Posted: Tuesday, July 1, 2008 12:00 am
DOUG SHAW
CEDAR FALLS - Once I was passing out exams when one of my students, a big tough guy, protested, "You didn't tell us you loved us!" I thought he was joking, and I shook my head, but some of the other students clearly knew what he was talking about. When they were handing in their tests, I asked what the joke was about, and they said that the teacher for the previous class, Hari Shankar, always told them he loved them.
For the next exam, I had Dr. Shankar come in while I was passing out the test. "It is so good to see you all again," he said. "I am so glad Dr. Shaw let me come in here to say hello. Oh, and I love you very much." And the students smiled, even the cynical ones. Because it was so obvious that he meant it.
One year, one of my students died. Hari called me the next day. He didn't even say "hello,"- he just said, "Oh, such a thing. Such a thing. How is such a thing even possible?" And he wept. I, of course, had been depressed. But he was devastated.
When I heard that Hari Shankar passed away, in my mind I heard his voice saying that. "Oh, such a thing. Such a thing. How is such a thing even possible?" And I, like everyone else who has had the opportunity to get to know him, was devastated. We are all going to miss him very much.