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Experiences which I would like to share

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rgurus

Active member
A never ending experience:
In one of those good old days, as I was walking along in the government estate near Rajaji hall, I heard a voice from behind calling "Sir, Sir". I was very sure that it must be the voice of a beggar seeking alms from someone behind me. Unmindful of the hoarse voice, I was just walking fast towards the then MPSC (Madras Public Service Commision) Office. But the voice didn't seem to die down and was following me like a shadow. I was pretty sure that it must be one of those modern mendicants trying to present a story of woes about himself and about his family, being decently employed in an Institution of standing who had lost his bulky purse and how he had been left in the lurch most unexpectedly and was not able to go back to his house to see his most beloved wife and children and how he had been struggling for a decent meal for the past one and a half days. By addressing people as Sirs or madams, such people draw their respectful attention and derive sympathy with their pedagogic approach just to extract money from the passers by with a promise that the money given to them would be returned the minute they reached their native place by telegraphic money order (common in those days), giving their address (always fictitious) as a proof of the genuineness of their case. All that melodrama would be done in such a convincing manner that you would be moved to the extent of even going out of the way to beg or borrow money from one of your friends to help the desperate person, with the fond hope of getting back the money in the next two or three days, but ultimately only to get dejected and disappointed to know that you had been taken for a fool. Quite a number of times I had been caught unawares and got caught into their trap and so I decided not to play a fool this time and not to pay heed to the voice nor to look back to see who was following me because that would embolden him to approach me with greater confidence than before and corner me and that might result in the transfer of a few rupees from my pocket to his basket. So I continued to walk faster to give an indication to him that I didn't like his following me and I was avoiding me. But the voice was also getting louder and louder, nearer and nearer, giving me a clear indication that he was also correspondingly increasing his pace. I was almost at the point of running when he virtually overtook me and stood before me blocking my passage. Though annoyed, I didn't have the discourtesy to chuck him out of my way and before I could ask him as to what was he up to, he stopped me from proceeding further and asked me, " Sir, don't you recognise me?". I was taken by surprise by his question, because I was quite sure that no beggar would ask such a question except while approaching his own fraternity. Probably had he mistaken me to be one among his fraternity? Before I could open my mouth and get into further trouble, he said," Sir, I am your old student".
I couldn't remember whether he was my old student or a young student, but looked very young indeed and when I came back from my senses I told him, " Sorry, my friend. I am not able to place you. That is the difficulty with most of us teachers." Then he introduced himself by telling his name which I forgot the minute he told it, talked casually about where he was working and how much respect he had for me and how good I was in teaching and as a teacher and so on, a rare gesture from a student to get. I felt very sorry and ashamed within myself for having mistaken a good student (!) of mine for a mendicant but thanked him for all the good words that he had told about me which was and is usually unusual from a student and with a sense of guilt I took leave of him or to put it rightly, permitted him to take leave of me. This guilty feeling of having equated a good old student of mine to a beggar made me go sleepless for a few days and I decided that hereafter I shouldn't jump to conclusions arbitrarily and it was better to err on the safe side in future. ( continued)
 
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Since my thread on Anecdotes and episodes have been closed for some reason(?), I am continuing them under the title " Experiences which I would like to share". Thank you all who have followed my "anecdotes" which I have narrated so far.
 
Dear Guru Sir,
When a thread becomes a battle field, it is closed by the moderator. :lock1:
We will continue to read your anecdotes, in this new thread. :ranger:
 
Never ending experience (continued)
A month after this incident, as I was walking along the road side , a gentleman approached me and cast a friendly familiar smile at me, a smile usually reserved for friends and close associates only. With my past experience, I was sure I was not going to be fooled this time and as he approached me, I took the initiative and to impress him with my astounding memory, imagining that he was asking me as to whether I remembered him or not, asked him whether he was my old student. That was enough for him to establish a close rapport with me and he started reeling out his story of how he was from a decent family, how he lost his purse and so on, the usual platitudes that such people indulge in. He even offered himself to be my student, thanked me for such a sentiment and wanted me to pay for it. Caught in a very embarrassing situation, I parted with a few bucks and when he offered to give me his address, I politely declined it with thanks. Even after losing a few hundred rupees, I have not learnt a lesson till date, invariably erring on the wrong side only and committing the same mistake time and again, a never ending experience!
 
