Navdeepak Bansal
Character Sketch It was the last day of senior year and everybody was running between classes to meet their teachers. Many had tears in their eyes by the idea even thinking of separating from their friends. On this day of emotional turmoil, I too walked with a heavy heart to my last class of environmental value systems. I entered the classroom, and everything was the same. The projector was turned ‘on’, study desks were properly aligned in three rows, Guru sir’s table and chair were placed adjacent to the projector screen, and the wall was filled with photographs of students and with decorative charts. However, even if everything looked the same, everything was different about the class that day. I had never seen Guru sir sitting so melancholically. The entire class was lost in their own thoughts. Past 5 minutes the lesson started, even Guru sir didn’t utter a single word. I had never seen guru sir not welcome his class with a big smile on his face, cracking jokes and asking students about their day. The awkward silence was broken after guru sir got up, adjusted his belt, and clapped his hands to welcome the class. His fumbling voice revealed every emotion he tried to hide behind that twinkle. With that voice filled with sorrow, he asked us nothing more than to but reflect on this 2-year journey with him.
Immediately, a tape of the entire two years journey started to play in my head. I was directly taken to my first day of the school. Everything was new for me because I switched my school after the end of sophomore year. As I walked friendless to my classes, I was trying to learn my teachers name whom I had already met. Lost in my own thoughts, I entered the next class. As I took my seat I saw a person in his mid-thirties with an above average height and a heavy body. His face was light-dark in complexion with short black hair. He wore a slightly loose light-colored shirt with a dark pant which was covering half of his sharply pointed black shoes. As he stood behind
Navdeepak Bansal his Lenovo laptop adjusting his belt. He welcomed the class with great enthusiasm and the biggest smile I had seen. With a fruity voice he introduced himself. Somehow his name was picked up by my brain with little difficulty. I guess his aura created a mood of happiness and the smile and passion motivated to listen more and more to what he had to say. I was fascinated by his sense of humor and teaching style. He was not just a funny and interesting person to talk to, but he was also strict about certain rules. At the end of the class he gave candies to everyone with a warm greeting of ‘take care’. I left his class with a bond that I had formed with no other faculty. As days passed and the stress level increased, I had no space to breathe in my classes. However, Guru sir’s class never stressed me. Because you never knew what he was going to teach. He didn’t follow the conventional method of using textbooks. But he used documentaries from National Geographic, Animal Planet, BBC and such other channels to give his students a global perspective. Apart from course work, he used to play quizzes in class to check our general knowledge. In this fun lecture and learning I used to forget about my stress. Also, he used to de-stress students during exams time by giving tips and by making them listen to soothing piano tunes. Overall, he had all the qualities that would make him a great teacher.
I loved working around him. His caring nature and hard work to teach his students were a great source of motivation for me. As days turned into weeks, weeks into months, I got to know him better. I found that he was born in the Madurai, which is one of the oldest cities in India. He has been in the teaching profession for more than 15 years. And apart from teaching he did photography, videography, ran websites, and most importantly did a lot of travelling. Travelling does reveal a lot about one’s personality. And it was this field trip I went with him to the hills of northern India to write my research paper that I got to know more about him. He took me back to
Navdeepak Bansal the time when he was about to join college. He told me that he had a phobia of studying physics and medicine and it wasn’t until his masters that he realized that his actual interest laid in studying environment. It was because of his professor K.M. Rajeshakarn and the long walks he used to take in the mountains that pulled him towards pursuing environment. He wasn’t great in academics and he didn’t learn from textbooks as his fellow college mates, but he watched channels like Animal Planet. He was moved by Sir David Attenborough voice, that at the end of his college he knew what he wanted to be.
Like anyone, he started teaching to support his family. And I first met his family when one day, I saw a 4-year-old boy with a little bag and a colorful water bottle around his neck running and jumping into his arms. Following the child was a semi-curly haired lady with an average height. Oh, He is a family man I established. He comes out to be loving and joyful person who tries to play with his son every day. Most of the times he is occupied. However, in his busy schedule he still finds time to tweet and post a picture on Instagram about the current environmental issues. He believes that social networking is the best way to spread awareness.
His favorite thing is to explore new places. Till now he has done more than 100 field trips to study flora and fauna. His favorite place being the Andaman And Nicobar Islands. Also, he has a passion for reading. If you look at his cupboard, you will find bundles of books. Currently, he is working on a book which he expects to get published soon.
And as I was admiring his personality, my video of memories was disrupted. The lesson was over, and everyone was packing their bags. I immediately stood up and had a dazed look in
Navdeepak Bansal my eyes. And while leaving I knew that this candy would be the last treat we will be receiving from him.
Word Count: 1088