Time Machine - Part 1
Just a while back, I was reading one of leading Tamil writers, Era Murugan's blog - http://vembanattukkaayal.blogspot.com/ (btw, he happens to be my dad's relative too. Have not met him though :( ). One of his last posts titled "Sivgangaiyil oru chinna payyan" insitigated me to write my memoirs about my school life. Given that I do not have much to do over this week, writing this blog seems to be the apt thing to do.
My memories of my school life is predominantly characterized by a structure. Early morning - homework (which was replaced by tuition from 7th grade), 7 am - getting ready to school, 8 am - Walking to school, 8:05 to 8:50 am playing some random games in school, 9am - 4pm school time, 4-4:30 pm some time to play, 4:30pm head back home, 4:50-5:45 some eating 6 - run for either Hindi tuition or mridangam class.
God only know where did i have that enthu to learn mridangam or hindi, and how did i learn when my parents did not have any inkling whatsoever about what I learnt. Nowadays, I see parents totting behind their kids for whatever they do and take a keen interest in what their kids do. For sure my parents were off beat then. Well, thats a different story for a different time. All through my schooling life, my parents were busy with their office work. Both left for work around 8 am and were back only after 7:00pm. Which means that they were busy through the morning prepping for their work and busy late in the evenings getting their strain off. Leaving, yours truly either with grand parents (till 6th grade) and then off to himself. By the mighty grace of some celestial bodies or due to lack of that much porruki influence in the area i grew, I turned ok. Now, whenever i try to remember of things during my childhood days, my parents rarely come into the picture. It is either dad's side grand pa, or mom's side grand pa/grand mom, or teachers, or friends.
School teachers have always been fun, that too when the teachers live nearby your house (as they were in SRDFVV, Chromepet) and the teachers' kids study with you. Few of indelible teachers are follows:
- Rama: Maths taught by her has been the best thing happened in my life. She taught without actually feeling that learning that stuff would be tough. She encouraged students to challenge her. Some of the students, including me, went to tuition and learnt many different ways of solving a single problem. Rama ma'am always appreciated when we challenged her with new solutions. To top it off, I have hardly heard her raise her voice. Pretty sweet eh!
- Rajalakshmi: When I think of Tamil, I think of Rajalakshmi ma'am. Whatever fervor i have for this archaic language, i owe it to her. The way she taught those numerous thirukural's that we have to memorize was awesome.
- Mangalam ji: As pointed out by the name, she was the school hindi teacher. Tall lean lady, who never missed a minute to use her cane.
- Sethubhai: A great history teacher. While i dont remember the history she taught, i sure do remember her antics of hitting at students. The way she would twist our ears, say erumai madu and give a wack at our back. OOOOO.. sends chills even now. The best thing is that, this teacher is now related to my friend's wife.
In addition to these teachers, there were always some characters who seem to live past the definition of TIME. Like the ayah, who I remember right from my kinder garden days. Last year I saw her near the school. Or the attendant, who made copies of the exam papers as well as ringing the school bell.
Some other activities which remains in my memory are the weekly monday routine of doing Yoga at 3:00 pm. Almost the whole school lined up in front of auditorium, doing yoga postures for instructions from that shorty Sir. The worst idea of this lot is making us do Yoga in hot sun, wearing spotless white dress in red sand. The next activity i remember is an annual activity that the school called cultural day. It started as a single day activity, then ballooned to 3 day activity with expensive tickets. It went to a level that even the students have to get tickets to see those plays. The best thing happened for us, for that teachers were busy for the best part of 3 months prepping for those 3 days. And if you are in the play, an additional incentive to not be worried about studies. Talking about plays, one big envy for me in my school days was not being part of the school band team. They had lots of fun (or seem to) during the Arts class. Playing the thalapathi tune. Had they known the james bond tune or the Austin powers tune, they would have played that too.
Just a walk down the school road is enough to rekindle these memories. The last time I was in India, I just had time to quickly drive past the school. The rush of memories it gave was enough to put a smile on my face for a while.
