My Teachers...

From the title, you might have assumed that this post is about my teachers and what I've learned from them... Unfortunately, no... This post is about the numerous thrashings I've received at the hands of my school teachers.. I'll name just the few that I can recall now.. Almost all of them seem to be from my 8std to 10std...

The one that is etched on my mind is my Maths II teacher in 8th or 9th in SBOA, Coimbatore.. She taught me Geometry and her name was Chitrakala . On that day, I dont remember why (I'm sure I deserved it), but Chitrakala Miss was very angry. She came right to my desk and gave a nice knuckle punch ("Kottu") on my head. I was feeling a little wobbly.. That's when she realized that the red stone (or, maybe it was a little ruby) from her ring had fallen off. She asked me to pick it up even as I was still reeling under the blow delivered a few seconds ago.. As I bent down to pick it up, another wise-ass picked it up and gave it to her before I could. She said "Idiot" and then left.. I know I'm making it sound very brutal.. But believe me, everytime I talk about it, I'm laughing like hell!

Another incident happened around the same time.. Our school was still being constructed at that time and so all big events (Valedictory and Inaguration functions) were held in a makeshift auditorium that was created by removing the tarpaulin sheets that separated one class room from another. As we sat waiting for the chief guest to arrive, we were all talking to each other. You can imagine how loud it must have been when everyone is talking. Our P.T master (his name was Sam Sir) was trying to get people to be silent. But, only the small region he was standing in seemed to take notice of him. That's when he summoned me. Readers, you have to understand how the mind of a school boy worked during those times. I thought that I was being called to be handed down a responsibility (maybe to mind a part of the crowd or maybe even welcome the chief guest or something). So I walked over with so much pride and enthusiasm. As soon as I went and stood near him, I heard a thundering sound. I realized that he had slapped me very hard in front of the whole auditorium. Then, there was silence! Sam Sir shouted out saying that the next person to talk would get a tighter slap. And that he was making an example out of me.. Grrr..

And then I remember the cane/scale shots that I've gotten from other teachers.. Nothing really worth mentioning though..

And this one time, I was playing the 'pen game' (the one you play with Reynolds pens on desks, trying to hit the other guys pen out of the desk in one shot) with my friend Arun Prasad. Right after my shot, I saw from the corner of my eye that our Principal (Mr. Chandramouli) was entering our classroom. I ran and sat in my place. Poor Arun Prasad. He was still trying to work that shot from an angle and was facing away from the door. The Principal pulled him out and slapped him right there.. (and maybe he took him to his office as well.. I forget). I'm sure Arun gave me a piece of his mind when he came back .. Hehehe..

I've studied in 7 schools .. Avila Convent (from when it used to be a co-ed), Carmel Garden , SBOA Matric, Stanes (All in Coimbatore), Boston Matriculation, Adarsh Sr. Sec School (both in Chennai) and Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan's Bhavans Gandhi Vidyashram (Kodaikanal). But strangely enough I don't remember getting hit by my teachers in any of the other schools. Hmmm..