"The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau." - Dan Rather
Ask a successful person about someone who helped them become great and most will mention a teacher. There’s no question that teachers can have an incredible impact on the lives of their students. Great teachers can spark ideas, inspire hard work, cultivate confidence, and instil values that last a lifetime, well beyond the confines of a classroom.
For many Indian celebrities and public figures, their teachers inspired them to go after the impossible, to dream big dreams, and to remain diligent in the pursuit of their passions and talents.
Here are the stories of 10 amazing teachers who made a difference in the lives of their extraordinary students.
1. Sagar Mal Dhayal
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Sparring partner, mentor and father figure to M C Mary Kom, Pinky Rani and L Sarita Devi, Sagar Mal Dhayal is a man who has played many roles in his 10-year coaching stint with India’s women pugilists. He has led a largely understated coaching career except for the infamous 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, where Sarita Devi hit the international headlines for breaking down and refusing to accept her bronze medal after a controversial semifinal loss. Throughout the episode, Sagar Mal Dhayal supported her unflinchingly, an action for which he had to later face disciplinary charges. He was eventually exonerated by the International Boxing Association (AIBA).
“ I don’t regret anything. I was her coach, the person responsible for women boxers there, I had to stand by her, I couldn’t have left her. She was distraught and it was our responsibility to take care of her. When I saw her crying there in front of the judges, I felt how a father would feel for his daughter. It was an emotional moment,” said the 1994 batch National Institute of Sports (NIS) coaching course topper in a Press Trust of India interview.
Dhayal, a superb boxer himself before becoming a coach in 1995, has been awarded the Dronacharya award this year.
2. Pullela Gopichand
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As India goes gaga over P V Sindhu’s amazing Olympic achievement, there is one man who is quietly savouring the moment – coach Pullela Gopichand. The former champion has honed the skills of all of India’s top badminton players, right from Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu to P Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth. Gopichand is a recipient of the Arjuna Award, the Dronacharya Award and the Padma Bhushan, besides being the only second Indian shuttler after Prakash Padukone to win the All England Open Badminton Championships in 2001. He became the national chief coach of the Indian badminton team after suffering a pre-quarter final loss in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
He made Saina a force to reckon with over the years, and is still moulding Sindhu to become one of the greatest. Other players like Srikanth, P Kashyap and Prannoy Kumar too have been playing well recently, and the coach's motivational words, strategy, tenacity and persistence have been integral to their success. The ride so far has not been easy for Gopichand as he has made numerous sacrifices and taken tough risks to reach this position. He went on a Ketogenic diet (a high-fat, average protein and low-carb diet) for a whole year just to check if his proteges would be able to take it!
"When I started out as a coach, there were many who dissuaded me saying the system will not let you succeed. But I feel it is important to keep pushing. I saw ourselves as world beaters and I wanted to prove the sceptics wrong,'' he was quoted as saying by Firstpost.
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3. Pradeep Kumar
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Unassuming S Pradeep Kumar has been the face of Indian swimming for a long time – not as a swimmer but as the coach guiding young and upcoming swimmers of different age groups into the Indian teams for various international competitions.
In 1986, as a young swimming coach, Kumar left Palode, a remote hamlet near Thiruvananthapuram, to chase his dreams in Bengaluru. Armed with determination, sincerity and passion to fight a flawed system, he charted a new course for Indian swimming at Bengaluru's Basavanagudi Aquatic Club (BAC), working tirelessly for nearly three decades. Once the lone coach at BAC, Pradeep now heads a group of 17 mentors who have overseen the training of budding Indian swimmers. These include the swimmers who represented India at Rio - Sajan Prakash and Shivani Kataria – and four Arjuna awardees – Nisha, Abhijit J, Rehan, and Prasanta Karmakar.
The veteran may have coached swimmers to Olympic qualification, but he derives more joy from watching underdogs triumph. Speaking to
The Hindu in an interview, he said:
"It's been a fantastic journey. It has seen a lot of sound and fury, to borrow from Shakespeare. As a coach, you go through a lot of emotional stress. You cry when your swimmers lose, and you're overjoyed when they win. However, my happiest moment has always been seeing some children who have never won a medal finally get on the podium."
