Bengaluru celebs recall their favourite teachers

'The bond you have with your teacher at a boarding school is very different. Teachers take on a more parental role,' says Danish Sait.

Ahead of Teacher’s Day on September 5, Metrolife asks prominent public figures in the city to talk about the teachers who have had a significant impact on their life. Here’s what they have to say: 

‘Actions speak louder than words’ 

Kannada actor, director and screenwriter, Raj B Shetty, speaks fondly of two professors who helped him feel comfortable in his own skin. “One of them was Tara, my Kannada lecturer in pre-university college. And the other was Shobhana, who took English when I was doing my bachelor’s degree in social work. Both of them were exceptional, their actions spoke louder than words. One helped me strengthen my love for Kannada and made me a better student, and the other helped me feel accepted, like I belonged somewhere,” he tells Metrolife. 

‘Take time, observe, then act’ 

For comedian Sonu Venugopal, talking about her favourite teacher takes her back to her childhood days in Mysuru. “During my middle school days in Kendriya Vidyalaya in Mysuru, I had a chemistry teacher by the name Mercy John. I always wanted to impress her but she was very hard to impress. She was a strict disciplinarian who would give me a stern look if I made mistakes.But as months passed, we grew fonder of each other and she taught me the importance of being patient and observant, rather than giving it your all from the get go,” she recalls, adding that she had one of the best cotton sari collections. “She would carry herself really well. I still remember wanting to wear a sari just like her,” she says. 

‘He was like a parent’ 

“The bond you have with your teacher at a boarding school is very different. Teachers take on a more parental role. At least my principal M D Nanjunda played a parental role in my life. I remember him telling my mother not to force me to become a doctor or engineer and to let me be an artiste. That stuck with me. I even thanked him in the credits of my first movie,” shares Danish Sait, comedian and actor. He continues to stay in touch with his former principal through a WhatsApp group. “I was overjoyed when he added me to the group. The fact that he still remembered me made me happy,” he adds. 

‘I never stopped learning’

Ghatam player Giridhar Udupa stresses on the importance of a ‘guru’ in a musician’s life. “Of course academic teachers matter but no one comes close to your guru. My guru Sukkanya Ramagopal had a huge impact on my life and I credit her for my musical journey. But apart from imparting musical knowledge, she inspired me in many ways. Her journey into music and how she became such a well-known ghatam player, which is a male-dominated field, is truly inspiring. In essence, I never stopped learning from her,” he says. 

‘Dream a better world into action’

“The professor who has had the most positive impact on my life is a man called Barney Bate. He was the professor of anthropology at Yale University. He was a man who taught me about gender issues, kinship and media. After my parents, he was the one who introduced me to the radical ideas of Ambedkar and Periyar. A white man teaching us to fight against patriarchs, and for the linguistic rights of the Dravidian region. He was a Tamil scholar himself and extremely inspiring. He taught me to dream a better world into action,” says Chethan Ahimsa, activist and actor. 

‘She made textbooks come alive’

Author Shinie Antony pays tribute to two of her teachers. “When I was in St Teresa’s College, Kochi, Sister Mary Rose taught us English. She made textbooks come alive with such lyrical energy. And professor Chaudhuri who taught photojournalism at the Indian Institute of Mass Communications in Delhi. For a backbencher like me, who didn’t even meet her teachers halfway, they reeled me in with their own love of what they taught,” she says.