Immortality

November 2015, when I was working in Delhi. It was a time when I was going through a lot of revelations in life and taking a lot of strong decisions. One of them was the proverbial question: What do I want out of this life?

I originally thought it an easy question. A good job that would help me take care of my family.. A life partner I could love and cherish. And a lightsaber, if science would only be so kind, one day. A couple of months passed and I moved back home. I was speaking to my grandpa about the time I spent in Delhi and what it had done to me. I spoke to him about what I decided I wanted in life and he was very happy. "Not a lot of people figure this out in life, child. It's good that you have" was all he said before he went on to talk about our family and his forefathers. He spoke to me about his great-grandfather, a man known for going around the country, spending time with well educated pandits and helping them in whatever way he could. And then, it hit me.

This was a man who walked the earth 6 generations ago. And we were still talking about him. Granted, we knew not his personal life, only the deeds that made him immortal in our memories. Then it struck me. The good deeds of a man from almost two centuries ago have kept him alive till now. And he will live on through my memories now, won't he? And through his deeds, he has achieved immortality. The concept of this stuck with me. And a few days later, I spoke to my grandfather about the same. His answer was very simple. "Greatness isn't the same for all of us. Not everyone has to live their lives large. You decide what you want to do with your life. And you decide what greatness means to you." And then, I did. After I'm long gone, if at least one person on this earth remembers me with fondness in their heart and a warm smile on their face, I must have lived a good life. But this story isn't about my goals. It's about immortals.

I attribute a lot of my traits to what I learnt during my teens during high school. And my high school can be defined by 3 things: Dr. N. Manjula Krishnamohan, our English teacher, Mr. K. Phani Kumar, our maths teacher and Quizzing. I've studied in 5 different institutions. I've attended a number of coaching centers for miscellaneous exams. Never have I come across an instructor quiet as complete as the aforementioned Dr. N. Manjula Krishnamohan.

Manjula ma'am, like I mentioned previously, taught us English. I knew her beyond school, since her husband was a doctor and my dad was one too. Because of that, I got extra scrutiny on what I did at school. Fortunately, I was a good student. But when it came to English, I was an exceptional student. I was encouraged to embrace the language as wholly as possible at a young age and because of that, I came to love the language, as well as the subject. She realized this and always encouraged my pursuit of the language. I picked up Shakespeare at a very young age; 7th class to be exact, when my father had ordered the complete unabridged set of Shakespeare's 36 plays from the India Today Book Club. She didn't question me why. She didn't reprimand me that it was beyond our curriculum or age. She told me, "read it with passion; read it with concentration; keep in mind that everything about the works is a few centuries old".

A lot of people laud me for my skill and dexterity with the English language. They tell me my grammar is impeccable, or my sentence formation is flawless; or that the way I play with words leaves a lot to be learnt from; or that my pronunciation of words is perfect. And in every single one of such commendations lies my gratitude for our English teacher, Manjula ma'am. If you know me well, you would've heard me say I wanted to become an English teacher when I was younger. Even now, one day, I want to be a teacher. At least a part time one. Manjula ma'am is one of the reasons. She never 'taught' us English. She made us want to learn it! She instilled a love and a thirst for delving deep into the language and making it our own! She taught us more than just a subject. Not to take anything away from any other teacher of ours, but she taught us what a teacher truly meant.

A teacher nurtures their students in every sense of the word. And that is what she did for us. She taught us not because we had a subject to be covered. She taught us because she believed in each of us and wanted to prepare us to realize our ambitions once we left our school. And I like to think she did more than her share towards the same. Like I mentioned earlier, I was scrutinized a little more since she knew my parents personally. She always gave me the same feedback. "Why is it that your answers are so good but your writing makes it so difficult to read them? Think about it- what you say is just as equally important as how you say it!"

Not just I, but our whole class of Akshara '05 and many before us will attest to her greatness. She was a house master for one of the 4 houses we had at school. They used to tell us how she encouraged them to pursue extracurricular activities with just as much zeal as academics. Whenever we had a school level event, she was always the master of ceremonies. For me, she was the first person I ever aspired to be. A teacher. A role model.

I like to think I was a good student of hers beyond school. The discipline she helped us cultivate, the zeal to pursue excellence, the commitment to our goals, all of these were ingrained into her teachings. And when I thanked her for the great things she did for us, she brushed them aside, saying it was her privilege that she got to teach us. She spoke with great regret how the teaching profession was corrupted by over reaching parents and money hungry corporate entities. I remember her words verbatim "The days of the teacher are gone now, Anirudh. I wouldn't want you to have that as a life goal anymore. We are now forced to do what the management says, like mindless automatons. We are not allowed to tailor our teaching methods to what would benefit the students more, nowadays". It's a good thing you kids got out when you did!

And yesterday, my dad tells me she passed, all of a sudden. I'm someone who knows loss. I've lost friends and family over the years. But never has the passing of someone struck me as deeply as that of the teacher who taught me my core values. Whenever something large happened in my life, I've always imagined telling ma'am and getting her blessings. But now that she is with us no more, I can only pray I don't lose the essence of what she has taught me. She was my teacher. She was my guru. She was my inspiration. She is going to be remembered for ever more as the lady who helped me build a good life. She is an immortal.

 

Thank you, Manjula Ma'am, for seeing fit to educate me in English and the world. You will always be the teacher I strive to one day become.