ALL MY TEACHERS

              

Nothing gives gives me greater joy than learning something new. As a child, I used to have an insatiable appetite for knowledge,a normal trait in any kid. It was my father who taught me the rudiments of planetary system /stars an exciting subject for anybody. Those days, we had a Children's Encyclopedia with marvelous illustrations and simple explanations on many subjects.  I used to browse through it and to a certain extent, it was one of my first teachers besides my father.

Our house was a veritable library. For the first time,I was admitted to the fourth standard in a school. Till such time, my education was at home in an informal way. An English conversation manual was my first English teacher.  The text was bilingual in English and Tamil. I picked up a lot from that book.

From sixth to the eleventh standard, I studied in a school at Coimbatore.Although there were many capable teachers,it was to Mr.S.Krishnamurthy, my class teacher, I owe a debt of deep gratitude.  He noticed that I was above average and encouraged me in every way to excel. When I was in eighth standard, I could solve mathematical problems of higher Don't think i am pretending to be a Ramanujan.  He used to give me standard textbooks on mathematics authored by British professors and encouraged me to acquire a remarkable proficiency in mathematics.That gave me immense satisfaction. I used to win prizes every year for proficiency in almost all subjects.

My elder brother Viswanath was a teacher.  He encouraged me to participate in all elocution competitions in Tamil and English. I won several prizes. The training in elocution stood me in good stead during my career as a civil servant in the government. I was invited to speak on very many occasions. I developed an ability to speak extempore on several subjects. I had given four radio talks in Visakhapatnam.

When I was in pre-university, we had a mathematics professor, Mr.Mahadevan.Except in a blue shirt and a dhoti, no one has seen him in any other dress. A simple man,he had a knack of solving complex problems in his inimitable elegant way. Even today, I remember his methods of solving certain problems in trigonometry. The professor never moved closely with the students. He would come on time, start getting busy with the chalk and blackboard filling it with mathematical symbols and leave the class at the right time. But he was indeed an outstanding teacher.

I developed a taste for reading books other than school text books thanks to my mother.A voracious reader,she used to collect several magazines and get the articles on various subjects bound in several volumes. It was she who gave me twenty rupees (a princely sum those days) as deposit to join the public library. Reading books becomes an addiction. Even today, I am addicted to books. Remember each book is my teacher, albeit a silent one.

During my studies in Engineering college,there used to be a junior lecturer Selvaraj who could explain concepts in electronics with astounding clarity. There was one K S Krishnamurthy who taught physics in a brilliant manner. These teachers have the knack of inspiring students.

In 1986,when I was a deputy collector, I started learning French by first joining an evening college and later the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad.I came across remarkable teachers during that period. Dr.K S. Sastry who taught us linguistics is an outstanding teacher. I preserved his notes for a long time.  Unfortunately, during my frequent transfers,they were lost. Still I remember his clear exposition of Noam Chomsky 's Generative Grammar. DR.Nirupama Rastogi taught us French Phonetics.Thanks to her teaching, my French is going strong though a late bloomer I was at thirty five.

The list would not be exhausted at all,as our teachers are endless. When you are attentive and observant, you can learn from anything and everything.  We owe a lot to our teachers in the school of life.Rightly, teachers are compared to the rungs of ladders which help us to climb up while they rest in their place.

Don't think that only human beings can be your teachers. The following immortal words of Wordsworth always echo in my mind.

One impulse from a vernal wood

May teach you more of man

And of moral good and of evil

Than all the sages can.