To Sir Yash Paul Bharadwaj -With Love .

He is the smartest man I have ever met in my life .By smart I mean smart and not good looking .Much of his looks were immersed  under  a beard that reminded me of  Karl Marx and  Fidel Castro .He had large eyes ,was tall and well built and walked like a king –ambling as if he gave two hoots for the world or what  it thought of his ways.He looked like a lion with a magnificent mane -when angry ,his eyes darted from one place to another -ready to pounce of anyone who made a mistake  .Add to it his brilliance as a sportsman and also the fact that he always smelt  nice and dressed so well and you will know who I am writing about - The Phenemonal  Yash Bharadwaj .

YP Bharadwaj - with Imran Khan .

I met him  first as a young prospective candidate for the post of a history teacher at the Motilal Nehru School of Sports at Rai( 35 years ago !!),just 20 miles from Delhi and hence called “Biswan Meel”.It was a place where the legendary CM of Punjab ,Pratap Singh Kairon was shot dead .At Rai ,the Haryana Govt built a school with the best infrastructure of the times and paid the teachers well enough to attract some of the best available in India .Mr Y .P .Bharadwaj was the Principal as  I waited in the staff room to be interviewed .He had stepped in to the rather big boots of Padamshri , Mr Kate  .And gosh –did he not make everyone feel that the shoes were too small for him .

Mr Bharadwaj was a pedigreed  man .(I will keep writing of him as was because I write of him as a man who has retired now ).He had studied at St Stephens College and had represented it in Cricket(in fact nearly played for India ,after having played Ranji for many years ) and Basketball .I am not too sure –he must have represented it in Tennis as well because he was a terrific tennis player and would take the best young studs in our school apart in the  game . Even at the age of 55 !!He had taught at the Mayo College for years  and had become the Vice Principal at The  Punjab Public School at Nabha  before taking over Rai  !!I had the pleasure of playing Cricket and Tennis with him and in particular I remember putting in a long partnership in two  ,staff vs students matches .I was just out of University  and more or less in my prime and Mr Bharadwaj was past 50 years of age . “We will avoid taking the singles or  run too fast. And don’t worry –the runs will come .We will put away the bad balls to the boundary .And you will get many of them” ,he advised .I am forgetting how any runs he scored in the matches –but they were both above 50 runs a piece and mostly in boundaries  .Interspersed with cuts ,and  brilliant drives through the covers –both off the front and back foot .Not only that ,he would open the attack with the new ball and bowl amazing outswingers  luring the young batsmen to edge to vultures like me standing at first slip to gobble up the catch .I still remember all that Sir ,and the icing on the cake were the cricket matches with the British High Commission.

Mr Bharadwaj was a visionary –he was not a micro level man who would have meetings with teachers to monitor the syllabus or whether they had written their teachers diaries , or whether i had taught Akbars Din E Illahi or not  .He looked at the larger picture -the macro level.He looked  to take Rai beyond the confines of the staff rooms ,classrooms , and the playing fields within its campus .He entrusted me with the task of starting a General  Awareness Club and a Debating Society . “I want  you to tell me how we can get the big schools to participate in the activities you plan”. He told Mr Alan  Lewis to produce plays and take them to premier schools to showcase talent that the kids possessed .And then he told Mr Lewis to take the plays abroad –to England .He entered into a exchange programme with schools in England and it still continues .He made sure that no teacher went twice –so that more teachers got exposure to foreign lands .He sent me to Phiilipines with kids  for a Childrens International  Village .He had foreign teachers come and teach English and Geography to first generation learners .I asked him once why he had foreigners teaching in our schools .Were there not enough good Indians to do so ?His reply was

“Kain ,dekho .Do cheez ho sakti hai .Ya toh Angrez Hindi seekh jayegaa ,ya  who Angrezee sikaa degaa”!!( two things can happen –either they will learn Hindi ,or they will teach the kids to speak in English).

I laughed  .It was over a drink in his palatial residence .I dared to probe further .”And suppose they learn Hindi ?.The purpose will be defeated wont it” ?

“No –according to linguists it is very difficult to learn a new language when you are in your 40s .”And that’s exactly what happened .The kids in Rai learnt to speak and write fabulous English .It is no surprise to me that Rai has produced 3 children who have written wonderful novels  ,it has produced wonderful actors and actresses ,it has produced I.A.S Officers ,IITians ,Entrepreuneurs ,teachers and more than 100 Principals .My name was 56^th on the list of Principals from Rai when I visited it last about a decade back .He introduced  horse riding ,fencing  and encouraged the setting up of a solar heating system to keep the swimming pool of our school warm in the biting cold of North India .The inaugural Craft Mela at Surajkund was manned by kids from our school .The children saw English movies every Saturday in a bid to make them improve their English.He would do “Shramdan” with them and would take part in “Preeti Bhoj” serving  food to our support staff for dinners  .In a decade under his leadership ,uncut and unpolished diamonds were transformed  into the most valuable jewels in the country .I give the credit for most of that to Mr Bharadwaj .Having been a leader of schools for two and a half decades myself –I know how brilliant one has to be to do that .

There are many tales .There are many memories .There are many incidents for someone like me from Rai .I gave my best years and my best performances as a teacher at Rai .Sometimes when i look at myself  I feel  it could not have been me who was at Rai .I was in a different zone  .At times I just want to forget Rai because it drowns me in nostalgia and compels me to  compare  with myself then and now  and the school  then and at the  present moment .Sometimes i keep telling myself "Come on .Move on .Forget the past" .And sometimes I do forget it for long periods as I immerse myself in new ventures .

But one man keeps pulling me back .He keeps tugging at the corners of  a huge memory And forces me to always look back over my  shoulders .Someone who will never let me forget Rai and every moment I lived there .Sir Yash Paul Bharadwaj .

Get well soon Sir .Its time to have drink once again with you .I am thirsty .