“Debit what comes in. Credit what goes out.”
This is something Sunny Mathew would constantly repeat, reaffirm and register to the 12th Standard Boys of Sharjah Indian School.

“Debit what comes in. Credit what goes out.”
He would always repeat this as he would teach the subject he was passionate about – Accounts.
Oh… and guess what – this was the subject I absolutely hated the most.
Account….*puke*
I seriously hated accounts.
Not that I loved any subject in school.
I hated most of the subjects in my commerce class.
But accountancy topped them all.
Why?
Accountancy subject had no stories to tell or anything interesting,
On top of that it was taught by this straight-forward hard-working serious teacher who didn’t make any jokes, say anything interesting or tell us stories.
Only numbers, solutions &…accounts.
It was during this time that something shocking took place that altered the course of my life.
And this is a secret I am finally opening about today…..
After nearly 25 years.

So what is this deep, dark, dangerous secret that I kept hidden all these years?
Read on.

This man – whose name is Sunny Mathew 25 years ago, taught Accounts to a classroom of 30 Indian boys at Sharjah Indian School. And in that classroom, he would teach students Accounts.
“Debit what comes in. Credit what goes out.”
“Debit what comes in. Credit what goes out.”
“Debit what comes in. Credit what goes out.”
He would constantly repeat, reaffirm and try to register this statement again and again.
To the ones who were worth teaching, he gave his time.
To those who were not interested, he wouldn’t bother.
I would watch him teach. But without any interest.
Because I hated accounts.
To me, he was this funny boring old guy teaching everyone accounts.
While he would take interest in teaching others – I would busy mock him, make fun of him or create some nuisance in the class.
After all I was the class clown and I wanted to showcase my talent.
And every possible moment, I would try to push the envelope even more to get some reaction from everyone.
One day however, I pushed the envelope a bit too far.
A bit too far…..

As the board exams approached, everyone was in a total mindset of stress – with him doing his job of teaching the students everything he possibly could.
For those of you who do not know – For Indian students – the Board Exams or the CBSE Exams were always positioned as a matter of life and death. So everyone was pushed to the brink of “better do it or you are finished”
So it was in this atmosphere that all the students and the teachers were doing their best to cover everything before the exams would approach us…. well , everyone except Loy Machedo.

It was during that phase, at one particularly stressful day that an incident took place.

As he was writing down a few calculations on the black board with a chalk with everyone busy doing class work, I mischievously took a sheet of paper, made it into a narrow-tube like pipe and that I decided to use it to put it behind this teacher as a tail.
I showed it to everyone as the new prank to pull.
And well…everyone was pretty okay with it.
After all – who wouldn’t mind an idiot on the brink of suicide for entertainment?
So everyone gave me the thumbs up and I got ready to embark on the journey of “tail the teacher” – A prank which me and the rest of the students assumed would be ‘funny’.

So as he was writing on the board, I creeped up behind him…slowly….
And very tactfully put the paper ‘tail’ behind his trousers at the belt.
No sooner my fingers touched his belt, he must have felt the pressure and he turned around shocked as to what the hell was happening – to which he found me behind, hiding in a crouched position trying to execute my masterplan.
I must have triggered him or it must have been a bad day, because normally, he would just shout at me and tell me to sit down.
However, at this particular day – it wasn’t going to be ‘just shouting’.

