A Revered Teacher
A Revered Teacher Everyone in my village called him Ani Mastrey, so we too called him by that name, though in his absence. At school, he was ‘Aagyaan’ or ‘Principal Aagyaan’. Shri Aniruddha Sahu was the veteran Principal of Upper Primary (UP) School, Khuntpali when I joined Class 4 in 1962. He was also Principal when Shri Shashi Bhushan Dash of Behera (Principal of George High School, Bargarh when I joined Class 8) had joined the UP school on 2 nd January, 1936. I do not know when Ani Sir had joined the school in my village, but I am told that he spent most of his teaching career at Khuntpali. He retired from service in 1965, I think, in which case his year of birth would be 1907, making him three years older than my grandfather! Ani Sir was from Kumbhari, a village about 6 kms from Barpali, and about 8 kms from Khuntpali. He stayed alone at Khuntpali, and his family possibly stayed in his own village. It was a big deal when we joined Class 4, and moved from our Basic Scho...