4. Bishweshwar Nandi
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Till recently, Bishweshwar Nandi had one key prize to show off – his student Dipa Karmakar, who has been making waves in Indian sports with her path-breaking gymnastic feats. Now, he has another feather in his cap - the 2016 Dronacharya award.
Not only did Nandi spot Dipa's talent, he also helped her train for the dangerous Produnova vault event once she was firm about her choice. Nandi went the extra mile many a time – travelling to Delhi with Dipa several time for her training and not sparing any efforts to acquire expensive equipment for her with the government’s aid. His efforts paid off when Dipa became the first Indian to ever qualify for a gymnastics event at the Rio Olympics.When Dipa lost the bronze by the tiniest of margins, it was an equally crestfallen Nandi who comforted his inconsolable student.
Nandi was himself an accomplished gymnast in the 1980s, winning the national championship five times and representing India in the 1982 Asian Games. In a
Times of India interview, Nandi said:
"I remain unfazed by criticism as well as any recognition. I'm more comfortable working with my wards in the gymnasium. Nothing is more rewarding than seeing a gymnast perfect a routine and win laurels for the country. My mission is to discover more Dipas and bring them into spotlight."
5. Nagapuri Ramesh
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Hyderabad's Nagapuri Ramesh has been churning out champions on the athletics track and sports field for over 15 years. Though his passion for athletics earned him a name at the state and national levels, Ramesh, who once worked with Kakatiya High School in Warangal as a physical education teacher, never planned his career as a national coach. A direct recruitment in the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Hyderabad for topping the diploma course in 1991 changed Ramesh's life. The next few years were fruitful for him as he produced some excellent athletes like M Madhavi, long jump winner at the Junior Asian Championship in Delhi in 1996.
Ramesh spent months on end away from his family so that he could hone the skills of some of India’s best sprinters. His efforts have been instrumental in shaping several Olympians, most notably Dutee Chand, who became the first Indian to achieve the qualifying mark for the women’s 100 metres at the just-concluded Rio Games. In fact, Ramesh has mentored Dutee through a punishing ordeal arising out of hyperandrogenism and put her back on track.
During the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Ramesh was the fitness trainer of the Indian hockey team where Mukesh Kumar scored the fastest goal — in 30 seconds — in the opener against Australia. He was also the personal fitness trainer for cricketer VVS Laxman when the latter scored an epic 281 in Kolkata, which helped India pull off a memorable come-from-behind victory against Australia. Speaking to the
Deccan Chronicle, he said:
“I am thankful to my wife and daughters who have put up with my busy schedule for a decade-and-a-half. The athletics season runs from January to December and one has to be on the move all the time. I have spent more time at the National Institute of Sports in Patiala than at home but my family is supportive.”
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6. Ramakant Achrekar
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If there’s one photograph that Sachin Tendulkar would have loved to display on his wall at home, it would probably be an image of himself sitting behind Ramakant Achrekar while the coach rode his Lambretta to take him from one match to another in the mid-1980s. The legendary batsman has even tweeted a picture where he is seen bowing down to his beloved coach as a mark of unwavering respect.
Born in Maharashtra, Achrekar quickly found out that he was not cut out for playing the game. After a few initial failures, he moved on to a higher aspect of the game – coaching. In 1964, he began coaching with full zest, determined to mould India’s future heroes, and he has never looked back. Based out of Mumbai's Shivaji Park, Achrekar began the gruelling training of some of India's best cricketers, determined to shape them into world class sportsmen. The results are there for everyone to see. He was awarded the Dronacharya Award in 1990 and the Padma Shri in 2010 for his outstanding contribution to Indian cricket.
Remembering the defining moment of his cricketing career, Tendulkar once said that it was the time when Achrekar slapped him for skipping a practice scheduled for him at Shivaji Park and instead going off to Wankhede Stadium to cheer his school playing in a final.
"When we were leaving the stadium, my friend and I saw Sir near the dressing room. We thought of greeting him but he was angry and produced his famous "late cut" on my cheek. I had a tiffin box in my hand and it flew in typical Hindi movie style and I juggled to catch it. It was then that he told me, 'If you concentrate on your own game, one day people will come and clap for you'. I think that was the defining moment of my cricketing career. I also remember how Sir would keep a coin as a reward to those who could get me out at the nets. I still have all those coins," said the cricket legend.
