In 1933, the Principal of Mayo College, Stowe, asked Garrett, the Principal of Government College, Lahore, to recommend some one outstanding for a teaching post in his institution preferring a science graduate and a sportsman. This is not a usual combination. Science students generally do not have time for sports since science practicals are held after classes. Garrett asked M.N. who decided to go to Ajmer, to see Mayo and assess for himself. He was twenty-three years at that time. I am told that Stowe was sitting in front of the school pavilion when he first set eyes on M.N. He liked M.N. and straightaway asked whether he would join and when could he start? Just out of college with an M.Sc. degree, there were no plans afoot, so M.N. thought 'Why not?' The appointment was under the category 'Indian Master' for teaching science and sports. Starting pay, I think, was Rs. 200 or even less! Thus started a teaching career, which uninterruptedly continued for half a century. The 'English Masters' were few, the 'Indian Masters' many. 'Indian Masters' were second class citizens. I shall narrate a few incidents which mark M.N. as an extraordinary member of staff.

The English Masters' pay grades were around four to five time higher than of the Indians. The English received their pay by cheques and the Indians in cash, standing in a queue in front of the office. M.N. resented this. 'Give us our pay through cheques be it one-fourth theirs, or less. We shall not line up to receive it.' An Indian Master said to him: 'Hamey tojharu par bhirakh kar dengetoleylenge' ('If they place it on a broom and give it to us we will accept it'). M.N. did not relent and the pay-cheque system was established.

Another incident. Once an English guardian of a prince was riding a horse inside the college campus exercising. M.N. was passing that way and the guardian started discussing his ward with him. Riding on, he expected the Indian Master to walk along and continue the talk. M.N. stopped and said, 'Mr. Housen, either you stop your horse and then talk to me, or we shall meet another time'. Housen never forgot this and was vengeful for the rest of the time in Mayo!

It was one of the traditions in Mayo to have a Ga,rden Party after the Annual Day function. The invitees were divided by a rope boundary into an English guests and Princes enclosure, and an Indian guests enclosure. M.N. was made in-charge of the function. It must have happened for the first time in the history of this princely institution that the barrier was removed and it became one gathering of all the guests. The Principal was aghast.

Theatre was a new experience when M.N. was put in charge. He decided to use a Rajput theme and setting. A play, Maharana Pratap was staged. It was an open-air performance. Horses were brought on to the stage, swords were got out of the armouries of the Raj Kumars. The treatment and theme was novel and unseen in Mayo till then. Another production, A Pageant on Ajmer was equally imaginative.

He had taught for three years, when the school inspectors, all Englishmen visiting Mayo College, made an offer to send him for further training in Education after seeing him teach senior classes. Stowe wanted him to go to the Lahore Training College, but M.N. went to the University of London instead.

When Mayo was declared a Public School transition from a Princes' Collegc the House system of residence for students was introduced. We were the first to move into residence with the boys and to become their guardians. This was the time when McCanlis from Cheltenham School, England, took over from the more orthodox Stowe. When we left Mayo to come to the Modern School, Delhi our wards were sitting on the Ajmer House steps, weeping. McCanlis remarked, 'If I received half as much love and regard from my students, I would consider myself a successful teacher.'

Arrival. In 1947, after fourteen years in Mayo, M.N. came to Modern School to face a new challenge. We all know with what ideals the Modern School's Founder, Lala Raghubir Singh, started the school in 1920. His own dedication, his noble spirit to serve the cause of education by founding a school rich in our national heritage, is by now a legend. We know the school was visited by Gandhiji, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, Reverend C.F. Andrews and many such distinguished personalities, who gave inspiration for the goal that Lalaji had set. Idealism was thus the foundation stone of Modern School, a good inheritance for any principal. Equally important for M.N. was the love and regard in which Lalaji held him. M.N. reciprocated that with a full heart.

M.N. came for the interview in June 1947. Sardar Bhagwant Singh narrated the incident during the memorial service for M.N. held in the Senior Modern School on 4 April 1994:

'I remember the day when Mr. Kapur came as a candidate for the post of the Principal of Modern School. There were three or four candidates who were senior to him in age and experience On just going through the bio-data of the applicants we all thought to ourselves the cheek of this young man to apply for the post of the Principal of Modern School! But when this young man walked into the room all of us were impressed with Mr. Kapur's personality and bearing. The only thing that was against him was his age and his lack of experience. After the interview was over, we discussed the merits of the candidates. Seasoned and wise men of the world like Sir Sobha Singh, Lala Shri Ram, Mr. Mukherji and Lalaji himself, had no hesitation in saying that Mr. Kapur would be the best choice for the post and he will soon gain in experience what he was lacking in age.'

