Jennyfer P Massar, associate professor at Sankardev College, Shillong, remembers Nomiwell Rynjah, the man ‘we knew so well’
MY FATHER Nomiwell Rynjah, popularly known as Bah No, who passed away on 28 August 1997, was born on 1 January 1902 to a disciplined Khasi family, originally from the village of Nongkynrih. Born in a family where values of Christianity were deep rooted, my grandfather was not a Christian, therefore my Meikha (grandmother) followed my Parad (grandfather), but her enduring quality was that she insisted that my father attend Church every Sunday, and would stay by his side when he read the Bible. This was the strong foundation that my father received, which stood by him throughout his life.
After he passed his Matriculation from Gauhati University, he was sent for further studies to Calcutta, where he joined St Xavier’s College, and attained his BSc degree in the year 1932. On his return to Shillong, he was appointed as an assistant teacher in Shillong Government High School, where he taught mathematics, science and geography. In the meantime, he also completed his BT training from St Edmund’s College, Shillong.
I remember him as a dedicated teacher and his knack of making difficult problems in mathematics understandable and easy to follow, especially to those students who found it difficult to grasp mathematics. It was for this reason that students flocked to be tutored by him (including some who later became chief ministers and high government officials of some states of the present North East).There are memories of students being divided in batches, according to their capacity, for those who had less calibre he would teach them just so they could score pass marks (choosing mainly algebra and some portions of arithmetic and geometry), and others were tutored to excel in their subjects. Students were eager to be tutored by him in order to pass the matriculation examination, which was then a bench-mark to obtain higher collegiate degrees.
In 1946 he was sent to Teacher’s Training Institute in Cherrapunjee to impart knowledge and guide the teachers of the United Khasi and Jaintia Hills of undivided Assam, till he was transferred back to Shillong to serve as assistant headmaster in 1949 in Shillong Government High School. In 1952, he was transferred to Jowai to serve as the headmaster of Jowai Government High School. There too, he showed his skills as a teacher, known for the discipline he maintained in his classrooms, and his ability to convert failure to success. In 1960 he was appointed as assistant inspector of schools for the hills of Assam with headquarters in Shillong and served in that post till his retirement from government service.
One would think he had done enough as a teacher, but not my father. Very soon after retirement, the managing committee of the church appointed him as the headmaster of Laban Presbyterian School, which at that time had only middle section or Class VI. He toiled hard to promote the school till it eventually attained the high school level. I did not know then, but my father along with my mother, my sister and myself would make memorable trips to Gauhati once a year, to enable him to submit the forms of the students who were to appear for the forthcoming matriculation examination; business for him, but much pleasure for us.
He was also a keen sportsman, his passion were tennis, football and hockey, and represented the schools and his locality during his hey days. During his tenure as the headmaster of Laban Presbyterian High School, he encouraged and promoted sports to such a level, that the school would bag the prestigious Champion Shield for Best Sports during the Inter School Sports Meet, year after year for a long time, forfeiting it to KJP School, the next strongest contender for the shield. I remember students jubilantly singing and cheering all the way from Garrison Ground to our house, where teachers would hurriedly prepare tea and the famous Laban sweet ‘Long’ for everyone to celebrate the school’s sports victory. Perhaps it was this sportsman spirit which caused him to be such a straight forward person who would never tolerate any anything untoward, a rare quality these days.
In 1968, the government recognized his contribution as an educationist, and he was presented an award on the occasion of the Eighth National Teachers’ Day, during the term of Mrs EN Shullai, whom we lost recently, as the inspector of schools, United Khasi and Jaintia Hills, Shillong. The speech that he delivered on that day, which has been translated from Khasi to English, reflects the qualities that I had mentioned, and I can only hope that, if we, as his children and grandchildren could emulate just a fraction of the great qualities he had, we would we be doing a service to society, and a tribute to him.