Last Saturday, my college mates and I celebrate the life of a person whom we all respected very much in our younger days and we still have the highest respect for this man even until today. He is Mr. Indran and he’s 81 today. What a glorious man and a celebrated man indeed. For me, personally, I could never say enough about this man whom had influenced my life and many others in a very special way. Yes, I never claim to know anything about this man as only his family is able to say anything about it or how he had been with them. For me, personally, I can only say that he had been the positive influence in my life during my younger days in the teaching college and what a difference he made in my life.
So, today, I want to give honour to this man, Mr. Indran, who had been a real positive influence and change in my life. I must say that because of that man, many lives were shaped for the better and that personality of this man rubbed off good in each and everyone of us. That night, as I was the emcee, I spoke the words that truly meant from my heart for Mr.Indran as I stood there as a mere human being honoring a great man indeed. He was sorta of the person that gave us the great meaning to the punchline, “ Work hard, play hard.” In Kelab Kembara, an outdoor unit during our teaching college days, he brought us, his trainee teachers, for abseiling, flying fox, camping, island stay and even mountain hiking. He ensured that we understood the safety aspects, the knots, the survival skills, forged and built true & great friendships despite our differences in culture, race and standing.
For many of us, these activities were our first taste of what outdoor activities are all about while for people like me, I’ve always enjoyed these outdoor activities. Together with my buddy in college, Santokh Singh, we have somehow developed a great friendship with this lecturer of ours, Mr. Indran. However, despite our friendship, there was always that respect and you do not cross the line between a lecturer and a student teacher. That respect and that no nonsense attitude was what made us to respect this great man. Together with his fellow lecturer and good buddy, Mr. Bernard Lau, both these lecturers made our stay in college blissful, fun and memorable. Sure , there are good and bad memories but the life lessons we learned from these two great teachers of life made it all worthwhile. People say, you can only remember the good teachers in your life and that is exactly how it was with Mr. Indran and Mr.Bernard.
I remembered very clearly that most of my college classmates took up PJ (Pendidikan Jasmani) elective under Mr. Indran while Santokh chose Music elective and I chose Art elective. It wasn’t that we are no good in PJ but I wanted to explore the Art inclination on my side that proved to be vital in my early teaching years. I remembered one day, Mr. Indran was very upset with my friends over their PJ assignment and stormed out of the cafetaria. Before he did that he gave a tongue lashing to some of my friends in my group for shoddy work being passed up as course work. It was the first time I have seen him so upset but it made me respect him even more simply because he had been more than a lecturer to us . He is a strict disciplinarian, no nonsense and you do not take things for granted with this man. Later, I found out that these jokers were just copying each others work right to the same spelling error and pictures and hoping that Mr. Indran would just grade their assignments as it was. Rightly so that he should be mad as it was shoddy work and taking things for granted. That’s what I like about Mr. Indran. He’s meticulous in planning and getting things done. There’s no free rides from him and work is work. Get it done or you’ll get hell from him. So, that taught me a lot by looking at what he did and the values that he stood for. Sometimes, our life values are just not in the books or the head knowledge that we have. Sometimes, our lives, in this instance, the life of Mr.Indran was the good living testimony for me and the many lives that he had touched all those years.
I guess, my only sorrow with Mr. Indran was the lesson I learnt when I could not hold on to the safety line during a flying fox activity in college. That poor man slammed into the wall and my heart broke and it haunted me for years though I still remembered it clearly. I wished I could have done it differently but I really did my best. However, I took in the lesson from this incident, learn from it and I became very particular about safety. I would go through the plans night after night prior to the trips in my head every time I take the children in my church for an outing or the Royal Rangers boys and girls for a trip to Taman Negara, islands, waterfall climbing, snorkeling, abseiling, river crossing and flying fox activities. It made me a better man when I recalled this incident and I always sleep in the bus after the trips and felt thankful that everyone was safe and blessed. That is how Mr. Indran would have felt if he were to lead us to such trips. So, sir, you made a difference in my life!
I am sure there are many wonderful stories that could have been told around a bonfire over a good bottle of whiskey but I just wanna say that Mr. Indran has been that man of wisdom, courage and boldness too. Sure, I could write more of what I have seen him do good in those years and the pages wouldn’t be enough. Suffice to say that all of our lives as a teacher trainee in the teaching college those days were somehow touched by this great man. For me and my friends, Mr. Indran is the epitome of what a man of valor, integrity and morally good man stands for. I have seen his life through that lens of life during my younger days in the teaching college. I was 21 years old then and to have someone of that value impacting your life is something noteworthy indeed. You just don’t forget such person in your life. He has indeed blessed and touched so many lives. Uptill today, my respect for him has never faltered. Still there at the top level!
So, thank you so much, Mr.Indran for 81 years ( many more to come ! ) of goodness in your life and I continue to pray that God would always bless you and Mrs Indran together with your families abundantly. I pray that God’s goodness be with you always and may you continue to have a laugh or two every time you remember the lives of the trainees that had crossed your path and life.
I leave you with this :-
“The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.”- Thomas Paine
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