachers do) if he can help it to go it alone. I took an incredible risk, knowing the full burden of it, and I have come through: not unscathed, no, but vindicated. The children who were last in my care in class ten the year I left are grown men at work now; the children who come to my tuition today hadn’t even been admitted to that school then, and have often heard only vaguely, wonderingly, that I was a teacher there once upon a time, and couldn’t care less. Those who came in as children have now learnt enough of jealousy and invective to abuse me, or of gratitude to thank me for what I did for them, according to their characters. But the facts are thus: I am now far better known for the work I do than the school had made me; I make a much better living, I am far, far freer to do my own thing my way, the numbers enrolling for coming years keep swelling with the passage of time; my wife is content with the kind of life I live, my daughter has grown up the way I wanted (which is something that very few parents can say, given the kind of norms I live by), and God alone can destroy me now, as and when He pleases: I can cheerily look forward to retirement without having to depend on any man’s friendship or support. Not a bad report card, though I say it myself, and I’d like to meet some men who have done better against that kind of odds. Obviously I don’t count doctors and engineers whose parents have made their beds for them even after they were 30…Yes, I am a proud man, and I have earned my pride. Not for them to lecture me about modesty who are desperate to show off trifles like cars and houses and jewellery and club memberships and trips to Umrica because they have never been able to achieve anything of significance in their lives, such as independence and self-respect and being called ‘Sir’ by everybody they meet, from garage hands to managing directors, from policemen to netas.
All this is not meant for gloating or preening. I want my life, my example, to be a reassuring beacon light to a lot of young people who are being brainwashed by their parents and ‘teachers’ into believing that in this country only crooks and cheats, flatterers and opportunists and mindless crammers choosing ‘safe’ career avenues and sacrificing all principles and ideals at the door of expediency can hope to survive and succeed; that only bootlickers and backstabbers and time-servers and oppressors have a ‘future’. Not so. You know your job well, you work long and hard, you stick to some time-tested principles, and, only God willing (there’s nothing in modern experience that can contradict this ancient wisdom – karmanye vadkhikaraste/ ma phaleshu kadachana), you win out. No matter what happens to me tomorrow, no matter whether I grow rich or poor hereafter, no matter how long I live, no one can rub out the success-story of these last ten years. And so I go to sleep content tonight. If my daughter starts off by being as lucky and as well-endowed and as determined as I have been, she will do far better still by the time she reaches my age. That much I know.
Oh, before I forget: someone should tell K. K. Devasy (I would send him the link myself, if I knew his email i.d.) how eternally grateful I am to him for helping me so mightily to make up my mind!
Oh, before I forget: someone should tell K. K. Devasy (I would send him the link myself, if I knew his email i.d.) how eternally grateful I am to him for helping me so mightily to make up my mind!
[P.S.: Nice to see the member count has just touched 250. I shall be glad for comments on the previous blogpost to keep coming in. And no more posts for a while: I want this one to take me past the 100,000 visits mark, so it will be something to remember. Let’s see how long it takes!]
34 comments:
Yay, Suvro da! And a very warm congratulations and a huge smile too for your ten year stint of "Flying solo". If I'd been there I would have demanded and organized some celebrations too but Pupu would have been in charge of baking the cake. I've been having images of this ten year sweep of yours coursing through my own mind, and I think you deserve more than a pat on the back.
One thing that keeps hammering in my head is this: how many people will quit a safe job (and not run back to the parental hearth while they ruminate over their options!), and “just” because their own firm values, self-respect, honour and freedom were being hampered within their work-space? And how many would decide to walk and work alone in the same town and in the same profession and seek to practice the same principles and stick to the same values but do it independent of any institution and stay away from other salaried jobs altogether? Very Suvro da-like though. I hope lots of folks around understand or sense what an achievement this is.
I remember you telling me back in 2002 that you were about to quit your school-job, and there are other bits that I remember now from the phone conversation, but I'd somehow not been surprised at all back then, and now I feel perplexed as to why I did not evince some surprise or astonishment.
