The day in August, 1984 when she joined F.C. College for women, was a landmark.There was a ruffle with the landing of a charming, fresh and intense looking, graceful lecturer clad in light green in the English department !! The shhhhhhhhhhhhhh was not just amongst students but in staff room, too.
My first encounter with her was to make her note the time table and honestly, I had never seen such neat, organized, attractively scribbled personal timetable !! Naturally, I felt very shy and embarrassed as to what she might have thought of me as my papers containing college time table were as messy as could be with so many cuttings and over writing!!
FCC had always been known for its smart looking staff. But her simplicity added a new dimension to it- an awe inspiring presence and an inimitable style and dress sense.
As a teacher she has influenced lives of hundreds of students whom she directly taught but thousands of students fondly think of her, admire her for a number of ways she has touched their lives through literary activities, functional English and above all as Mentor who would guide them, counsel, too whenever looked up to by whosoever. Many of them may not be able to express how but she has made a difference in an inexplicable way.
She has made an indelible mark on lives of not just students but also the members of faculty -young and old-who have found in her a benefactor, a guide and a friend. I do not think any one member of any faculty would have as numerous 'likes' as she has enjoyed throughout her teaching career of three decades.
The thorough, unblemished, dedicated, selflessly nurtured three decade long association with any institution is indeed laudable, appreciable and much to be indebted for. As a teacher, an academician and a human being, she is gem of 'the purest ray serene'. I wish and pray the College authorities would not part with her for they may not realize now but for sure the institution is going to lose a lot of its charm and beautiful aura by her absence. The void would never be filled; the vacuum would be there -always.
Walking down the memory lane, the distance of time and space have waned and faded and I can feel once again as I did in an August of thirty years ago when her steps ushered her in the precinct of FC College for Women, Hisar-the place she leaves today to make a new beginning. For sure 'the best is yet to be'. I, for one, find it hard to imagine the FCC without K.
I am already missing her there wherein I ceased to be long ago.
