Dr. D.V. Pai

IITB: Third Semester:

Along came a subject called Real Analysis: I used to hate that subject, the last time i had studied it for my bachelors, had an extremely sucky prof, who managed to make everyone in the class detest the subject... I was a fool, i actually hated the prof, and managed to transfer the hatred of the prof to the subject...

A Dr. D.V. Pai was going to teach Real Analysis to us, i hated the subject, very bad memories of it... needless to say, i didn't attend any lectures.

It was mid semester exam time... i got 5 or 6 on 30 in RA...

One sunny afternoon, i get a phone call in my hostel. It was Dr. Pai. Could i please come and see him in his office soon? My heart was beating quite wildly, while we fixed up to meet within the next hour or so... I always like to get unpleasant things over as soon as possible. Shaved, Showered, put on some (relatively) clean clothes, did Kriya and walked to Maths Department, each step making me more and more apprehensive about the firing i was about to get... what he would say, and then what excuse i would give, etc, playing havoc in my mind... "Live in the present moment" did flash a few times... didnt help much though :)...

There was a storm in my mind as i climbed up the stairs to Dr. Pai's office. I said Jai Gurudev a few times in my head and knocked on the door... Come in Mr. batliwala. His voice was very pleasant. Some hope flickered and as i entered and saw him smile as he looked up from some papers. Somehow he managed to put me at ease in the first 10 seconds that i was there in his office... Please sit down... What he said to me afterwards is kind of etched in my memory...

He said it gently, slowly and matter of factly:

In the 30 years that i have taught here, i have never failed a student, because i have always known that there is no such thing as a bad student in IITB, only a bad teacher. If a student does badly, its the teacher who could not ignite the passion for the subject in the student.

I do not expect you to come to my lectures. But i do expect you to know your subject. You have not done well in the midsems, so clearly you cannot do this on your own. i loved the way you play the piano... (He had heard me during PAF!) Someone who can play so well can easily learn Real Analysis...

Even more gently:

Will you please give me a chance to teach this subject to you?

By this time, my eyes were wet. He smiled a big smile and sighed. Will you have a cup of tea?

I will come to each and every lecture sir i promised, and i did for the rest of the semester, and his eyes always twinkled when he saw me... We shared a secret!

After all these years, if you are reading this, Dr. Pai, please know that you were one of the big reasons i stuck to it there at IITB and completed my degree. Thank you very very much for being part of my life... and oh yes, I still love to read up Real Analysis ;)