To Sir, With Love

                                     

The two-member high-powered interview board were having a heated argument while a candidate named Dasu waited outside.

Just look at his credentials…by the time he was sixteen he on his way to join the Christian Brotherhood. Coming from a well to do and learned family with a mother teaching in a reputed school and father, a decorated officer in the Indian Army, when the world of opportunities lay before him, he chose an austere life of simplicity, selfless-service and a desire to change the lives of innumerable boys and girls. Revered and loved by all and a spotless life of seventy-four should have given him a straight entry into the Pearly Gates. He belonged there and there alone and there was no need for this interview which was meant to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Lt.Gen D'Souza, The Father with Sam Manekshaw

Mrs. N. D'Souza, The Mother

Peter, you’re a selfish bugger. You already have the best of people with you. Don’t you think we need some good people?

Dear Cerberus, if people like Dasu are sent to Hell, everyone will lose faith in goodness and humanity and Earth, which is already over populated with evil forces and will make the place completely unlivable and a totally dark planet.

Dear Peter, while I understand your apprehensions but my problem is that the place I guard here is getting over populated. We need someone who can possibly work with some of the people here, make a change and get an opportunity to cross over into your land which is completely underpopulated and can accommodate many more people.

Cerberus…Cerberus…what you ask for is outright blasphemy and unacceptable. Just see what some of his students of the first class he taught at St. Columba’s School, Delhi have to say about him on his passing on 13^th of Oct 2024…

“Brother D’Souza’s passing really hurts and breaks our hearts- he made us, the boys of 10-C, men (nearly) during the 1979 school year. As my mind rewinds, the distant memories come back to me slowly like gentle waves hitting the shores of a lake.

Not a 100% sure but I think the first words he said to us on that cold March morning on our 1^st day of 10-C (all of us were excited and making a lot of noise after rejoining school in a new class)- Will you guys shut up!

He brought about a paradigm shift on the way he taught us- so refreshing and so much fun.

His singing to us with the guitar, math classes on Saturdays- we used to look forward to that (what a change after John and Innis) and how he gave us all assignments during the summer holidays and made us post them to him every week in Shillong.

What a Man- I must be forgetting so many other good memories and things we did with him.

A true Gentleman and arguably the best Teacher St. Columba’s has had. I’m sure he’ll find a bunch of guys in Heaven and teach them good things in his unconventional style- all of us will cheer him from here.

God Speed and R.I.P. Brother.”

Look Peter…that’s what I need… someone who can teach my folks differently and make them better. So far they’ve been exposed to people of the worst kind who drag them further down the ladder of humanity and ensure that they will never find any redemption.

Cerberus Dear, please do not disturb me. See one more of the posts…

"While he was suffering that last few years and possibly this was deliverance for him, the fact is, he leaves us with countless, amazing memories that will always stay with us. People like him leave a mark on those they touch in an indelible way. And what is a great life but one that touches the lives of others deeply? He lived a selfless life that transformed the life of so many young men. God bless his soul and may he rest in eternal peace.”

See Peter, what I was telling you…Dasu will help transform the lives of people in my Underworld so that they may have a chance to move up and live a better afterlife. 

Sha..sha.. Cerberus. Just listen to some more of the posts and tell me if it will be right on my part to move him into the dark world. How will I look into the eyes of my Lord after doing such injustice to this holy soul?

“Assignments in the summer holidays!! He took classes through the summer holidays. Thank God and him for that. With his teaching, I did brilliantly with…70+ in math. I remember his remark to the class during the summer tuitions. If you don’t know something after a class has finished, say so. I will thrash you but explain it again. But if you tell me three days later that you didn’t know, I’ll thrash you even more, because I will have to learn the lesson all over again to teach you. More than the math, this changed my life. I figured everyone isn’t a Srini, sorry mate no offence, who understands everything at first shot. One has to work at understanding…It gave me so much confidence for dealing with life. F**k, he was just too good…God Bless him.”

