A Tribute

Teacher's day is on September 5th, an occasion to remember all those brave souls who waged a war with my lack of intellect, who tried desperately to drive information into an empty head.

I have several favourite teachers, who deserve mention, starting all the way from Kindergarten.
There it was Helen ma'am(or uppity-bumpity ma'am- she taught us to draw bumps as well as our first letters). These teachers are largely underappreciated, and usually forgotten about, but they are the ones who have to put up with the worst and most unreasonable years of kids. It was Helen ma'am who put up with my tears when I wouldn't be separated from my grandmother(I actually demanded that she stay under the mango tree outside of class the whole time!...and of course as soon as one kid starts off....the others join in the chorous).I also remember following her around everywhere, clutching the pallu of her sari tightly, as she made rounds of other classes, and on one such day, when it was raining, and the roof was leaking(they were thatched roofs-a good excuse for a rain holiday)- I got a cold, and she was the first person(that I can remember)-to tell me to cough with the hanky over my mouth-my first lessons in ettiquette.

In primary school the first teacher who comes to mind is Sree ma'am who taught biology. She was as much a friend as a mentor, the first of those teachers we could talk almost as an equal, rather than a great and rather distant personality.

There was our Headmistress Guna ma'am, fair and kind, but strict- she took handwriting, and despaired of me, and took me to task because I was intent on speed rather than quality!

Then Shyamala ma'am who took physics, I can still hear her shocked "Dickens!" when we came up with particularly inventive answers or excuses.

There was our Principal Mr Sharma, who ended the assembly every morning with a "Please disperse quietly" Assemblies never felt quite right after he left, and then I changed school, and there about a year later we got a new principal, my chemistry teacher from my old school and my day was made when she ended the prayers there, with those old familiar words!

There are two maths teachers on my list. One is Abraham ma'am who taught maths in 4th and 5th standard, and created in me a love for geometry, which served me very well through the higher classes, the other is Vijymeenakshi Miss(the difference in title is because they were in different schools...I've always been more comfortable with ma'am myself...It doesn't make sense to call a married woman miss you know?)...Anyway, she was one of those rare people who could keep the class in order effortlessly... no screaming, threats...sending people out of class... and she was an excellent teacher...a rare breed indeed! She was small, barely 5 feet tall and had hair in a thick plait, all the way down to her knees! And her sarcastic "Well madam/sir?" when one of us was upto mischief still stays with me.

Through 11th and 12th the teacher I liked best was our English teacher Lakshmi Srinivasan -our English textbooks while not as dull as the other subjects were nothing to write home about, she still managed to hold us captivated through the dullest essays!

In college- there is our HOD- a wonderful person- inspirational in his passion for his subject. And very kind if you don't rub himthe wrong way. He has no patience with sloppiness, and god help you, if your shirt is untucked , or your ID card is misplaced!

And there is Annie ma'am(we voted for her to get the best teacher award) and Priya Shirley(another maths person) ma'am.

And in the end there is one person I have to mention- my paatu sir. I cannot call music a passion- although I love it, it has had to consistantly take second place to my other ambitions. But he has always been willing to teach me, whenever I have had to time to learn. He is not one who will waste words on compliments but an "Aah ok" means all the world from him.