By Dilip Mukerjea
A friend has moved on. A brief encapsulation of his persona from my sensibilities.
I first met Br. Steve at the dawn of this millennium, when on a visit from Singapore to Shillong. His voice was louder and fuller than a whisper, but with a throaty earnestness about it. His delivery remained distinct, deliberate and animated as he deftly moved between genres, the narrative blending with the lyrical and resulting in an encounter that must have been reflective of leaving his students beguiled and catalysed by curiosity.
We connected instantly, and conversed for some hours, exchanging perspectives on our diverse excursions into the domain of education. It was wonderful to encounter a mind alive and enlivened through multifarious vantage points, about life at large. At that first meeting, we agreed that our most precious gift is our brain, and that the secret to a life of deep meaning must lie embedded within continuous constant learning.
Ever since, over a span of two decades, Steve and I met frequently during my visits to Shillong. In Eastern philosophy, the expression for reaching the sweet spot for doing what matters is called ‘wu wei’ (‘wu’ means to ‘not have’ or ‘without’; ‘wei’ means ‘do’, ‘act’, or ‘effort’). So, ‘wu wei’ literally means ‘without action’, ‘without effort’, ‘trying without trying’, ‘action without action’, or ‘effortless doing’. Every meeting between us was an effortless interaction; during moments of dialogue, his eyebrows would lift, he would stare into the distance, and suddenly proffer a question or two. He would ask what I thought about cultivating a commitment towards blazing fresh paths in service of educational excellence. With my predilections towards visual-verbal responses, my prosody and imagery seemed to bleed into and feed from the immersion and precision of my experiences in a panorama of learning how to learn strategies. The result was often a hybrid of sorts that combined the sensory with the scientific, and the lyrical with the cerebral, where our intertwinglings of experiences found one informing the other.
He was passionate about teaching, learning, and reading extensively. On one occasion, he asked me to explain the value of ‘speed reading’: I explained that speed reading allows us to download decades into days, once we have mastered the technique. He expressed a broad spectrum of interests in the theory and practice of computer technology, art, theatre, literature, and music; I found his immersions to be rich in imagery, exploratory in nature, with a naturalist’s affectionate curiosity, and distinctively engaged within his work as a teacher.
Once we were caught up in a dialogue about his commitment to the Christian Brotherhood, and we found that each of us had our own modes of consciousness, elements comprising forces, energies, and interactions that build up the godhead of humanity…embodying compassion and empathy, in tandem with connection, meaning, equanimity, and a sense of purpose, all happening in the molecular, cellular, structural, and functional levels. He stated that being a Christian Brother enabled him to see that this reality served as a vehicle for personal spiritual development. He exuded crystalline remembrances of his younger days and revelled in the notion of grooming adolescents to become future-relevant was inspiring, engaging, empowering, transforming.
I came to learn that Steve had played the role of mentor (sometimes tormentor) to numerous students, none who ever forgot him upon graduating from school. We spoke about our broken educational system, and the need for new, innovative models of education that could be rapidly scaled up…recognising that India now needs stakeholders in business, governance, and education to develop a comprehensive and coordinated powerpack embracing education, skills, and employment.
In a world of skyrocketing inequality, our tides of thought followed a mix of patterns, preferences, and predilections. Above all, I found in Steve, a deep sense of humanity, albeit his tendency to sometimes opt to assume the role of a disciplinarian…always, however, for the greatest good.
Steve’s passing is a tremendous loss to all who knew him well. My prayers are with him, and for his loved ones. He will always be remembered as a devout and devoted educator, animated with his love for learning, and vibrant in our friendship over the years.
