This winter’s annual sports day at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan was special for students as it was the last sports day with their beloved Don sir, the head of the department of physical education. 

Ashim Kumar Dawn, popularly known as Don sir, has been a part of the school since 1985 when the secondary wing of the school opened, a year after its foundation.

Arrangements had been made to make his last sports day memorable. Before the closing ceremony, he was taken on a lap around the school field. Students had made a poster in his honour and a cake too was cut. And not just students, even the teachers couldn’t control their tears.

“Sir has been a tremendous inspiration,” said Mehul Dasgupta, a former student and resident of FC Block who had come for the event. “Once men were hired to dig the field’s surroundings to plant posts for a day. But Don sir was not satisfied with their work so he picked up a shovel himself, dug the entire portion and turned to the labourers saying: ‘This is how you should do it.’” 

Beyond school hours, he also conducted basketball, cricket and football coaching and during weekends too. “Sir always taught us to play with honesty,” recalled Sayak Chatterjee, another ex-student from AL Block. “Once before an under-16 football tournament we told him that another school had sneaked in an 18-year-old the previous year and that we too should do the same. Sir gave us an earful. For him, playing fair was what mattered.”

A bachelor, he treated students like his children. On being asked what memories he would be taking with him, he said: “I will never forget the students who kept coming back year after year to meet me. Bhavan’s has really given me a lot.” 

Other teachers would miss him too. “Students cannot imagine school without Don sir. He would scold them and sometimes even run after boys with a stick in hand. But the next day they would be back to his games classes,” smiled English teacher Mahua Kundu.

Don sir is a fast runner but he would refuse to participate in the teacher’s race held every year at the end of the sports day. In fact, if ever students would praise an athlete to the skies, Don sir would cut him down to size by saying: “First run and catch me, then we shall see.” Thus started the lore: “Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin, namumkin hai.”

But this year everyone forced Don sir to take part in the race. And he won.

After retirement, Don sir said he planned to return to his hometown Burdwan and help his brother there with his school.

When he walks out of the school gates for the last time on March 31, Don sir will have one unfulfilled wish —  sports academy. “But not all wishes are meant to come true,” smiled the 60-year old.