On 25th July, Brisbane Maharashtra Mandal (BRIMM) successfully delivered their first event of the year after the changeover to the new committee. Each year BRIMM celebrates various festivals with its members and community at large. Mostly the festivals such as Ganesh Festival, Diwali festival, Sankranti Festival are the highlights. This year at their regular Picnic event the Maharashtrian community celebrated the Gurupornima festival.
Picnic is BRIMM’s fun event for all members to come together and enjoy a day outdoors in a park with family and friends. This is an opportunity for the new and old members to come together, know each other as well as the new committee of BRIMM.
The 2021 financial year appointed new committee is President-Jitendra Vombhatkhere, Vice-President- Siddharth Nagpurkar, Secretary-Ganesh Deshpande, Treasurer-Sandeep Mozar, and Committee Member-Rohit Vombhatkhere. Picnic was their first event. Despite the COVID restrictions they did a wonderful job in giving members of BRIMM that much needed day outdoors in the park, playing games such as Lemon and Spoon race, Tug of War, Musical Chairs, dodge ball, cricket, etc. It was almost like a mini Olympics organised in the Park. The games were competitions among the members who participate. Hence, there were winners and prizes were given to these winners. This year the committee could not arrange for the mehendi drawing or face painting for children’s entertainment, however, there was drawing and painting competition arranged for children artists to draw whatever that comes to their mind on the theme “Picnic”. Children were very creative and enjoyed the drawing competition as well as winning the prizes. Brimm congratulates all winners of the competitive games and the drawing competition. BRIMM also expresses a gratitude to all the volunteers who helped out on the day of the Picnic namely; Manisha Bhisekar, Amrita Deshpande, Anant Lomate, Smita Nagpurkar, Sachin Pawar, Shrikant Puranik, Swati Puranik, Sangeeta Vombathkere, Deepa Vombathkere, Aditya Sant, Prashant Sant, and Supriya Sant.
Another highlight of the Picnic this year was the celebration of Gurupornima festival. This was the first time BRIMM celebrated the festival. Gurupornima is an auspicious day, it falls on the first full moon day in the month of Ashaad in the Hindu Calendar, ie month of July or August. Many vernacular especially Marathi medium schools in India will celebrate Gurupornima by conducting a puja for all “Guru” meaning Teachers. Non-Vernacular schools also celebrate the Gurupornima and call it as “Teacher’s Day”. The Master of Ceremony, Amrita Deshpande, highlights her experience of Gurupornima in her non-vernacular school; “I remember my school in India would celebrate this day by making a select few students to be teachers for a day. On this day, each class or division would be assigned to one student who would be the teacher for that class or division for that day. Having gone through this experience at that age of 15yrs, the experience to be a teacher responsible for the class was one that was empowering and esteem boosting. We were also given the task of teaching one lesson of our choice. This made me appreciate the profession as well as my teachers who put such an effort in designing the lessons to making students at all level understand the material and engage them in meaningful way. Teachers also enjoyed seeing these students take charge for that one day. Later, all teachers would be felicitated by students and parents in a ceremonial gathering.”
The new committee decided to celebrate the Gurupornima to acknowledge the Marathi tradition.
The concept of Gurupornima as seen by sages and written in discourses is that a Guru is someone who removes the darkness in the lives of those who don’t see it, by spreading the wisdom and knowledge he or she possesses. In the Guru Shishya parampara methodology of pedagogy, the Shishya (disciple) is living with the Guru (Teacher) and seeking the holistic wisdom. The Guru is transforming the student into an enlightened soul by passing on the techniques , secrets, and experiments the Guru develops in his said subject. The student thus will further disseminate this knowledge to other students as a part of “Guru Dakshina”. Here the Guru Dakshina was the gratitude for the teacher expressed in a way of Puja; offering fruits and necessities for the Guru’s safety and good health through prayers, and rituals like abhishek and hawans, where the Guru is at the centre of the ceremony, equated to be the God. This Guru Shishya Parampara in India continued to be popular among Sages and teachers of Art such as singers, dancers, performers of instruments, and natya. This methodology meant that the Shishya lived with the Guru and needed to be disciplined, follow what the Guru says, and respect the Guru for his wisdom. There was no fees taken from the student, however, through Guru Dakshina the students would have to perform a special task for graduation set by the Guru as his Dakshina. Then on Gurupornima the student expressed his or her gratitude to his or her Guru by conducting Guru puja of the Guru.
In the modern times, this ritual of conducting a guru pooja faded as the system of Gurukul education shifted and transformed from an Ashram learning to the modern University learning. The early Universities in India such as the Takshashila, Vikramshila, and Nalanda followed the Gurukul system, and maybe the Gurupornima festival. However, as the educational institutions modernised and were being operated under the British Raj these rituals and traditions started to fade. With a number of modern Universities, colleges and schools being established in India, the role of the Guru also transformed from being the all mighty soul to a professional, disseminating the knowledge he or she has about a particular subject in exchange for wages. In contemporary India, and rest of the world, this “Guru” is thus expected to deliver tasks according to the demands of the administrators and the expectations of the students. No more does the Guru have the status equated to a “GOD”. The respect, and the acknowledgement of the knowledge acquired by the student is also seen diminishing. In the western world, giving gifts to teachers as a gesture of thanks giving is often looked at as a frowned upon transaction equated to being as bribe and considering it as conflict of Interest. The only feedback a teacher really receives from students are the evaluations students fill at the end of the semester. These are never a accurate evaluation of the teacher.
