Saravanan P

It was in the year 1993 , I was 10 years and 3 months old. I didn’t know What my age was , All I knew was that, “I am in sixth class , books will be big and the lessons will be tough and I am away from home”. I was in Hostel.It was just a few kilometers away from home but I felt as if it was thousand kilometers away. I felt so because I did not know how to return to home even If i was allowed to go. I remember , I have begged to the parents of all other school kids to take me home when they came and took their children to their respective homes. I cried in darkness, several nights.Sometimes ‘darkness’ is your friend – It does not reveal your weaknesses.The one thing I was happy about being in the hostel was , I can play anytime I want.

First time in my life , I failed in my subjects,including maths.The reason was everything was in English.I feared English very much. ‘very much’ conveys only a least fraction of my fear.Students who studied in a regional language before coming to this school, had the same problem and fear.I remember that I was slapped in front of the whole class for asking what ‘Simplify’ and ‘Evaluate’ meant. I was redirected to a dictionary but all I needed was my mother’s lap to sleep and cry. I remember I worried every second of my life then, for failing in subjects, for making my parents ashamed.

Saravanan was also a regional language student like How i was. We were like flourishing plants planted in a drought land.There was no sign of rain. It was in one of those periods in the seventh class that I was very attentive for the first time in that school. No – they were not telling stories. They were distributing progress report cards. I heard the Headmaster talking and he called upon Saravanan as the first rank holder.696/700 was his marks. 6 centums.I was glad, jealous, inferior and happy.That evening , I spoke to him for a longer time than I used to.Our friendship began.

Saravanan will not join us for the week end games. Later, I came to know that he was sitting and reading something in that ‘jungle like’ hostel environment.Once ,I saw him coming to the hostel with a dictionary.He learned to use a dictionary by himself. He had learned many words by then.

I failed in my subjects and he scored first rank in all the exams.I had even lost interest in my studies and started failing in maths too. The algebra that my teachers were teaching was very complex and was incomprehensible.I slept more in Geometry classes.The most hated word was ‘theorem’. I never understood any of them.

Once in the evening, after our classes,when I and Saravanan were walking, looking up to the tall, bamboo like trees on either side of my hostel road , I asked him “What are parallel lines?”, He said , ” Parallel lines never touch each other and the distance between them is always the same”. I liked the explanation very much.It was simple , more importantly, I understood it and I knew I will never forget in my life. That was the very first time that my mind thought about something in that school.He became my friend.My teacher.

He helped me to learn the basics again – Maths, Physics, Chemistry, English and even History and Geography.I once asked him foolishly – Why don’t the ceiling fan give Oxygen or Nitrogen or any such gas?He said , ” No it doesn’t, think of it – It just displaces the air around”. “The purpose of education is to make men think”. He made me think, not my teachers.Asking questions to him was my favorite thing.His answers would always enlighten me. He was like a ‘Hero’ to me. I stopped failing in my exams.

Saravanan was a gem of a person , a thinker, a leader , a friend to everyone in that school. He explained things to fellow students in a simple way which the teachers could not do. He made friends in every class. The entire school knew him in a very short span of time. He started asking questions to every teacher – His doubts were unanswerable , For the first time in their life – Teachers prepared for their lectures – and still failed miserably in class when he stood up and asked a question.He spoke in English during school hours – nobody told him so – He learned logarithmic tables by himself – He learned Hindi by himself – He borrowed books from Library – The first one to do such a thing – Under his command , We even acted in an English drama – He changed the way we saw things.He was like a Sun , We were like Sunflowers. We always looked upto him.The ‘We’ in the last sentence includes the Head Master and the other lecturers.His patience is incomparable and his compassion is unmeasurable. He would explain the same thing or a same maths problem to 20 different students with no hesitation or regret.Sometimes, I think , I don’t even qualify to be his friend.

He changed everyone in the school. He gave them courage and hope.

To me, he gave my life back.