August 29th is the international Telugu day. And on that occasion, I now introduce you all to the exemplary beings that were my Telugu teachers during schooling.
Teachers don't just introduce us to subjects. They introduce us to whole worlds that we can fall in love with. This is their story.
It was in my fourth standard, quite a few years ago that I remember my first Telugu teacher, Mrs. Manjula. Though I do not remember what was taught that day but I remember her very vividly. And that is because she was one of the four reasons our class fell in love with Telugu beyond just as a medium of communication. She was the first of four Telugu teachers we had across our schooling.
Fifth standard, day one. We had an assembly for the whole school every day. And on that day, we saw one of our Telugu teachers being felicitated for an award he received in Telugu literature. Though it would be three years more before we were taught by this Mr. Chandrasekar Rao, we knew to take pride in the fact that our beloved instructor and our own Telugu were recognized.
During standards six and seven, we had two instructors; Mr. Shankar Rao and Mr. Neela Rao. They blew us away with their knowledge of the variety in Telugu words and the many ways in which we could utilize them. They are the reason my classmates and I became at least a little aware of the dearth of literary treasures Telugu offers. These instructors introduced us to many literary works in Telugu - The purity of the Panchatantra stories, the morals from the Puranas, the wisdom from the Ramayana and Mahabharata and many many more.
Classes nine and ten saw us taught by Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao, a man who's skill in teaching us the many complex modalities of Telugu grammar was extraordinary!
Unfortunately, Telugu wasn't a part of my curriculum post my tenth standard. But the lessons learnt during school stuck with me. Because what they taught us was more than just the language. They taught us the traditional Telugu way of life and the beautiful approach to life the Telugu culture offers.
I can still recall the first time we were taught the way to address our Telugu teachers in Telugu. It was in the sixth standard. That was then that they taught us unadulterated Telugu words for some of the daily use words. We were taught at a young age the difference between the Telugu we use in every day life and the original Telugu that was borne of Sanskrit. Every time they taught us a new concept, we could see their love of the language and their commitment to our education.
Truth be told, I'm an English language aficionado. So much so that I wanted to grow up to be an English language professor during my younger years. But the Telugu instruction we received was so wholesome, that we never considered any language inferior to the other.
I've mentioned the Panchatantra stories earlier, yes? They were written in five parts, out of which we were taught one as our Telugu non-detailed. But we were taught so well that I developed an interest in the entirety of the Panchatantra and came back after our summer vacation having read all the five parts. Though I took a few raps on the head for interrupting our teachers with my over-eagerness, they did realize that their instruction was indeed inculcating in us a love of Telugu and its rich literature.
Similarly, in our seventh standard, we had a poem that described the beauties of the Indian holy city Varanasi through the words of a sage who was out on a moonlit night by the banks of Ganges river. The way the city, the bliss of the flowing river, the peace of the sand dunes shining in the light of the moon were described still is a fond and immensely vivid memory. That is the quality of their instruction.
The pinnacle of our Telugu education came in our final school years, where we had a legendary Telugu novel 'Barrister Parvateesam' as our Telugu non-detailed text book. The novel is set in pre-independence India that laid out the comical situations that a village man faced following his decision to go to the U.K. to study law. The way we were explained his innocence in deciding what he would need to survive in London, how he thought a simple 500 rupees would be enough for his journey and many other such situations made us fall in love with the novel so much that for a few days, our class neglected other subjects!
If I were to attributed all the credit for my love and respect of Telugu to my teachers, I would be lying. Our school administration also encouraged us to embrace the wide variety Telugu literature offered and many unique practices to it, like 'Avadhaanam'. Avadhaanam is a practice of unparalleled intellectual display in which one man is questioned by multiple people, numbering anything between 8 - 1000, all at the same time which he answers on the spot. In my eight standard, we were given the experience of this intellectual event, wherein the school invited the renowned Mr. Garikapati Narasimha Rao, a man known for his feat of successfully facing 1000 people at once in this 'Avadhaanam'. The pride we felt when we were informed that this intellectual practice was unique to Telugu, is unparalleled.
Though we do not remember the intricacies of Telugu grammar our teachers taught us, we remember the richness of Telugu literature, the beautiful outlook to life and holistic approach to everything. 'Mother tongue' was coined to address the language one is affiliated with on birth because, if you ask me, our mothers teach us the value of life and languages teaches us how to live by opening doors to the rich culture and tradition it represents.
A few parting words: Be proud of your language, for it is more than just a communication medium. It is how you communicate your soul to your family and loved ones!
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