It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge,” said the great physicist and scientist Albert Einstein.
Since 1962, India has been celebrating Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan’s birthday in the form of Teacher’s Day every 5th of September, as a symbol of tribute and honour to the contribution made by him and other teachers to the society.
Teachers play an important role in the overall development of a person. Every student celebrates this day to encourage and support the contribution of his or her teacher.
On the occasion of this special day, AnimationXpress.com got in touch with the ‘students’ from the industry (pun intended) and got them to share their playful experiences with their teachers back in the day.
Excerpts:-
Nupur Bhargava, Founder, Invisible Rabbit:
My favourite teacher was Mr. Rolf Baechler. He was a visiting faculty at NID, Ahmedabad. He taught us fundamentals of animation. His passion and skill for animation was an inspiration. His teaching method and style was very easy to absorb and his lessons have been the backbone to my learning of animation.
The first ever ‘walk cycle’ I successfully animated was of a baby. When Mr. Rolf saw the animation, he proudly exclaimed “Congrats Nupur, you are a proud mother now!”
Paul Drissen,Michael Dudok, Bill Plympton,Konstantin Bronzit (At the Ends of the Earth), Gitanjali Rao and Vaibhav Kumaresh are some of the other few people who have inspired me with their beautiful individualistic storytelling methods.
Soumitra Ranade, Director, Paperboat Animation:
My favourite teacher was my art teacher, Deshprabhu Sir. I was always interested in art, architecture, and cinema. Deshprabhu Sir was a great inspiration. He imbibed in me the confidence that it is ok to be interested in art and not everyone needs to pursue science or commerce – as was the thing to do those days.
Our English teacher Mrs. Jason was very timid and soft. My trip in life was to eat my lunch in her class. Every time she would turn to write something on the board, I would take a bite from my lunch box. Sometimes she would ask me a question and my mouth would be full!
I have been sent off to the Principal’s office numerous times. But instead of going to the Principal’s office I would go to the playground and play basketball! God! The things one does in school…Mrs Jason passed away recently and I felt terrible for having troubled her so much at school, May god bless her soul!
Dhvani Desai, Animation Film-maker:
I admired Ms Ananda Amritmahal, for her effervescence and vibrancy towards life. She was my class teacher in 7th standard and she used to teach us English. Her stylishness and elegance, her use of poetic language and her flair for dramatics unknowingly taught me to see the beauty in life.
I was 8 years old, when one of my father’s friend, who is also a well known painter was very impressed with my drawings. He requested my father to send me to his studio where he could guide me. The very next day, I went to his studio. He had his show coming up; therefore all the finished paintings were displayed for his forthcoming exhibition. I was happy to be around at such an important time. He gave me a black ink bottle and a wooden pen. He further guided me to make different designs. I sketched some of them which thrilled him. He encouraged me to make more. Side by side he was working on his paintings. I was elevated with his encouragement and in excitement I tried to even copy his hand gestures of his brush strokes. In the process my hand hit the ink bottle and it flew in the air. Both of us tried to catch it, but it fell on the floor, splashing the black ink all over the place and even on one of his paintings. There was pin drop silence for a minute; I had tears in my eyes and I got nervous as I was just 8 years old that time. After a while he said, “Hey! After all it’s only the ink, and look it will all be sparking clean in a while; and the areas where the ink has got splashed on the paintings, I will cover them up with fresh strokes. We all make mistakes, don’t we….so don’t cry….” That day I learnt that how we all can make our weaknesses our strength.
I have one message for my animation mentor Jerzy Kucia Polish Animation Master: “Thank you Sir, for your valuable insights that have opened new avenues and have helped me explore various dimensions of the animation world. I wish you good health and hope to meet you soon.”
Uttam Pal Singh, Creative Director – Animation, Turner International India:
Sister Joseph was my English teacher in class 10th. This is one teacher I can never forget. Where all other teachers use to criticise us, she was use to motivate us for everything. I always use to get positive vibes from her and that made a great impact on me.
I have so many playful memories from school, especially from my hostel days. I still remember that Holi when I was in senior hostel, I had a bunch of water balloons with me. We all were playing Holi on the Basketball court and suddenly my warden passed by from there and that coloured water balloon just struck her right on her face, ‘uske baad toh mera rang barse ho gaya tha, in short waat lag gayi thi…’
Ram Mohan ji is the biggest mentor in animation who influenced me. I have never seen someone as hardworking and as curious as him. If you have noticed, he always watches films in a very cute and childish manner, everyone should adapt that thing from him and of course he is a great teacher.
Charuvi Agarwal, Animation Film-maker:
Mrs Kanchan Chander, lecturer at Delhi College of Art was one of my favourite teachers. She mainly took Composition and art classes. Although, her approach was very friendly, polite and warm but when it came to criticising in terms of unsatisfactory work, she would never hesitate.
And that would teach one the actual learning. She would elucidate the most complex lessons connecting each on personal level.
Michel Gondry, the French Film maker. His inventive visual style and manipulation of mise en scčne motivated me to produce something on the similar line of innovation.
Message for him is “keep creating!” Because there are lot of artists across the globe who admires you and are looking up to you for further overwhelming work.
Anand Ramchandran, Director of Design, Tiny Mogul Games:
Mr. K.U. Stephen, taught us English in Don Bosco, Egmore. He was also our scoutmaster. He was a humble, honest and good man who taught us many great things – chiefly to abhor cowardice and falsehood.
We had a German teacher called Mr. Jerome. A class clown once pointed out to him that his name, pronounced in German, was “Yerumai” the Tamil word for Buffalo. Apparently he recounts the story to his students even today, some 25 years later.
I don’t have any single person I can call out as a mentor – but there have been many I have learned my craft from. I can only say that I’m grateful, and I hope that I don’t disappoint them.
