Guru Call

On the recently passed Teachers’ Day, just before dinner, I dialed my teacher’s phone number. The phone was unanswered. I occupied my seat at the dining table with my eyes making a shift towards the cell-phone frequently – expecting a callback. My dining colleagues asked me why i was calling a teacher who had taught me over twenty years ago.

I retorted, “This is a modest way to pay tributes to the numerous days/events/things and people who have taught me lessons of life. Merely anyone who gives tutorials in a formal environment is not a teacher alone; on the contrary, every moment which inspires you with deeds or didactics is a teacher.”


“Why so many things when we have Google?” I was questioned.

Alas! i wished that they knew that a chasm lay wide agape between wisdom and information. Pensively looking at the cell-phone – eyes and ears impatient to get a ring on the phone – i chewed a few emotions along with the bite. Indebted to every instant of history, i narrated an experience when i was handling channel partners of our fuel stations.


With a task to improve sales, I thought of visiting our upcountry Retail Outlets during dusk hours. I reached a dimly lit outlet. The customer service attendants were not in uniform. They did not recognize me as I had taken over the assignment a few days ago. I enquired about sales, lighting and uniform. Apparently puzzled, they asked me whether I needed petrol or diesel. Skipping the answer, I cleverly asked about sales and products available. They were equally smart in evading the questions.

Disclosing my identity, I added authority to my questions. The attendants, surprisingly, were unfazed. The only reply they gave was “Ask Sardarji” referring to the outlet dealer sitting in the salesroom. I moved into the salesroom, introduced myself and greeted the gentleman – an elderly Sikh, about 70 years, white beard and sharp turban – sitting on an old wooden chair, perhaps more aged than the gentleman himself!


He acknowledged my greetings and offered me a chair without uttering a word, while remaining busy in scribbling something on a paper. I flooded him with a flurry of questions. His authorship seemed steadfast as he continued writing uninterruptedly. His silence loaded me with confusion - was he ignoring me or insulting me? I was still pondering when he finished his writing and stood up (I also stood) to pass on to me the paper. It was an apology letter for the fact that his service attendants were not in uniform and that the outlet was poorly illuminated. The letter also carried his promise for improvement.

The action left me bewildered. I asked him that we had not even conversed yet he had written the apology. He politely told me that he had been doing this every time the previous officer-in- charges would come to his outlet. “They”, he said, “only found mistakes here. I am used to this now.”


I was rendered speechless. Mustering some courage, I changed the topic and enquired after his family and the aged wooden chair! My query was a catalyst.  A saga unfolded, through his words.

The outlet sales had dipped after his young son - sitting at this very chair - was shot dead by separatist militants .He tearfully narrated the whole story and I gathered strands of strength and emotion from this septuagenarian. He was operating the outlet as a custodian to pass on to his grandchildren their deceased father’s legacy! He was an epitome of vim and vigor. We made several reciprocal discoveries thereafter; he earned some tips on sales from me and i learnt my lessons of energy from this suffered yet unshaken soul!

Sipping a glass of water, i floored an open question on the dining table, “Would you not call this as a great teaching moment? Should i deprive this gentleman’s credo of being called a towering inspiration? Should i not remember all such occasions and organisms everyday as an ode to the life’s ways of teaching?”

Some silent moments…..

I continued, “Do you not feel that every such being and bit breeds edification of each one of us? While every moment is a teacher, is today not the commemorative occasion to show deference to indomitable human spirit and ability of siphoning off and sharing wisdom out of anything – gentle or grave? Despite abundance of information today, shall we continue being students submitting to the sanity of a few? Or shall we become human islands not respecting any relationship of mutual learning?”

Before anyone spoke, the cell-phone rang; my teacher had called back! All eyes were open in disbelief thinking of the questions of probity raised.

Perhaps, a few had been answered by this callback!




Guru is a Hindi word referring to teacher.