The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery’
— Mark Van Doren (American poet).
These lines perfect fit Suryakant Vaidya, a former teacher at Pune’s renowned NMV Boys High School. Vaidya taught Marathi literature at the school from 1962-64. It was his unique way of teaching Marathi poems and preparing students for competitive exams that helped him establish a strong bond with them which only got strengthened over the next six decades.
“I was appointed as a replacement after a teacher had been transferred somewhere else. On the first day of the school, I was told that these students are highly intellectual but mischievous beyond limit. I won them over with my teaching. I used to prepare the students for ‘Pradnya’ and ‘Kayvajyoti’ — both competitive exams for Marathi literature. Even though I taught them just for two years, they were very co-operative and supportive,” says the octogenarian Vaidya.
Incidentally, in the year 1964 his first work was published. The book, Marwa, a collection of poems was released by great Marathi poet, GD Madgulkar. It was an instant hit among his colleagues and the students as well. With the passage of time, Vaidya published two other works — Mazhe jag and Trimiti.
When asked what led him to wrtie poems, Vaidya, who is still energetic, says, “My mother used to sing abhangs (devotional songs by Marathi saints) at home. Later, as a student at Bharat High School in Pune, I started writing in the school periodicals. This continued when I was studying at SP College. I never called myself a poet then, nor do I claim to be one now. I just expressed whatever emotions came to my mind, what I saw and felt.”
As the years went by, Vaidya and his students became busy with their own lives. A few students kept in touch with him. But a reunion was destined to happen. A poem written by Vaidya on the occasion of the birthday of one of his students — Dr Rutuparna Naik triggered it. “Naik put up the poem on our social media group and it caught the attention of all of us,” says Suhas Shaligram, a former student at NMV High School.
He adds, “Sir’s way of teaching was unique. He used to take us to places like Parvati hills, at times a bit away from the city, in the company of nature where he would be one with the surroundings while teaching his poems. Another benefit we had was that he was much younger than our other teachers. That is why we were never scared to talk to him. All this helped in creating a bond.”
Like most of the other students, Shaligram too had lost contact with Vaidya sir. “It was when our friends Rutuparna posted the poem that I got to know about sir’s whereabouts. I met him and asked him about his writings which he had stopped back in the ’90s. I pushed him to start writing again. Initially he was reluctant, however later on he started sending us his poems on Whatsapp,” says Shaligram.
With the sudden boost from his yesteryear students, Vaidya went on to write almost 50-60 poems in a span of six months. The students were more than happy to see their teacher get back to what he was best at. It was at a regular monthly meeting that the 1964 NMV batchmates thought of compiling all the works of Vaidya and gifting it to him on his 80th birthday, which was a few months away. The compilation titled Suryaphule was welcomed and supported by the entire batch.
Arun Kudale, president, Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth and a student of the ’64 batch took the lead along with fellow batchmate Dr Shridhar Gokhale in the selection, compilation and publication of the poems. Says he, “We all thought of gifting Vaidya sir his works instead of gifting something costly and materialistic. He was more than happy when we told him about the book. As I was also associated with Rotary club, I kept meeting sir a few times for various reasons. Sir was always friendly and supportive to all of us. He was not at all strict like the teachers used to be during those days. That is what created a bond between us which that continued for all these years. It was he who introduced us to good poems and explained what the poet wanted to convey through it. Hence after school, though most of us turned to the fields of engineering and medical sciences, our batch kept and still keeps, in touch with literature.”
While concluding on how he felt about the gift by his former students, Vaidya expressed, “It was all due to the persistent efforts by these students that I could write poems again. I am thoroughly enriched by this gift they have given me. In today’s world, where the old are seldom shown respect, these students have, through their actions, created an example of humility and gratitude towards their old teacher.”