M.N. happily took up the challenge, although facilities and pay at Modern School were nominal compared to Mayo. But it worked out beautifully indeed. M.N. built the school to the level of an outstanding Public School of post Independence India.

Continuing Education. In the coming decades, to enrich his own experience, M.N. visited schools of all types in Europe, England and America. His purpose was to learn, to pick up ideas, to blend them into the school culture and curriculum, and thereby, to provide the best to the students. I mean it when I say, to blend, not to replace. I was often with him on these visits. I have met Principals and Headmasters of schools in different parts of the world and I can say with pride that M.N. stood out among the best.

He believed in continually enriching himself on the home front as well, and to pass on the quest to the students. It was from Mayo that he went to Wardha to learn, at first hand, about Gandhiji's Basic Education philosophy. A great experience! While in Modern School, he introduced the students to Vinoba Bhave. Vinobaji was camping in Bulandshahr when we took a batch of students to meet him. We spent the day with him and early next morning, before sunrise, the students walked with Vinobaji learning about his Bhoodan Movement and much more. Mandalsa Behn had organized this for us and it was her mother Shrimati Jamna Lal Bajaj who once addressed the school assembly in the morning. She narrated to the children her life's work with Gandhiji. It was in Jaipur, I think, that Gandhiji, in a gathering, had asked the women to voluntarily donate their gold ornaments, 'shackles' as he called them. Bangles and chains and rings piled up spontaneously in a heap....Morning assembly was the time for this sort of exposure the world opened beyond school boundaries, beyond school books, beyond Delhi. Intellectuals, artists, men of religion, sportsmen, people from all fields were invited as guest-speakers to give colour and richness to the school curriculum. This was one aspect of exposure and enrichment. The other aspect was practical experience of day to day life. I shall narrate some stories to illustrate this.

A compassionate heart. Once we came across a man with no legs sitting under a tree, in the compound of Hanuman Mandir on Irwin Road. M.N. came back, took some students, and returned to the spot. Immediately they decided to adopt him and brought him to the school. The man perched himself on the platform under the Kathal tree (outside the physics laboratory). His food, clothes, and other requirements were looked after. Then the students got together and presented him with a wheelchair. He propelled himself around in the campus to the dining hall, to the toilets, to the sports field wherever. On Diwali Mela it was being held in the cricket field that year Mrs. Sonia Gandhi came for a while, as Priyanka and Rahul were in Junior School at that time. This school guest was introduced to her. I consider this a fine example in humane education.

There used to be a tea party before the House Functions which was meant to greet the teachers and to meet the parents. The House in order to save money and use it for a cause, decided to make the tea frugal. They bought blankets with the saved money. We all set out in the school bus after night fall, chose an area, for example, Asaf Ali Road or Daryaganj, and spotting homeless people sleeping on the pavement in the cold, covered them with blankets.

The students started another venture. They collected clothes and other useful articles over a time period and then held a Bazaar in the school campus for helpers' wives and children. The prices were obviously nominal. In the same spirit we invited Amar Kaur Behanji to run a school first at the swimming pool and then in the workshops for helpers' children and their mothers. These children-learnt enough at this primary level to get entry into regular schools later and the mothers learnt knitting, sewing and other useful ways of life. At Diwali melas, they had an independent stall for their hardwork. Amar Kaur Behanji, who was later placed on a regular pay, retired in due course. She-is still remembered for her invaluable contribution.

Another interaction with the school family was epitomized in the tale of Rampal Singh, the typist who was a personality in his own right. Mrs. Nelson, who played the piano and taught singing to juniors, found this frail man sleeping in the verandah of a church. This was right after the Partition. Rampal Singh was homeless, penniless, a refugee who had come to Delhi with his family. Mrs. Nelson told M.N. about this and he offered help. Rampal was asked what he could do. He said he knew typing. So he was given a job, a place to live, his daughters given seats in the school. Above all he was given respect. Such acts mean faith in oneself and faith in the other. It never fails. Rampal Singh proved to be a man quite uniquc proud, fearless, and eccentric. Once early in the morning, at about 5 a.m., there were calls from down below our house. 'Kapur Sahib! Kapur Sahib!' M.N. looked out of the window. Rampal Singh stood there with a full-boiled egg in his hand. He said 'Kapur Sahib, I have brought this for you. As soon as I start to eat it, I see your name on it. So it is you who must eat it'. Imagine his trust in M.N. that he would not be rebuffed, nor made fun. of. Here was a bond a bond which would not create indiscipline, casualness or familiarity, but respect and affection among the school family.