There are days in a man’s life when he can pause for a moment, look back, and say he has walked well on the road less travell’d despite the odds, and with a wife and child no less, and with God as his only failsafe guide, and today is one such day in your life, I think. I've had all the years of you in Durgapur, from the bits that I recollect and from the bits before and after that I know of, rushing through my mind....I wish boudi, Pupu, and you the very best of wishes from here. You've certainly earned the right to smile some, and go to bed content. 'May God's love be with you'. I'll wish for some dreams and wishes to come about in the times to come, and I raise a toast to you from across space.
Dear Suvroda,
What seems a straightforward decision in hindsight must have been a tough one then. Having been recently married, I can only gasp at the weight of that decision. And you must be incredibly proud of Boudi and Pupu for all their support.
And your life is a beacon to all of us, at least to me. Whenever I feel down I say to myself, 'He is at it seven days of the week! This is no time to buckle down!'
The last ten years have been the triumph of a teacher committed to his philosophy of teaching.
With regards,
Aakash
It was indeed a very brave decision you took! In fact, if we look or read around, we find that the real successful people are the ones who take the road less traveled. Wish you even greater success and happiness in the years ahead. God bless...
Regards
Respected Sir,
Warm regards.A very beautiful post,as usual,but this time with a marked difference-your trail-blazing personality is depicted in all its glory.Fantastic and a very brave decision,kudos to you!You have shown how a man can stick lifelong to what he believes in and stand for something among the crowd,which might fall for anything.Your life will remain as an inspiration to all of us-as your old boys will always remember you as the 'Sir' who was brave enough to take on the world's challenges,at a moment chosen by Fate.
The timing is very accurate too-resurrection of a true fighter on Easter Sunday!I salute you,Sir.
With best wishes,
Debarshi.
Dear Sir,
Our batch was probably one of the last batches you taught in school. I remember when you resigned and became a full-time tutor. But I had no knowledge of the letter you had written to the school. The disappointment at the state of affairs and the pain of leaving the school can be felt in the letter.
I did hear some of the slander against you that you mention. I remember how I felt those rumours to be completely ridiculous. Now that you have been doing well as these years, I hope the slanderers and ill-wishers burn in envy.
It was a brave decision on your part to part with the school for the reasons you have mentioned. But how do you manage to follow
'karmanye vadkhikaraste/ ma phaleshu kadachana'?
Even if we forget about material returns for the work put in, one would probably still expect some appreciation and acknowledgement.
Anyway, I hope you always have more students than you can manage to teach. Congratulations on you decision and a decade of, as you put it, flying solo.
Sincerely
Nishant.
Please accept my heartfelt congratulations!
Dear Sir,
Heartiest congratulations for such a brave decision and holding your head high always for the principles that you believed lifelong. I know some people personally who did not hold on to jobs just for safety and a modest income. What sets you apart from others I know is that they lost heir self-confidence within few years and repented their own decisions. But you are going strong for ten years inspite of the slander and harm that people tried to cause you. Congratulations to your family too for their love and support. May you continue to shine by the grace of God and be a guiding light for us all the time.
With warm regards,
Saikat
I read your resignation letter before I had read your post in its entirety. I must say
that it is an example of self-respect, concern for what you are leaving behind and
yet a determination to be better and greater than any one institution or set of
individuals. I salute you!
You know how much I love and respect Ira Pishi. She taught me to love and revere
all that is noble in man, and not because there was anything to gain by it, but
because of a pure humanistic love for all that is new and good in man.
I have written before that I become a thousand selves with each of your posts. I
do too. I respond to the post and to the writer. My father chafed against a job he
did not want all his life. He had to do it for the humungous family he was taking
care of. He also had his own other reasons. I don’t blame him, but with you, I
know how difficult the decision must have been because my father came close
to taking the same decision a number of times. A husband, a father and despite
everything else, a man of this world—you were brave, mighty brave! You deserve
a standing ovation. You know my father is an engineer and all his life he hated it.
