Thursday, September 05, 2013

Happy Teacher's Day !

Wish you all a very Happy Teacher's Day ! I wish to remember some of the lovely & inspiring teachers, who have helped shape my life. 

1. My first teacher - My mom - miss u 

2. Lily miss - my first KG teacher at SNMS (Ellis Nagar), madurai. I still remember her sweet Anglo-Indian voice and the special love & care towards me, as I joined a few months late into LKG. I met her one day, walking on the on the Bye-Pass road, after almost 18 years. She looked exactly the same & caught my eye in a jiffy while I was driving home. She was thrilled when I stopped to tell her who I was and that she was my first teacher. Surprised that she still remembered me, my mom & my dad's bullet.

SSKZM::

3. Mr. G. Soman Pillai a.k.a.GSP sir- My English teacher & house master (VKK house) at Sainik. I still remember him for the calligraphy classes. He always insisted writing in italics. 
4. Mr. Prem Chandran Nair a.k.a. PCN sir - A young at heart English teacher, who ignited my love for poetry & literature. He tossed me high into the sky when he taught RL Stevenson's "The Wind". He was a fit pace bowler (at his late 50s or early 60s) during the OBA vs SSKZM cricket matches.
5. Mr. NG.Babu - My first chemistry teacher who kindled my interest for science, in particular, Chemistry - which remained dear to me, as my mom (my chemistry teacher at home) herself a trained Analytical Chemist.
6. Mr. TGS Panicker - Our Malayalam HOD, who was kind enough to teach 'Lower' Malayalam classes for non-keralites like me. I still remember him teach the lesson 'aana' (elephant) from the std I text book, for the class VI students. 
7. Other Kazhak masters - Mr. SB.Sasikumar (English & House Master - Nehru), Mr. Simon Peter (librarian), Mr. SR. Ramachandran (Physics) and many others.

TVS Laksmi::

8. Mr. Nandakumar - Our principal at TVS Lakshmi , when I joined. Though he never took any class for me, I have admired him from a distance for the way he conducted himself and the aura of his personality. I have heard he was a strict disciplinarian.
9. Mrs. Janaki Ramachandran - My 9th Std English ma'am at TVS Lakshmi. I loved the way she taught Shakesphere's "All the world's a stage.." from As You Like It
10. Mr. A. Sudhakaran - One of the most inspiring and soft spoken gentlemen of my times. Extemely supportive English master who went on to become the school Principal. I cannot forget his encouragement for our "Julius Caesar" play on our annual day. 
&
Mr. Gopalakrishnan - who was the principal at TVS Lakshmi for a brief period and handled physics for us. He was way beyond a normal teacher in personality and conduct. A true gentleman and a fine leader who set very high standards for the students. He was the one who (re- ?) established the student council & the prefect system.

11. Mrs. Saroja Krishnan (Maths) & Mrs. Nithya (Chemistry) - I would always talk about them in unison and would say were loving mothers at school, who knew exactly well how to handle the high school young adults.

12. Mr. Nagarajan (Physics) - for his love for the subject and dedication & efforts towards IIT coaching.
13. Mr. Diwakar (Quiz master) - he never handled any classes for me, apart from a few lab sessions. But, I do cherish the few interactions we had during the Quizzing sessions, esp. during LOSA. All his admirers, would never be able to forget his passion for collecting tit bits & facts, cut & paste in his well-maintained set of dairies. There is a world of admirers from Madurai and beyond, for this man who inspired a few generations. 
14. Mrs. Vijaya (French teacher) - for her love for the language and the way she hijacked us to Paris and Montreal, every day, as she read from the book 'course de langue et de civilisation francaises'.

15. Dr. Durai samy (Physics master near my home) - the most passionate teacher, I have ever come across. His dashing & humorous style of teaching took me away by strom. His short anecdotes and presentation of historical background, grew my interest for science & history to greater heights. He is one man who kick-started my passion & love for what I do for a living. 

16.Mr.Viswanathan (Maths master) - Not to forget this man who played the balancing act to Mr. Duraisamy's antics. His home is a landmark at SS.Colony. His simplistic way in dealing with a problem was simply amazing. A good-at-heart man who raised several generations of global citizens from Madurai.

TCE::

15. Mr. RA. Alaguraja (RAA) - Young man of our generation with highest level of dedication & commitment to his work and students. 
16. All Mechatronics teachers - Along with Mr. RAA, a bunch of young and dynamic team who formed the backbones of the passionate TCE Mect family, which has a global presence today - Mr. SP.Nachiappan, Mr. VK. Manoharan, Mr. Karl Marx, Mr. Amutha Kannan, Mr. Vivek, Mr.Hariharan, Mr. Kumaragurparan et al. I am sure most of us share a personal friendhsip & bonding, beyond the student-teacher relationship. Thats what made every batch of TCE Mechatronics stand out. 
17. Senior Profs - Prof Krishnan (HOD of my times) for his OR classes, where he wrote the theory & problems with his beautiful handwriting. Prof. Baskaran for his Machine Design classes.
18. Dr. Sorna Kumar (Metallurgy) & Dr. Shankara Subramanian (Physics) for their insight and guidance during our project execution. I must say they shared a wealth of information on the approach to research and gathering / processing information.

WORK::

19. Mr. Atul Rane - My first inspiration in professional life & my mentor - whose mere presence beside shoots my energy levels. I must say his first talk on Flight vehicle system design, during our training sessions, instilled huge doses of passion for the stuff we do. I have been lucky to glimpse though several of his vast collection of books/articles. I must say he taught me way more in life that I modeled several aspects of my professional conduct on the way he carried himself. I will not forget the several sessions of gyan I had from him - Asoka Lounge (Delhi old airport before my first Moscow trip within in 2006), at his workplace, home (at Hyderabad & Moscow) & away. 
20. Mr. RS.Chandrasekhar (fondly RSR) - He is everyone's teacher at ISG for the assessment preps. Beyond that, a wonderful human being, with whom you can discuss a wide range of stuff from complexities of the algorithms to general science and spirituality. 
21. Mr. Kannan Muthukrishnan (If there is a level beyond a mentor), Mr. G. Satheesh Reddy (our loveable boss), Mr. Varadaraj (My first boss - will never forget the kiddish altercations we always had, every time we met), Mr. N.G. Vasudevan - my mentors & well-wishers who have been taught me work & beyond, by letting me part of their thought process during day to day struggles (enjoyable though) to reach project milestones. 
22. Dr. ASP & RAdm.S.M - Men whom I have admired from a distance & closeness for their vision, commitment & age-defying passion, for proving time and again, that the said-impossible is possible.

Apologies if I may have missed a few. But, I place my sincere gratitude & love, for being part of the world that is chiseling me into what i am turning into.

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