Besant School Nostalgic memories

It is really wonderful to see all the connections you have made and linked especially with Headmaster Krishnaratnam’s daughters. I really like the idea of publishing all our thoughts and memories in one website and one can read all the contributions by one click, gather and share all connection and the information.
My recollection of our Headmaster Krishnaratnam Sir is that of his love for tennis. I remember when my mother had organized the tournament at Mandavelipakkam Ladies club for the juniors Krishnaratnam Sir sent the largest number of entries of nearly 60 students. I remember his enthusiasm for the sport and he would come to the finals of the matches that included Ramanathan Krishnan, Premjit Lal and Jaideep Mukerjee. My sister Chitra and I joined Besant school in 1959 in 1st form and graduated 6th form in 1965. My father used to drop us at school in the beginning. He had a motorbike and I was little and I used to sit in the front of the bike (actually on the tank) and my sister would sit behind him as pinion rider. On days we were late to school it would be very obvious as the motorbike sound would announce to whole school our late arrival during the Assembly time and we of course will meet our Headmaster after the assembly to tell him that we were late because the motorbike wouldn’t start!!!
I remember very vividly standing outside Headmaster’s house and listening to the Davis Cup Tennis match commentary when the Indian Tennis team lost the match to Australia in a close tie.
My affinity towards biology was solely developed because I had the greatest teacher early in my life and I loved the subject. Whether it was a flower or the frog, the ease with which he taught and made me learn was something unique. Although I was not the brightest student I made decent grades in biology more than any other subject. Besant school students in the late 50s and 60s are very fortunate to have had him as a headmaster.
Also my memories go back to the debating team and elocution competition in English, Sanskrit and Hindi. The Besant School students competed with other schools at Ramakrishna Mission High School Interschool competition. We always came out the best coveting most prizes- which in later years of lives paid off in giving extempore speeches.
How can one ever forget a few memorable teachers like Sesha avatharam Sir (who incidentally gave me the nickname “Apple” which Adaikalavan and R. Srikant presented me with a plastic one sometime during his class!!!!) Kodai teacher- I maintained a kind of indifference both inside and outside the class and she once claimed that I was her favorite student!!! And then Nagarathna Reddy teacher had a special liking for me who would let me go to her Hostel room and clarify some notes that I missed during class time. Krishna Bai teacher would get me on my Physics homework, the subject where the principles and theories of matter and material I could never comprehend at that time. But when she became our class teacher one year she took extra effort to teach me and make me understand a bit. Venkateswarulu Sir, the soft spoken teacher who was also our class teacher was one of my favorite English teachers, whose poetry class instigated my interest in Poems of Shelly, Keats, Wordsworth and Milton. The not much spoken Sivaramakrishnan Sir, yet another class teacher was our Math teacher. He tried real hard to teach Algebra, Geometry and Trigonometry to me on which particular subject alone I had learning disability. For the life of me Math, Physics and I never got along well. I barely passed the subjects and thanks to them they never failed me. My Sanskrit teachers were also my favorites especially when we were memorizing and reciting the Sabdas from Sabda Manjari. Venkatachala Sastri Sir and before that “Suprabatham Sir” – I don’t remember his real name who initiated me into learning Sanskrit. I am indebted to them forever for giving me the pleasure of learning the greatest language on earth. “Art Sir” who the whole school had different names for him, let us do whatever we want in his class and actually this was no class at all and it was like a free period. Vilasini Balan and Rajani Balan who were in my class were the best artists I have ever known by their natural talent perhaps are ones who did real art work in the class. I used to love the audio visual presentations at the school when headmaster Krishnaratnam presented nice documentaries both from USIS and British Council libraries. One of the best times I used to like about school is the long break for lunch hour 11-30 am to 1-00pm. This is when and were most of Besant school memories were made. Climbing trees or hanging out under the trees, learning to ride a bike or just whiling away the time. Mostly all “day scholars “had nothing much to do but to hang out in the campus after lunch.
Would I like to go back to High school again and were would it be? I guess I will definitely and especially have Krishnaratnam Sir as My headmaster and Of course, not to mention the campus of Damodar Gardens and the delightful Besant school students who have been part of my life in early childhood.

besantschooladyar

besantschooladyar