For each of us, next to our parents, the people who influence us most in our formative years are our Gurus – they may be called as teachers, lecturers, professors, or mentors.
I was blessed to have gotten phenomenal teachers both in my school (Shrine Vailankanni School) and then in my college (SVCE). In the kindergarten years, it was Miss Alamelu who took tuition for me. During higher secondary school it was Mr. Pe.Ki.Prabhakaran (திரு.பெ.கி.பிரபாகரன்) who instilled in me the love for Tamil language. About ten years ago, I meet him in his house, but when I tried to call him last year for teacher’s day (5th September) I found his number not working, but thanks to a friend who went to Professor’s house with the address I had written in my post and then sharing his new mobile number. I was happy to have then spoken to Prof. Pe.Ki.Pa after many years.
A similar incident happened today. For this year’s teacher’s day, I tried calling Prof. A. Gangadharan, who taught me Mathematics in Engineering. A sharp teacher, who was strict, he had the unique ability to assess individual students’ capacity and then tailors the volume & the style of content for each student. This way, he never scared the weak students or let the bright ones to slack. Professor’s mobile number didn’t work, and I sent him a letter by post to his house address, which I knew as I had gone there for tuition. For weeks there was silence. Today Professor called me, saying he had rented the house and moved elsewhere. I was happy to hear his booming voice, so was he, we exchanged notes of what has happened in the last few years. Now I got connected to him in Facebook as well :-)
T.N.C.Venkatarangan with Professor A. Gangadharan (Former Head of the Department, Mathematics in Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu).
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