The forever BULWARKS

Place: City Montessori School, Lucknow
Age: 4-12,
I cry…Amma does not seem to listen…I wail…hoping to make an impact on her…She walks even faster, clutching my satchel and water bottle in one hand and pulling me with the other (I hold the red and blue color snacks box in my hand, since mickey mouse looks at me wit sympathy, or so I feel..)…I squat at the entrance of my class, determined not to leave amma’s palloo. Tr.Ruby rushes up to me and holds me in her arms and later into my place. I keep looking out of the window expecting my amma to return…I just wait… I cant hold the chalk properly…cant sit in one place forever without my mother’s presence…But was in the hands of a good sculptor, who had the forbearance to hone this stone…Who taught me the power withheld in 26 alphabets, continuously fed me with ambrosia of words and taught me to learn along the teaching curve. I will never forget Tr.Ruby’s serenity, unadulterated care and unostentatious love.

Place: Mahatma Gandhi Centenary Vidhyalaya, Trichy
Age : 15, tenth grade
To some people you feel like giving respect, some others command respect, some you hold in awe but there are really a few who make you feel incomplete and wriggly-earthwormish if you don’t respect and you choose to hold them in awe and reverence.
Tr.Mary - She is THE lady for English language. The language respects her too, am sure. She injected grammar into me, she made me fall in love with books. I don’t really have words to express what she really is. She will read the riot act if you fall out of step, so we got to be watchful every single second, a perfectionist. All I can say is, I respect her as much I respect P G Wodehouse. She gives a book to everyone who gets above 85% in the board exams in her paper. I got 86%. And THAT was my first achievement in my life. David Copperfield-from The Lady herself, bathed in bliss. She was a success as she never worked for notes, even at 65, she radiates vigour and has attained a supreme level in the art of teaching, blessed only to a few.

Age: 15-17, twelfth grade.
David Sir- The zealot. The foodie. The man for Physics, who made me feel ‘something’ from the usual feeling I had- a pebble on the sand being continuously teased and bullied by the mighty waves…He taught me to admire the electrons, tiny things whose motion rules the world, laugh at the bulky protons, visualize the inter spacing crystal lattice like the array of laddoos in a sweet shop, van de graff generator as a barber combing hair before chopping it off and the list goes on.. Sir, Thank you so much, you have enriched my life with a brighter shine.

Age: 17-21, SSN college of Engineering, Chennai
Ramesh Sir and Senthil Sir- these are a pair of absolutely contrasting personalities, poles asunder. Best buddies as they joined college the same time as our batch. One, who searches for something in everything, while the other who vouches for nothing in everything. One who is an upright opportunist, the other, well, troublesome opportunist. One who avoids problems, other who avoids everything which does not have problems. Both these men are simply remarkable and will rush to my help and support always. I have bunked classes to take philosophy lectures from Senthil sir and believe me, there is not one dark unexplored area by him, ranging from computers to hard core electrical, movies to sports, osho to Sidney Sheldon, alpha to omega. He keeps raising the bar for us without our knowledge and we obey him, loyally.

When I finished college and stepped into professional world, got intimidated by many saying that knowledge sharing will be like rains in TamilNadu. Rare and precious. True. It was precious, but never rare. I have never once hesitated to approach my boss, or even her boss for technical guidance. I have asked relentlessly silly questions for which the answers came without any issues, at the cost of their time. Ever grateful to Bindu Mam, NPK Sir, MKM Sir and Subramanian Sir. A special mention about Natarajan Sir. Next to David Sir, he has been my inspiration and pushing factor to redefine horizons.

I WISH A HAPPY TEACHERS’ DAY TO ALL OF YOU. You truly and deeply mean a lot to me. Show me light forever.