The question of discipline, as always! Gradually discipline was brought to a level where punishment was hardly needed. Students developed the courage to acknowledge their 'mistakes', indeed they did rot hesitate to acknowledge them in the morning assembly, with no feeling of humiliation. In fact such a student must have emerged a hero by demonstrating exemplary courage and conduct. So the rod was spared and the child was not spoilt ! Discipline was imposed imperceptibly, not rigidly. The result was a happy growth of an all-round personality.

Behind this achievement was the fact that each child was known personally, each report card was gone through, commented upon and remembered. Each child, along with his family had his unique place. So the bond became lasting.

S-5 leavers were asked to write their views and perceptions of the school. This was a bold decision because they gave frank and open comments critical, appreciative, prescriptive. It reveals mutual faith developed over many formal and informal encounters. For example, instead of teaching a subject formally just to fulfil requirements of the Education Department, the Principal's period took on a novel feature. All the sections of a class assembled in the hall for this period and students had the freedom to express any of their problems or queries. During one of the school inspections, the inspectors were curious to see this approach of taking a class. At the end of the period they said, 'Mr. Kapur not many Principals would be able to do this. It needs a lot of courage and confidence for both sides to handle something like this.'

Putri Pathshala! The more westernized and snobbish headmasters would often comment, Kapur's Modern School is a Putri Pathshala. An Indianization of the daily school routine was introduced with full confidence of the effect. One such routine was the morning assembly. Most morning assemblies at such schools were held either standing outdoors or sitting in chairs inside the halls. In Modern School, the student congregation sat on durries in the hall, cross-legged, (eyes closed I should presume!) singing songs, from Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagore or a secular poem, or an all-faith bhajan, and then go on to the day's business in school. The atmosphere in the Modern School morning assembly became a serene influence on the young minds. This atmosphere was Indian, national. School functions held at various occasions, were always set within our diverse cultural tradition. So Modern School became a progressive school, a far cry from being dubbed the Putri Pathshala.

Mr. Bond. Over time, M.N. earned the name Mr. Bond. For one thing, wherever there was trouble, or chaos, or excitement, he would silently appear on the scene. As he wore rubber soled shoes, he could pad around noiselessly! The other Bond was the man full of genuine and enduring affection.

Sharing the enthusiasm with boys and girls, meant always being present at every match, enthusing the teams. For N.C.C. camps he would go to Poona. He would travel to Patiala to attend events at the sports institute. He would be there at the horse riding shows and swimming meets wherever his students were participating or go on a trek to Rohtang Pass. A sportsman of great merit himself, he loved this school activity and shared with the students as much enthusiasm as was humanly possible.

An exuberant nature with genuine care of his pupils, ability to be one with them, participating in their activities outdoor and indoor understanding their needs, these are the qualities of a successful teacher. Rather, they are requisites for a teacher. If they are naturally part of his nature they are made available effortlessly to the children. I would say that M.N. had these qualities in ample measure and therefore became what the children nicknamed him: Bond.

Cyrus Shroff, an eminent eye surgeon today, joined the Kindergarten section of Modern School. On the first day, he was carrying a very heavy bag to the classroom. The Kindergarten was on Barakhamba Road at that time. Cyrus was resting with his heavy bag on the ground, on his way from the main gate to the K.G. block. M.N. was passing that way. He noticed this little scholar, went up to him and asked, is the bag very heavy? Cyrus said, yes it is very heavy. M.N. said, may I carry it for you? Cyrus gladly accepted the offer. The bag and the little Cyrus reached their destination! It was much later that Cyrus came to know who this sweet man was, who carried his bag!

Years later in senior school, in one of Mr. Ved Vyas's Roopaks, Cyrus narrated a couplet of the poet Bismil. M.N. never forgot that moment or the couplet as it epitomized his own approach to life:

Idhar aa sitamgar hunar aazmaaen
Tu teer aazma hum jigar aazmaaen

(Come O Tyrant let us try our skills
You try the bow and arrow, I try my heart.)