In India, the teacher-student equation has often been described with the notions of divinity in Sanskrit hymns and vedic verses. Annually, Indian students celebrate their teachers’ contribution to their lives on September 5, observed as Teachers’ Day in the world’s most populous nation and fifth largest economy.
An Indian Express report this weekend gave a vivid depiction of the teacher-student equation shared between an 83-year-old Ratna Nair and India’s Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar (72).
Dhankhar, who became Vice President last year in August, the second highest constitutional office in India, is scheduled to visit Kerala state’s Champad village in South India on May 22, over 2400 km south of New Delhi.
In Champad, India’s Vice President will meet 83-year-old Ratna Nair, his teacher from Sainik School in Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan state in western India. The duo is set to meet for the first time in the last 55 years.
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“He had invited me to attend his swearing-in ceremony [on August 14, 2022]. Only two of his school teachers are alive now. I could not fly to Delhi because of health issues,” Nair was quoted as saying by The Indian Express, while referring to the invitation to Dhankhar’s vice-presidential swearing-in ceremony in New Delhi.
“That evening, I called to inform him why I couldn’t attend, and gave him my heartfelt congratulations. Jagdeep told me it doesn’t matter, and that he would come to meet me during his next Kerala visit. Then, I said I am telling his excellency, the Vice President of India, my congratulations; it is not with any ill-feeling that I called him Jagdeep. He told me, ‘Madam, to you, I am Jagdeep, not the V-P of India. You are my teacher. It is your right to call (me by my name)’. I told him I have to differentiate between my duty and my right. As a citizen of the country, duty comes first,” Nair said further.
‘He was certain it was Ratna Nair’: How Dhankhar reconnected with his teacher
The duo reportedly reconnected after Dhankhar was sworn-in as governor of West Bengal state in 2019.
Nair called at the governor’s office from her Kerala home. Ten minutes later, she received a call back.
“When he was informed that a woman from Kerala has called, he was certain it was Ratna Nair,” she recalled.
A career lawyer-politician, Jagdeep Dhankhar was sworn-in as India’s Vice President in August 2023. He previously served as the Governor of the state of West Bengal from 2019 to 2022.
He also served as a Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in the cabinet of Prime Minister Chandra Shekharfrom 1990 to 1991.
He was a member of Lok Sabha from 1989 to 1991 and later a member of Rajasthan Legislative Assembly from 1993 to 1998.
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