That's it Peter, Dasu knows how to thrash unruly people. He fits the bill to the dot. I am told he has a cane named Charlie that he wields like a sabre and puts sense into the heads of people. No teacher will survive even a single day in the Underworld unless he is able to thrash and get the rogues to toe the line…remember what you’ve always preached…spare the rod and spoil the child.

No way Cerberus! Listen to another of this student…

“I am deeply saddened by the passing of Bother Eric D’Souza. It is difficult to express my gratitude for him in words. He was a remarkable educator and a selfless person, whose passion for teaching and ability to make learning enjoyable and touched the lives of many, including mine. His contributions to education and personal growth will be cherished by all who had the privilege to learn from him. Brother D’Souza’s legacy will live in our hearts. He will be remembered for making school enjoyable and inspiring countless students. Rest in Peace, Brother D’Souza.”

Before you speak again…here’s one that will convince you- where Dasu truly belongs.

“Brother Eric Steve D’Souza- Fratress Christiani. Unknown hero who launched India’s powerful emergence as an IT superpower. In 1980, he wrote the first syllabus for O-level Computer Education and installed a bank of PCs in the school basement. That single act precipitated a boom as every school and educational institution in the country scrambled to catch up.

He came into class, a diminutive man with the most riveting eyes, a constant, almost sardonic smile as he laughed at life and its idiosyncrasies. The son of a decorated General in the Indian Army, he chose the Holy calling to become a monk, a teacher. He was at once the best footballer on the field, the sharpest mind in Mathematics and English and amazingly good with the guitar- in the middle of the most difficult classes he’d strum and sing his signature “Bouna Sera Senorita...”, with gleeful look. He’d stride across class in three steps, cassock billowing behind him. He equally loved the brainiacs and the back-benchers, seeing in each one of us what we could not see ourselves. He had no doubts about the Divine. But it did not prevent him from dealing with atheism and homosexuality in Shakespeare’s works. As a monk, he guided us through the most difficult teenage years of our lives, dealing with the most tabooed subjects imaginable. He took us from being a rag-tag bunch of almost certain failures to the best that each of us could be. I last saw him twenty or more years ago. in a remote corner of India, running a school for marginalized young people. More than anybody else, he taught us that money and fame mean absolutely nothing.

The only true wealth is who you are. In prayerful gratitude to my hero, my mentor, my guide. God be with you.”

See Peter…he is the fittest person according to me…he can teach beyond catechism and holy texts to subjects difficult and often tabooed by your folks. He can change the lives of ‘rag-tag’ and make my people see what they cannot see in themselves. I have already built a Reformatory School where he can join as the Headmaster and start his classes with immediate effect.

Let us call him in and ask his wish. Normally we decide, for our decisions are unanimous but since we are unable to arrive at one, Brother Eric…come in please…

A slim man in casual clothes walked in and took the seat across St. Peter and Cerberus.

St. Peter spoke…Brother D’Souza, you have an impeccable record fit for being cannonised but here Cerberus, the Gatekeeper of the Underworld wants to take you to run a reforming school for his people. There is much merit in his request, but I am worried about how the people down below, who are yet to come for their admissions to Heaven will interpret such a decision.

I have been a teacher all my life and teaching is what I do best and love most. The place and the building never mattered to me. Happy to go to the Reformatory School even if it lies in the darkest place in the Universe. Give me my children and give me my books and of course I already have Charlie with me.

Cerberus smiled and said…You’re truly a blessed soul. I am requesting St. Peter to give you the multiple entry visa for Heaven and asking you to visit my world temporarily and make it a better place for all.

..................................................................................................................................................

To me, Brother D’Souza was

The man who threw me out of the class,
But let me enter his heart forever.
The man who once called me a donkey,
But made the man I am out of  wet clay.
And to quote from the one book he taught us that we will never ever forget…Julius Caesar
“His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to the World, This Was a Man."

Dearest Teacher, Mentor, Guide and Friend

Rest Eternally in Peace.

SS