SRINAGAR: Beloved teacher. Exiled soul. Hirdey Nath Koul, former principal of Islamia High School in Srinagar, is gone. He died Sept 10 in Hyderabad on the age of 93. He was as soon as of Bana Mohalla close to the Jhelum, but carried Kashmir with him till the tip.Tributes poured in, led by Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who wrote an in depth obituary. “His contribution in nurturing generations of students at Islamia School with a keen sense of commitment to them will always be remembered and respected,” Mirwaiz stated. He recalled the legacy of Kashmiri Pandit lecturers in Anjuman Nusratul Islam colleges, “who even marked attendance for Muslim boys for afternoon prayers to Jama Masjid — a testament to our bond and shared values”.Koul’s household stated he was a resident of Bana Mohalla, underscoring his “deep love and emotional attachment” to Srinagar.Born in previous Srinagar, Koul graduated from Gandhi Memorial College, earned a BEd at University of Kashmir, and joined Islamia School in the Sixties on the advice of the elder Mirwaiz. The establishment based by the Mirwaiz household in 1866 would change into his lifelong house. He never married, as a substitute devoting himself to college students and arithmetic.The Nineties exodus of Kashmiri Pandits fractured his life. His nephew Kartik Koul, a retired SBI basic supervisor, stated the household fled after the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed by JKLF militants. “We first settled in Miran Sahib of Jammu, then moved to a migrant camp, then tented accommodation, and later to Pune, Kanpur and Hyderabad — wherever my job took me. Bada boba was always with us. For 17 years we stayed in Jammu,” Kartik stated.“The migration broke his heart. Though he lived with us, his soul always remained in Kashmir,” he stated.His final want was to reclaim his books, above all a handwritten Quran gifted to him by the Saudi ambassador throughout a convocation in the Eighties. Kartik returned to their previous house in 2013. It was gone. “When I told him, it pained him even more,” he stated.Koul never sought his closing six months’ wage from Islamia School, nor let the household achieve this. “He asked us not to write any letter,” Kartik stated.Students keep in mind him for his vary. “I don’t remember much of him except that he also taught Islamic subjects like Dinyat to us occasionally,” one recalled.