7. Mahavir Singh Phogat
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A once-promising wrestler from Delhi’s famed Chandgi Ram Akhada, Mahavir Singh Phogat has provided the country’s wrestling contingent with almost half a dozen top notch grapplers. His daughters and nieces – Babita, Geeta, Ritu, Sangita, Vinesh, and Priyanka –are scripting a revolution in Haryana with their wrestling exploits
A former member of India’s national wrestling team, Phogat’s love for his girls is reflected not just in words but in his actions too. He quit his job to train his daughters for the Commonwealth Games. He has also built a gymnasium in a large hall loaned to the girls by a local college and bought high-tech gym equipment that the girls use to train. His hard work and perseverance paid off when Geeta won gold and Babita won silver in the Games held at Delhi. Two years later, they also won a bronze each in the World Championships. In 2012, Geeta became the first Indian female wrestler to compete in the Olympics and in 2014, Babita Kumari and Vinesh won gold medals at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
Though Vinesh's Olympic run at Rio ended in an unlucky injury, she has made the country proud with her stellar performances. Today, it isn’t just Mahavir’s own family, but several girls from Balali and nearby villages also, who turn to him for training. The inspiring father and coach was honoured with the Dronacharya Award in 2016 for his outstanding contribution to women's wrestling in India.
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8. Kuldeep Malik
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Having represented India at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Kuldeep Malik is one of the most experienced freestyle wrestling coaches in the country. Coached by Kuldeep Malik, India's Sakshi Malik wrestled her way into history books as she claimed a bronze medal at the Rio Olympics 2016.
A Dhyan Chand Award winner, Malik served as the chief coach of the Indian women’s freestyle wrestling team from 2011 to 2015. Under his watch, the women’s team reaped a rich harvest of medals in continental as well as global championships. In June 2015, Malik was named chief coach of the Indian men’s freestyle team and played a vital part in Narsingh Yadav’s bronze medal effort at the 2015 World Wrestling Championship.
The former Olympian cherishes the moment when Sakshi won the bronze medal and waved the tri-colour while sitting on his shoulders.
"My disciple ended India's nightmare at Rio with a Bronze and the memories of the way India celebrated that medal is something I would love to carry to my grave. No amount of reward is bigger than those moments. I saw on TV that how people were celebrating Sakshi's victory and no reward is bigger than making 1.3 billion people feel proud in one go," said an elated Kuldeep Malik in a press interview.
9. Rajkumar Sharma
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“The next time we come here, you will be getting the Dronacharya Award and I'll be applauding from the audience,” Virat Kohli said to his childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma when he was conferred with the Arjuna Award in 2013 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Raj Kumar Sharma, who has recently been conferred the prestigious Dronacharya award, has been Virat Kohli's coach since he was a child. He has seen Kohli grow from a chubby 10-year-old lad to a 19-year-old who led India U19 to a World Cup victory, to a fit, lean and dapper looking skipper of the Indian Test team.
Recalling Virat's first day as a 10-year-old in an interview to PTI, Sharma said, “I still remember the day when a 10-year-old Virat came to my coaching camp. Today, as an Indian captain, when he comes for a net session, I don't find any difference. He is still the same old little Virat for me. Nothing has changed for him.”
For Sharma, his job as a coach is not over yet and his current focus is on producing the next batch of good competent cricketers who will catch the attention of the cricket lovers.
Kohli acknowledged his debt to his mentor when he tweeted his congratulatory message to his childhood coach, “Congratulations Raj Kumar Sir. All the hard work behind the bigger picture never gets noticed."
10. Satpal Singh
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At 33 years of age, Satpal Singh became the youngest ever Dronacharya awardee. For the past eight years he has helped the Indian para-athletics contingent garner over 80 international medals across events such as Commonwealth, Asian and Paralympic Games. He was the athletics coach at the 2010 Asian Para Games in Guangzhou, China, where India won one gold and four silver medals. At the International Blind Sports Federation World Championship in Turkey last year, the team won one silver and four bronze medals. Singh also has the distinction of coaching two Arjuna awardees — Jagseet Singh and Ram Karan Singh — in 2010.
