Teacher climbs tree to cross internet hurdle to teach students during lockdown

Rumela Sinha

(With pics)

Kolkata, Apr 20 () Prosperity is a great teacher,adversity even greater.

And adversity in times of the lockdown has brought outthe best in Subrata Pati who, unlike most other professionals,isnt working from home.

A history teacher, he works from a nest perched on aneem tree, giving lessons to his students on events of seminalimportance that shaped civilizations and obliterated them,conquests by kings and generals, and horrors of war andpestilence, as the epoch-making coronavirus disease savagesthe world.

Taking classes online is a battle Pati, who teaches attwo educational institutes in Kolkata, is fighting from hisnative Ahanda village in West Bengals Bankura district, wherehis cell phone screen blipped to life one moment and lay deadfrozen the next.

Exasperated, just as he was about to give up, he wasstruck by the thought of climbing a tree to see if getting afew yards closer to sky made any difference. And it did.

Now, every morning, the 35-year-old man climbs up theneem tree next to his house and parks himself on a makeshiftwooden platform tied to its branches and receivesuninterrupted signals on his cell phone he uses too teach hispupils.

Having set up the DIY (do-it-yourself) marvel withsome help from his friends, the history teacher at AdamasUniversity and RICE Education in the city doesnt find thechore tiring.

"I have temporarily shifted from my Kolkata residenceto Ahanda, which is a part of the state's Jangalmalal area, tobe with my family in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. Thatdone, I couldnt have shrugged off my responsibility as ateacher. The Internet network here is mostly patchy, so I hadto look for a solution," he said.

Pati takes food and water with him to the tree-topplatform, made of bamboo, gunny sacks and hay, on days when hehas to conduct two to three classes at a stretch.

"Sometimes the heat and the urge to pee bother me, butI am trying to adjust... sometimes storms and thundershowerdamage the platform, but I try and fix it the next day. Underno circumstances I would want my students to beinconvenienced," he told .

The attendance is usually high for his classes, saidPati with a broad smile.

"The students keep boosting my confidence. They havealways been very supportive. They assured me that they wouldput in their best efforts to score well in my paper," he said.

Buddhadeb Maity, one of his students at RICEEducation, said Pati was an inspiration for him.

"What he does for his students is exemplary. I nevermiss his classes, nor do my friends. In fact, he takes timeout to answer our queries too. Attendance for his classes isusually 90 per cent," he said.

Asked how he chanced upon the idea of setting up thebamboo structure, Pati explained that villagers oftenbuild 'machan' (makeshift watchtower) on tree-tops during theharvest season to keep an eye on elephants straying into theirfields.

"It is a common practice here. I sought help from someof my friends and together we set up the bamboo platform formy classes," he said.

Samit Ray, the chancellor of Adamas University, saidthe institute was proud of Pati.

He has been very sincere about his work from thestart. He is shining example of how to surmount obstacles withhard work and willpower, he added. RMS SKSK SK