It was in nov 1982 that I first met her. She was our English teacher in class 5, at Visakha valley school, visakhapatnam. The school, back then, was one of the two better known schools in vizag, the other being timpany. One could sense that she was impactful right from the very beginning. Thanks to dad's transfer, I joined that school with barely 4 months remaining in that academic year. Not only did she teach English in such a way that one learnt to love the language, she also found I was struggling with my new third language, Sanskrit, and put in a good word to that teacher to help me with that subject. Poems were never taught, she'd bring them alive in the classroom. There was a poem with the title 'clothesline'. She brought in a rope, used wooden clips and asked a few of us to hang our handkerchiefs there. Then she composed a tune and we sang to that tune. 31 years later, I can still recall the lyrics although I can't remember what I ate for dinner yesterday. It went 'hand in hand, they dance in a row, hither and thither and to and fro...'
Few months later, All India radio wanted to bring together students from all over vizag to sing patriotic songs to be aired on children's day. All 3 of us, my elder brother, younger sister and I got selected for the school choir, a group of about 20 students. This teacher introduced a Marathi folk song to us. She was herself a tamilian, the group was cosmopolitan with hardly one or two maharashtrians, but in 15 days time, that song was learnt. It was for the competitive section of that program and our school ended up winning it. What's more, the 3 of us, have sung that song at various fora, and have collected a smattering of prizes at different schools (thanks, in no small measure, to dad's frequent transfers). She told us mythological stories during free periods when other teachers would bunk their classes. At other times, she would break us up into teams and hold inpromptu general knowledge quizzes. Until then, I would only read the sports page; she kindled interest in the others.
We moved to Hyderabad in 1985 and teacher herself followed her husband who was transferred to Vijayawada. We kept in touch sparsely over inland letters but eventually lost touch. The school she joined in Vijayawada won a national level televised school quiz and it wasn't difficult to guess who was behind it.
In 1988, dad was transferred again, this time to New Delhi. We joined a govt aided school as we were told that school not only produced good results but also focussed on instilling good values. I chose the commerce stream. Imagine my surprise when the same teacher walks in to my Class 11 as subject teacher for economics !
Once again, she stood out. The average score of the class in statistics and economics was much higher than all other subjects. She continued to engage the students across the school in music, quiz and added dramatics to her repertoire. She wrote a satirical piece on elections, with the theme being that Sage Narad became curious to find out why there was sudden frenzy in India and discovered that elections were round the corner. His observations were backed by content juxtaposed with popular Hindi film songs. With no make up, except a hurriedly wrapped dhoti below my school white shirt, I played Narad. It was an instant hit and there were encore performances over the next year or so. Content was king. I didn't need to slog it out in economics in higher studies thereafter as she always taught us to learn with graphs and write in our own words.
I'm sure there are many who would have experienced great teachers. But I can't imagine so many qualities in one teacher.
She had her quirks too - if she found the class boisterous, she would simply put up a glum face and walk back to the staff room and refuse to come out until we all apologized. Can you imagine doing that in high school ? But we did and she'd come back and give us a long lecture. She was also not shy of using the long handle when it was absolutely necessary.
I met her in 2010 after 20 years but have again lost touch with her. She's retired now but is influencing much younger kids through teaching them music and bhajans.
Salute, nay, shastrang pranams, to Nalini Padmanabhan madam, fondly known as Nalini teacher to generations of students at DTEA janakpuri school. And to all those selfless women who put careers of youngsters ahead of their own lives and speak proudly of their wards even today.