Singh, who has been a cornerstone for the success of Indian para-athletes, has not been paid a single penny for his achievements till date. Unable to find sponsors for their participation in events held abroad, many para athletes would not have been able to compete at these events if not for Singh, who paid for their equipment, travel and food expenses out of his own pocket.
In an interview to Noida's community radio station,
Salaam Namaste, he said:
"I choose to train para athletes because somehow I feel that coaches hardly pay attention to persons with disabilities. I encourage them to compete with normal athletes. Irrespective of whether an athlete is blind or not, all of them should train together."
This Teacher's Day, The Better India is supporting a bunch of passionate teachers who want to make a difference in the lives of street kids and help them get access to good quality education too. You can do your bit to help India's first registered "Signal School" help 36 kids who have never been to school before, study and learn like all of us.
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It can be described as a collaborative workspace and playground for engineers, doctors, artists, academicians, healthcare professionals, and others to come together and give shape to their ideas by making whatever they want. It is a place for hardware entrepreneurs to gain access to high-end tools and work on their projects, for hobbyists to explore and tinker, for artists to exchange ideas and improvise their designs, and so much more.
This is a refurbished three wheeler that will serve as a mobile workspace to encourage hands-on making and tinkering. The auto has gull-wings, which, on opening, reveal an array of shelves stacked with advanced tools including a 3D printer.
From L-R Pradeep Nair, MD, India & SAARC, Autodesk, and Maker-in-Residence, Coby Ungar with his team[/caption]
Allan adds that the plan is to take Maker Auto to people and communities by partnering with different NGOs, schools, colleges, etc. The auto will go to different localities with expert facilitators who will conduct workshops on various topics. “These can be on anything – right from soldering and creating basic end-to-end circuitry, to using 3D printers and more,” he says.
“The maker movement started across the world around the 1960s and 70s – a do-it-yourself culture where you have access to tools, knowledge and experts – and you just make. The term ‘make’ here means build anything you want. People build things – from bird houses and tree houses to fixtures for their homes, etc. We never had that culture in India. We are used to the carpenter coming over and doing his thing, or going to interior decorators and telling them what we want. But still, there are a lot of people who want to make things themselves. That was the reason why Maker’s Asylum was set up,” says Allan.
Maker’s Asylum has a centre in Delhi as well. An interesting example of the creative work that goes on in this unique space is that of a recent collaborative project – an origami artist came together with a spray painter, an electronics engineer, a robotics engineer, and a mechanical engineer to build a replica of C-3PO – a humanoid robot character from Star Wars.
The Maker Auto will release a route map of the places where it will stop in Mumbai next month. People are invited to drop by, participate, tinker around, and have some fun!
By the end of 2014, they quit their jobs and started ConnectEd Technologies, an education-technology company that aims to produce and provide tailor-made educational content to underprivileged kids through technology.
ConnectEd’s flagship product is a smart classroom system meant to aid teachers in classes using audio-visual content. It is a battery-operated, high definition projector that runs only on solar energy and can be operated by all teachers, including those who have no knowledge of computers. All a teacher has to do is switch on the device, navigate and find a multimedia educational content file, and play the audio visual chapter corresponding to what he/she is teaching that day.
This year, ConnectEd has started the EkShiksha campaign with the Education Ministry of Maharashtra to increase the reach of the product across the state. The campaign aims to bring together socially-responsible corporate organizations, NGOs, school management boards, and grassroots-level educators to bring better education to children in rural schools. The organization has a team of 27 people in their 20s. Like Lehar, Lavin too is a business administration graduate from NMIMS and, together with the team, they have self-funded the company.
“We have been receiving feedback from teachers that the product helps them improve the learning environment in class. Earlier, teachers would just read to the children from books in the class. Delivering lectures too was not very helpful. But the video content corresponds with what they are going to teach in class and children love it too,” says Lehar.
Know more about the campaign and ConnectEd, 
Ruchi, who has always had a creative bent of mind and is interested in painting as a hobby, started TPS with the aim of giving people a new way to socialise.
Ruchi ties up with restaurants, lounges, etc., and organises 2-3 hour long sessions where all people do is come and paint. The groups choose one painting from some of the options sent to participants beforehand, and the goal is to recreate it on canvas.
