Insan School and Dr. Syed Hasan (Part 7)

Contributed By: Dr. Equbal Wajid

[An extract form author’s autobiography]

Many more students at Insan School were treated by Dr. Syed Hasan in a typical way. The problem-children were usually motivated to some extracurricular activities. Some of them were assigned tasks to work as drill leader and were being motivated to take part in games, supervision of dining hall, to work as team leader, some were brought up to carry out the morning assembly session. Even if within a week or two we see that the students who were disrespectful to their teachers or they have some discipline problem surprisingly turned obedient after the therapy.

The whole school seemed to be plunged in to an ocean of joy. The classes run short. Students are engage in extracurricular activities. These days there are not many restrictions for the students to go out of the campus. They can go out of the hostel frequently. The wardens have also loosened their grip. The daily routine of the hostel is little affected. On the evening-attendance not all the students seems to be present. What is going on? Anyone in the Insan School can answer to this question that the foundation day of the School is nearby. The students and teachers are busy in preparations to celebrate the event. Some students are busy in preparing their models. Some are planning to open stalls. Most of them are busy in sports and games which they have to demonstrate on the foundation day. Rehearsals are going on as daily basis in every hostel to display the cultural events on 14th November. Along the play ground, the road and the hostels, earth pieces for stalls and models are being allotted to the students.

It is the biggest festival of the institution. As soon as the days are coming closer the whole Kishanganj town is warming up to attend the programme. Now the time has reached. A big stage has set for the function. VIPs and guardians are sitting in front of the stage in row. The students are coming from their hostels in row. They look like colored stars moving in queue. The time of the Annual day celebration has reached in the ground. In few minutes all students will gather in the big play ground standing in rows. The time for the flag vesting is about to reach. Someone is coming to hoist the flag, he is being escorted by guards left and right. The Sub-Divisional Government officer is Honorary Guest of the function. Member of Parliament Mr. Rafiqe Alam is sitting in the top row but who is going to hoist the flag. Who is he? Is he a bigger VIP? They all are astonished to see that a student Zaidi Aziz is approaching to hoist the school flag. He is confident on his every step. Who is Zaidi Aziz? Zaidi Aziz is a student of the School. He is the elected Prime Minister of the School Government. He was chosen to hoist the flag of the school on the foundation day. Everyone stares at him with love. He himself looking beautiful, fair and smart, a young boy at his 15.

Now some students are coming for speeches. Some small children came up on the stage in queue they made a human train joining each other like bogies, then the human train started taking round and round up on the stage. It is going on towards a bog goal. It is reflects the goal of life. The philosophy of life is demonstrated in this event. From the background a melodic song appears, this the voice of Nigar Baji, a primary School teacher.

“CHUK…….. CHUK …..CHUK…… CHUK ……CHUK…..RAIL….. CHALEY :

CHUNNU MUNNU AAIEN…… TO YE KHEL…… CHALE”

CHUK CHUK …CHUK CHUK ……

I don’t know for what reasons, whenever I have seen this programme I always failed to get my tears back. These simple lines always appeared to me as an unprecedented philosophy of life. Shifa Syed Hafeez, the youngest son of Dr. Syed Hasan, a student of class one is the team leader of this item.

A group of high school girls came up on the stage and started acting on a background melodic poem. Nigar Baji’s voice [a teacher of Primary Section] is appearing from the back ground. Among the girls as I remember a lean and thin small girl Nikhat Nasreen who later become Reader in the Department of Education, Aligarh Muslim University.

YEH FARSHE ZAMEEN YEH CHATRE FALAK YEH AALAME IMKAN HAM SE HAI

YEH SHORE BAHAARAN HUM SE HAI YEH JASHNE CHRAAGHAN HUM SE HAI

KALYON MEN CHITAK PHOOLOON MEIN MAHAK SHAKHON MIEN LACHAK HAM SE AAEE

TAQDEER HAMAARI MUTTHI MEIN YOON KAHNE KO NAADAAN HAIN HUM

YEH SHORE BAHARAN HUM SE HAI YEH JASHNE CHRAGHAN HUNM SE HAI

YEH FARSHE ZAMEEN YEH CHATRE FALAK ………..

