With school days behind us, it is often the smallest details that stay most vivid – a favourite teacher, an incident that changed how we viewed life and education, or the quirks and rules that gave every school its identity. This Teachers’ Day, we spoke to city celebs about the light-hearted memories they still carry from their school years, revisiting moments that made those years unforgettable.My school taught me to live with my head held high: Bickram GhoshI was in La Martiniere for Boys in the ’70s and early ’80s, and I think that was a peak period for the school. There was a real dynamism there at the time. As the name suggests, La Martiniere was a French institution, started by Claude Martin. The school was brilliant in sports and had a full-blown Western music apparatus. I remember Tony Minazis was the music teacher and an icon in those days, although the music was primarily Western. Being an Eastern classical musician myself, there wasn’t much, barring the Bengali cultural evenings, for me to connect to musically. But what was wonderful was that we had a lot of Anglo-Indian teachers in those years, and some of them were fantastic. There were also wonderful Bengali teachers who, in their own way, taught us to remain grounded in our own culture despite the school’s strong Western influences.‘Discipline was essential’Loreto House alumnus Ridhima Ghosh says there were no shortcuts to discipline in school. “Loreto taught me to manage my time better, and to be compassionate. I cherish the Teachers’ Day memories. Giving roses and handmade cards to teachers as gifts made us girls so happy.”Jokes were our pulse in school, says SohamRemembering his time from Don Bosco, Soham Majumdar says, “There was a Hindi teacher who had a rather funny way of saying, “Main aaun kya?” The way she pronounced it made it sound like “Meow kya?”, and it never failed to make the entire class giggle.”I remember having the best teachers: PratimFilmmaker Pratim D Gupta says, “At South Point School, I remember having incredible teachers – and one unforgettable administrator whose quirky English produced classics like “Open the windows, let the atmosphere come in” and “Don’t vibrate the corridor.” I still remember how much it made us all laugh.”‘Singing good morning was great fun’Clinical nutritionist Ananya Bhowmik, says, “At Modern High School, make a line was a way of life. Whatever the occasion or activity, students had to first fall into line. I also remember how saying good morning was always in a distinctive chorus.”My fondest memory is dancing in the halls: DevlinaActress Devlina Kumar says she was devoted to dance even when at Carmel High School. “Whenever I didn’t feel like going to class, I’d quietly disappear to the rehearsal hall. The teachers always knew exactly where to find me, it was almost an unsaid rule that if I went missing, they’d look there first.”‘My teachers knew I’d be a musician’Drummer Sambit Chatterjee, who hails from Birla High School remembers: “Extra-curriculars were never merely just activities. Music and the arts were integral to the curriculum, with formal music lessons for students. Teachers like Aditi ma’am and Sreemati Ma’am encouraged my musical pursuits. Our school’s motto, Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamay, embodied this wholesome approach.”