“Boy! Is everything alright… Sab theek hai…” These words still ring in my ears. That is how he would ask while calling whenever I played truant and missed calling him.
He would sound relieved and glad when told things are fine.
That’s how it ‘should’ be, would be his prompt cheerful tone asking me to repeat his words, ‘That is how it should be.’
Now, how can I tell him nothing is fine?
Scores of his students and well-wishers are in pain for the loss and the void that has been created by his exit in body, their ‘Rao Sir’ will never meet them again in this life.
He passed away in Hyderabad, in a private hospital while undergoing treatment on 31 October.
The messages from his huge extended family (students and associates) pouring in, his photos and anecdotes that are being shared in the WA group to make his wish of a celebration of life, after him be as good as the lessons of life, he always taught all.
Single throughout his life, he took into his fold not only his students, but anyone who reached out to him and continued to touch many a life till his last breath.
He had already anticipated that we all needed to be taught one last lesson to cherish his absence as much as we valued his presence.
For this celebration, he even set aside Rs 20,000 to savour the favoured delight, the ‘tea and pakoras’.
The setting for the celebration will be his favourite hang-out, ‘Ashiana’ on the historic Ridge, Shimla on 5 November, where he taught his students lessons over a cup of tea year after year since he joined as a teacher in the Journalism department HP University.
His was a class that was not just confined to the four walls of the university, knowledge sharing went beyond books and lessons meant to be kept lifelong.
Professor Vepa Rao was born in Andhra Pradesh on 28 January, 1946 and completed his journalism from Indian Institute of Mass Communication.
A name to reckon with in the journalism circles in the country, he worked with Hindustan Times, Delhi, The Tribune, Chandigarh. He was a former Editorial Advisor of The Statesman.
It was a chance visit to Himachal Pradesh in April 1986 and during the drive from Kala Amb to Nahan, something beckoned him and stirred his consciousness.
While returning back to Delhi en route Dehradun, he declared that it is Himachal Pradesh where he would like to live.
A series of coincidences followed that moved him step-by-step to Shimla and eventually, he landed in Shimla in 1987.
Putting it in his (Vepa Rao) words, “I was guided back to the land I must have belonged at last.”
It was here in Shimla that he spent almost 35 years, the place he loved so ‘immensely’.
He first joined the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla as a Resident Fellow to work on Communication and Development and his research was compiled in a book form, ‘A Curve in the Hills’.
He was instrumental in setting up the Journalism Department in Himachal Pradesh University in 1990.
He even headed the IIMC Dhenkanal for a brief period from 1996-97.
His journey as a teacher too was an exceptional one, as he went on to become the most popular teacher among his subjects in the country.
Using his contacts in journalism circles he ensured they find placements and make it big in their profession. Many of whom are still doing quite well.
“Sending students to Delhi (including me) is almost like sending them to a foreign country,” he once remarked.
Many a time, untiringly for years after years, he had to struggle hard to convince the students and parents, as inhibitions and reservations sprang up at the mere mention of sending students to work in various media houses outside the state.
A simple man with no attachment to materialistic things in life, he took all the cares and burdens of his students.
He had won the hearts of his students to such an extent that they made him their forever confidante and sought his help in taking important decisions even on the personal front.
Such was his grace as he continues to live in our memories as a Guru, mentor, anchor, pole star, guiding light, a fatherly figure (as being remembered by his students).
His experiences as a ‘journalist’ and ‘teacher’ and the pearls of wisdom are the most treasured gifts he bestowed upon each of us.
He had an infectious trait of calling ‘cats and brats’ to all his students, with unique nicknames for each one that was amazing and at times so relatable.
He usually called me ‘boy’ and at times ‘Bhavi boy’, a name that will always stay with me forever.