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Down Memory Lane

Debates and diatribes

When I was in my III Form (VIII Std), a senior teacher who had come on transfer to our school stirred our enthusiasm in some extra-curricular activities like debating and oratory.

Helped by a junior teacher, he started a debating club mainly for students of IV and V Forms. Those in VI Form were too busy getting ready for their school final exams. And we of the lower classes were supposed to listen to the debates and learn new ways of expressing ourselves in English.

The senior teacher Durairaj Naidu came up to the school in a dazzling white dhoti and white shirt. He went into a small room under the water tank. Here he changed into white shirt and trousers, and a dark blue coat and tie. He also put on black shoes polished to a high gloss.

Durairaj Naidu was an avid reader of P.G.Wodehouse and Stephen Leacock. He also admired Winston Churchill’s ready wit. He liked to quote him while getting the students ready for the debates. “Dogs look up to us, cats look down upon us; only pigs treat us as equals”. From then on whenever we saw any of these animals, we tried to study their expressions to see if there was any truth in what Churchill had said.

Anyway Durairaj Naidu strongly felt that there should be a streak of humour in all our speeches and debates. The only orators we had heard those days were EVR, Rajaji and Muthuramalinga Thevar. None of these was noted for humour (though EVR’s vituperations sometimes passed for humour). Nehruji whom we have heard a couple of times was devoid of humour, atleast the humour that we could follow.

Our schoolmates in the debating teams tried hard to be humorous in order to impress Durairaj Naidu. But quite often it went flat. Sometimes they picked a quotation from some books and used it out of context. “When your outgo exceeds your income your upkeep becomes your downfall”.

The young teacher Raghupathi also took part in the debates along with the students. He didn’t give much importance to humour. But he spoke with an earnestness that gripped the audience. He was a tall, fair, handsome man who had a wonderful stage presence. His seriousness was contagious and we started thinking about the points he made. He and Durairaj Naidu complemented each other admirably.

Then some students asked these teachers whether they could take part in these contests speaking in tamil. Durairaj Naidu had introduced the debates mainly for the students to improve their English. Eventually he and Raghupathi consulted each other and permitted the students to use Tamil if they wished.

Among this new set of debaters was one student called Mookiah. He was much older than his classmates. He always wore a dhoti and shirt and a ring in his nose. His debating was of the thunder and lightning variety. He must have heard a number of speakers involved in the independence struggle. There was a militant vehemence in his speech that we greeted with thunderous applause. He banged on the table and held forth in high pitch as sweat poured off his face. When he had made a point he bent almost double and wiped his face on the edge of his dhoti. Raghupathi in his speech referred to “the terrible Mookiah”. We started calling him that afterwards.

I don’t know whether these debates improved our English or logical thinking. But we did have a rollicking good time.

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