An octogenarian with extraordinary levels of energy, imbued with a resolute sense of purpose, forever present to encourage all his pupils, Late Master Satya Narayan Bahadur Shrestha also known as SNB, was a personality who was unmissable.
Reaching the school gate of our alma mater each morning, Adarsha Vidya Mandir, there stood a man, immaculately dressed in a colored tie, shaking hands with all those thousands walking in, to learn more for the day, meant for life. He had a firm handshake, some thing one would remember for life, having had the experience once.
I remember him visiting our classrooms when we were new to our school, all Grade I children. He had the quality to make people laugh. Back then, Birendra English Reader was a book written by him, meant for us – a foundation to build on our grammar and vocabulary that would shape the way we spoke and wrote, for the rest of our lives.
As a Grade IV student, I remember one particular afternoon, when one of our friends entered the class shouting in ecstasy. He had just learnt that SNB would be teaching us from then onwards. In a school with about 47 classes in total, from class one to ten, if one taught one period a week to each one of the classes, it would still be a round-the-clock work for an 80-odd year old man. People would get tired of asking how he did it, he never showed fatigue doing it week in and week out.
Forever a presence to give a pat on the back to his pupils, we seldom saw him angry. And when he was angry, it would be for a cause, many a time his wrath befalling on one or the other. All of us have taken them as lessons in learning, a hard rock of student life.
Of the many other things, he remained very fond of arts and he vociferously encouraged the artists amongst his pupils. His stance has created many formidable artists from our ranks, a plethora of successful professionals across all walks of life and several blooming writers who have taken to him in the particular paradigm.
The Walkathon organized in his honor, in his memoriam, is an apt tribute to a man, who engineered our walks for the rest of our lives. His pupils, spread across the globe, owe their walks to his mentoring and vision.
Writing with a purpose 