All that you say is very close to my heart because my father went against his grain
to be what his job demanded him to be. I remember this incident where his chief
engineer had behaved in an uncouth manner with my father because he had treated all and sundry in Office to cha and goodies on popular demand because I had scored well in my ISC examinations. The problem was that his “SON” had done badly while his
subordinate’s “DAUGHTER” had done well. Obviously, the problem was double-
edged. In his rage, he put his son in an engineering college to prove a point. The point is proven now! It’s a red letter day for my dad too! But, fact remains that Baba could never leave, resign and do his own thing. He had an amazing knack for business, but he had to stay on for reasons true to him.
Forgetting his own dilemmas and agony, my father tried to get me to studyengineering, and then law. I successfully resisted and so did my sister. We are our
own people now. Even today, when I had a bad day with my boss, at least I know that this is the boss I chose in the job that I wanted. I am victorious, therefore. But
you remain a shining light in my life—the day it gets too much, I will either get my boss sacked or I will leave with aplomb.
A twenty-one gun salute to you!
Dear Sir,
An interesting and nostalgic read.I stumbled upon this blog after "googling" your name, I suppose "binging" would have given the same results. Well now that your are flying solo for over a decade I bet you must have seen things with "the bird's-eye view", yo must have seen the world with an entirely new perspective..a perspective mortals with 9 to 5 commitments could hardly even conceive and I am really jealous of you. Frankly I don't have the guts to do the same. So I guess envying you would be the best thing to do! When you used to teach me at St. Xavier's (ICSE 2001) I used to come back home amazed thinking My god...he knows so much (Guess if Wikipedia was existing then we could have called you Wikipedia Sir) 10 years later young Xaverians at Durgapur must be missing that awesome teacher for no fault of theirs! Kudos to you Sir, you stood by the principles you taught us, as a teachers you always led by example and perhaps that's the reason that even after a decade of flying solo you manage to be an example of righteousness!
Keep flying solo..
Arup
P.S. I know that you would definitely come across some wrong grammar, but nonetheless this student of yours never minds getting himself corrected!
Congratulations, Sir, for not only doing so well for yourself despite the insurmountable odds but also for setting an example for your students (including me) that honesty, hard work and knowledge seldom go in vain. I wish you all the best for the future.
Thanks,
Joydeep
Dear Sir,
I would like to congratulate you on your remarkable feat of 'ten years of flying solo'. If it was not for that decision you made I and many of your students like me would not have come under your influence.
It is highly improbable that you will remember me (I was in the ICSE 2009 St. Xavier's tuition batch) as I have failed to keep in regular touch with you (I met you once after my boards).
I still cherish every hour I spent under your tutelage and I enjoy reading your blog posts.
Regards,
Kaustav Som
sir ,
you are one such person , other than my parents and few others , who 'commands' and 'deserves' respect , instead of 'demanding' it . Your life in itself is something that inspires us to think and act with freedom . You have defined the word 'challenge' for us ,through your own eventful life . Thanks .
My late grandmother used to say, "haariye na himmat, bisaariye na Raam". You, Suvro da, have lived those words.
Best Wishes
Anand
Dear Sir,
My heartiest congratulations to you. May you keep teaching and living with the same ferocity. You life 'has' been an example and an inspiration for many of us.
Regards,
Arnab
PS : I tried searching for Devasy's email in the internet but so far no luck (unless the email id of the principal of St. Xavier's, Kolkata counts).
Dear Suvro Sir,
It has taken me a lot of reflection and some experience to finally understand that successful is not just the scientist who wins a Nobel Prize or the author who earns critical acclaim for his work or the businessman who makes millions or even the philanthropist who takes care of the destitute. Successful is the man who does what he enjoys doing while holding on to strict principles, fights to transcend his immediate circumstance to create a niche of his own; can rise beyond the immediacy of pain and build a sanctuary of his own, no matter how small. Men are born unequal, in different environments and more often than not receive opportunities disproportionate to their abilities. Successful is the man who has the belly to fight his present circumstance to be able to breathe the free air and most importantly, successful is the man who does his daily chores with sincerity and goes to sleep in peace at night.
