Monday, April 14, 2008

Mount Assisi School: Father Job!

There are some teachers who impart a lasting love for knowledge. One of them was Reverend Father Job Edakulathoor, the Principal of our school (Mount Assisi School, Bhagalpur) and also our English teacher.

Father Job was a remarkable figure. When we discussed the poetry of William Wordsworth or P.B. Shelley or Nissim Ezekiel we could see the love for the language dripping out of every word that escaped his mouth. I still have memories of him riding on the imaginary horse a la Lochinvar (so faithful in love, so dauntless in war), rushing off to rescue fair Ellen. Oh how his eyes would glow with emotion when we read Shylock's speech from The Merchant of Venice!

In class Father Job was a great friend and a fellow lover of the language. But, outside class, when we pushed the envelope (quite) a bit, he was famous for his little pinch on the ear of the errant pupil.

Outside school he was an entirely different person. His love for the latest Bollywood potboiler, especially the Amitabh Bachchan movies, was well-known. On more than one occasion, when leaving a movie theater in the evening, I saw Father Job in his leather jacket, with a motorcycle helmet in his hand, waiting for the night show to start.

For us kids, in our early teens, Father Job was a great source of inspiration. We will always admire him for being a great teacher, and also for assembling a great ensemble (Mr. Javed Hasan, Mr. Animesh Majumdar, Mr. Satish Jha) around him. To this day when I am enjoying a good book I am thankful to him for showing us the pleasure to be found in great literature.

So, Father Job, wherever you are, here are a few lines for you:

He rode all unarm'd, and he rode all alone.
So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war,
There never was knight like the young Lochinvar.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Great Post Sir

Though I never had a chance to study under Fr Job as I joined Assisi in 92, but the name of Assisi and all its tales of those teachers arouse such a great nostalzia that cant be overpowered.

Ritu Raj

Ravi Prakash said...

Dear Ritu Raj,

I am glad you liked the post. More will come over time. So, keep visiting the blog from time-to-time.

----Ravi.

sanjaymishra said...

You are very right, Ravi. Reading is my pastime. It was nurtured by him. I remember when he used to give Readers Digest to us to read and write the gist of articles. It was appearing horrible at that time. But looking back I see I got much more from him them any english teacher before or after him.

Unknown said...

great - great !!! I agree with every word you wrote about Fr. Job and am sure you will enjoy meeting him here too. Apart from this - i can say - RAVI YOU HAVE NOT CHANGED AT ALL; you appear to be the same kid as I knew you in school.

Unknown said...

great - great !!! I agree with every word you wrote about Fr. Job and am sure you will enjoy meeting him here too. Apart from this - i can say - RAVI YOU HAVE NOT CHANGED AT ALL; you appear to be the same kid as I knew you in school.

Unknown said...

great - great !!! I agree with every word you wrote about Fr. Job and am sure you will enjoy meeting him here too. Apart from this - i can say - RAVI YOU HAVE NOT CHANGED AT ALL; you appear to be the same kid as I knew you in school.

ami said...

wow ! nice post. Though by my time Fr. Thomas chittukulum had taken over, the picture depicted by your words is really good. I don't know how but even my batch had merchant of venice ....:) .history repeats atleast in ICSE.

anand said...

Rightly said Ravi Bhaiya,
The memories you have shares are still as much fresh as it was.The sweet memories are still alive .The Ft.Job was a great teacher.
Your memories is still continuing.You being the topper of the batch we potray you as an Ionic Montazzian.Your sense of discipline and the great love for discipline is commendable when you use to enquire to jounior while roaming of the corridor in the morning hrs before the class use to start.
Rgds,
Anand Vikram,1989 X-ICSE passout.

Unknown said...

Hi Ravi! Any news of Father Job?

Dr (Colonel) Nasir Parwaiz