Kissing and pissing?
As a public health/ environmental engineer, I was naturally interested in the sanitation of our country and we used to meet experts from abroad in this area to update our information. In this connection, once (in 1960s) I happen to meet a foreigner who has travelled widely in India who asked me at a casual moment why kissing in public is prohibited in India. I told him that it is a part of our culture. Then the next question that he shot at me was how while KISSING IN PUBLIC IS PROHIBITED, PISSING IN PUBLIC IS PERMITTED. HE WANTED TO KNOW WHETHER IT WAS ALSO A PART OF OUR CULTURE. I was caught in the wrong foot and I had to say that pissing in Public is an offence in this country also. He next asked me why then while action is taken against public kissing, no such action is in evidence against pissing anywhere in this country. I could not say that people won't tolerate the former, but will tolerate the later. I couldn't also say poverty and illiteracy are the reasons, for fear of being quipped that in that case whether if poor and illiterate people indulge in kissing in public, will they be dealt with leniently? One westerner pointed out that Indians eat in private, but defecate in publc. These things might look very offending, but we have no answers for them. THE ONE VERY IMPORTANT LESSON THAT WE HAVE TTO LEARN FROM THE WEST IS PERSONAL AND PUBLIC CLEANLINESS. we just do not do this, but copy allthe vices of the West. As O'Henry said " while copying the vices of the west, we retained our own"The insanitation and filth surroundind us is a question often raised by many of the westerners for which I do not have any ready made answer. Of course we are taking steps in that direction since independence, but still we have to go a long way through. I do not want to discuss in detail since it will bring no credit to us. Illiteracy, and ignorance are the prime factors responsible for the situation that we are in. Even though we have made some improvements, a lot more needs to be done.We have to learn a lot from the westerners with regard to provision of rest rooms and their maintenance. I used to feel that such a basic necessity is ignored in toto in our country. We have to change our mindset. Long distance travels become travails in our country particularly for kids and senior citizens, more so for ladies. I am sure everyone of us at sometime or other has gone through the ordeal of lack of rest rooms whenever and wherever we undertake a long trip by cars or buses in our country.
On one occasion, I had a different experience in US. That was when I went to the Golden Gate in San Francisco, where I FELT AT HOME WHEN I SAW A PUBLIC TOILET VERY POORLY MAINTAINED MUCH LIKE OUR OWN PUBLIC CONVENIENCES, AND THAT GAVE ME A SORT OF A VICARIOUS PLEASURE!
I am narrating this not to insult or find fault with Indians, but only to show HOW WE ARE SEEN BY OUTSIDERS. It is time for us to change and bring about change.
 
Ram and I took a bus journey from Philly to Boston and our nephew assured us that the six hour journey will be

fine because the bus had a restroom at the back side! Hmmm. I need NOT get down in search of a rest room! :cool:

After four hours, I was curious to check how the rest room would be inside a bus! I forgot 'Curiosity kills the cat!

Coolly I went to the back side, crossing the sleeping passengers on nice push back seats and tried to open the door.

It was a kind of sliding door which will NOT allow hefty persons to enter! Only when we put the latch, a light

will be on! OMG! I saw a big tank filled with some kind of smelly liquid which contained human wastes! :yuck:

Without doing the 'jobie', I rushed outside, closed the door and went hurriedly to take my seat! :D
 
My Madurai experience.
This happened at Madurai a few years back.
On one fine or not so fine morning, while I was standing on the TPK road near Pazhanganatham at Madurai waiting for the cobbler to repair the chapels given by my brother-in-law, I fell down unconscious. Immediately I was taken to the nearby hospital and got admitted. By then I regained my consciousness and was FEELING VERY NORMAL. However the doctors insisted on my undergoing a thorough check up and tested me for the usual standard parameters such as BP, sugar, cholesterol etc and wanted me to have a head -scan done. Since the hospital didn't have the facility, they planned to take me to a scan centre nearby and arranged for an ambulance for this purpose. The ambulance was stationed a few yards away from my bed outside my block and when I tried to get up and walk to the ambulance, the nurse and other staff there objected saying that I SHOULDN'T STRAIN MYSELF AND WALK BECAUSE I WAS VERY WEEK and prevented me from EVEN GETTING UP FROM THE BED. Within minutes a stretcher was brought and I was laid (!) on it and pushed into the ambulance that ultimately carried me to the scan centre. I was seated in a bench there and was asked to wait until I was called for scanning. I was completely left to myself with no assistance from any of their staff and after a wait for about 30 minutes, I was told that the scanning will be done IN THE THIRD FLOOR. When I asked them where the lift was, I WAS TOLD THAT THERE WAS NO LIFT THERE AND I HAD TO CLIMB THE STAIRS UP ALL BY MYSELF. I did it the hard way, climbed up three stairs and got the scan done.
I FELT VERY STRANGE AND ANNOYED THAT WHILE I WAS PREVENTED FROM EVEN GETTING UP AND WALKING TO THE AMBULANCE WHICH WAS JUST TEN YARDS AWAY OR EVEN LESS, I WAS FORCED TO CLIMB UP THREE FLOORS.
Strange are the ways of the world, I thought!
In this connection, I want to add one more information. My head was scanned on three different occasions at three different centres at three different cities for three different purposes by three different doctors and all of them told me in three different languages the same thing, the sum and substance of which boiled down to "THERE WAS NOTHING IN MY HEAD" and I took it sportively and consoled myself thinking that the doctors after all must have meant that there was nothing wrong in my head and that the word "wrong" was inadvertently omitted. How far my interpretation is correct, I don't know
 
