KARACHI: Longtime Mathematics teacher and aloo masala-lover Yusoof Bhaimeah, who taught generations of O’ and A’ Level students in Karachi, died of a heart attack on Saturday night. He was in his early 60s.
His larger-than-life figure and boisterous voice will forever remain etched in the minds of any student who has ever studied Math at the Karachi Grammar and Beaconhouse schools. Indeed, anyone who ever attended a KGS bakesale will be able to recall the taste of his unforgettable aaloo masala.pri
Friendly, yet strict and eccentrically amusing, Bhaimeah never allowed anyone to take notes while he was speaking; he claimed it distracted them from learning. “Beta if you continue to write I have a simple solution, ‘Pencil-two piece, journal four-piece’,” was his most commonly heard threat.
Though a daunting figure when angered, no student of his will ever remember him without cracking a smile. His broad accent, his constant preoccupation with food, his sarcastic sense of humour and his parallels between his classes and the “Hyderabad pagal khana” were enough to send any class into peals of laughter.
“Bhaimeah’s teaching style was: I’m going to do one question on the board and then you’re going home and doing a whole problem set,” said Danish Munir, a former KGS student.
His lessons frequently strayed to his favourite topics, other than Math of course, his wife and the perfect way to cook a batch of prawn. He was even head of the KGS Cooking Society, something he claimed would be a life-saver for every college-bound student. Even principal Dr GC Platts was known to have attended Bhaimeah’s Saturday cooking lessons.
“He loved life and had a great sense of humour,” said a 2000 KGS graduate, adding “an example of which is that he wore his ‘Thank God It’s Friday’ tee shirt on Friday school days without fail.”
A 1998 KGS graduate still remembers his “heavenly” spring rolls. And Osman Siddique, a 2006 KGS graduate, will never forget his “obsession with aaloo masala.”
Hasan Iqbal, the head of the KGS math department, had just spoken to Bhaimeah before school closed for the winter. “He was telling me about how his wife had just undergone an eye operation and they were both planning a visit to Mecca next year, he had already made all the arrangements.” Another KGS Math teacher Mohammad Farooq told The Express Tribune how he used to call him “Baba Maths” because he loved the subject more than anyone he knew.
O’ Level Math and Additional Mathematics teacher Ainee Shehzad worked with Bhaimeah for 14 years and described him as the “best” Math teacher you could find. “He was not only a good colleague, but more importantly was a vibrant and lovely human being,” she told The Express Tribune. “He shared his ideas with all of us and was very helpful. He was also very well liked by students …I can't believe he isn’t with us anymore.”
Fauzia Zubair, a former principal of the Beaconhouse School System, jubilee campus, knew Bhaimeah for the nine years at her post and spoke of his “professionalism, commitment and clear demand that his students respect the subject”.
Aside from KGS and Beaconhouse students, thousands of young people in Karachi over 18 years or so also knew Bhaimeah through afterschool tuitions. Entire families, such as Ali Naqvi and his siblings, went to him for Maths and Additional Mathematics. “Bhaimeah always talked about settling down in Madina,” recalled Naqvi. “God bless him for helping so many students pass their GCEs.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 27th, 2010.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: December 27, 2010
An earlier version of the article incorrectly stated that Dr GC Platts was the former principal of Karachi Grammar School.
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