“The instructor guides participants step-wise. But they are also free to choose whatever they want to do. It is basically a place to play around with colours, have fun with your friends and make new friends. The idea is to help people shed their inhibitions and paint even if they don’t know how to – just to have fun,” she says. Currently, The Paint Social events are organised only in Mumbai and Pune, but Ruchi is planning to expand to other cities as well.
TPS events are paid events and the cost depends on the size of the painting, the amount of time people want to spend, additional arrangements for the event, etc. Ruchi is also planning to tie up with organisations that conduct fundraisers and help them organise painting sessions.
“People have told me that they look at these sessions as a way to meditate because they help them de-stress. Just playing around with colours is so relaxing that people not only come back for more but also recommend TPS to their friends,” says the 28-year-old MBA graduate.
You can contact TPS here: 
EBCRC provided her with the basic training for the same, and in 2004 she started working with Rajawadi Hospital for donation programmes carried out by EBCRC. Her responsibility was to counsel people and encourage them to donate their eyes.
“That experience was really enriching and about 200 people donated their eyes after speaking with me. I shared my own experience to help them understand why they should donate their eyes. It gives me immense satisfaction every time someone donates eyes and someone gains vision. It feels like I am paying the debt of the person who donated eyes for me,” she says.
From that point onwards, Varsha decided to dedicate her life to the cause of eye donations. Till today, she has encouraged over 1,000 people to donate their eyes. In 2014 she started working with four hospitals where she now encourages not just patients, but also doctors, nurses and the entire hospital staff to donate their eyes.
“While doing this work, I closely witnessed the pain and problems that people in the world have to face on a daily basis. And it has changed my entire approach and thinking towards work. I realised that God has given us a lot. We should be satisfied with what we have and should work for social causes. My kids were 10-12 years old at that time. They used to come with me to the hospital and they also saw the struggles of people. Today, instead of chasing personal gains, they try and work for social welfare and that makes me happy,” she says.
The 56-year-old is on duty 24x7, 365 days. Whenever someone’s death is reported from any of the four hospitals sh works in, she goes there and helps the family with the procedures to be followed. She appeals to everyone to step forward and donate their eyes, and even to encourage people in their localities to do the same. You can contact Varsha by writing to her at 
“For these kids and their parents, the signal is a place of business. They sell small items during peak traffic hours, and in the 4-5 hours in between, their parents send them to beg as well,” says Batu.
SBV is an NGO registered in Pune, which was started eight years ago with the aim of working for the upliftment of the downtrodden. The organisation started this school after several months of in-depth research. This included four detailed surveys in different time slots at four major signals in Mumbai. The survey helped the team determine how many children are present at the signals on a regular basis. After this, they spoke to the children's parents to find out more about their backgrounds and needs. “We found that many of these people used to be farmers in rural Maharashtra and had migrated to the city because of droughts. They had come here looking for a better life but ended up living and working at the signals for the past 20-25 years,” says Batu.
“We started more like a play school. The kids would be in class for 15 minutes or half an hour. We had to run after them, search for them at the signals, and bring them to school daily. But now they are more than willing to attend and are super enthusiastic about meeting their teachers every day,” smiles Batu.
Signal Shala has four full-time teachers, one attendant and several volunteers who keep dropping by at regular intervals to help in some way or the other. Two of the teachers have completed a course in early childhood training and one of them is an expert in curriculum design. Most of the children are in the age group 3-8 and they attend classes for about four hours each day. “Our teachers work with the students on more than just education. Right from cleaning them up to making sure they are not hungry, everything is taken care of and it is not easy at all,” says Batu.
Some of the kids who dropped out after primary school or Class 7 are given special classes so they can prepare for board exams in a few years. But the focus is not on turning every kid into a doctor or engineer. The team wants to prepare the children to earn decent livelihoods and to this end, they will conduct vocational classes and skill development programmes based on the interests and capabilities of the children.
Other than everyday classroom teaching, the teachers use software developed by Tata Technology that uses the audio-visual method to deliver the entire SEC curriculum from Classes 1 to 10. “It is easier to gain the attention of kids with the help of pictures and music. While initially the kids would not sit for more than 15 minutes during class, we are now able to conduct four hours of regular lessons,” says Batu.