A weighty problem
Attention. The article below is written keeping in view weight gain and weight loss.
"Join our institute. Come Round and go sound"
" Shed 5 kgs in just five days"
" lose weight and gain straight"
" No dieting. No exercise. No strain.
Assured of a slim figure without pain"
Whenever and wherever you look at the paper or journal or magazine, you find such ads and tempting slogans on weight loss. In addition definitely you will find a column which speaks about the ill effects of obesity. Obesity is the cause for all your problems including your family problem, because you eat more. Tips on how to talk a lot so that you don't have sufficient time to eat, how to develop constipation so that you can eat less and how to employ cooks who are very bad in culinary art so that you vomit whatever little you eat are given for a nominal cost. You are advised umpteen number of methods of reducing the body weight. How to get a flat tummy, how to look slick and smart, how to shed flabbiness, which five foods you must take and which ten foods you must avoid, what sort of dieting you should indulge in, what sort of exercises you should practice and for how long, the list is almost endless. All these are discussed in great detail in all leading papers and magazines ever since my childhood. I have also seen people taking these adds seriously and then complaining how after dieting for fifteen days, they started eating more by way of compensation for the past losses due to dieting and within a week thereafter how they have more than regained their lost weight. But my problem has been different. I am and was one of those who stuggled to put on weight. To continue
 
A weighty problem ( continued)
You are thin just covered by your skin. Gain weight joining our institute"
"We guarantee that you will put on 5 kgs within five days. No miracle cure.
If not satisfied, twice your fee will be refunded" ( but when and within what time frame not mentioned)
"Come thin. Join our inn. Gain weight and win"
"Don't blush. More flesh, better health. Join our institute and within twenty days, you will gain ten Kgs. Your skimpy body will get rounded and you can become a wrestler and can make your opponent grounded".
Have you ever come across an ad as above? I am yet to see it. Are there not persons who are interested in putting on flesh and gaining weight? I have seen many unidimensional figures and no one seems to have ever bothered about these skinny sketches who want to put on weight, grow a tummy and look three dimensional. Why is this not happening? Thinking about this, I lost three days sleep and 1kg. I am always an odd man out in this world. In my young days I was as lean as a rat and every time after vacation I went home, there were relatives pointing out to me that I have become thinner than I was on the previous occasion. When I joined my Engineering course I was weighing 95 pounds and at the end of the course after four years, I was weighing only 90 pounds ( metric units were not introduced then and it was all British units and so weight was measured in terms of pounds and not Kilograms). This is in spite of the fact that I was very conscious of my body and I wanted to build it up before I become invisible. I tried eggs and milk, but the pathetic part of it was that after taking eggs, being a strict vegetarian, I developed nausea at the very thought of having consumed a chicken in its prehatched stage and as a measure of repentance and as a mark of respect my eyes involuntarily shed tears to those unborn chickens and my appetite reached its nadir with the result I was not able to eat even the very little that I was munching till then. I never knew that I was allergic to milk and the catalytic combination of eggs and milk proved to be the first fatal blow to my stomach which killed my in-absentia appetite and this realisation dawned on me at the end of four years, just like the correct answer dawning on us after the exam. Needless to say I was looking for advices and articles on how to put on weight, but no magazine in the country ever bothered to think of this aspect and come out with a solution for my flustering problem which was a sort of a life and death problem for me. I started hating myself, dejected at my frail frame and I did not know how to get over this feeling. Nonetheless, I was extremely brisk, both physically and mentally and never felt weak or forlorn until someone pointedly derided at me the way I was. This led to the development of a complex in me and as Lord Buddha, I started searching for the ultimate, the ultimate in my case being how to put on a human look. But nearby there were only some tamarind trees and neem trees and no Bodhi trees that would give me the enlightenment which I sought after and so I started searching within myself for the answer. I found that it became necessary for me to put on some fat to save my bones from exposure to the elements. They were not days of internets and outernets and so, for any information on health, I had to look to the magazines and journals and that was where as I pointed out at the beginning, no magazine came to my rescue. Whenever I approached a doctor the stock solution was "eat well". How could one eat a well, sorry, how could one eat well, I had no idea. Just like anybody else, I had only one mouth and two hands and I didn't know the technique of eating more with my single mouth. The receptor, I mean my stomach refused to cooperate with me in collaboration with my inner mind and so I found it next to impossible to gulp my food, breakfast, supper or dinner in my hostel days because I was married to a different taste and different preparation for which I was very loyal and no doctor could understand this psychology of mine. Why? I was myself not able to understand it. So what was the solution? Marriage might have been a solution, but I was too young to be prepared for the risk. After completing my B.E I was in the department working at places like Mettur, Cuddalore and so on and I had to resign myself to my hotel food, but the paradox was that my friends who were eating in the very same hotel the very same dishes which I despised, were accumulating more and more fat day by day, reaching within a month or so their "bursting point". To add to my woes, the working condition in the department was so bad that it created a despair in me which started eating away even my skin for want of any semblance of fat in any remote corner of my body . I was and am a very sensitive type and any tension will upset my stomach making it very difficult for me to eat. During every examination, I used to lose some five or ten pounds depending upon the seriousness of the exam and this has been going on right from my schooldays. It took nearly three months or more for me to regain what I lost within a week. There was always a struggle going on between my mind and my body and the body meekly subject itself to defeat every time. I couldn't tolerate myself anymore and decided to put on weight by hook or by crook, but subject to the condition that I would continue to be a vegetarian since I considered it to be more than a religion as I do even today. What a conservative thought, one may feel, but I felt that vegetarianism was and is no fad. (To continue)
 
