Memories of the mentor Essay

Often in our lives comes a somebody who leaves us solely changed and different, even to ourselves. In my spirit such(prenominal) a role has been played by a number of individuals combined only when unrivaled of them whose influence was maximum was aft(prenominal)-hours Mr. Salim, my incline teacher during O Levels. may Allah bless him a place in Paradise.I have never met such a person in my life, so aristocratic, so broad-minded. Even now when I remember him smiling, a smile appears on my face as well and I require for him. He was a preposterous man unique in, perhaps, e actually wizard of the word. I had realisen him before I came to O Levels. He had been my Oral English teacher during the 8th order precisely he took only one arrest e genuinely week and hence we knew rattling undersize nearly him. When I entered O Levels he was our Class Teacher as well as our English teacher. He was aware of the fact that we were not very estimable in English and that we nee dful a visual sense of hard work. He gave us a splendid pocket-sized lecture some the new contends we were going away to face and how we were going to deal with them. He t elder us that everyday for the first quintette to ten minutes one boy was to come in front of break up and make a speech, on every pay mangle he abbreviateed to talk, in English.The students were to come roll-number wise. This was perhaps the about enkindle items during my first year at O Levels. Everyday in the morning a boy would come, often reluctantly, and dissever Mr. Salim what the topic was. M some(prenominal) measures it happened that the student verbalise that he had not prepared anything. consequently he would learn, with a matchless drift of his hand which I remember clearly, Well, accordingly do it offhand. Go on, speak on anything you desire, anything you choose. The thing which impressed me most was his wide knowledge. Before the student started his speech, he would fountain a little introduction on that topic, and no matter what the topic was he always knew something most it, even if it was standardized Eating insects for food in the Far-EastI was a shy student at that aftermath and I knew that the speech-process would help me in over-coming it. When my first speech was drawing nigh and nearer, I searched for a unique topic. I had taken it as a challenge to find a topic about which Mr.Salim would know nothing. After a disperse of search I found one Antimatter. This was, I think, the real beginning of my kin with Mr.Salim. When I came to make my speech, he asked me about the topic and I told him. For the first clock time in my life I dictum an expression of unawareness on his old face. Ah, well, he give tongue to, its something about modern Physics. And because he beckoned me to make the speech. Now I had become a person he recognized. In fact, I think, he was impressed.A a few(prenominal) geezerhood after that he praised me for an es put I had indite. I apply to do assignments given by Mr.Salim with bulky zeal, perhaps just to detect a word of praise because when I did hear one by him, I snarl myself elevated. I wouldnt say I was very negative at English entirely I was not very good either. I was just an total yet someway, slowly and gradually, like the tick on a wet day, I was converted into a person who could compile a good piece of English. I owe a clustering of it to him, a mint. He understood the way we worked.He knew that we were short of time and we had a lot to do, but he knew that if he apply too a lot stress we would break, and so he went slowly. At that time we supposition that it was humoring on his part that he took us gradually, while the other sections were lotion their syllabus rapidly, but now after it is over, I realize it wasnt folly but wisdom on his part. And Im thankful to him for the fact that he made English for us a recognisely subject. While telling us the meaning of adoles cence he pointed towards me, as I had at that moment faint traces of a mustache. Although I have shaved off that mustache long ago, I plunder never erase that memory. During his conk years he taught us the recent text file and he would share with me my playscript of past papers, which I did with great pleasure.If it had been just the eff of English, I would never have indite this article. He gave us a lot more(prenominal) than that. The outstanding among them is the broadening the sentiment of my way of thought process. He was old, but he was not orthodox or conservative. He was a liberal and modern person. He understood the requirements of the modern age and he spoke fluently about it. Often, his views on Islam created disturbance among the orthodox Muslims of our class. Topics like Music, Nationality, Hadood Laws and Taliban were a cause of heated discussion. He had a weak and gentle heart. He couldnt bear unjustice to anyone, even to his enemies. He was super against the Maulvies and called them ,Semi-illiterate, half-educated mullahs, they want to keep us in the past, centuries back.He was aware of the fact that the pile are apt to use their emotions alternatively than mind, especially in matters of piety, and this is, perhaps, his greatest contribution. He taught me to use my brain, not my emotions, for emotions are blind. He developed in me a crime for rage and emotional acts. Yet, he was worshipper of freedom of speech, and whenever any student of the class objected on his views, he would allow them to say whatever they wanted to say. He would say to them, I respect your views but I do not agree with them. He never forced anyone to change his views. one time the topic of Basant was under discussion and a few students of our class were speaking against it for in their view it was against Islam. He said, Why wear thint you people understand, its just a regional festival, why involve religion in this? You come int want to celebrate it, fine, but why do you force others to do what you want? zippy and Let liveAll his life he wanted to gain more and more knowledge. Perhaps, the only field in which he was weak was modern Physics. A few days before he came to know about his disease, I was seance in the class learning the book A brief history of time by Stephen Hawkings and he saw me reading it. He asked me if he could see it and I gave it to him. He then discussed with me a little about Stephen Hawkings. He said that on that point was another book by the selfsame(prenominal) author in the market and I told him that I had read that one too. then(prenominal) he asked me that if I had read it could I give it to him for reading, and I told him that he could take it for reading at that very moment for I was reading it for the second time. He thanked me and took it. But he never returned it to me because we wise to(p) only a few days later that he had stomach-cancer and was now on long leave from the school. A few mon ths after that, he died. I dont intuitive get holding anything bad about that book, in fact I feel happy that he had with him something I had given, when he died.I remember exactly the last day he spent with us. He was checking our assignments day and while he was checking mine, he asked me what the word mentor meant for I had apply it in my assignments and he wanted to know whether I knew its meaning or not, and I told him that it meant a wise teacher. He gave me an A on that composition and I feel, I just feel, that the moment he wrote an A on my notebook it was written in my fate that I would do an A in English. When my result came and I had scored straight As, the person I remembered the most was Mr.Salim.He was a patient person and bore everything with courage and determination. His son had died in an accident but he had unploughed himself steady and carried on with his life. He adopt a son and he erst told us about him. He was very nice with his students and gave us a l ot of time to complete our assignments but when a student wouldnt do any work for months he would say, Show me your knuckles, limn me your knuckles, and then he would give a blow on them with a woody duster.I think I wont forget him my whole life. I remember him quite often his words, his expressions, his speeches, his advises, his laughes and his smiles. He was a little hard of hearing and whenever he a person said something he couldnt understand, he would encounter his hand to his ear and say with an uneven expression, Pardon? I remember it clearly, every moment of it. He never gave me any special treatment, he treated me like any teacher would treat a normal good student but the way he has influenced me is astonishing. I love that person. His death was a big loss, a big loss.I sometimes feel that I never got the time to tell him how much thankful I was to him, and that how much I owed to him, and that how much I love him but he went away, unaware that he had changed the whol e life and way of thinking of a person. At times when I remember him, I feel that he can see what I am doing and that he is happy. I feel that somehow he knows that how much I love him and how much I am refreshing to him. I know that some of his ideas were reproach and in some points he misapprehend Islam but I also look at that it was all due to his gentle and nice nature and he had no bad intentions, and I also hope and pray that Allah would forgive him for his mistakes because he did them in good faith. I believe that Allah is gentle with gentle people, and Mr.Salim was certainly a gentle person. by this article I just want to thank him because I feel that he is reading this article. I just pray that Allah blesses him with a place in Paradise.