The first form teacher
Panaiyur was a small hamlet in the Cauvery delta region. In that village there was a tiny elementary school. The school was dominated by a first form teacher. His name was Marimuthu.The villagers called him first form teacher. He was very slim but he was very active and hardworking. He wore white shirt and dhoti always. The villagers loved and respected him. The teacher spoke only in the mother tongue Tamil always. He was a lover of the Tamil language.He never used to speak the second language English except in the class room. He was well-versed in all Tamil literatures. When ever he taught he had given more examples from Thirukkural, Silappathikaram, Manimekalai and others. He had a beautiful hand writing too. His class was very silent. The first form students never missed his classes. They never absent for the school and they were attracted by the authoritative voice of their teacher . He also used the black board very well. He wrote the Tamil alphabet on the board and taught every lesson. He was not only a good teacher but also a social worker. The rural people admitted their children in the school during Vijayadashami.The first form teacher was the key person who admitted their children into the first form. He wanted to rename the students in the admission register. He had changed the name of the students Karuppan, Mathuppan, Karuppayi to Ilangovan,Senguttuvan and Kannaki respectively. He had created an awareness among the down drodden people. They worshipped him as a god and they realised the importance of using good names. The first form teacher went to the harijan streets and spoke about the value of school and education. He never hesitated to go to the slums for getting new admissions. During school hours he spoke about the unity among the students which was the hardest subject in that village . Because of him the elementary school's strength was increased. Aadi, the Tamil month was very much welcomed by the school students. The first form teacher made Sapparapadai or Sapparam,a two wheeler charriot to celebrate the function Aadi Perrukku or Aadi Eighteen.The school students donated one rupee or fifty paise for constructing the Sapparam. The first form teacher bought charts and colour papers at the nearest town. With the help of the students he made a beautiful Sapparam. He also collected raw rice, jaggery, coconut and cardamom from the students. The students dragged the decorated Sapparam towards the Pandavayar during the Aadi Perukku .The village people were very much delighted to see the Sapparam which was fully designed by the first form teacher .They also appreciated the master piece of the first form teacher. At the end of the end of the function ,the students and the teacher worshipped the river and sweet rice was distributed to the students.In that function we had seen unity among the students.The first form teacher was a good friend of the village youths . During the Pooja holidays he and his friends had staged many dramas in the village temple. Most of the dramas were taken from the Shakespeare's play particularly Socrates, Othello and The Merchant of Venice.The first form teacher selected the talented youths and gave them suitable roles in the plays. The village youths were much interested to enact in the plays. The villagers visited the temple and had seen the dramas. They also appreciated the first form teacher who was the sole director of the dramas. The first form teacher had tremendous impacts on the rural youths also. They considered the teacher as their model, philosopher and guide. The first form teacher was a lover of music. He had a good friend and his name was Natarajan.Natarajan was a Natheswara vidhwan . The teacher accompanied the artist where ever he had visited. When there was a music party of Natarajan, the teacher was there . Both of them went to many temples which were in and around the village. When Natarajan had received many awards, the teacher was there on the stage. Though the artist was an uneducated, the teacher had a close relationship with him. The teacher had eaten lunch in the artist's house so many times. He called the artist's wife as sister .That showed the teacher's simplicity and equality.Thus they had good friendship up to death.
Comments