Oh! Macy Sir...

As a kid, he was fascinated by rock stars and cordless mikes. Twenty years ago, he grew out of his ?childhood fascination? and decided to take up teaching literature. Today, he is referred to respectfully as ?Macy sir? by his students, many of whom have had a crush on this bespectacled, round-faced, professor who still manages a home full of pets, minus a wife!

As a kid, he was fascinated by rock stars and cordless mikes.

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Twenty years ago, he grew out of his ‘childhood fascination’ and decided to take up teaching literature. Today, he is referred to respectfully as ‘Macy sir’ by his students, many of whom have had a crush on this bespectacled, round-faced, professor who still manages a home full of pets, minus a wife!

Over the years he has learnt to understand the young people on their own terms. And, to do that he has to keep pace with the ever-changing slang—“sexy teaching, sexy explanation, sexy weather to shit and fundu!”

And that’s what he means when he says that one has to meet the young ones on their own terms. Teaching has given him “satisfaction and riches”. From Rs 350 odd that he earned over 20 years back from his first teaching assignment, to his graduation from a TVS Scooty to his latest (three-year-old!) possession, Honda City, Carlyle McFarland has come a long way. His bank balance might not reflect his material success for he loves to splurge. But, the incessant stream of parents flocking to him with the request of ‘ensuring that their wards get 90 per cent’ truly does!

“I teach students from class IX to MA II. That’s about nine years. So, from adolescence, when my students first turn up, I teach several of them till a point when they are ready with a wedding invite. So, obviously that’s a very satisfying experience,” he says. Yes, there have been experiences of the ‘cupid kind’ too. Like when one of the students who had a crush on him turned up recently with a request to impart teaching to her daughter!

All this love, adulation and admiration to one of the city’s best literature teacher might not have come had Carlyle McFarland simply believed in imparting teaching without believing. “Speed is not important, act of learning is. If we concentrate on a subject, rudimentary learning takes place. If we concentrate on the individual the learning lasts forever,” he explains. As a teacher of literature he gets ample opportunities to know the students better—their feelings, aspirations, shortcomings… Not a purist, he loves to experiment, make innovations in teaching.

And yes, though teaching has given him all the worldly comforts—yet he has never hesitated in saying “lay off” in true Sagitarrian mode as and when parents had come aspiring for a readymade prescription for their ward’s success. He is busy teaching students for most part of the day. And whatever time he gets he devotes to his ailing mother, his favourite pets, his fishes and his birds! The lamp that he bought from his first Rs 350 salary still reserves a pride of place in his house.

Throughout the day, he works and his nights are bright with a thousand stars. And does a teacher ever retire? “Oh, yes,” he says. What’s next, you ask?

“Teaching teachers!” he answers. A teacher never retires!!