I am forever grateful
Truth be told I find it difficult to articulate my emotions and have no idea how to begin writing them down. I had the privilege of knowing Prof. Nazir Ahmad Gilkar during my graduation at Bemina Degree College. He taught us accounting and his teaching style marked with clarity and ability to simplify complex concepts was something that caught my attention. I found it easy to understand his crispy lectures despite having a science background.
Prof. Gilkar was a towering personality in every sense. Tall and dignified, he carried himself with an unmatched confidence. I would always see him walking briskly with a newspaper in hand exuding an aura of wisdom and strength. Over time, I came to admire not only his skills as a teacher but also his versatility as a scholar and speaker. Whenever there were debates and seminars in the college, his eloquence and intellectual prowess were always on display.
In 2011, when I wrote a piece for Greater Kashmir for the first time, I gathered the courage to call him and ask if he could listen to my draft. He not only heard my words line by line but also offered invaluable feedback. He identified areas for improvement, suggested better phrasing and encouraged me to refine my work. That single conversation instilled in me a level of confidence I had never felt before. With his guidance, I published that write up and from then on, I never stopped writing and eventually I started publishing my columns in esteemed national newspapers like The Hindu and The Indian Express.
What started as mentorship blossomed into a cherished relationship. He began calling me regularly sharing his wisdom and encouraging my pursuits. Over time, his calls became a part of my life to the extent that whenever my phone rang, my family and friends would instinctively guess, ‘It’s Gilkar Sahib’. If I look back on my career, I would credit half of my academic success to Professor Gilkar. Not only did he teach me knowledge and wisdom but manners as well. One day I complained to him about a person to whom I had offered a handshake but he didn’t return it. He responded, saying, ‘Look when you meet an elderly person, greet them but never offer a handshake. It doesn’t show good manners. Wait for them to offer it first and then you can offer yours in return’.
Prof. Gilkar’s intellectual curiosity knew no bounds. He would often cite Socrates, Plato and Aristotle if he had to discuss essence of student-teacher relationship. From history, literature, international relations to science, technology and religion, he would keep a close eye on everything. It was through him that I heard some amazing tales about the great luminaries of my own district like Mohi-ud-Din Hajni, Lal Argami, Rashid Nazki and Hassan Khoyami. At times, it was hard to tell whether he was a professor of commerce or philosophy or history. Such was his mastery across fields. His breadth of knowledge always left me in awe. He had a spiritual connection as well. He would always insist me that I should visit Jamia Masjid, Dastgeer Sahib and Makhdoom Sahib shrine to explore them. He was so fond of Fridays that he often said that dying on a Friday was a dignified death. Coincidentally, he departed on Friday.
Professor Gilkar was so deeply concerned about higher education that it became a topic of discussion in nearly every conversation we had. He was widely regarded as an authority on NAAC. Not only did he know the seven criteria but he also remembered the qualitative and quantitative metrics under each criterion with remarkable precision.
Once we invited him to Bandipora College while we were working on our Self Study Report. Despite facing multiple health challenges, he traveled all the way from Srinagar to Bandipora in a Sumo and then took an auto rickshaw to reach the college.
He spent an entire day with the staff, meticulously discussing each metric under the NAAC criteria. He clarified doubts and suggested ways to improve our report. All the staff members including those who had never interacted with him before were completely won over by his wisdom, humility and dedication. They spoke of him not only as an expert but as a person who genuinely cared about the progress of higher education and the betterment of institutions.
Since the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, Prof. Gilkar became deeply immersed in understanding and interpreting its every aspect. There wasn’t a single draft or notification from the UGC that he was unaware of.
In our conversations, he would often say, Aasif just tell me, are teachers ready to take up this challenge? Are they willing to change their pedagogy? He was genuinely concerned about the preparedness of educators to embrace the transformative goals of NEP. For him, NEP wasn’t just about the holistic development of students, it was equally a call for transformation among teachers. I heard him saying numerous times that we focus so much on the students development but we overlook how this policy challenges and empowers teachers to evolve as well. He was highly concerned about academic audit in the institutions and wrote several columns about it in newspapers.
Prof. Gilkar educated thousands of students across various colleges in Jammu and Kashmir. He retired as the Principal of S.P. College and later served as the Controller of Examinations at the Central University of Kashmir where he also held the position of Finance Officer for two years. It is widely acknowledged that he played a pivotal role in streamlining the examination processes in the university and his contributions were instrumental in driving the administrative growth and strengthening the overall functioning of the university.
Despite his physical limitations with 90% of his kidneys damaged and 90% of his eyesight gone, he would ask someone to read books and articles aloud so that he could listen. He would also get his ideas written to publish them in Greater Kashmir. If bravery had a face, it would be Professor Gilkar. Whoever knows him remembers him as a mentor, a scholar, a philosopher and a man of wisdom.
On 26th of December at 9:54 PM, I received a call from his daughter informing me that he has passed away. I was absolutely shattered by the news. I am forever grateful for the lessons he taught me both academic and otherwise and for the opportunity to have been his student. May his soul rest in eternal peace and paradise.
Aasif Shah, Assistant Professor in PG Department of Commerce at GDC Bemina
