Chauburji Past the Anarkali-Mall intersection and bordering the service lane to the left, stands a row of buildings. One of these once sported a green and white board with Chenys Lunch Home written across it in bold letters. This establishment was a popular haunt of many faculty members and students of the Government College and the Punjab University, as it served some of the best omelets in Lahore. It was here that one was apt to meet a tall well built man dressed in a white kurta and shalwar with a Jinnah cap on his head. This was the doyen of all teachers Chaudhry Sultan Muhammad Khan, Head of the Botany Department of Lahores famous Government College. Chaudhry Sahibs office was usually the huge laboratory where he would be found enjoying his huqqa surrounded by faculty members and students alike. However, this great man with the rugged, rustic exterior was a compassionate father figure to all his students, who would often bring their personal problems to him for advice. Chaudhry Sahibs usual companion was a tall lanky Zoology Department lecturer called Arsalan Rasheed, who went on to earn his doctorate in the subject and became the Vice Chancellor of the Quaid-i-Azam University at Islamabad. One would often find him in his laboratory on holidays glued to a microscope with a couple of squirrels climbing all over him. His wit knew no bounds and he could effortlessly compose verses and tongue twisters and use them during lectures and conversation. It was said that no student willingly missed his classes. Dr Arsalan now leads a retired life in his beloved city of Lahore and continues spreading his knowledge amongst those that desire it. The name of Dr Nazir was and still is synonymous with Government College and pedantic excellence. He was principal, father and friend to every one on the campus from a freshman to a senior. One would often spot his slouching figure dressed in mussed up clothes and unkempt long hair moving towards the cafeteria trailing cigarette smoke. When the good doctor was removed for enforcing merit in admissions, his students or more appropriately his 'children, rose en masse in violent agitation, forcing the government to reinstate him. Another unforgettable darwaish like character was that of Altaf Fatima, who taught Urdu in Islamia College for Women. Totally oblivious of her dress and devoid of makeup, Altaf Baji had gained fame through her award winning novel Dastak Na Do. Her method of teaching was extempore and her students often claimed that under her tutelage they achieved standards that made post graduate studies appear like a piece of cake. This teacher par excellence now lives a life of obscurity in a small house in Lahore. Miss Emily Joyce Harris was English and taught geography at the Cathedral School. She was a spinster who spent her life building futures of countless children. Ma Harris, as she was lovingly called, returned to England after her retirement. Much later she lost her sight and also had hip surgery, but her unmitigated devotion to her school and her students continued unabated. In her last message on the 125th anniversary of the institution she so cherished, she mentioned students nostalgically by names enquiring about their progress in life. These few lines are but a small tribute to this great woman. Somewhere in the 50s one would often spot a tall, thin figure dressed in a pajama, long shirt, achkan and Jinnah cap walking down the paths in Central Model High School near the District Courts. This was Kausar Sahib, the English teacher who also looked after the 10th class. Soft spoken and courteous, Kausar Sahibs style of teaching was refreshingly different in that he never hurried through a lesson and encouraged discussion. This was a time when teachers were beginning to fall prey to the practice of tuition, but not one student from Kauser Sahibs class ever felt the need to resort to this practice. These are but a few randomly chosen men and women to whom the citizens of Lahore owe a great debt. By far, the surest way this debt can be repaid is by those that are shaping the destinies of our children in classrooms today through selfless devotion, integrity, courage and to say the least, passion. The writer is a freelance columnist.