How come you write without any punctuations.
There are no paragraphs, no page breaks etc.
Have you ever tried to read your posts? or it is just for others to suffer.
 
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How come you write without any punctuations.
There are no paragraphs, no page breaks etc.
Have you ever tried to read your posts? or it is lust for others to suffer.
I changed the fonts in my P C and hence read Guru Sir's posts easily! :cool:
 
Weighty issue (continued)
At that time I also nurtured an idea of pursuing my higher education and it was then that I saw an ad in the paper calling for applications for admission to the Master's Degree in what was then designated as "Public Health Engineering", later redesignated as "Environmental Engineering" in the early eighties. The term "Health" in the course "Public Health Engineering" attracted me and I thought that this course wiould be a panacea for all my problems. So I joined the course in the year 1957 after one year of struggle in the field as Junior Engineer and as a student, I conditioned my mind in such a way that I became almost a glutton and I started eating, now unmindful of the taste of the hostel food. ( Taste seems to be a problem with many hostellers who are from homes. I know one friend of mine who returned from his higher studies half way from States back home just because he couldn't get the homely food to which he was accustomed!) I was able to overcome evil temptations of taste at last. Night times I used to keep three or four sweet lemons near my pillow besides horlicks, biscuits and so on and in the middle of the nights also I used to gulp them. I never gave rest to my stomach.
Thus I started overfeeding my body almost nonstop and after every meal, I used to check for improvement in the physical size of my biceps and cough muscles but only to be disappointed. I was comparing the girth of my stomach with that of anybody and everybody on the roadside. I also checked my weight religiously every week in the weighing machines in railway stations, bus stops or restaurants, with each machine showing different weights and different predictions ranging from good luck to marriage (two diametrically opposite things), but none indicating any appreciable extra build up of weight. But I was not deterred by such things and I solemnly pledged within myself that I won't get married until I reached 120 pounds (Mcmohan line or LoC, between one stage of life and its next stage) That resolve gave strength to my challenge and this continued till I completed my Master's. But now I was not the weakling that I was and so was not disheartened at the negligible increase in my weight. At the end of my project submission for my Master's Degree, I found that my stomach started bulging, the first ever symptom in my life suggesting that at last my body is accepting some flesh.
In the next three months there was appreciable increase in my weight and I found that I have reached my target of 120 pounds. ( to all those who indulge in this exercise of emancipation from emaciation, my sincere advice is that you must show enormous patience and not be in a hurry and get disheartened) And at the time of my marriage, I reached 135 pounds and since then I have been maintaining my weight around 60 kgs, sacrificing my most valuable freedom for the rest of my life. Whoever I see who is worried about his or her puny body, I tell them my story and give them hope. Thus I am a standing or a sitting example of how, if one has the will, there is a way. Putting on weight is equally tough as losing one's weight. That is the lesson that I learnt.
( end)
 
Thank you for your valuable comment. I am not writing for a text book. It is a casual writing and you have asked me whether I ever tried to read my posts. There is no need for me to answer this question, but one thing is clear that for some reason or other you are prejudiced against me right from the beginning. That is what becomes obvious from your comment. Any way thank you.
 
