When A Teacher becomes an Institution!

“Students are the wealth of a teacher”

Teachers in India, be it school teachers or professors at a university, are often inadequately paid. Despite this they continue doing what they enjoy doing, which is to teach. Small things satisfy a teacher e.g. a student who remembers the teacher for a trivial incident. Most of the times, the teacher may not remember the incident but the enthusiasm with which the student narrates the incident years later, does the job of bringing a glint of satisfaction in the teacher’s eyes. Now imagine such incidents happening on a repeat mode through thousands of students for over 30 years with my teacher, Dr. C. Bhasker Rao , also known as CBR.

I have known Sir for over 26 years and I am still in awe of him. What is it about him that even today, at the age of 81, 12 years after exiting the institution he helped build, Sir still has the capacity to keep together his flock, which is us, the alumni of SDM, with fondness and respect.

Apart from his excellent teaching capabilities, there were features which allowed him to transgress the usual boundaries of a teacher and transcend into higher orbits of a leader. What followed was an entire culture which was built on the values set by Dr. Bhasker Rao. With me now well into my 17th year as a teacher, I have an opportunity through this column to reflect and assimilate 3 of his strongest traits which set him a class apart.

Pro-students: Being friendly with students and connecting with them came effortlessly to Dr. Bhasker Rao. Fondly known as ‘Princi’, Sir always came across as a person who was warm, encouraging, friendly and extremely motivating. He was known to swing his arm around the student’s shoulder and ask, how is it going? How the food in the mess was? He would go further and invite a home-sick student home for a meal or enjoy a game of tennis with students. This nature set the tone for a pro-student culture in the college that percolated down to the faculty. Even today, SDM Dental stands apart from the rest in this regard. While onlookers often complained about students at SDM being pampered, we could see that Sir did everything to provide the most conducive atmosphere that brought out the best from every student, whether it was academics, sports or debates. And believe you me, this resulted in a thrilling atmosphere at the campus where everyone thrived.

Accessibility: There was never a moment when Dr Bhasker Rao couldn’t be reached. The door to his chamber could be swung open by anyone at any time for any purpose. This was for real. Students, faculty, support staff, happy, grumpy or sad were allowed to open the door without knocking and to top it, they rarely left his room dissatisfied. Be it heavy duty admin issues, admissions, faculty arguments or even break-ups between couples, He was the ultimate one-point contact for problem solving.

Open-mindedness: Being open minded was a strong quality in Sir and it constantly involved him being receptive to a wide variety of ideas, arguments, and information. He was always willing to consider other opinions and try out new experiences. Few tweaks always followed upon his return from universities abroad. This is not easy, especially in institutions where close-mindedness is prevalent. So what helped him wade his way through? It was mostly the strong contagious conviction in his beliefs which were centered around the institution, students & patients. His far-sightedness made him take up tasks which seemed impossible and unreal.

The classic example was the college applying for the accreditation of the American Dental Association. We were already the best private dental college in India. So what was the need for the accreditation? His vision was simple but profound, ‘Act today for tomorrow’. After accreditation, our graduates from SDM Dental college, could directly practice in the US and students from the US could come to SDM to learn. In short, the college would be catapulted onto the global map as the only dental school outside of the US to get accredited. Never before had I seen Sir rise more as a leader during this process. He kept encouraging us. I remember him say,’ Work with the thought that we are already accredited’. Under his leadership, there were massive transformations in the infrastructure, our work-flows, teaching methodologies and most importantly in our thinking. Everyone including the management put in more than a year of hard work. In the process, the college metamorphosed into a shining example of a dental school of international standards.

26 years at the helm of affairs in country’s best dental school is phenomenal. The success, adulation and power can make a person feel indispensable. Dr. Bhasker Rao was again different in this regard. He knew that he had to leave with his ‘head held high’. And he executed it with utmost dignity. His exit was as subtle as his entry, leaving behind a very rich culture which would last generations. For a picture on Facebook where Sir was seen cutting a cake to celebrate his 25th anniversary of service, I had captioned, “CBR celebrating 25 years at SDM”. An Alumnus was quick to reply and mentioned, “SDM celebrates 25 years with CBR”.

That was when I realised, CBR had become an institution by himself.

So, what does Sir do these days?

Apart from setting old age goals, there’s one task he performs diligently. Every morning at 4:30 AM, over a hot mug of coffee, Sir logs onto Facebook to wish his students a joyous birthday.

Dr. C Bhasker Rao

An alumnus of Government Dental College, Mumbai, Dr. C. Bhasker Rao is Chief Mentor and Clinical Director of Vasan Dental Hospitals Pvt Ltd. He served as the Director and Principal of SDM Dental College Dharwad for over  25 years, during which he was instrumental in shaping its state of art craniofacial unit and making SDMDC one of the top ranked dental institutes of the nation. He is the recipient of the 2012-13 Lifetime achievement award bestowed by the Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons of India.