25 November 2013, 02:32 PM IST
Sir had an amazing capacity for love. He was endearing to all his students and anyone else he came across. His rustic appearance sat pretty with his handsome face and, together with his academic brilliance, made for a deadly charisma.
Dr CD Sidhu, who passed away on November 18, was Sidhu Saheb or simply 'sir' to the hundreds of students who attended his classes in his 43-year career as English teacher in Delhi University's Hans Raj College. Not only was he approachable to just anyone but also the doors of his house were open to all who wanted to talk or were in need of help. His loving wife and five daughters were equally hospitable.
His personality was unique and magnetic. There was a disarming honesty about him and he had often made me wonder how a man could be so transparent. To be his friend one didn't have to share his interests as everyone was important for the teacher-playwright, who was an incorrigible student of human nature.
I joined Hans Raj College on the advice of an academic because the 'helpful' Sidhu Saheb was in the English department but did not have him as my teacher during my postgraduation as he had taken some kind of a sabbatical from the Arts Faculty where the main classes used to be held. However, I got to attend his tutorials in the college on an author other than Bernard Shaw, whose works were the subject of his doctorate in Wisconsin University, US.
His having studied and topped in the US or having stood 10th in the civil service exams never went to his head. He used his knowledge of Shaw's drama and of the history he had to study for his civil service exams to write his first play, 'Indumati Satyadev'.
I was an admirer of his anyway but I got to see him from close quarters when I acted in three of his plays (two Punjabi and one Hindi), apart from playing a part in Arthur Miller's 'All My Sons', which was staged many a time in not-so-well-known colleges with the sole purpose of boosting the morale of the average and below-average students.
There was nobility in his thoughts and motives. His major concerns in his plays were exploitation of the poor, women's plight and young students, For a winner of the Sahitya Akademi award for his Bhagat Singh trilogy in Punjabi in 2004, Dr Sidhu was a modest person. When asked to comment on his success, he had once said, "I am not a born writer. My books are the result of my hard work."
God only knows how he managed his time, considering he was a sincere teacher who stayed up late making notes for his regular classes even if there was a show of a play written or directed by him the next day. He wrote 38 plays, most of them in Punjabi, and was half way through writing his 39th when the curtains of his life were drawn.
I found sir to be a unique blend of brains, application, perseverance and conscience. In his life, he was emulating his role model who was his school teacher, Pandit Gobind Ram, while we were trying to emulate him. Although he justifiably cared a lot about his academic achievements and playwriting, the quality that stood out in him was his love. Anyone who spoke to him felt good about themselves.
When I first met Dr Sidhu I had the feeling this man was my father in my previous birth or will be in my next birth. Slowly I realized I shared this father with many other children.
When my biological father died in 2007, sir comforted me with these words, "Do fathers ever die? Mine died 28 years ago but I talk to him every day." How true! Sir, you continue to talk to not just your five children but all your children.
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