Thank you for your valuable comment. I am not writing for a text book. It is a casual writing and you have asked me whether I ever tried to read my posts. There is no need for me to answer this question, but one thing is clear that for some reason or other you are prejudiced against me right from the beginning. That is what becomes obvious from your comment. Any way thank you.

If I did not want to read your post I can always ignore it. I am trying to read with open mind. It should be easy to read. I was just helping you to write so others may read.
 
Dear Gurusji,

For sometime I have been also wanting to suggest spacing your posts.

Its interesting to read your narration style but the absence of spacing and paragraphs is a bit strenous on the human eye.

I do hope you would consider spacing your posts so that its easier to read.
 
Dear Guru Sir,

Usually, I skip reading long posts, without proper spacing, saying, 'TLDR' - Too Long Didn't Read!

One of my friends used to tease me for this 'Short attention span'! ;)

Since I want to read your posts, I changed the fonts in my PC and reading is now easy! :cool:

But still, please give spacing at least between paragraphs. Thank you. :)
 
MY VILLAGE SCHOOL DAYS
INTRODUCTION
Many of the present generation youngsters may havo no idea of the system of education in our days. This is written for those who may be interested in it.
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
I had my education at the District Board High School, Ariyalur, a small backward area village. ( Today it has grown into a district headquartera named after it) There was an elementary school (1st standard to 5th standard) behind the High School, which for many years was headed by one of my grand uncles.

In my elementary school days, there was no electricity in most houses and we used only Hurricane Lamps. And once we had electricity, ( that was when i reached my fourth Standard), we were never allowed to even switch on the light for fear of shock.

There was no such thing as preschooling, play schools, LKG and UKG those days.
One Bajanai ( பஜனை) master of the village was the person who initiated me in learning Tamil alphabets using tamarind seeds and sand.

Then on one Vijayadasami day (1940), I remember being taken in a procession with the accompaniment of Nadhaswaram to the school after some prolonged rituals at home performed in a very traditional way by our family Sastrigal.

I studied for two years in the elementary school about which I do not remember much and I got a double promotion to 4th standard for which I was admitted in the board high school.


HIGH SCHOOL.
In the high school we had classes from 4th to 11th standards, that is 4th and 5th standards followed by 1st to 6th form ( 6th to 11th standards).
Some of the classrooms had thatched roof while other buildings had Madras terrace.

The 11th standard was known as SSLC- Secondary School Leaving Certificate- class.
A pass in SSLC was the prerequisite for admission to intermediate, a two year university course then offered by colleges, the successful completion of which would qualify one for admission to degree courses, generally referred to as undergraduate (UG) courses.


After passing the UG course, one can if so desired, seek admission in Postgraduate courses such as B.A ((honours), B.Sc ( Honours), MA, MSc and so on.
( the tamasha is no course then and now in our country is known as a Graduate course; either it is an undergraduate course or a postgraduate course only).
+1 and +2 courses were unknown then.
I would like to confine myself to my school days only. No need to say that our schools were all TAMIL MEDIUM SCHOOLS and English medium schools were unknown in our villages and most towns.
In fact I became aware of English medium schools only when I completed my Engineering degree. ( to be continued)
 
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MY SCHOOL DAYS (continued)
TEACHERS COMMANDED GREAT RESPECT


There were two of my grand Uncles who were working as teachers in Board High School. The teachers in general commanded great respect and fear ( something the present generation cannot understand or gauge) in the village those days.
Those were days when parents of children used to tell the teachers to punish their erring children by caning or beating (தோலை உரியுங்க - peel off the skin is a term commonly employed by the parents of boys) to correct their wards.

Today if any teacher dares to raise his finger against a student, the teacher will
either be suspended or dismissed. The present day parents find fault with teachers if they ever criticise students for absenteeism, non compliance of home work or indiscipline. So today correcting and disciplining the students is none of the business of the teachers. It is considered an offence both by the students and by their parents.

While there are many stringent rules to protect the students, there is barely any, to protect the teacher against student indiscipline and violence. Nowadays, we hear of students attacking and in some cases killing teachers on flimsy grounds. So teachers today are totally at the mercy of the students. ( but not every thing is alright with today's teachers also. We hear lot of disgusting and disappointing news regarding some that doesn't bring glory to them or to the profession).


