Jamia Millia Islamia...Jamia Sr.Sec.School

Chemistry was not a subject we looked forward to. 

It was a subject we endured. 

But it was also a subject that came with its own world. 

A separate laboratory, peculiar style of teaching and a teacher who, whether we liked it or not, left an impression on all of us.

Malik Sarwar Khan Inami was our Chemistry teacher in XI and XII in the year 1985-87. 

He was a shorter height healthy person, with nice beard and bright face. 

A smart person altogether. 

He carried himself with a quiet dignity that set him apart from the other teachers. 

He did not need to raise his voice to command attention. 

He did not need to tell jokes to keep us awake. 

He simply taught, and he expected us to learn.

He used to come to take period before five minutes and wait in his lab before appears behind the curtain to classroom. 

The first thing he does is to pick chalk and write "Chemistry" with date on black board then holding chalk in his hand, he starts delivering the lecture in English, without a single word of Urdu. 

Sometime when he uses to call Wasi Sahib, his lab assistance in Urdu, he delivers Urdu in English accent. It was a small thing, but it made us smile. 

The only smile we would get in that class!

No joke, no smile, just flat teaching and in short, a boring 40-minute period.

Another specialty he used to say before ending his lecture was 

"Rest we shall take to the next turn." 

We would hear those words and know that the period was almost over. The bell would ring. He would leave. And we would breathe again.

Other than few girls and buttering boys in front row, we all were fed up with dryness & monotony in class. Sometime when we talk about him, we used to describe him in chemistry that 

"Malik Sahib is although an inert gas but pale yellow with pungent smell". 

It was a joke that made no scientific sense but made perfect sense to us. 

He was there. 

He was present. 

But he was unreachable.

There was not a single doubt about his teaching. 

He was very serious and sincere in the classroom, used to deliver and finish syllabus in time disregard if it has been understood by students or not. 

He did his job, did it well and on time!

What more could you ask for? 

Well, we could ask for a little warmth.

 A little humor. 

A little humanity. 

But Malik Sahib was not in the business of warmth. 

He was in the business of chemistry!

One funny thing was passed on to us by our seniors was his nick name 

"MATRU."

His nick was the only way of entertainment for us. I guess they termed him Matru due to his appearance and fast walking. It may be derived from "matar ka dana", (Chickpeas) which is round in shape and could roll easily. 

The name stuck & once it stuck, it became ours. 

We would whisper it in the corridors; write it on desks & say it under our breath when he walked past. 

It was our rebellion. 

Our secret. 

Our small victory over the boredom he represented.

One day while waiting for him in class, he gets little late. 

Students were sitting, chatting and laughing in class. 

Zia was standing next to window overlooking principal office, just to alarm in case he arrives. He was our early warning system!

Suddenly he starts shouting "Matru aa gaya", "Matru aa gaya" (Matru arrives).

He forgets that his voice can be heard outside easily but kept shouting till he remains 10-15 meters away and then everyone went quiet and took respective places. 

Books opened. 

Pens picked up. 

Faces straightened. 

By the time Malik Sahib entered, we were the picture of innocence.

As usual Malik Sahib went to lab washed his hands and appeared behind the curtain & instead going to black board where many of us tried to write "Chemistry" in his style and forget to wipe it, he asked only one question. 

"Who was saying Matru aa gaya"!!

Tell me, "Who was saying Matru aa gaya?"

Pin drop silent!

Nobody wants to utter a single word. 

Actually, nobody likes him, therefore he had no "chamchas" in class. 

The front row, usually so eager to please, looked down at their desks. 

The back row, usually so loud, became invisible. 

Nobody moved & breathed.

He waited before someone dares to accept, but to no avail.

He finally ordered "Wasi Sahib zara qamchi laayyega" (Mr. Wasi please bring the stick).

Wasi Sahib brought the stick. 

He then asked everyone to line up, and he stand on the exit door. 

One by one he punished everyone with stick and adjourned the class in anguish. 

He did not ask who did it. 

He did not care who did it. 

We were all guilty in Malik Sahib's class, therefore collective punishment was the only solution.

Everyone was happy to get additional 10-15 minutes of fun while expelled

We had lost the period, but we had gained the story, and in school, stories were worth more than lessons.

Once he took sessional test, I attempt it and person next to me Qyamuddin who copied the same wording and without a single thought the same line was copied as it is by the whole row of about seven students.

It was a rare incidence that we saw Malik Sahib smiling in a satirical way and questioned, how it is possible that everyone written same line with same wording?

He finally written off that question and none of us secured any marks on that. 

We had been caught. 

Not by evidence. 

Not by proof but by our own laziness. 

We copied the same mistake & Malik Sahib, for the first time, smiled!

We have noticed a drastic change towards ending of session of class XII. 

He became little polite, actually, he has started coaching for engineering entrance exams and invites many class XII students to join. 

During 1986-87, he charged handsome amount from students, therefore, majority of them couldn't afford & avail.

The same teacher who never smiled in class was now smiling at the door of his coaching center. 

The same man who never spoke a word of Urdu in class was now speaking the language of business.

While coming out from examination hall after attempting entrance for engineering, we found Malik Sahib standing out with few of his people approaching every single student of Jamia Senior Secondary School to retrieve the questions. 

His efforts didn't stop there. 

Once he caught me in front of Kewal Store and talked to me for the same business. 

He wanted the questions. 

He wanted to know what had been asked and he was not hesitant to ask. 

Finally, he succeeded in compiling list of model papers for entrance exams and for sure it brought nice return for him.

Looking back now from 2007 to 1987, I found that maybe we were right in our thinking, but Malik Sahib was not wrong as per the materialistic approach. 

He was doing exactly what a professional supposed to do. 

At least he was doing all his efforts to make money rather trying to drain Jamia, which in fact becomes the normal practice later. 

He was not corrupt or lazy. 

He was simply a man who understood the system and played by its rules and in a world where everyone was trying to survive, Malik Sahib was trying to thrive.

Many of the reader might think that how disrespectful a student could be by writing all these about a teacher!
Well,

Answer is simple, it's the incident(s) that happened right Infront and these are the accounts of what has already happened.

The students are human being and being mischievous is their right though as an adult at this time we might have some regrets of what we have done but at the end it pure STUDENT LIFE.