When I first read the short story, “The Last Lesson” written by Alphonse Daudet, back in school I thought it was nothing short of an exaggerated tale oozing with blown-up nostalgia and fancy hyperbole. ‘The Last Lesson’ a story which is set in the days of the Franco-Prussian War when France was defeated by Prussia. By an order from Berlin, German language was imposed on the French districts of Alsace and Lorraine. Alas! I was wrong. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would experience something similar, although in a different context, a different setting.
Last week, I woke up to a rainy morning. Rumbling, dark clouds, thunder and rain pervaded the atmosphere. Unusual, freaky weather for the month of April, I reasoned. I reluctantly got ready for University. Luckily, I just made it in time for the Econometric Applications class. Our professor, Dr. G. Singh, a noted agricultural economist and brilliant econometrician is the epitome of what an ideal mentor should be. Regrettably, the sassy behaviour of our class didn’t match his expectations.
He is never absent or late for any of his classes. But, on that day he never turned up for the class on time. Many classmates, usually locked out for reaching late thanked their stars. Others sighed. Dr. Gurmail Singh entered the class a little late. He was not his usual self. He was clearly upset and saddened. He wasn’t angry or annoyed. The glow on his face was missing. We knew something was wrong. Maybe we had gone overboard and taken him for a ride. Gregarious, compassionate and large-hearted, he started the lecture by announcing it would be his last. The last lecture of his tenure as a Professor. He started out by apologising to each one of us if he was at fault for not delivering. We didn’t know where to look, where to hide our shameless faces. We felt small. His eloquent silence went like a cleaver that sliced through our hearts. No apparent flow of blood, but the cold, biting pain lingered. The poignancy was hard to miss. We knew right then, as students we had failed.
After a brief pause, he made a dash for the blackboard and scribbled the topic of inflation modelling on the board. And, thus started the last lesson, the best he ever taught. He was back in his mode, brimming with passion and zeal. He formulated the entire model with finesse and ease, leaving us bewildered, as always. Time flew past in a jiffy and before we knew he bade farewell and wished us luck for all future endeavours. He quietly exited the room. We felt guilty and embarrassed to have ended his teaching experience on an awful note. He is someone I secretly admire and look up to with immense awe. We knew we were at loss and we had to make up to him. We pooled in money to buy a farewell card and scrawled it with the following wordings, “Dear Sir, we may not have been the best class you’ve trained. But, we’ve learnt life lessons from you that will stay with us for a lifetime. To our icon, our mentor, our source of inspiration and idol- fare thee well!”
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