As I said, the teachers in general were very much feared and respected by the society as a whole, even though they were paid a pittance. Since most of my other relatives were either doing business or land owners, my first contact with professional people being teachers, who commanded so much respect in the society, I developed a taste for the teaching profession from a very young age.
 
My School days ( continued)


The school was and still is a Tamil medium school. In this context, I want to present the following for the information of the present generation students, who may not be aware of these facts:


Nowadays we have developed a fancy, a fascination for English language. I could see that even in remote villages, people want their children to study in English medium schools. I observe that even the women selling veggies in the roadside market and small shops say "thanks" if you give them the correct change. This is not only a matter of change, but this is the change in the attitude and thinking of the people nowadays.
In my younger days we had no such fancy, but on the other hand, we had a positive hatred for English nurtured by our local patriots then, since we were at that time under the British and the entire country was seething with anger against the British rule. So we were justly proud of our anti English stance and patted ourselves on our back for being such staunch patriots. In fact we were made to believe that all those favouring English were pro British and therefore traitors.

In such a surcharged situation, there was one pro British person (according to us) in our family circle. He was working as a schoolmaster in the board high school. He always felt bad that nobody in the village could speak in English. He chastised us students for not showing any interest to speak in English. He once said that WHEN EVEN BEGGARS IN ENGLAND COULD SPEAK ENGLISH, why we boys were not able to speak in English!

He was teaching English for the eighth standard and the fun is that we have never heard him speak in English any time anywhere including in the classroom.


The strange thing was that English was taught to us only in Tamil from fourth standard (that was when English as a language was introduced) up to SSLC! (I think this practice is still in vogue in all the Tamil medium government schools in Tamil Nadu. I am not sure. ).

We have also not heard of English medium schools nor seen anyone speaking in English in our village at that time. So English was always an anathema to most of us and we were afraid of not only English but also of those who spoke in English. Even today I get dreams very often in which I dread to face English examination!
 
My school days ( continued)
SCHOOL YEAR
The school year was divided into three terms, the one from June to August, followed by Navarathri holidays, the second from Sep to Dec I followed by Christmas holidays and the third from Jan to April followed by summer vacation. The first two terms were called long term and the last term, short term. There used to be examinations at the end of each term, the one at the end of first term was quarterly, the one at the end of second was half yearly and the one at the end of third was annual. The minimum requirement for a pass was 35%.
SUBJECTS
As I said already, English as a language made its entry at the 4th standard then. All subjects were taught in Tamil, including English. English was the first language, followed by Vernacular, (Tamil or the state language) or Sanskrit u p to 1950.
The subjects offered were elementary mathematics, science, history and Geography. It was in the ninth standard (fourth form) that optional subjects (any one of the following: optional mathematics comprising Algebra and Geometry/, natural science/, history/ and Book Keeping) were offered.
In my class, when we had to select our option, I was the only one to opt for what was known as "optional maths" and seven others were forced to join me. Hatred for maths seems to be an universal affair.
There were no laboratories for science subjects in the school. So the students were left to themselves to guess many of the scientific facts

SANSKRIT
Sanskrit continued as an optional second language in place of Tamil, right from class VI and I opted for Sanskrit. We sanskrit students were allowed to attend certain Tamil classes in the VI standard, but without need to face examination.
Thus even though I didn’t study Tamil after sixth standard, I studied in Tamil all my subjects.

It was at that time there was a move to do away with Sanskrit in schools and I still remember how my Sanskrit Pundit was busy doing his best to retain Sanskrit as a subject in schools by contacting students, teachers and the public interested in Sanskrit, collecting their signatures and submitting the same in the form of a memorandum through a forum to the government for the retention of Sanskrit as a subject in Schools. So he couldn't concentrate on teaching Sanskrit and that worked against our interest to learn Sanskrit.
I remember having seen a circular wherein Mahatma Gandhi was quoted as saying " Every Hindu Boy and girl should possess sound Sanskrit learning". This was circulated to all the sanskrit students in the school. ( but we were only a few).
Today if a circular like that is issued, heavens will fall and all the parties will rise against it dubbing the move as Hindutva attempt to impose Sanskrit, even though no imposition was meant. I regret that I do not have a sound Sanskrit base.
I started loving Sanskrit only after my intermediate, when it was no more necessary for me to study it as a language for examinations.
The interest in learning any language is killed by its grammar and the examinations. As somebody said, if you want to kill a book, make it a text book

