The guru who taught me English

He taught English at Shree Sanskrit School in Gorkha, through the last years of my schooling. A guru, in the proper sense of the word.

We also stayed together in the same house, in the same room. That is simply how it was, and it meant I learned from him outside the classroom as much as inside it.

He taught me English. That is the smallest part of it. He taught us about life, how to carry yourself, what to do when things are hard. He was our mentor before I knew the word for it.

Gorkha, past eleven at night

In October 2023 I was back in Gorkha and we met at my hotel. It was past eleven at night when someone took this photograph. We had been talking all evening.

He is the same man he always was. A gentleman then, a gentleman now.

I write this journal to contribute, to educate and to teach. I did not pick those three words at random. I learned what they look like from someone who did all three, for years, without anyone asking him to.

We called him Krishna sir.