Guru Deivam

Next to parents there were two principal groups who stamped their influence as one entered the teens.

Guru

Many took the form of guru in this phase where learning and achieving gained importance, mostly teachers but there were others too who contributed. Secondary school, as I said earlier, was very different from Primary. This was not lost on the teachers. There was a shift from them telling us what to do to having discussions with us. So they would call us to solve the problem on the board. If we bring a fresh challenging problem they would spend time to solve it at our desk. We would get them gifts if they got married. They would identify talent and help develop for competitions like elocution, debate, singing, fine arts and in the process not only had to pick and prepare but also have to be fair.

Gurus had the task of helping us know our strengths and weaknesses and what could be done with it. The Maths teachers would egg us mostly to act on binary mode – either it is right or wrong, so either you cracked it and got the right answer or you did not. Science teachers made us experiment from floating a pin on water, dissecting smaller insects and creatures, observing live samples as we went up the animal kingdom. There were some of these co-curricular activities which were taught to make things out of everyday stuff. So making figures out of chalk pieces, taking the peepal leaf and decaying it to have only its framework on which one can paint, breaking the connector of a fused electric bulb to then use the hollow glass for art or decoration, getting just the egg’s shell ready for art, were some of the many things we did. A lot depended on how the gurus got us interested us into anything. I remember the chalk art made me later make an entire chess set using cut pieces of wooden reapers used for laying electric wires then. I still practice leaf art on kids as it is fascinating and is an instant hit.

While mathematics and science gained prominence to start getting ready for a professional course to become an engineer or doctor, sustaining or even generating interest in other subjects was a tough task. The British system lays a lot of emphasis on Language, History and Maths. For a change I think we did not inherit this and the Indian system I feel has leaned more towards the core subjects that matter and left others like history and languages as appendages. I always feel the interest created in history can be much better and can have a long term influence on outlook to society. I was however fortunate to have interest created in Tamil at school. Though it was incidental (second language) in school and had a small 80-100 page book for our board exam, I would give it to Mrs. Margaret our Tamil teacher to have made it very interesting. There were times when she could discuss just a four line verse for a couple periods and still keep it interesting. I can’t say it made me a Tamil scholar but it certainly opened my eyes to the wealth in Tamil literature and greatly improved my interest and appreciation of how language is a great gift. She also made us put a program of “Villu paatu” – a folk art, which went on AIR (All India Radio) after an interesting experience of recording at the radio studio.

MHK & Rajan mama

While the gurus at school challenged and shaped us there were the neighborhood gurus and then there were my father’s colleagues and two of them MHK (my father’s boss M H Krishnaswamy) and Rajan Mama (who was a great well wisher of the family). MHK would interact briefly in his visits but had style and discipline – very well groomed, had to have his game of tennis every day, will ask a pointed question on what do you want to do in life, listen patiently and  will say, ‘great, work towards it’. Rajan mama was fond of music and he would enroll me and later my sisters into music competitions across the city. He would want me to practice, take me home listen to the songs in the record player, make his daughter Lalitha coach sometimes and get overjoyed if we won prizes. 

The fundamental point about all the Gurus was the way they made things interesting and took interest in us taking it up.  

Maatha Pitha Guru Deivam reinforces the three of them shape you a lot in the formative years and then continue to be available as RAM for life.

Deivam

Deivam – God is a concept the mind had to clarify. Born in a traditional, somewhat orthodox family one was a theist. Growing up on Grandma’s stories of Ramayan, Mahabharath, Bhagavatham, Siva puranams etc. one was aware of the universe of divinity.  Both the drivers we had were Christians and the place I used to hire bicycles was next to a mosque. Fortunately the home had a secular view.  The adolescent streak is always about challenging the norm and relating to the unknown. This was a period when thought of what all this is about would often poke and a few discussions would occasionally pop at school too as we went through the feudal and caste histories. I remember water melon and papaya were considered a shudra fruit and did not enter home then – maybe because of their odour or it growing in marshes but so did pumpkins, which was accepted. So questions on issues like these as to why and why not would punctuate teenage days.

sandstone Ganesha

I don’t think one thought too deeply then about this but amongst all the forms attached to the concept of god, the one that fascinated me most was Ganesha. The creation by Parvathi, the audacity of challenging Shiva, the loss of head, the anger of Shakthi and the resurrection with an elephant head and the pre-eminent place in worship were all about something different and great. The forms Ganesha always bring out a progressive streak and the handmade clay avatar he would come home for a Chaturti had an earthiness and simplicity that is unmatched. The ritual of smashing a coconut as a sign of shattering worries and sharing it with others (Soorai Thenga) is uniquely symbolic. While all this in retrospect are what may have appealed to me about Ganesha, I think it is the belief which matters here. That needed a moment of truth. Somebody close fell ill and made me appeal to this unknown power to intervene and all I said was I will do some things for life. I believe it did matter and call it belief, fear, reverence or thanks-giving it continues.

Deivam – God is the unknown, fondly seen as Ganesha but in everything and more so in every life and a few years back I stumbled upon this song written as a tribute to the way Bharati the Tamil poet composes. It is a great perspective of Deivam – though it has reference to Shiva’s form, it is a simple poetic expression of the unknown force in each of us, in everything

try this link (if you know tamil you'll enjoy it more
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvJnOe68SKg

May the force be with you…