 
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My school days
TEACHER- STUDENT RELATIONSHIP
SInce it was a village, teachers knew almost all the students by name and maintained a close liaison with them. The student- teacher relationship in a way reminded a sort of a Gurukulam without the rigours of it.
My Geography teacher used to call us to his house to do some of his household duties such as cleaning the house, arranging things in order and so on, whenever he found us outside the school hours. Even otherwise, after the class was over, he will spot a few very obedient students ( I was definitely one of those unfortunate fellows always) for his household duties. His house was on our way to school and we used to pray all Gods that we knew, to escape from his view. But we were not always successful in our venture and many times we would be caught by our ever vigilant teacher. Then grudgingly we would enter his house to clean up things in his room or in the kitchen and the only saving grace was, we used to pilfer some candies or cashew nuts which he might have kept in closed containers.
Our history teacher used our services to fight a war against bugs in his house. A few other teachers were also in the habit of catching us unawares and asking us to attend to “their” personal work. This was never considered wrong either by the teachers or by the parents of the students.

At times to escape work at home, we would bluff our parents that we were assigned some work by our teachers and so we had to go to attend to that work, but ironically for us, we would be caught by some other teacher and drafted for his personal work!


The contact of teachers with students was so intimate that we could not avoid or escape such contingencies. The teachers were very strict inside the classroom, but however very kind once the classes were over.Some took the liberty of pinching, punching, whacking or patting gently on our back out of love, affection and appreciation.

OUR ELDERS
Except occasionally, most of the time, we never had home works to burden our parents with. Today, we notice that the parents are under greater pressure and tension than their wards during their examinations. Such a thing was unknown and unheard of those days.
My father was good at maths and whenever we had a problem, we used to approach him for help. Since I was my class topper, some of my juniors used to come to me to get their doubts clarified in Maths. The teacher in me used to conduct exams in maths to them periodically, until I completed my SSLC!


Except two of our elders who were teachers, others left the job of our learning entirely to us and considered it none of their business to stand in between us and our teachers. Their main concern was that we read only text books and not any other stuff even from our school library. They would never like their conversations to be disturbed by our studies. I used to read my lesson very loud in my house and when one of my uncles who used to come on his usual rounds to our house for his chats with my grandmother who was chronically bedridden, the first thing that he would do was to ask me to vacate the place and not disturb their talk. Our studies were the last priority to all other elders. So reading story books and magazines like Kalki and Vikatan, the two most popular magazines in those days, were always considered taboo, and we have to do it at great personal risk.

In my grandfather's house, old Anandavikatan issues were available since its inception and somehow without the knowledge of the elders, we used to sneak through to the first floor where those issues were stored and without the knowledge of anybody we used to scan through the Vikatan issues and go through the jokes and short stories meant for children. (Continued)

 
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My School days ( continued)
COEDUCATION
Even though it was a small village then, there was coeducation in the school, which was a rarity even in big towns those days. But the system was so well maintained that in spite of coeducation, a very strict line of demarcation was made between the boys and girls.
The girls were given separate seats on one side of the class room and a separate room to stay during free hours. There was ever an eternal vigilance maintained by the teachers to see that nothing untoward happened.
Boys were strictly prevented from talking to girls within the school premises and anyone violating this, would be severely punished and their parents informed immediately. Even talking to one's own sister was not permitted within the school premises and if there was anything urgent, the student had to get special permission from the teacher.
Most of the background of students were well known to the teachers and therefore no student dared do anything against the unwritten rules of the school. Many of our family girls (present patties) were students of this school until separate girls' school was opened in the village in the late Forties or the early Fifties.
Earlier our girls were not allowed to continue their studies even upto SSLC and most of their education was terminated when they were doing their third or fourth form itself. Educating girls was considered an unwanted luxury to be avoided at any cost. Parents believed that it was their main duty to get the girls married at the earliest possible time so that their responsibility with respect to the girl would be over.
Any indiscipline on the part of the student, boy or girl, would not be tolerated and the teachers were fully authorised to take whatever suitable action they could, against the erring students. Caning the students was very rare in our school, the maximum punishment being a hard hit on the head, pinching, asking students to stand upon the bench, a very common punishment those days and making them stand outside the class. (outstanding students indeed!). There is a joke regarding this. When a teacher asked a student a simple question where the Tajmahal was, the student couldn't answer. Then the teacher asked him to stand up on the bench and immediately, driven by an innocent curiosity, the student asked the teacher whether he would be able to see Tajmahal if he stood on the bench. We had only benches and no tables for students. The only chair and table in the classroom was meant for the teacher.
Girl students were punished by making them stand in their seats and some strict teachers might ask them to stand up on the bench, the maximum punishment that would be offered to a girl. There was no question of girls ever being touched by the teachers. During my entire tenure as a student of the school, there had been not a single case of misbehaviour either by any student or any teacher reported.
( If you feel disappointed, I am not to be blamed, because it was the 1940s when people, particularly in villages were very conservative and orthodox. So I have nothing to reveal anything thrilling or interesting to kindle your bustling imagination)
 
