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To her, teaching was mothering too
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If not for this teacher, we might never have got to listen to the haunting melodies of Jesudas. K. PRADEEP, in a chat with Padmam Madam.
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THERE ARE so many things that Padmam Madam, 85, as she is respectfully called, cannot remember. Like when she first joined as a teacher or when she retired from service. But there are some memories of her career that she still fondly cherishes and keeps alive. And most of those memories revolve around her days as teacher at the R. L. V. College of Music and Fine Arts, Thripunithura, of the students there and of K. J. Jesudas.
"My memories of Jesudas at college were that of a frail, quiet young man, always dressed neatly in a white shirt and dhoti. I would not have got to know him intimately had it not been for that incident in my class. A notice from the college office, brought to my class by the peon, stated that Jesudas had failed to pay his fees and so had to be dismissed from the college. I was surprised. For a moment I thought that the son of the famous singer-actor Augustine Joseph, must have misused the money given to him. But when I looked into his eyes that had welled up with tears, as he came and stood beside me, I knew there was something more to it. Jesudas only just managed to tell me that he would explain his position later. I gave him the money for the fees and asked him to go to the office immediately and pay it. When he came and met me at my house that evening, Jesudas was literally in tears as he narrated his woes to me. I decided to help this boy. From then on Jesudas was one of our family," remembers Padmam.
For Jesudas, Padmam Madam was not only a teacher, who brushed up his Malayalam and Sanskrit pronunciation, stood by him when some of the teachers at the college ridiculed him for having attempted to learn Carnatic music, chided him when she felt he was in the wrong, arranged for specialised tuition during the final year of his ganabhusham course, bought the gift to be handed over to the very stern master, paid the hotel bills after he had left Thripunithura... she was, as he always said, his foster mother.
Singer K.J. Jesudas showing Padmam Madam the Padmabhushan medallion he got.
"A teacher must be like a mother. Ready to help the students whenever they need help,"Ms. Padmam says. And another student who would vouch for this motherly affection is noted nagaswaram player, Thiruvizha Jayashanker.
"He used to draw very well," Ms. Padmam stops for a while, even as she probes her fading memory. "One day I saw him waiting for me at the college verandah. Surprisingly, he asked me for some money. I told him, rather bluntly, that if boys like him, who were quite affluent, kept asking for help, she would not be able to help the genuinely needy. Saying so, I gave him the money. A day later, he brought a beautifully sketched portrait of mine, kept it near my bedside, not disturbing my afternoon siesta, and went off. Only then did I realise why he had asked me for the money. He knew I would not accept anything without paying for it," Ms. Padmam reminisces.
Padmam's house was where a group of students got together every evening. "I used to give them tea and something to eat, only on those days when there was something. I was not fabulously rich, but never craved for anything more than what was needed for a decent living. Jayashanker loved to climb the `chaamba' (Eugenia Jambosa) tree in our compound, squirrel-like, plucking the fruits and throwing it down to his friends."
Passing out from Sanskrit College, Thripunithura, with top honours, Padmam began her teaching career in the same institution before she was deputed to the R.L.V. College. Here, she was asked to teach not only Sanskrit, but was also given the additional responsibility of explaining the Telugu meanings of the Carnatic krithis and she says with that bright, toothless smile, "the basics of music" as propounded in a few prescribed textbooks. "One of my students at the Sanskrit College was Sankaran, who later went on to become an excellent Ayurveda physician. He stayed close to my house and I knew the struggles through which he and his family went through. There were so many occasions when I was able to help him. Later, I depended a lot on his care and very effective treatment," recounts Ms. Padmam.
This teacher's relationships with her students extended far beyond the confines of the classrooms. She always believed that education must be complete and generous, enabling a student to perform justly, skilfully and magnanimously. And every effort of hers was directed to instil in her wards the importance of being truthful, sincere and hardworking.
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