He snapped.
I mean – he seriously snapped.
For a guy who would NEVER raise his hand – he snapped.
He ended up giving me a few good whacks on the head – something he was never known to do. He shook me with both the arms asking me what the hell was wrong with me and why I was doing all this rubbish.
And boy was he pissed.
Really pissed.
He gave me a couple of these slaps until which he stopped.
He was huffing and puffing.
He was very angry.
I was embarrassed & felt stupid.
And then…he was very upset.
I guess when you are a teenager, even the stupid, embarrasing stuff you do, give you the presumption that you are doing something great especially when your school buddies find it ‘cool’.
A few seconds passed after I had gotten my slaps.
The teacher stood still there still breathing heavily.
He then stopped.
Visibly upset while I stood there looking down at the floor knowing that I got caught red-handed doing something stupid.
The class was absolutely quiet.
Really quiet.
No one said a word.
Everyone knew that I had messed up.
We had all messed up.
It was quiet.
Then slowly…..
Sunny just told me…. Go, sit down.
He went to table.
I sheepishly went back to my seat.
He stood there silently for sometime.
Still silence.
Composed himself.
Still breathing heavily but now slowly.
I honestly do not recollect what he said next or did next, but I do know that he lectured the class on the importance of the upcoming exam and that instead of being focused, we were all doing this nonsense.
He was very upset that this happened.
But I suppose, he was even more upset that he lost his cool with me.
He threw the piece of paper and then continued doing the sum on the board.
I didn’t say anything.
Neither did he.
After the bell rang, he just took his books and left.
He could have punished me.
He could have reported me to the Headmaster – who at that time was the most feared man – known as Mr. Nair.
He would have called my parents and I would have absolutely got hammered.
But he choose not to tell anyone about it.
A few days later, everyone forgot about the incident.
Then came the prelims before the exams.
At the prelims before the final board exams, without surprise, I failed in the exams.
I failed most of the papers.
Oh…including the Accounts paper.
No surprises there.
It was then I knew I was in serious trouble because this was one of my weakest subjects. I could mug up the other subjects by memorizing some information.
But accounts?
I knew I couldn’t memorize it.
I honestly didn’t know what to do.
One fine day, without even thinking, before the class would being, I approached the same guy – Sunny Mathew at the desk and asked him if he could help me with one problem I had.
He looked at me…looked the book and then he explained the solution to me.
I was blank.
Looking at my expression, he once again explained the solution to me.
Once again I was blank.
He then realized because I had never paid attention to anything he used to say in the class – I wasn’t able to understand anything.
Looking at my confusion, he then asked me – did you ever pay attention to anything I say in class? To which I just nodded my head and said no.
He kept silent for a few minutes, thought about it and then told me,
Do this, come meet before class hours, and I will teach you a few things.
I told him okay.
The next day I went to him for a few extra minutes of classes.
He taught me a few things.
And then after it was time for school to begin, I left for class.
But as I was leaving, he told me to come tomorrow to complete the pending session.
I said okay.
I came the following day.
He taught me a few things.
And then after it was time for school to begin, I left for class.
But as I was leaving, he told me to come tomorrow once again to complete the pending session.
I once again said okay….
So that went on… and on… and on…
That in turn turned into being coached every alternate day.
That in turn went on for weeks.
That in turn went on for months.
By the way…. Before you do read further….I want you to pay attention to one detail I forgot to mention…..During all these sessions, he never once – NOT ONCE asked me for money.
For a working class man – who taught for a living….. He didn’t ask me… not once….for money.
He gave me his time, he gave me his guidance, he gave me his coaching just because he wanted me to succeed. And mind you – this is during the days where teachers and the teaching job paid hardly anything to even to meet basic expenses and where the majority of teachers were busy teaching students in groups to support their livelihood. In that day and time – he never asked me for a single penny.
Maybe he knew my background.
Maybe he knew the household I came from.
Maybe he knew that if he did ask me for money – I would never be able to afford him.
He never asked me.
And after the sessions were done, I would leave and go to classes.
This continued, until I appeared for the exams, I passed….and I left school.

To this date, I do not recollect thanking him for all that he did for me, I seriously do not recollect appreciating him for his selflessness… I do not recollect doing anything for him.

Today, after nearly 25 years, if you ask me what do I remember of what he taught me…I can only tell you the one line he always repeated again and again…..
“Debit what comes in. Credit what goes out.”
This is something he would constantly repeat, reaffirm and register in our heads.
And this is the one thing I remember even today.
Apart from that – nothing else.
And if you gave me a basic sum from the school books of Sharjah Indian School, I doubt I could even answer it, even if my life depended on it.
But what I did learn from him apart from that one line…..
Was the Power of a Selfless human being in the guise of a teacher.
He gave me what no one to that date ever bothered to give me – a guiding hand, a belief in my abilities and a selfless act of love to help me succeed. He could have easily told me to bugger off, He could have easily judged me or mocked me or got back his pound-of-flesh for all the nonsense I made him go through….. But he didn’t.
He choose never to go that route.
Oh by the way… do you know that he could have easily have asked me to pay him money? Something many teachers were known to do in almost ALL the schools in the UAE as they offered extra classes….but… he didn’t.
He could have.
But he didn’t.
The only thing he asked me was – to take my life seriously and to study hard.

Even though I ended up not being even remotely close to an Ideal student or rather one among the worst students of Sharjah Indian School – this man gave me the guidance, the support and the love I would need to help me through.

For whatever it is worth, after all these years, this is the only thing I can do – is to tell him ‘Thank you’ for giving me something as priceless as your love as a teacher. That too, to one of the most useless, hopeless and pointless cases in the history of Sharjah Indian School.

In the most famous expression adopted by Sir Isaac Newton
“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.”
I know it is people like him whose shoulders I was able to stand to see further in life. The very fact that I still remember him after all these years should prove testament to this fact.

As I conclude, I would just like to say one thing….. Rather repeat what he used to always say….
“Debit what comes in. Credit what goes out.”
I would rephrase this sentence in the following way…
As I take ACCOUNTS of my life….“I’m inDEBTed to what you put into my life. And I can only give you CREDIT for all good that came out. And this is the summary of My BALANCE SHEET.”

Loy Machedo