Go North-East young man!

For all the years that I lived in Calcutta, Assam seemed right next-door and one never got down to going there. Assam has always been special to me. The culture, the people and most importantly the silent contribution that Assam has made have largely been unsung. The fact that our present Prime Minister uses Assam to propel himself politically has also not helped the cause of Assam. So when the doyen of the tea industry in India and a man with possibly more suaveness than James Bond, BM Khaitan (BMK) asked me to be the Chief Guest at the Founder?s Day of the Assam Valley School (AVS). I could not refuse. More critically, I did not wish to refuse simply because this was one way that I would surely get to Assam. There were many nay sayers. I was warned about the security situation and told that things could get rough but then when you live in Delhi you can as easily get run over by a stationary Blueline bus. I am thrilled that I went to Assam and possibly spent the most terrific day I ever have in a long, long time.

As part of preserving the heritage of Assam and its famed tea gardens, Ranjit Barthakur, an Assamese by birth but a nationalist by choice has brought back to life, several of the erstwhile tea managers? bungalows and it was in one of these that I spent the night in Balipara which is about 30 minutes away from the Assam Valley School. The complex is named Wild Masheer and it would put many of our so-called heritage properties to shame: but it is not the refurbishment of these bungalows that is amazing: it is the fact that the entire complex is completely green and there is an adjoining organic farm which provides you the freshest produce as also free-range chickens so that the eggs you have for breakfast are the ones that won?t destroy your health in the process. I sat back reflecting on the life gone by and wondered whether India was in self-destruct mode? Here is a state, which has the second highest green cover in the country; has the finest tea gardens; has some of the finest people in terms of graciousness and warmth and yet is neglected by the Centre. There is apathy and when noises by the likes of Mani Shankar Aiyer are made, they are either muzzled or made in a trivial manner.

The evening before the Founder?s Day was a dinner hosted by the Headmaster of Assam Valley School, Derek Mountford and it was a sheer delight to meet the icons of Indian education and there is no doubt in mind that even at 82, Gulab Ramchandani is as passionate about education as always was. At the dinner, one met a world, which does not exist in our metros. Not one person asked me about the next elections; not one of them was bothered about whether Sonia Gandhi or LK Advani will run the country the next time round; and not one person exuded any malice. There was an innocence which stemmed from good breeding and an environment that breeds a rare form of humanism. More of which was on display at the Founder?s Day the next morning. There were men and woman of substance: who were willing to sacrifice their city-slicker lives and do what they really wanted to. There was passion and pride in what they were doing. Not cynicism or regret.

The next morning I drove into what I would easily dub India?s finest temple of knowledge. To call AVS a school would do it great injustice. It is more than a school. I saw for myself the quiet transformation that was taking place. Away from the clich?d rhetoric of making men and women out of children, this was a world, where people were being taught to imbibe great values before getting great scores (it is another matter that the school topped the table in terms of its ICSE and ISC results): values which are captured in its motto ?Truth is Strength? ? even more appropriate in today?s troubled times. I went around the 260 acre-campus: seven football fields; an equestrian park; some fine work in the area of robotics; an entire section devoted to local crafts and the commitment of the faculty: all of it was there on display not in some brazen manner but in a manner which exudes the quiet confidence of those who know their business.

I have known BM Khaitan for years: when we were growing up in Calcutta, the Khaitans were, and still are, the tea-lords as it were. But even I never imagined that one day BMK would give back to India, and more critically the state where he does business, in such full measure; with compassion and scale. The school even after 13 years just about breaks even and is funded by the trust that BMK established but what is more is the care with which he is planning the next baby steps in education. The plane ride, from Guwahati to Harchurah (the gardens which are right next to the school) where the plane lands takes about 45 minutes: it takes about four hours by car from Guwahati to reach AVS; and about 30 minutes from Tezpur. But it is precisely in a world as far as Balipara is; where there is a quite transformation taking place. Indians are being prepared for the challenges of tomorrow in a way that elegance and decency will be back as key virtues. Where values shall dominate and materialism will be given the short shrift, where truth shall truly be the strength of our nation and its men and women. That is the ultimate contribution that BM Khaitan would have made. By not just establishing a knowledge centre in the wilderness but giving back to society what it needs most: men and women of integrity and compassion!

The writer is Managing Partner, Counselage