My tears never get back until the song is finished. I looked my both sides whether someone is taking notice of my tears. Nobody, they all were looking at the stage. Who knows that Mr. Equbal Wajid was weeping while looking this programme? I think my tears broke out due to the unsolved mystery of life to which I was much crazy since my early 20s, and I say that the mystery of Universe and serious thinking over it had been the biggest thing in my life which had occupied my mind as long. During my Insan School period it was at a high stake. Thinking on the appearances continued in my whole life. In my heart I feel deep love to nature and loneliness, a loneliness that can be found only in forests or deserts. I cannot explain this very desire but I feel so, and I intend to experiences in my somehow in the near future. They may say that it is a kind of madness, but I am sure to taste it.

Dr. Syed Hasan always talked about will power. He taught us that the will of a man can do everything he likes. Though I was confused at this point that the ‘will’ can do everything we do like. One day a programme was schedule to be held in the open. Suddenly clouds from all sides of the sky run to get together and it rained, and the programmed was close downed to due over. I am a witness that Dr. Syed Hasan looked at the cloud and said:

“The rain could had been prevented through the ‘Will Power’.

Nobody commented on his statement. He often told that he has the ‘Will’ that can do anything. Once he was in need of money, he waited for few days whether some cash had come to the cashier, when in distress he went under a tree behind the school and asked God:

“Why you are not sending money for few days?’

As he returned from under beneath the tree, he saw some guardian asking the cashier to deposit school fees.

Dr. Syed Hasan always kept himself rather shabbily dressed. His cloths always looked like traveled stained. He uses to wear torn old cloths patched with small or big patches over it. The patches were visible through necked eyes. Some teachers say that he does it intentionally to attract people. When he came from America he left wearing coat. I never saw him in a coat or suit. His outfits were Kurta and Pajama, sometimes paint-shirts. In the winter he use to wear sweater or most of the time he move in the campus while wrapped in blanket. Some teachers also copied his style and they sometimes wrapped blanket on them in the campus in winter season.

Dr. Syed Hasan never tolerate if anybody is wearing a colored spectacles. It was not allowed in the campus, as he use to say that this a kind of weakness, it is similar as to escape from the people. Once, by the way, a High School Teacher Kanak Lal Saha wore colored spectacles. As a habit Dr. Syed Hasan never allowed anything unnoticed to him. He went to the hostel and asked him, why he was wearing a goggles? Even the students never put on a goggle in the campus. It was only because Dr. Syed Hasan he never wanted to lose his eye contact with anybody. Eye is first. He uses to gaze into eyes of everybody and know his welfare. If somebody escapes his eye contact he happens to be disturbed. We have heard his hundreds of lectures on eye contact.

Those who are close to Dr. Syed Hasan or have been the students of Insan School, know his slogans:

“AANKH KO PARHAIN GE”

“KAAN KO PARHEN GE”

“JISM KO PARAHEN GE”.

Many a year later when I gone through a book on Management I realized that the efforts of Dr. Syed Hasan was significant , as our institutions are running only to provide knowledge to the students not to provide the art of living. Our teachers are lack proper training. The teacher’s training courses are also supposed to be taken as increase in knowledge. The natural aptitude of a teacher, his dynamism and love for cause of education are the real tools which can lead them to shape good personalities. School is a place where the art of living should be provided to the students along with the knowledge, not only knowledge is success. Success lies somewhere else and some where beyond the knowledge. Living, and the art of living is totally different thing than the knowledge. There should be a practical understanding of adjustment in every instance of life.

I am sorry to say that most of our institutions only focus on providing knowledge not the personality. In Insan School the personality of student was kept on so high priority that the students were not even being asked for the school dues, whatever big amount it may be. It happened in the golden years of Insan School and later on the strategies has little changed, due to the irresponsible behavior of the parents who took this high moral response as a chance for them and never cared for the school dues. If someone succeeds to collect the old dues of the school with the parent, since the inception of the school, it me reach up to million rupees. [to be continued]