The Noblest Profession of them All
And September 5 is celebrated as Teachers day every year.
Mrs. Premalatha
Was my Principal when I was in class 3. Showed us what hardwork is all about. And also believed in the adage, work while you work and play while you play. She went on to start her own school which was and still is ranked as one of the leading schools here.
Mrs. Gnana Muthu
Was our science teacher initially. But was adept at taking all kinds of subjects. A very soft spoken but at the same time a disciplinarian
too. Later on was to become our school Principal for years together. She was primarily responsible for igniting the spark of curiosity in us, which lead to our liking science so early in our school life.
Mrs. Prathibha
Was our gujarati teacher in school. The credit of teaching
my mother tongue to me goes solely to her. Thanks to her untiring efforts, we know how to read, write and speak our mother tongue. It would be a shame if we dint know our mother tongue itself.
Mrs. Vasukithai
If not for other things, I will never forget how she drilled
into our minds the importance of good handwriting. I know in today's world when we all are typing away to glory on our keyboards, I sound a bit old fashioned. But I still believe that one has to write legibly and in a well presented manner. I had a handwriting which would beat Gandhiji's hands down. But due to her untiring efforts, I can now boast of some decent handwriting. She used to ask us to come over to her home after school and grill us with handwriting note books. We were made to write repeatedly till we improved it.
Ms. Padmini
If there is one subject that I dread till date, it is Chemistry. Even her best efforts have not had some positive effect of turning my dislike for that subject into love for it. I still cant get the hand of the hundred thousand ways the hydrogen and carbon atoms cling on to each other and each one exhibits a different property. Ok, agreed that hydro carbons are a little higher in the hierarchy, but even in the earlier classes I never used to like this subject much. But I still appreciate the way she used to try to make is as simple and enjoyable as possible.
Mrs. Thaiyalnayaki
If I take a poll on which subject most of you hated most and
I am sure it will invariably be History. (Math might top, but history might come a close second). But believe it or not, I used to read my history chapters a day before they were going to be read out in class. I used to love that subject. Even till this day, (with a brief brush up) I might score some good marks in it. Especially in Class IX and X, we had one book to be finished over the period of two years. It was mostly about the period from the Moghul invasion right till
incident. I give her credit to make this subject so beautiful.
Mrs. Fateh Ali
Ah !! One of my most favourite teachers. And her subject?
Arts and Crafts. I have never seen a more dedicated teacher in my life. Period. And her passion for Arts and Crafts and also to share the same with us students (she treated us all like her kids) was unparalleled. You name and famous art or craft and the probability of me either having practiced it or atleast learnt it a bit is very very high. Painting, Batik Printing, Brush painting, Origami, Artificial Flowers, Art from waste, Figures from Vegetables ' i jus cant write the whole thing out here. Will blog a separate post on it. She is a class apart. Ma'am, I still vividly remember the Sundays we spent in learning all those new crafts. I don't know where you are or how you are, but you will always be remembered by this student of yours.
Ms. Padma
Our Physics teacher. Due to some confusion in the syllabus and also on the part of our school management, we got to learn physics only
from Class 8. Imagine having to learn all the advanced topics without the fundamentals. But she did teach all the fundamentals first and then made the subject so interesting for us that atleast I got hooked to this subject. Of all the four science subjects in school, my favourite was Physics. Thanks to her. If I had had the option to choose only one science subject and given an opportunity I would have chosen Physics and would now be in that field for sure. I can still rattle of the Keppler's laws,
Mrs. Rani
Our English teacher for a brief period. But her English was
impeccable. She called us (me and my friends) over to her house one weekend and we viewed the movie The Sound of Music. We must have been in class 4 or 5. Hmm ..
Ms. Guha Kumari
Again one of my Favourite teachers. Taught us the subject Geography. And again just like history, I just fell in love with Geography too.
I used to put my heart and soul while reading this subject ' not just our
school syllabus but also from external sources too. Newspapers, old Nat Geo mags. Etc. And I used to make the best and most colourful maps required for the tests. But apart from a subject teacher, she was much more than that. She was a friend, philosopher and guide. She idea of discipline was that we are allowed to be mischievous in her presence, but when she is out of the class for some reason we are supposed to maintain total discipline. She taught us to be independent. She taught us speak out and speak up when necessary. She taught us to be individuals. She taught us a lot of things ' which was not necessary for
her to give so much time and effort. But she loved her students ' us and she was a wonderful human being. I have won a few elocution competitions just because of her. I will have to post a separate blog about her, which I might do so in future. Salute you ma'am. You were a gem.
Mrs. Ahilya
Our English teacher in later years. I was her pet student. (for that matter, I was a pet for most of my teachers.) Even in spite of her
best of efforts, I still don't like classic English literature. But she did
make me like poetry a bit in school.
Mr. Ramanathan
He was our math teacher in our later years in school. An elderly gentleman, who was a retired professor. He used to be short tempered, but thanks to him we all did very good in Mathematics. I wouldn't even have known whether I passed or failed in that subject.
Mr. Riaz
Our PT master in earlier years. He looked almost like Bruce
Lee (am exaggerating a bit) and was a black belt karate master himself. It was under him that we learnt karate. His tough task master demeanor masked his friendliness when we were in class. If we are late for the class, we done for it. We are not allowed into it without 30-50 push ups ' on the knuckles, that is. Try doing ten and tell me how you feel. You were jus great sir.
Mr. Jothi Ramalingam
Our PT master in later years. He was an expert in a number of games and a disciplinarian. We learnt a lots of games only after he joined. He served in our school for a long time.
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weekends ' either for study or for some learning activity. They did all this out of sheer love and a sense of personal satisfaction. Their dedication to their job and students was outstanding. If I am able to remember them today and all the incidents ' then you will be able to sense the amount of gratitude that
is felt.
I am not able to recall other teachers who taught us in
school. And I have written the above without referring any photos or school books or reports. It's written totally from memory only. By not writing about others I don't mean any ill will against them. I was fortunate to have these gem of people as our teachers in school. I salute each and every one of them today. As I look back in life, I do feel this sense of pride that, some of my best years in life were in their presence. May God bless each one of you where
ever you are.
