Kazhak memoirs - Part 4 - My Masters

In every stage of my life, i had been blessed to have special teachers to mould me in various aspects of my personality. I can always feel their influence in me whenever I introspect its different facets. I have had the blessing of being moulded by such special masters at kazhak too. During the first year (6th std) in kazhak itself, our class was blessed to have been taught by 2 of the senior most teachers and most phenomenal masters in our school - Mr. Prem Chandran Nair and Mr. G. Soman Pillai, affectionately called PCN sir and GSP sir. The irony is that both of them taught english for the same class. I would say, that was the academic year I enjoyed the most in my entire student life. There could have been no better place in kazhak than my classroom those early days. I enjoyed every moment sitting in my 6th std classroom and given a chance to re-live a year of my student life, I would choose those moments without any hesitation.

Mr. PCN, a charismatic person with a wonderful diction. I can forget the way he handles his classes, chairs debates and even plays cricket. He was a man in his late fifties during those days. Still u can see him brimming with energy and enthusiasm. If I am not wrong, he opened the bowling attack for the kazhak team against the OBA XI and picked up a couple of wickets in his first spell with his right arm medium-pacers. A man who mesmerised me with his body-language and diction. I drew enormous inspiration from him to build my personality.
He also was the person, who sowed the seeds of poetry in me. When i close my eyes to think of him, I see him standing on the classroom podium reading aloud RL stevenson's poem "The Wind",,,,

--------I saw you toss the kites on high
--------And blow the birds about the sky;
--------And all around I heard you pass,
--------Like ladies' skirts across the grass--
----------------O wind, a-blowing all day long,
----------------O wind, that sings so loud a song! ........

the way my teacher recited, left me floating along with 'The Wind'. I still can feel the same gush of energy in my veins that i felt that day. That evening in the study hall was born the baby poet who cried aloud shouting "The Beauty". My first poetic attempt, at eleven, (though kiddish when i think of it today) really excited me and I felt truly great that moment! A sense of achieving immortality!

My first poem inspired from RL Stevenson did sound very much similar to his work. It also contained a similar rhyming scheme. Three stanzas each followed by a couplet, like the 'O wind, a-blowing.....'. 'The Beauty' was a beautiful little scribbling from a kid who had just proclaimed himself the 'highpriest of Beauty' as did Wordsworth for Nature.

Pardon me for having drifted a little by force of flowing thoughts. My intent was to convey the fact that the way PCN sir handled the poem, I attained transformation into a state of extreme ecstacy.

Then, another wonderful master we were blessed to have, handling the same subject was Mr. G. Soman Pillai or GSP sir. He was also a senior teacher in his sixties. He incidentally was my house master at VKK. A master with a majestic voice and the admired modulation of his tones. A teacher with immense knowledge on his subject, he was a brilliant grammarian, an admirable phonetist and a splendid calligrapher . I still remember the days when he taught us to write in Italics. Though I am not gifted with a beautiful handwriting, my regular handwriting is very much infleunced by his methods. In the classroom, we could feel his passions for the language. With the way he taught us grammer, he laid strong foundations for many like me. He also made brilliant and strong speeches. I rememeber, he had prepared the speeches for the debate contest to be delivered by the VKK boys. One for and one against the motion. We were 4 small guys fighting to make it to he last two who will represent the house on stage. Myself, Arun Jacob, Shiraj & someone. Finally Shiraj and Arun made it. I had already represented the house in the elocution competition held a few weeks earlier, hence I didnt bother much. But to have prepared for delivering such an address was a great experience. Though I dont recollect the topic, I can still feel the energy that resonated in the hall when I delivered that one.

Apart from being a wonderful teacher, he was also a caring father for all the VKK kids. So was his better-half, Mrs. GSP also was a benevolent soul, kind enough to us when we spent time with our master, at his home, preparing for contests or getting our little poems and articles reviewed, as he was the chief-editor of the Cadet magazine those days.

No words can express the gratitute I owe them for the change they brought about in me. I also owe my sincely gratitude for all my masters who have played their roles in moulding every Kazhak into socially responsible personalities. You sowed the seeds of wisdom in us and so we stand tall today. We beg for your blessings, as I beleive they guide us to our destinies.


--------------------memoirs to continue.........