The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Thanjavur News : `A special kind of happiness'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 06, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Thanjavur

`A special kind of happiness'

By Akhila Seetharaman

HEAD-SPINNING SCORE: G. Gayathri, State SSLC topper with a score of 495/500, sitting outside her home at Thanjavur reflecting on how it feels to be on top of the heap. — Photo: R. Shivaji Rao

THANJAVUR, JUNE 5. Ever since the Secondary School Leaving Certificate results were declared, all narrow sun-baked lanes of Manambuchavady here seem to lead to one house.

And for those in search of directions, the name `Gayathri' works like a charm. "Straight down, take a left at the corner, you will see a two-storey green building, she is on the first floor," says an old man, sitting on the raised plinth outside his house.

It is not every day that the girl-next-door brings home the State first rank, and with the girl-from-the-next-lane close on her heels.

"To get something you've wished for, for so long, and worked so hard to achieve... " says the topper, G. Gayathri, savouring her success, "It is a special kind of happiness."

For R.G. Gopikanathan, his daughter's success is a personal victory. In his 20 years as an assistant soil conservation officer in the Agricultural Engineering department at Orathanad, he has never enjoyed a promotion. The reason, he says, is that he lacked the requisite educational qualification when he started out. "He always reminds me of how I have such good opportunities. It makes me want to do well," says Gayathri of her father.

The Thanjavur Collectorate took special efforts to give talented students extra support, which she found very useful. It organised a daylong programme to coach promising students from schools across the State. "We made focussed efforts to get the State rank and the efforts have paid off," says M. Palaniswamy, Chief Educational Officer of the district.

Spinning wheels at the entrances of some houses along the lanes near Gayathri's home remind visitors that this is home to a community of Sourashtrians, traditionally known for their skill in weaving silk. But many have already left the profession and young people have different plans.

Gayathri aspires to become a doctor and serve the people, much like her closest competitor in school, V.M. Nandhini Devi, who lives two lanes away.

"Both of them are excellent students and they have always competed, equally," says Sr. Maripathachandra Rosalie, headmistress of St. Joseph's Girls Higher Secondary School. "Both their papers were beautiful to look at - no scratches, nothing scored out." After years of neck and neck competition, Nandhini emerged from the final round, with five marks less than Gayathri, and came third in the State, according to her headmistress.

About 160 km from Thanjavur, S. Janani from Nirmala Girls Higher Secondary School in Madurai recalls how her class teacher asked her to get a State rank for her, as a retirement gift.

She did not expect to deliver, but she did, and came second in the State, scoring 493 out of 500.

"She left out two questions in her Tamil paper ... " says her mother, B. Banumathi.

Both mother and daughter are acutely aware of how close she came to topping the heap.

But for now, Janani has made peace with the `what ifs'.

Her father's shiny new two-wheeler, given pride of place in the portico, beckons.

Her mind is on the next challenge: to learn to ride a bike before school begins.

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`A special kind of happiness'