Instead of just focusing on academic lessons, Signal Shala is also working on the all-round development of the kids. A health camp was organised at the school on the third day after its opening. It was found that most of the children were suffering from skin-related diseases and had vitamin deficiency as well, due to which they could not concentrate on their lessons for long.
Many young kids sleep in the school every day. They are also bathed, groomed and given proper meals at the school. “We use these activities to inculcate good habits in students. For example, the children are taught to wash their hands before they begin to eat. Many of them also had the habit of spreading their hands out whenever the attendant would serve them food. We taught them not to do this. And when they notice such things, they realise that the school is not just a place where they are told to study but is also meant for their personal welfare,” says Batu.
During the first few days of school, the kids received haircuts as well. The NGO also conducted a campaign for people to donate clothes and now the kids receive fresh clothes to wear after every few days. Additionally, the school volunteers help organise yoga, sports, and art and crafts lessons.
The NGO started the school with its own funds and the municipal corporation helped them set it up – the authorities arranged for the container, constructed an approach road for the kids to enter, and even installed a see-saw for the children to play after school hours. All of this was done with the idea of creating a school-like environment for the kids both inside and outside the 'classroom'.
According to Batu, one of the biggest impacts the school has had so far is that begging activity by the children has reduced by about 80%. “The best part is that even if some kid goes out to beg after school hours, the other kids complain to the teachers the next day. In this way, they have developed the spirit of policing within themselves as they understand why education, not begging, will help them shape their futures,” he says.
“After our research we realised we cannot start a school for such kids anywhere else other than at the signals because the kids cannot leave the signal and go. It was important to take the school to the kids directly. And we are giving them this environment so that the kids can feel the school is theirs; unless they do, the school will not develop,” emphasises Batu.
From using the app for real-time alerts to forming groups around particular causes, these community driven WhatsApp initiatives are growing at a steady pace. Their efforts have shown that it is possible to find a use for social media that goes beyond mere chit chat.
Gaurav Maniar and his daughter Preet Maniar[/caption]
Though one may think that there's nothing extraordinary in working two jobs given that this is a very common phenomenon in big cities like Mumbai, Gaurav's story is different.
On the subject of working two jobs, Gaurav says, “Driving a cab is not my only source of income. I work as a marketing executive part-time. It is a hard life and sometimes I even have to miss on sleep but I'm willing to do it for my daughter.”
A proud father[/caption]
Once again, one may think that he is only fulfilling the responsibility of an 'ideal' father. This, after all, is a very common occurrence, but there's a twist to the story.
While many Indian parents often crave for a boy child, Gaurav’s views on this topic are different: “My parents made a grave mistake and I don't wish to repeat the same. I have three elder sisters and my parents stopped only when I was born. I'm happy with just one child, so what if that child is a girl?”
Gaurav's principles and beliefs are what make his story unique. He is not from a well-to-do family and hails from a orthodox background. However, he chose not to follow any of the rules that place women in a disadvantaged state. He may not understand the meaning of 'feminism,' but he embodies every bit of it.
After hearing the status of women in the country, he shares his viewpoint:
Gaurav doesn’t feel shy or scared to shun certain norms of the patriarchal society. He is of the strong belief that both genders must work hand-in-hand in solving this gender gap. He feels men play a pivotal role in changing traditional mindsets and also believes that every drop, or every man in this case, counts in the process of systemic change.
Dasra, a strategic philanthropy foundation published a report titled ‘
Filmmaker Siddharth Sathyajit moved from Kerala to the big (not so bad) city when he was 12 years old. In this three minutes long ode to Mumbai titled 'Why I hate Bombay,' he begins with his frustration of moving into an alien city where every person is jostling for space. From that feeling of loneliness and isolation, he moves to the collective emotion of belonging that all Mumbaikars feel.
Mumbai’s beaches attract thousands of visitors every day, some from the city itself and others, tourists. Some come to gaze at the sea, some to eat and others to drench themselves in the warm, salty seawater. Alongside, hawkers throng the sand, selling balloons, peanuts, popcorn, bubbles, toys, robotic contraptions that claim to predict the future and more knicknacks.