Thank you Sir, for teaching us this.
Sayan Datta
Dear Suvro Sir,
Congratulations on your ten years of ‘flying solo’. While reading this post, I could almost see the flame inside your heart glowing with happiness and pride and of course you have earned your pride. You have showed through example that it is possible even in these times to survive holding onto principles like honesty, self respect and self-independence. And you have not just survived but have thrived. You live with self satisfaction and pride which very few people can claim. You have proved that what our parents tried to drill into our minds right from our childhood –that if we can safely cuddle in the blankets of ‘security and stability’, we will never ever face any problem in our lives- is not true at all.
Thank You for setting this example. You are my teacher in the truest sense. I have long accepted that I am not the perfect human being that I wanted to be but I don’t lose hope. With all my mistakes, I try to learn from you, fail, and try again.
I pray to God to bless you and your family with happiness, good health and prosperity.
The phrase from your post is ringing in my mind –“You know your job well, you work long and hard, you stick to some time- tested principles, and only God willing, you win out.
Thank You very much for this post Sir.
Warm regards
Rashmi Datta
Dear Suvro Sir,
I remember the last day you taught us. There was a buzz that Suvro Sir had resigned and boys were expecting a 'free period'. I faintly remember seeing your checked shirt in the corridor 5 minutes before the bell rang - much to my happiness. For many, however, expectations of a welcome 'free period' were crashed. I remember how calmly, on the last day of your 14 year long innings, you explained to us at length "Remember, there are no free lunches".
I had the responsibility of filling up the Lesson Plan Book those days. That day, a few drops of unnoticed tears were my entry.
I came home - searched for my class 4 radiant reader and read the short story "The last lesson".
Vive la Sir!
Dear Sir,
It is a wonderful achievement. I am quite sure that working at any institution, however good it may be, constrains one in many unthinkable ways. To have an experience of complete freedom at what you love doing, and to be able to thrive in it should have been exhilarating to say the least.
Also Sir, your life is an example for many others who would love to do their own thing. I wish many people around you do get inspired by your story and try to take initiatives and challenges of the sort you took, when you decided to go solo.
All the best for your life and may you remain healthy, both in body and mind to keep on doing what you love for a long long time.
Regards,
Navin
You have certainly earned the right to go to sleep content, and proud.
I read your resignation letter. I can only imagine the courage and conviction it took to write that not knowing what the future had in store.
One of the greatest pleasures in life is to prove the naysayers wrong. Congratulations and enjoy!
Dear Suvroda
Congratulations. Back in 1993-94, when I was being taught by you, I was too immature to even anticipate that you would leave school. I feel elated that with your collective dedication, you, Boudi and Pupu are happier and satisfied. It not only speaks volume of your courage, love for teaching but also for your organisation skills whereby you ably juggle across everything required to run your institute. You are undoubtedly privileged to be ably supported by Boudi and Pupu.
Kudos Suvroda. You teach by example. Perhaps there were many teachers who told me stories of great men and ideals but unlike you none taught me to live by ideals. I sincerely pray to God for your good health so that you continue to help students and get good students who love you, respect you and try and make you proud.
Regards
Tanmoy
Dear Sir,
The decision must have been a tough one for you then...!! Congratulations Sir , for doing so well and thus setting an example for so many of us....!! That you have done so well , choosing an option very few would have , is also because : you are one of those few people who actually practice what they preach , you stick to your principles come what may and you do what you love to do...!!
As Akash Da said - " The last ten years have been the triumph of a teacher committed to his philosophy of teaching. " - it has really been so...!! And as I write this , i remember the small article - " I am a teacher " , which you have kept in your classroom....!!
You are a true inspiration Sir , and an example of righteousness!. You have always told us that honesty, continued hard work and knowledge never go in vain , and you yourself set an example for that...!! May you remain in good health and continue to get more good students , who would be inspired by you...!!
