Dr O P Grewal: Dedicated teacher and fearless thinker -- Raj Bahadur Yadav

 

Dr O P Grewal: Dedicated  teacher and fearless thinker  

                                                  --     Raj Bahadur Yadav

  I have always considered myself quite lucky to have been one of the countless students of English literature whom Dr Om Prakash Grewal taught at the Kurukshetra University in early eighties. He was a tireless classroom teacher, immensely popular among students with a rural background.He looked stocky and plump with a big forehead. His mental agility was wonderful as he went on elaborating the literary texts for hours together without any sign of fatigue on his face.He did not bother much about the quality of clothes he wore. Sometimes, we could notice a patch or two on his old shirts. He arrived in the morning at the Arts Faculty building  in   which the Department of English was housed , riding a bicycle with a load of literary books in his hands.His every lecture used to be a big event in itself. He delivered his profound discourses in a such a lucid manner that no student would ever like to miss it as the regular presence in Dr Grewal's classes automatically prepared him to write his final examination without consulting any help-book or notes from outside. Dr Grewal was thought-provoking and prompt to answer all the questions of students on the spot. His spoken English was grammatically very rich, a light touch of Haryanavi accent made him easily understandable among all the budding scholars. He looked very emphatic and erudite when he extended his arguments with adverbs like "however" or "moreover". His sound was pithy and resonant yet subordinate to his logical thinking. No doubt, Dr Grewal was the architect of democratic and rational thinking on the campus of Kurukshetra University. 

                                                                    Dr Grewal taught his students to burn the midnight oil, behave sensibly towards others but never to accept any thing blindly. I met several research scholars who would show me their essays or research papers with spelling-mistakes and the shaky arguments underlined in red by him, lamenting,"Look here, Dr Saab has once again rejected my draft and instructed me to further improve upon it". It goes without saying that those research scholars who had obtained their Master of Philosophy[M.Phil] or Doctor of Philosophy[Ph.D.] under Dr Grewal, today happen to be reputed scholars teaching in different universities of the region.Once, while he was busy teaching his M.Phil students, I saw a well-dressed gentleman waiting outside his room. Having delivered his lecture, Dr Grewal came out  of his room after forty -five minutes and then that person bowed down to touch his feet," Sir, I have been your student a few years back. Currently, I am posted as an IPS officer--". Dr Grewal patted on his shoulders affectionately and said," Congratulations! You should have called me earlier!" The young IPS officer humbly replied," Sir , I didn't want to disturb your class".

                                                                We felt greatly inspired by the tale of Dr Grewal's grim struggle to emerge as a respectable voice in the academia of Haryana. He was born on June 6, 1937 at Bamla,a village of Bhiwani district. He earned his Ph.D. degree from Rochester University, New York[USA]. In the beginning, he taught at M. D. University, Rohtak. Then, he moved on to become Professor of English and Chairman, Faculty of Arts and Languages, Kurukshetra University. Dr Grewal was always down-to-earth,miles away from  a lavish life style. I found him very often attending seminars of Hindi and Punjabi departments also.He edited a  literary magazine like 'Naya Path"  for years together. He was elected the General Secretary of the Janvadi Lekhak Sangh, a national level organisation of Hindi and Urdu writers. He undertook a powerful analysis of the famous novel,"Maila Anchal"[ The Soiled Border], authored by Phanishwar Nath Renu in a seminar held on the university campus  Mr Renu was awadred Padma Shri for this great regional novel which discusses the growing interest of the  villagers of Bihar in the Quit India Movement . Renu has shown in his magnum opus the deep impact of casteism on the people as it nibbles  away at basic unity of the rural poor. Dr Grewal was a great human being also. He was very argumentative as a scholar yet very kind and soft towards his  diligent students. Sometimes, we had a taste of his sharp wit also. One day, when he entered the classroom, he heard another teacher talking to his students in a high-pitched tone in the adjoining room, he smiled a bit saying," Though I am feeling disturbed at his high decibel [intensity of sound], I know I am capable of shouting him down but courtesy demands that I should not do so. Please one of you go there and ask this respectable teacher to "'slow down" a little. We all burst out into peals of laughter. It was a great treat to attend his lectures on the novels of Jane Austen, Henry James and the plays of William Shakespeare. While teaching the play, King Lear, Dr Grewal looked as a  very effective, towering and moving teacher of English literature. His sound became lofty as  he himself  completely came to identify himself with the tragic character of Lear who carried the dead body of his daughter, Cordelia, in his arms," Howl,howl, howl,howl! Oh, you are men of stones. Had I your tongues and eyes, I 'd use them so that heaven's vaults should crack. She is gone forever. I know when one is dead and when one lives. She is dead as earth." On such occasions, we felt that our eyes had become flooded with spontaneous tears. He completed his worldly journey on January 24, 2006 and joined the heavenly choir.I solemnly salute my great teacher, Dr OP Grewal from the depths of my heart.