Teachers Day is celebrated in India every year on September 5 to commemorate the services of Dr. Sarvpalli Radhakrishnan, an intellectual giant of his time and a great teacher who served as the second President of India from 1962 to 1967 and first Vice President of the newly independent country from 1952 to 1962. He had also served as India’s envoy to the erstwhile Soviet Union from 1949 to 1952 and Vice Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University from 1939 to 1948. Dr Radhakrishnan is also remembered for his great oratorial skills, which drew listeners in large numbers, mostly students who lined up on the rooftops to listen to him wherever he spoke.
Teachers Day is also a time to recall the great admiration Dr. Radhakrishnan had earned for his erudition and mastery of the King’s language from that maverick genius of India Raghupati Sahay, better known by his pen name of Firaq Gorakhpuri, a literary giant and an illustrious Urdu poet who lived and taught English literature at Allahabad University all his life. Though selected for the provincial civil services as well as the ICS, Firaq Gorakhpuri decided instead to join the freedom struggle led by Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru and also went to jail for participating in the Independence Movement. He remained behind bars for about one and a half years. Firaq had developed an unusual bond with the Nehru family in Allahabad.
Free-spirited Firaq
It was only a free-spirited Firaq who could have had the temerity to claim that only two and a half people in India knew English – besides himself; he considered Dr. Radhakrishnan as the second while Nehru, who went on write books like Discovery of India and Glimpses of World History was credited with knowing only half English.
An interesting incident worth recalling in this context was Nehru’s speech delivered at Allahabad University. Once Nehru was invited to address the students and faculty of Allahabad University. His speech was lapped up by the students and faculty. But when Firaq’s turn to speak came he was candid enough to call it a great speech with only “four grammatical mistakes”.
The comment was taken with humility and grace by the iconic Prime Minister who always kept his doors open for Firaq as long as he lived and would personally receive him whenever he visited Nehru.
There is a story that once he went to meet Nehru and when asked what his name was, he said ‘Raghupati Sahai’. When not called in even after a wait of about 15 minutes, Firaq saheb stormed out of the waiting room brusquely telling the staff, “If Jawaharlal wants to meet him, tell him to come to my house, and this is my address.”
When informed, Nehru rushed to the poet’s house and complained, “You should have said Firaq. I don’t know any Raghuvir Sahai.”
It’s instructive to know that the duo remained friends as ever.
An anecdote to remember
Yet another anecdote from the Nehru-Firaq days described by a contemporary poet, Gauhar Raza, is about how once Nehru was visiting Allahabad University, and the students went on a fund collection drive to host a dinner in his honour. Firaq not only flatly refused to contribute to the fund but also declined to attend.
Not finding him in the gathering, the first Prime Minister of the country sent a messenger to call him. The spoilt genius finally relented but the moment he entered the dining hall he complained, “What is this? Now one has to pay in order to meet you.”
Nehru got the message and immediately announced that the dinner bill would be borne by him.
Allahabad may since have become Prayagraj, but the stories of this historic city, an important centre of learning and intellectual pursuit will never cease to be marvels.
These anecdotes are important lessons for students of history at a time when history books in school are being re-written in accordance with an ideology.
Popular prime minister
So popular was the first Prime Minister of the country that he could have easily turned into a dictator, but he gave the country a Constitution that has made it possible to have a stable and vibrant democracy we are celebrating as “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav”.
Nehru’s indulgent attitude towards Firaq may be attributed to both being associated with the city.
But what about Radhakrishnan whose birthday we celebrate on September 5 as Teachers Day?
The man who “knew more English than him” was never denied his due by the first Prime Minister out of pique.
Born on September 5,1888, the scholar-politician was honoured with several awards including the Bharat Ratna in 1954. It was in 1962 that a decision was taken to mark Dr. Radhakrishnan’s birthday as the Teachers Day in the country in recognition of his learning and scholarship.
It’s important to recall such ‘lessons’ on Teachers Day about the stalwarts of that iconic era who did not let their personal likes and dislikes colour their conduct. It is because of these stalwarts that we continue to sing with fervour:
“Sarey jahan se achcha Hindostan hamara,
Hum bulbulein hain iski, ye gulistan hamara.”
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