I received a touching email many months back. It is from a former student of my school. Let me share what it is about.
After moving to India in 2006, my high school (SVU Campus School) celebrated golden jubilee (50 years) in 2007 or so. I was a bit active in organizing it from alumni point of view. We sponsored the celebrations, got the building whitewashed, collected donations for future projects, honored the teachers, etc.
One thing we did was publish a magazine (souvenir) and contributed articles in it. I wrote one about my childhood experience studying in the school. I narrated many anecdotes related to friends, teachers, sports events, many things. Frankly I was not happy with the quality of my writing but I did make it interesting with stories. Other friends wrote of other topics.
Fast forward to now, almost 6 years later. I received this email today:
Hi Sudheer garu,
Parimala.
One of the anecdotes I narrated was about a teacher, Bharathi madam. Here is what I wrote about her. She never taught any subject to my class but she would come in as a substitute teacher. She is a telugu teacher but read many english novels, especially the racy ones - James Hadley Chase novels. She was a voracious reader. I remember seeing her reading during breaks.
As summer approached and the school started to wind down, we would have half-day school (school starts early and closes by lunch). This was the most exciting time of the year - less school, no classes because teachers are busy conducting public exams. Most importantly it was the excitement of coming summer holidays and mangoes. In that excitement, we would sometimes be asked to vacate out of class rooms to make way for public exams for 10th class. We would be asked to sit under trees and the substitute teachers would keep an eye on us.
It was most fun when Bharathi madam would be assigned as our substitute teacher. She was young compared to other teachers and so was friendly with us unlike the rest of the teachers who maintained that student-teacher distance. She would spend the whole day narrating the English novels she was reading or already read before. Her narration of an English novel in Telugu was interesting. She would skip the racy parts of the novels but they were action packed. We would be sitting cross legged gaping and devouring every word of the world so foreign to us. It was like watching a James Bond movie. Unfortunately she would never finish any novel because she would run out of time. Next time she shows up in our class, we try to tell her where she left. After trying to understand what we are trying to say, she would give up and start a brand new novel and the adventure starts again.
It is possible that I was inspired to pick books and read them from the reading of my teacher. May be I wanted to do the same when I grow up or may be wanted to know more about the exotic lives of "phoren people" in phoren countries.
This is what I said about her in the magazine article I wrote but using far fewer sentences. I never realized that five years later I would touch the heart of my teacher's daughter and help her know more about her mother. Frankly I was touched by the email.
This blog is for Parimala, for whom I write to let her know how big an influence her mother was in making me a reader. Reading that opened my mind and made me see the world.
(If you are interested to read my article in our school souvenir, click this link)
After moving to India in 2006, my high school (SVU Campus School) celebrated golden jubilee (50 years) in 2007 or so. I was a bit active in organizing it from alumni point of view. We sponsored the celebrations, got the building whitewashed, collected donations for future projects, honored the teachers, etc.
One thing we did was publish a magazine (souvenir) and contributed articles in it. I wrote one about my childhood experience studying in the school. I narrated many anecdotes related to friends, teachers, sports events, many things. Frankly I was not happy with the quality of my writing but I did make it interesting with stories. Other friends wrote of other topics.
Fast forward to now, almost 6 years later. I received this email today:
Hi Sudheer garu,
I have gone through your article in the Golden Jubilee souvenir of S.V.U Campus school.I too studied there (2001 batch) and it gave me immense pleasure while reading the article as it spoke about many teachers and especially Bharathi Madam.
you must be wondering how i know her ..she is my mother and it was really nice to know many things about her through your article like "phoren stories".Unfortunately i couldn't be with her for a long time and i didn't know much about how she was as a teacher and as a person.It was indeed a great article touching all the aspects of student life.Kudos sir!!!!
Thank you once again for sharing those lovely moments with us
One of the anecdotes I narrated was about a teacher, Bharathi madam. Here is what I wrote about her. She never taught any subject to my class but she would come in as a substitute teacher. She is a telugu teacher but read many english novels, especially the racy ones - James Hadley Chase novels. She was a voracious reader. I remember seeing her reading during breaks.
As summer approached and the school started to wind down, we would have half-day school (school starts early and closes by lunch). This was the most exciting time of the year - less school, no classes because teachers are busy conducting public exams. Most importantly it was the excitement of coming summer holidays and mangoes. In that excitement, we would sometimes be asked to vacate out of class rooms to make way for public exams for 10th class. We would be asked to sit under trees and the substitute teachers would keep an eye on us.
It was most fun when Bharathi madam would be assigned as our substitute teacher. She was young compared to other teachers and so was friendly with us unlike the rest of the teachers who maintained that student-teacher distance. She would spend the whole day narrating the English novels she was reading or already read before. Her narration of an English novel in Telugu was interesting. She would skip the racy parts of the novels but they were action packed. We would be sitting cross legged gaping and devouring every word of the world so foreign to us. It was like watching a James Bond movie. Unfortunately she would never finish any novel because she would run out of time. Next time she shows up in our class, we try to tell her where she left. After trying to understand what we are trying to say, she would give up and start a brand new novel and the adventure starts again.
It is possible that I was inspired to pick books and read them from the reading of my teacher. May be I wanted to do the same when I grow up or may be wanted to know more about the exotic lives of "phoren people" in phoren countries.
This is what I said about her in the magazine article I wrote but using far fewer sentences. I never realized that five years later I would touch the heart of my teacher's daughter and help her know more about her mother. Frankly I was touched by the email.
This blog is for Parimala, for whom I write to let her know how big an influence her mother was in making me a reader. Reading that opened my mind and made me see the world.
(If you are interested to read my article in our school souvenir, click this link)
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