My School days ( continued)

PRAYER
Just before the commencement of classes , daily all the students of the entire school should stand in line for prayer in the open ground opposite the headmaster’s room. The boy students would stand class wise, while the girl students would form a separate line. A boy or a girl good in singing will render the prayer song and all students should repeat it line after line and sing the song as rendered. Most of the songs rendered were on Hindu Gods and Goddesses ( such as சகல கலா வாணியே, கிருஷ்ணா முகுந்தா முராரே, அம்ப நீ இரங்காயெனில் புகலேது and the like). It was all classical music without the Aalapanas and Swaras, and devotional songs from pictures famous in those days rendered mostly by M.K. Thyagaraja Bhaghavathr.
There were Hindus, Christians and Muslims in the student group and everyone will sing every song without reservation and the whole thing was going smooth without any hitch or hindrance, controversies or objections whatsoever from any quarters, personal or political. Can you dream of such a thing ever happening today?
A school which was practising not only coeducation, but also following secularism in its true spirit deserves accolades, no doubt.

First and only agitation
There had been no students’ or teachers’ agitation for all I know, except on one occasion. When Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was arrested as he defied the ban and entered Kashmir, the entire country was agitated and the local congress leaders called for a total closure of all shops ( not called bandh in our areas in those days as is called today) in the village and some of them marched towards our school and standing at its entrance, raised slogans asking all students to come out of their classes as a mark of protest against Nehru's arrest. The teachers immediately asked all the students to vacate the classes with immediate effect and go home to avoid trouble.

While the nationalists and the congress leaders might have done it as a protest with a heavy heart, we students left our classes with a light heart ( after all, students are students at all times everywhere) enjoying the unexpected holiday that we got, in contrast to the then prevailing situation outside.

Politics rearing its head
Even though most of the teachers were anti British and pro Congress they never talked politics inside the school and tried to brainwash students. No student was allowed to discuss politics inside school premises, but by the end of forties Dravidian politics reared its head in the school with some teachers and students getting involved in it indirectly. But it didn't affect the school in any big way. ( continued)


 
My School Days ( continued)

GANDHIJI’S VISIT
It was pre independence time and most students were sympathetic to the National Congress Party. Many of our uncles were appreciative of British rule and were very unhappy with Congress, for they felt that we Indians were not capable of governing our country. ( we seem to be making it true). But we students were hero worshippers of Gandhi, Nehru and other congress leaders.


When Gandhiji travelled to the south sometime in 1942, arrangements were made for the Darshan of Gandhiji for the benefit of the people enroute, by stopping the train by which he was travelling at wayside stations or places nearer to stations. My village, Ariyalur had the privilege of being one of the venues for Gandhi's entourage to officially stop the train for a few minutes between Ariyalur and Ottakoil stations.

Our school took all of us by walk to the venue where we were all made to sit on the ground for more than an hour to have a glimpse of Gandhiji. We were so eager to see Gandhiji who was a God for us at that time that we didn't mind the sun and the long wait. Even though I might differ from him today, I have the greatest respect for him.


When the train stopped, Gandhiji came out of his seat and stood at the threshold of the door and on seeing his characteristic toothless smilIng face ( பொக்கை வாய்ச்சிரிப்பு) , we all raised our voices shouting "Long live Gandhiji" ( காந்தி வாழ்க) and "Vande Matharam" ( வந்தேமாதரம்). We were thrilled at the sight of Gandhiji and felt honoured when he waved his hands at the crowd.


We could also see Rajaji by his side who was moving here and there giving instructions to members of the party travelling with Gandhiji. We had the pleasure of seeing Both Gandhiji and Rajaji. That was and still is the greatest memorable moment in my life.


I still remember another occasion vaguely when many leading All India Congress leaders including Rajaji addressed a meeting in our school on a holiday. Many of us attended the meeting with rapt attention understanding very little of what they spoke, since most of them talked either in English or in Hindi. Suddenly a stone was flung at the dais to disturb the meeting which was ignored and the meeting continued undisturbed. It was a time when Rajaji differed from most other congress leaders on the creation of Pakistan.

That was a period when Suyamariathai Kutchi referred to as Suna, Maana (சு.ம) was formed and Ariyalur was one of the strongholds of that party. This party later became Dravida Kazhagam (தி.க) . ( continued)
 
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