Just a while back, I was reading one of leading Tamil writers, Era Murugan's blog - http://vembanattukkaayal.blogspot.com/ (btw, he happens to be my dad's relative too. Have not met him though :( ). One of his last posts titled "Sivgangaiyil oru chinna payyan" insitigated me to write my memoirs about my school life. Given that I do not have much to do over this week, writing this blog seems to be the apt thing to do.
My memories of my school life is predominantly characterized by a structure. Early morning - homework (which was replaced by tuition from 7th grade), 7 am - getting ready to school, 8 am - Walking to school, 8:05 to 8:50 am playing some random games in school, 9am - 4pm school time, 4-4:30 pm some time to play, 4:30pm head back home, 4:50-5:45 some eating 6 - run for either Hindi tuition or mridangam class.
God only know where did i have that enthu to learn mridangam or hindi, and how did i learn when my parents did not have any inkling whatsoever about what I learnt. Nowadays, I see parents totting behind their kids for whatever they do and take a keen interest in what their kids do. For sure my parents were off beat then. Well, thats a different story for a different time. All through my schooling life, my parents were busy with their office work. Both left for work around 8 am and were back only after 7:00pm. Which means that they were busy through the morning prepping for their work and busy late in the evenings getting their strain off. Leaving, yours truly either with grand parents (till 6th grade) and then off to himself. By the mighty grace of some celestial bodies or due to lack of that much porruki influence in the area i grew, I turned ok. Now, whenever i try to remember of things during my childhood days, my parents rarely come into the picture. It is either dad's side grand pa, or mom's side grand pa/grand mom, or teachers, or friends.
School teachers have always been fun, that too when the teachers live nearby your house (as they were in SRDFVV, Chromepet) and the teachers' kids study with you. Few of indelible teachers are follows:
- Rama: Maths taught by her has been the best thing happened in my life. She taught without actually feeling that learning that stuff would be tough. She encouraged students to challenge her. Some of the students, including me, went to tuition and learnt many different ways of solving a single problem. Rama ma'am always appreciated when we challenged her with new solutions. To top it off, I have hardly heard her raise her voice. Pretty sweet eh!
- Rajalakshmi: When I think of Tamil, I think of Rajalakshmi ma'am. Whatever fervor i have for this archaic language, i owe it to her. The way she taught those numerous thirukural's that we have to memorize was awesome.
- Mangalam ji: As pointed out by the name, she was the school hindi teacher. Tall lean lady, who never missed a minute to use her cane.
- Sethubhai: A great history teacher. While i dont remember the history she taught, i sure do remember her antics of hitting at students. The way she would twist our ears, say erumai madu and give a wack at our back. OOOOO.. sends chills even now. The best thing is that, this teacher is now related to my friend's wife.
In addition to these teachers, there were always some characters who seem to live past the definition of TIME. Like the ayah, who I remember right from my kinder garden days. Last year I saw her near the school. Or the attendant, who made copies of the exam papers as well as ringing the school bell.
Some other activities which remains in my memory are the weekly monday routine of doing Yoga at 3:00 pm. Almost the whole school lined up in front of auditorium, doing yoga postures for instructions from that shorty Sir. The worst idea of this lot is making us do Yoga in hot sun, wearing spotless white dress in red sand. The next activity i remember is an annual activity that the school called cultural day. It started as a single day activity, then ballooned to 3 day activity with expensive tickets. It went to a level that even the students have to get tickets to see those plays. The best thing happened for us, for that teachers were busy for the best part of 3 months prepping for those 3 days. And if you are in the play, an additional incentive to not be worried about studies. Talking about plays, one big envy for me in my school days was not being part of the school band team. They had lots of fun (or seem to) during the Arts class. Playing the thalapathi tune. Had they known the james bond tune or the Austin powers tune, they would have played that too.
Just a walk down the school road is enough to rekindle these memories. The last time I was in India, I just had time to quickly drive past the school. The rush of memories it gave was enough to put a smile on my face for a while.
2 comments:
Hey Sriram ,
Very well written. Your blog really rekindled my childhood memories. Keep up the gud work.
Accidentally, I came across your blog ! I had read through the first one (reg the DONT's) and then went to the archives and now I am seeing that you are also a student of SRDFVV, Chromepet :) Wow ! All those teachers have been really great and wonderful.
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