teacher's day and onam. hmmm any connection? those who know me could take a guess... but first. A tribute. (I must add that there are others who deserve tribute but for now...)
Oommen Mathew first impressed me with his sense of comic timing. How else do you get a class of 120 to laugh by just writing out your name? Maybe it was just the rustic Malayalee accent. I've heard many Mal accents and many of them grate but some can be musical. Oommen's accent was just that. We loved it. What is it that makes you love a teacher? Brilliant exposition of ancient poetic texts? Maybe. The brain the size of the planet which towers over the shrubs of our poor intellect? Maybe. The pure clarity of thought and speech? Maybe. Being lax with attendance? Maybe. I don't really remember Oommen for these things.
It was the way he treated us. Everytime we met him whether in college or after we finished studying it was always a pleasant surprise for him to meet us. Not that the day was already bad and we were like relief to him. Nope... it just was that the day seemed to have gotten better for Oommen by meeting us. Of course the rebellious streak in him was something that all students related to. For years Oommen's scooter was a lone feature of the Christ college drive way. An old Bajaj, standing proudly away from all the other vehicles doomed to servility and indistinctive commonness.
If there was any one thing I remember about Oommen it simply this. He treated each one of us as a human being. I wish to be like him however much I fail.
Another teacher who I wish to be like brings the Onam connection. Onam: a celebration of the return of Mahabali the good king to visit his people from the depths of the earth. There was a king like that. Who went down to the depths only to return. A brilliant teacher too. 'Be as cunning as serpents and innocent as doves' he said. I don't know what it really means. But... he not only treats me as a human being but gives me my true humanity.
Happy Teacher's day Onam everybody.
Oommen Mathew first impressed me with his sense of comic timing. How else do you get a class of 120 to laugh by just writing out your name? Maybe it was just the rustic Malayalee accent. I've heard many Mal accents and many of them grate but some can be musical. Oommen's accent was just that. We loved it. What is it that makes you love a teacher? Brilliant exposition of ancient poetic texts? Maybe. The brain the size of the planet which towers over the shrubs of our poor intellect? Maybe. The pure clarity of thought and speech? Maybe. Being lax with attendance? Maybe. I don't really remember Oommen for these things.
It was the way he treated us. Everytime we met him whether in college or after we finished studying it was always a pleasant surprise for him to meet us. Not that the day was already bad and we were like relief to him. Nope... it just was that the day seemed to have gotten better for Oommen by meeting us. Of course the rebellious streak in him was something that all students related to. For years Oommen's scooter was a lone feature of the Christ college drive way. An old Bajaj, standing proudly away from all the other vehicles doomed to servility and indistinctive commonness.
If there was any one thing I remember about Oommen it simply this. He treated each one of us as a human being. I wish to be like him however much I fail.
Another teacher who I wish to be like brings the Onam connection. Onam: a celebration of the return of Mahabali the good king to visit his people from the depths of the earth. There was a king like that. Who went down to the depths only to return. A brilliant teacher too. 'Be as cunning as serpents and innocent as doves' he said. I don't know what it really means. But... he not only treats me as a human being but gives me my true humanity.
Happy Teacher's day Onam everybody.
8 comment(s) to... “thiruvona teacher's day ashamsakal”
8 thinks:
I loved how well he got under the malayalee skin and yet managed to display such obvious disdain for it. Avalondish would probably remember his "THere is only state in the whole world where names don't have to have a meaning" quip. He was an oddity in a bunch of teachers that otherwise thought the world of themselves.
hahaha...yes RTP i distinctly remember that one. And of course his first instruction in 'How to read a novel" : Turn on the light..haha..and the name is Avalonian, btw ;)
'Turn on the light'
hahahahaha! I wish he had taught me!
Scent of a Oommen. :D
Ah yes Avalonian my bad. I have tendency to confuse user names and urls. He had a gazzillion of them, at least one for every thought that you've had at any time in your life.
His last class ever was with third jp but unfortunately we were stuck in pune winning stuff :P
I wish I could've adopted the guy for a grandfather..
We had the honor I should say of having him as our OEn teacher when we were in our second year JPEng. He was actually the reason that I continued writing. Most of us remember his teaching us 'The Second Coming' but, personally what I remember or rather cherish more is his teaching us Tennyson's Ullysses... That one line, "While I mete an dole unequal laws to a savage race", still echoes in my ears. He once asked me out of the blue (for some reason known only to him),"Do you rrriiiite anything?". I had very sheepishly shown him a few of my poems and other stuff. He asked me if he could 'borrow' them for a day. When he returned those stuffs the next afternoon he just said,"Dont stop. You just might make a living out of it someday." That was enough coming from someone like him. The best literature teacher I have ever had (along with one other).
The way he used to stress on certain syllables, phrases and his sense of timing and humor is something I will never forget and have never again seen or heard. Hope to meet him someday very soon. Hope he is in good health.
Does anyone know how I can get in touch with him?
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