Raj Kumar Parashari, my physics teacher

Rakshat Hooja lives in Jaipur. In his late thirties, he is still trying to figure out what to do in life. Currently, he is working on a project to set up a community college in Jaipur. He loves watching sports and reading and discussing about politics.

Ganesh ji was drinking milk! Idols, statues, photos and even paintings of the elephant headed god Ganesha were supposed to be drinking up large quantities of milk across the country and a great miracle was apparently unfolding before our own eyes. The year was 1995. I was in the 11th standard and studying physics, chemistry, maths, economics and English at Maharaja Sawai Man Singh Vidyalaya. Raj Kumar Parashari was our physics instructor.

As the news of the milk miracle spread across the country and reached our school, it created a huge buzz. As soon as school got over, my friends and I rushed over to the nearby Ganesh temple and saw hundreds of people were holding cups near the trunks of Ganesh statues. The milk was supposedly disappearing. Some believed it, some were skeptical, but it was a spectacle that became a life long memory.

The ‘Ganesh drinking milk’ was still the talk of the town when we entered the physics class next day. Parashari sir (popularly known as Pressure among the students) wrote the words Capillary Action on the board, smiles his half-shy smile and informed the class that we would be deviating from the syllabus till the entire class had understood the science behind the so called milk drinking miracle of yesterday. He further emphasized that science education was about understanding the natural world around us. Over the next two days the entire class became experts in the field of surface tension and capillary action.

The myth of the miracle was finally broken.

We did no realize how lucky we were to have Parashari sir as one of our teachers while we were in school. He was not only a wonderful teacher who focused on getting the best out of all the children in class; his overly polite English delivery provided us with a lot of material to impersonate and laugh over during our spare time.

I remember Parashari sir as a young and idealistic person who would play football with us, encourage extra curricular activities and try to be a friend-mentor. One of my most vivid memories of school is Parashari sir, pants folded up, drenched in the rain, running after a football. I am not sure how and why this happened but I am sure this happened.

He would encourage experimentation during laboratory classes and may also have been a bit based towards me. My marks in the 12th Standard Boards practical physics exams are apparently a bit higher than what I thought I should have got. But I don’t mind!

I am glad that we got a chance to interact with Parashari sir during our school days.