Vanessen Tirvassen
6 May 2008
Port Louis — "There are several teachers who have made an impact on me. In fact, there are three of them and I came across all three during my studies at Royal College of Port-Louis. The first one was Mr. Allken.
He was teaching Physics in HSC, but I really got to know him when I was taking tuition from him. To be honest, I will best remember him for his concern for students. Indeed, at a certain point in time, I had to stop taking tuition because my father started sending my brother for tuition from him. As the conditions of life were hard in those days, my father could not afford paying for both. However, Mr. Allken was so kind-hearted that he told me to stay. I will never forget this generosity.
The other teacher, whom I would like to pay a vibrant tribute to, is Paul Bancilhon, also known as 'Totole'. He was the one who made me feel passionate for English language, to an extent that I fell in love with it. In addition, he initiated me that worship for reading by making me appreciate literature. Up to now, I still feel the same fervour for reading so much that I always try to find some time to read.
But the one teacher who, according to me, had the greatest impact on my education was Bala Nirsimloo. He was my mathematics teacher in HSC, when he caught my eye as well as my heart. His methods of teaching were out of common. The tendency of teachers was to explain things in a very straight forward manner. In mere words, they would generally go straight to a result to make us understand the chapters.
But unlike them, Bala Nirsimloo would go from the deepest roots of the chapters to explain all issues. Initially, my classmates and I did not know how to appreciate his technique, because we found it slow. Nevertheless, it did not take long for us to realize how this process was great.
Furthermore, another thing that he would tell us to do was to have what we used to call 'a theory copy-book'. This copy-book contained all theorems that would be useful during our year. Therefore, each time, we had to know a theorem; we would just turn our attention to the copy-book, which contained every single theorem we needed. And I still can remember how useful this copy-book was. When I recall this time, I realize that Bala Nirsimloo was the one who led me to love mathematics and more importantly: the love for methodology. And his methodology was awesome.
I would like to conclude by paying tribute to the great personality of Bala Nirsimloo. Besides being a great teacher, as a person he was great. Despite the fact that the teachers used to be very austere towards students in those days, Bala Nirsimloo was not like that at all. There never seemed to be any sort of barrier between him and us. His approach was so different, so much so that sometimes he would advise us on issues of every day life. Surprisingly enough, there was nothing taboo.
Regarding his personality from another angle, I would also say that he was a perfectionist, as he never stopped learning. I remember after having completed a degree and masters, he went on to do another degree. As far as I am concerned, I must say that I have taken him as an example in life."
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