Regards ,
Shameek .
It's 10:28 p.m. on Tuesday 17 April 2012 right now, and I am watching with bated breath as the visit counter creeps towards the 100,000 mark: it will be there in an hour or two, I should guess. I shall write at greater length hereafter, but for the moment I want to say a grateful thank you to every one who has commented here yet, even while feeling rather blue that so many others (there have been more than 900 visits already) couldn't think of anything to say at all...
And...that's it!!!!!!!!!!!!!...
Celebrations are due.
Lots of love and best wishes to Sir,
Debarshi.
Dear Sir,
Congratulations.
Now that I have resigned from my job, I can understand how difficult it was for you to take the decision. If I, a person much younger, without any family to support and who can comfortably retreat back home had to think so much before quitting, I can admire how brave you had been to stick to your ideals. I wish more and more students would look up to you.
Your decision was a boon for us, since I guess that was the year you started the Michael's Class IX batch and I got the chance to enroll in your classes. Thank you.
With regards,
Sayantika
Dear Sir,
Three cheers for you and your blog. Hope it continues to blossom in the days to come.
With regards,
Saikat
Sir,
You'd first taught me when I was in class six. You would take us to the library and allow us to touch and feel books that were otherwise meant for seniors. I remember you asking about steadfast friendship that is the stuff of myths. And, I remember telling you about Toulouse Lautrec and Maurice Joyant. A day later, when the class was unusually unruly, Fr Wautier walked in and was about to reprimand us when his eyes fell on the blackboard. You had written Toulouse and Louvre on it. He, in what seemed to be his mildest and mellowest mood, asked 'What is Toulouse?' and I remember faintly whispering--'a place in France and he quipped, 'Which part of France' and I remember your class where you had said that it was a district in the south-west of France. He said something more about the Saint Sernin Basilica. I remember the names to this date without the support of the internet.
From there to Devassy? I am glad that I did not school under him. The last time I went to school only to meet you, I glimpsed this character who made it a point to be rude the moment I told him who I was there to meet . Kudos to you for leaving that meagre institution, now populated by mediocre masters and mistresses.
Recently, a 'strange' lady became my boss and in a month or so gave me such trauma that I would clench my teeth and make all sorts of noises while sleeping. My right thumb would shake involuntarily and my breath would never be full. With little ability to earn on my own I could not quit without another job in hand.
Working without self-respect, for someone as brilliant as you are, can be greater trauma (probably your tether would be far greater). One thing that you can be assured of is that hundreds of people continue to work without much respect for their own or larger interests. The company (xyz) where I work has MBAs from 'Umrica' telling editors to tag books with the label, 'free online resources from xyz international'. Yet, I cannot resign. The Prufrockian mask needs poetic escapades through language. I can hardly pen my own blog with sensible stuff. So, the detractors who badmouth you suffer the insufferable--being in purgatorio. The humiliation, the compromises and the muck we endure make us gape with wonder at your life and the lives around you.
May your paradiso sustain without bother.
Dear Sir,
First off I would like to extend my congratulations for having beat the odds and lead to fruition a thought that most people would barely allow to take roots in their limited imaginations! It couldn't have been easy to have taken that decision and followed through with it. And I find you an all the more admirable person for that. I did know, as did my other companions in our tuition class, that you had been a teacher at St. Xavier's quite some time back but none of us had any clue regarding the circumstances that lead to your having left the school and becoming a tutor and a counselor. Sure, there were rumours aplenty in circulation, though vastly stripped of glamour and grandeur, around as late as the time we became your students and possibly till the present day. I had often been prodded and probed by people who had never even met you with queries regarding your professional decisions, which it had never occurred to me to make any of my concern; it was more than enough that you were teaching us. Well, I don't know how many of my former classmates and your former students read your blog but I am sure they would find answers to a lot of their doubts in here. What transpired between you and the particular authorities in question ought not to be any uninterested third party's business and yet, here stand completely, utterly random people with a bagful of tales of the Myth of Mr. Suvro Chatterjee. If you don't know the whole story, don't supplement the absences with your imagination and propound the same as the absolute truth! In retrospect, I wonder what kind of stories have been circulating regarding someone very close to me, who had gone through something similar while teaching part-time in another well-known school back home. Honestly, I feel myself privileged to have known and been taught by a person like you and am just plain glad that you chose to do what you did. There is so much to how I think and what I believe in that I owe to your influence and I think that's the best and most priceless gift one can give another - to teach someone to think and question.
