How Can Dronacharya Lose

By Prantik Mitra

Sitansu was a brilliant student. In nutshell a genius.

He was the blue-eyed boy of every teacher, gem of the school and both an envy and pride for us friends and classmates.

While most of us would study to clear the exams, he would study to build concepts.

We would often mock him and pull his leg by saying things like he would probably be the next Einstien, Volt or Ampere.

He dismissed these remarks with a cheerful gleam in his eyes and a sweet smile on his lips.

While we tried to be successful, he kept nurturing himself and pushing his boundaries to be capable, the importance of which we all realize only now after many a summers.

We were in the 12th Standard and in those days each subject also carried an internal marking by the college to the extent of 10 marks which got added to the marks you obtained at the board level examinations.

Needless to mention these 10 marks were very important. These 10 marks were nuggets of Gold.

This scoring was done through a Viva-Voce by each subject professor.

The college professors were generally generous about it either through liberal marking or through easy questions which would allow normally allow you to earn the maximum marks.

However, there was one stark exception, Professor Parimal.

Under his barrage of questions, most would score a 4 or 5 and it was a matter of folklore that even the best minds to have faced the Viva-Voce of this man had not been able to cross the barrier of 8 which stood as a record of sorts for the past 12 years.

To bring forth the essence of this to the fore let me tell all of you that in the other subjects most of the students would generally score a 9 or a 10 upon 10.

With this scenario in front of us, we eagerly waited for the day when our great Sitansu would face the Viva-Voce barrage of Professor Piramal. Let me further mention that this was normally conducted in a hall where a student was questioned by the subject professor individually while all of us could sit and watch and await our turn.

The day arrived, we were all seated in the hall and Professor Parimal was conducting his Viva. At the end of the question-answer session Professor Parimal would generally announce the mark he was giving to the candidate and we could all mostly hear threes and fours.

Suddenly my name was called out and I walked up to the Professor quite gingerly. I sat on the chair in front of him and he asked me “How much do you think you will score”. Well, I was not very confident of myself that too against Professor Parimal so I said, “Sir 2”. “Let's see,” said the Professor and started his volley of questions. I lasted 10 questions at which point of time I could read on his face that he considered me useless. He finally stopped and declared a 2.5 and dismissed me. This being higher than my expectations I was fine with it and eager to run away from the clutches of the Professor so when it ended, I was very happy and almost ran back to my seat. I generally thought getting a Zero was far better than facing the professor.

While I was scampering back to my seat, I heard the name of Sitansu being called. This was the moment, and I could see all my classmates shifting in their chairs and getting attentive to watch the duel.

Sitansu walked up and sat in front of Professor Piramal.

“So Sitansu you are the brilliant student of the class is it not,” said the Professor. “Not really Sir,” said Sitansu. “How much do you expect to score” asked the Professor. “10 Sir said Sitansu”. The Professor almost fell off his chair, looked at us and said: “Boys Sitansu says he will score a 10”. Someone among us quipped “Sir he will score a 15 out of 10”. “Who said that”? thundered the Professor.

We sat there blank-faced and obviously no one owned up.

“So Sitansu” continued the Professor “ your friends think highly of you, let us see and for the records let me tell you Sitansu that in the last 12 years nobody has even crossed 8 so we will see how good you are”.

With this, the session started.

The Professor started shooting out questions and Sitansu kept answering. After every right answer from Sitansu the Professor would say correct and move on to the next question. After some time, the questions started getting tougher and tougher. The topic of the questions varied from Light to sound to electricity to dynamics to inertia and so on but Sitansu kept replying. The session reached a fever pitch and even after 50 questions Sitansu was going strong. The session was reaching a crescendo and we were all upright and taut in our chairs fully absorbed in this epic duel. 45 Mins and Sitansu was carrying on. The Professor had reached quite a level of physics now which was beyond our comprehension. The questions seemed totally alien to us, but Sitansu kept replying.

The Professor was looking for his first wrong answer which was not forthcoming. The atmosphere was charged. You could hear the pin drop except for the question and the answer.

Suddenly we were shaken by the question which came next.

“Tell me about the Ampere’s Swimming rule Sitansu” said the Professor. Now that was a very easy question and even, I knew it. Sitansu too was suddenly taken aback because this question was too easy and a sudden fall from a very high level of questioning. Sitansu looked at Professor Parimal not able to understand the reason for this very simple question. There was a pause in the air as the teacher and the student looked at each other.

Dronacharya and Arjun were locked in visual contact. For all of us who remember this it was a defining moment which lasted for about 40 seconds and is captured in the memory of all of us. A memory which will perhaps never get erased.

“Sitansu don’t you know the Ampere’s Swimming rule”? The Professor’s voice pierced through the silence and broke our reverie.

A question is a question is a question and had to be answered. “Yes, Sir,” said Sitansu and rattled out the answer.

“Correct,” said the Professor.

“Now tell me who taught swimming to Ampere”. That was a stunner and we all almost got up from our chairs too dazed to believe what was happening. Sitansu looked up at the professor with a bewildered and blank expression. “The answer Sitansu”, said the professor.

Now how would Sitansu know who taught swimming to the French Physicist Andre Marie Ampere the founder of Electrodynamics who had also developed the concept of the swimming rule to explain that If a man swims along the wire carrying current such that his face is always towards the magnetic needle with current entering his feet and leaving his head, then the north pole of the magnetic needle is always deflected towards his left hand."

“9.5 and dismissed,” said the professor and Sitansu got up to return to his seat. We all spontaneously got up from our respective seats and started clapping. We saw the professor smiling and clapping too with pride and happiness writ over his face which he was trying to hide.

The perfect ten was not reached technically.

As long as Professor Parimal continued as the Professor of Physics till his retirement the record stood at 9.5 in the name of Sitansu with no one else in all these years even having crossed an 8. We all knew this 9.5 had meant 10 and we are sure Professor Parimal knew that too.

Sitansu and Professor Parimal were in touch as Sitansu ensured that he always remained in touch with the Professor about whom he always spoke highly as someone who pushed the barrier for students and allowed them to break the glass ceiling.

The Professor had a great admiration for Sitansu and would always talk about him to all his future students. “I am looking for a Sitansu” he would tell all his future batches.

While respect was mutual how could Dronacharya lose?

P.S:

Dronacharaya:

In the epic Mahabharata, Droṇa (Sanskrit: द्रोण, Droṇa) or Droṇāchārya or Guru Droṇa or Rajaguru Devadroṇa was royal preceptor to the Kauravas and Pandava. He was Arjun’s coach.

Arjuna:

one of the five Pandava brothers, who were the heroes of the Indian epic the Mahabharata. Arjuna, son of the god Indra, was famous for his archery (he could shoot with either hand) and for the magical weapons that he won from the God Shiva

By Prantik Mitra