In this COVID times, surviving through the many lockdowns, teachers have been the Samurais, the Marathas, the Alexanders, battling and trying to conquer the unknown path of technology to teach their craft to students . Let alone surviving physically keeping themselves healthy so that they don’t infect their students and spread the virus. In doing so not only did they teach students the curriculum but also were the counsellors for many who could not cope with the pandemic situation, the studies, and the economic crises. The teachers in this pandemic situation went beyond their own capacities and abilities to teach the subject, adapting to the changing situation from face to face teaching to virtual teaching to deliver the tasks they were required to. A mere thank you cannot suffice the amount of efforts of such teachers.
Hence Brisbane Maharashtra Mandal (BRIMM) decided to felicitate these teachers and express the gratitude, applauding their efforts in teaching and holding the interests of all students during this pandemic. The committee asked all members of BRIMM to nominate teachers who have taken that bold step. It was an effort to respect, felicitate, appreciate, and express gratitude to “ the teacher, the GURU”. There were a lot of nominations that we received, however, not all could attend the ceremony due to the restrictions of COVID.
Teachers who attended the Ceremony were
Dr. Sameer Deshpande, Associated Professor, Deputy Director of Social Marketing Department of Griffith University.
Dr. Prashant Sonar, Associate Professor, Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Ms. Smita Nagpurkar, Primary Teacher, Boondall State School
Ms. Smita Gosavi, Volunteer Teacher, BRIMM Marathi Shala, Carindale Branch
Ms. Manisha Bhisekar, Volunteer Teacher, BRIMM Marathi Shala, Springfield Branch Those who could not attend the ceremony but were mentioned at the ceremony were Ms.Arti Joshi, Main Volunteer Teacher, BRIMM Marathi Shala, Carindale Branch Ms.Neeta Kathe, Volunteer Teacher, BRIMM Marathi Shala, Carindale Branch Ms.Smita Patil, Volunteer Teacher, BRIMM Marathi Shala, Nundah Branch
Ms. Sonali Pawar, Volunteer Teacher, BRIMM Marathi Shala, Springfield Branch
Others who have been with BRIMM Marathi Shala and got a mention were Ms. Sheetal Relekar, Mr. Kanak Relekar, and Ms. Vrunda Sane.
Ms. Sheetal Relekar sent us a beautiful text message that definitely encourages BRIMM to continue to run the Marathi Shala. She says,” We would like to thank BRIMM from the bottom of our heart for helping the Marathi Shala. We are very enthusiastic about teaching our children and this has been made easy by BRIMM. All students put an extra effort to make the best of this opportunity. I am sure this help from BRIMM will be fully used and spread across the community. We will give our best to keep this venture running and pass it on to the community.”
We also received audio message from Mr. Umesh Thatte, who established the Dhol Tasha Pathak in Sydney. He was significant in imparting the knowledge to establish the Dhol Tasha Pathak in Brisbane. He appeals the entire Maharashtra Mandal members to continue to practice the Dhol Tasha and be ready to perform at the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane.
Apart from the Academic Teachers, those who really were impacted by the COVID were the teachers of Art and Performance. Their contributions to the teaching and continuing to run their schools must be applauded. Teaching students online and offline was a complete nightmare. Survival for these teachers was almost like a life and death situation. However, there were a few teachers in our community who not only survived but taught others how to survive despite these adverse situations. They definitely get a special mention. These teachers are:
Mr. Raghunath Pawar, Music Teacher
Mr. Mithun Chakraborty, Music Teacher, Sargam Academy
Ms. Swing Kalwar, Dance Teacher, Let’s Bollywood Dance School Ms. Pallavi Bandiwadekar, Dance Teacher, Nupoor Dance Studio Ms. Helena Joshi, Dance Teacher, Kathak School
During this pandemic it was necessary to stay fit and fine. A few Sports teachers also put that effort to bring students together and continue to engage students in sports. One such teacher who made a difference in the lives of students through sports who got the mention in our ceremony is Mr. Trupti Nimkar.
Mr. Parminder Singh, Secretary of Punjabi Cultural Association and Vice President of FICQ was the chief guest for the ceremony. He advocates for the collaboration of Punjabi and Maharashtrian culture. He acknowledged the fact that Maharashtrians have often helped the Punjabis in dire times, even in the historic moment of 1857 war for independence. Punjabis often quote discourses from Dyaneshwari and respect the contributions of Sant Namdev. Being a teacher himself, he was very happy to see teachers being respected, and felicitated by the Maharashtrian Community.
Brisbane Maharashtra Mandal thus takes pride in appreciating and congratulating all above mentioned teachers for their relentless efforts in their field. We hope many more teachers are appreciated in future and this trend that the current committee has started continues for years to come. The Guru deserves to be appreciated.
Gurur Brahma, Gurur Vishnu, Gurur Devo, Maheshwara, Guru Sakshyat Parabhrahma, Tasmayee Shri Gurvenamah!
Guru is Brahma- The Creator Guru is Vishnu- The organiser
Guru is Devo Maheshwara- The destroyer of darkness
Guru is the sakshat Parabrahma- The Ultimate Soul who embodies the GOD Tasmayee Shri Guruve namaha- We salute and bow to this realised soul, the teacher.