Love and best wishes,
Urna
Many thanks once again, Urna. Yes, I waited ten full years to tell the truth and dispel some of the mysteries and canards that have been circulating about my quitting that school. My great regret, though, is that most people who were involved in that sordid business don't read my blog, or if they do, they choose to stay very quiet about it. Not one reader has told me here that s/he is sorry s/he harboured a distorted impression of me for a long time, though some have already confessed as much to my face, or by phone or email. Also, I had expected a lot of other favourite old boys (and even a few girls) to write on this post, and I have been disappointed - so far, at least. But, as I said in the post, nobody can take away my sense of triumph from me, and the fact that my classes are filled to bursting, despite the worst that my detractors could do, and what else really matters?
Dear Suvro'da,
This post of yours just left me spellbound! What a conviction and confidence can a man have to take such a bold step, and then be vindicated in that stand in a decade, is just 'awesome' and truly inspirational. You know, how my situation over the last few years have unfolded and I had written to you for guidance in various phases of this period. Moving away from the 'cushy' regular banking job (though not so 'cushy' anymore in today's industry scenario) and venturing into 'teaching' (an area hitherto unexplored for me), was a huge change for me and more so in the mind. The decision was based less on facts and figures and more on a feeling of confidence and passion. And singularly, your views and example has been the inspiring factor! I must say, today standing at the 'start line' of a whole new career, reading your success-story, it gives me renewed confidence that yes, I can do it ! Thank you Suvro'da, and wish you all the very best for the next decades to come!
Best regards,
Sayan
Thanks Sayan. I find it most heartwarming when I hear someone saying s/he has found inspiration from me. You have my best wishes, it goes without saying. Do sign off with your full name, by the way: I know so many Sayans that it sometimes confuses me which one is talking!
This is one of those blogposts that I do not want to be quickly forgotten!
It's an anniversary. Congratulations. I came back to visit this post very early in the morning, Suvro da. Can't believe it's been a year since you shared your letter of resignation and wrote the above; I remember the conversations as though they are from the weekend gone by and they also feel from another age. The images and lines from your piece will stay and some have gotten mixed with memories from later. Not to make this a longwinded comment but I can't help feel nostalgic about segments of time. I feel somewhat quiet and wanted to wish you here: love and luck for now and times to come and I'll stick to what I said earlier too (and I know one came true last year - not quite the way one would have liked it to) but may a few of your cherished dreams and wishes come true.
Take care.
Shilpi, many thanks. Amidst the constant rush of so many things, this day would have gone unnoticed if you hadn't drawn my attention to it with your comment. Yes, now it's eleven years, isn't it, and so soon too! And I have done well for myself without being associated with that one-horse school which has now become little better than a pigsty. I should have cut off the sentimental strings long before 2002 actually, I now know only too well. It had been preventing me for a long time from realizing my own full potential, and giving me nought in recompense.
I wish a lot more readers would come back to this post and let me know what they feel about it...
Respected Sir,
Warm regards. Indeed, its eleven years now since you left St. Xavier's School- and all these years have been testimony to the ultimate truth of reality, that stands steadfast among all others: "One must perform one's duties adhering to Dharma- when one does that,one need never worry or fear about the results." Your life, Sir, is one living example of the great truth behind Bhagavad Gita's words- and I consider myself immensely fortunate to be witness to your life. This post, above all, teaches me the great value of self esteem, fearlessness and a manner of performing actions akin to the great fearless one, Nachiketa.
With best wishes,
Debarshi.
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