James, as you might imagine is not the name of any pet I owned, but was the name of my science teacher during my final year in school. My school being St! John the Baptist High.
He was a very good teacher except for a distinct peculiarity. He was teaching me for the first time even though he had been in our school for many years. That is the reason why I did not know much about him, except that he was very strict and demanding. Right from the first day, he started giving me a preferential treatment. I have yet to fathom the reason for that treatment.
When I say preferential treatment, do not go overboard, and start imagining, that I was his pet student or something like that, which I was not. He started the day by asking the students to introduce ourselves, which we all did in due course. After the introduction came the surprise. He wrote down a simple question on chemistry, I think, on the board and asked us to raise our hands, if we knew the answer. I like a fool raised my hand, and got caught in his web for the whole year. That was my first mistake. He requested me to give the answer, which I did with grace and confidence. That was my second mistake.
The next day he again asked us a question and many of us raised our hands, myself being one, again, I was asked to answer, which I did with aplomb. That was definitely my third mistake. By this time I had started feeling bugged, since he was behaving as if I was the only student in a class of 50 pupils.
The next day he again asked us a question and many of us raised our hands, this time I was not one of those with raised hands. Possibly, this could have been my fourth mistake, because he again asked me to give the answer, which I did, with disgust written all over my face. That day he kept on bombarding us with questions, a few of which, I answered, and then I stopped answering his questions, which now, that I think of it, was my fifth and final mistake. I got two cuts on my right hand for the first time for this disobedience, since I knew the answer for that particular question.
From then on, it became a fashion, the fact that James would come to the class and write down a question on the board and without turning back would call out Pillai !, and I would stand up and keep my silence. He would ask for the answer to a few other students and then reach a student whom he had taught previously named Vaidya, who would invariably give the answer. The cuts were administered with regularity, the first and the strongest being reserved for me.
This went on for the whole year except for one day in the fag end of the year. As usual he asked a question and started with me, note over here that I was always the first to be asked, which I decided as usual not to answer. Unfortunately on this day even Vaidya could not answer that particular question and so he kept on asking the whole class and finally found that nobody knew the answer. At that time I knew my time had come to salvage some of my reputation. James decided that he would not administer the cuts, and asked us to sit down. I did not want that, and so I asked him to be fair, and give everybody their due. He did give me a harder cut, but I had forced him to give a cut to his favorite student also. After all the students had been administered two cuts each, I informed that I knew the answer and proceeded to give the answer with gusto. He was totally confused by my answer.
The next day we were back to square one. he would start the class by calling my name, as if he was saying a prayer, give me the two cuts and carry on with his teaching, which I must admit he did very well. But, now the energy behind the cuts were not as high as before, and on a few days he had actually passed up the chance to give me those two beautiful cuts.
At that time I felt sorry for him and even asked him to give me the cuts. He always obliged.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
Jackie
When we, that is me and my brother Ramesh brought him home, he was all of two years old. I am not talking of any child, but of my pure bred German Shepherd dog. While coming from Vasai to Dombivli in our van he was quite, except for one time when he was bugged by a pair of Doberman's at the petrol pump, where we had stopped to fill up. He was really scary at that moment when he unleashed his patent growl and bark at them after first allowing them to come near the van. It was a sight to see those Doberman's run away from his menacing posture.
When we reached home, he was nervous to begin with, but in an hour or so he perked up enough to check our house from pillar to post. At that time he was told by my brother in no uncertain terms that he was never to enter the kitchen. I can still remember Ramesh giving this order to him in Malalayam, and Jackie seemed to understand the language, even though he has been brought from a house where Marathi was spoken. Jackie just looked at Ramesh in his peculiar way and he seemed to understand the order, since he never tried to cross the boundary of the entrance to the kitchen. My sisters had a habit of teasing Jackie and running into the kitchen. He would always chase them till the kitchen door, and wait for them outside the kitchen.
Jackie was huge. If he stood on his hind legs he could easily put a six foot human being to shame.
He was also very gentle when he wanted to be. The people staying around us used to call him a Lion because of his size and color.
The three people he never liked were the milkman, the postman and the paper boy. His main reason for this dislike must have been due to the fact that all these persons only came till our doorway but never entered our house. None of these three groups could ever escape without being treated to his full blooded bark. Oh! I have missed a point over here. Let me just say that his bark was such that he could possibly awaken the dead from their graves. Friends and relatives coming to call on us would check from our garden gate about Jackie being tied to the
leash. Practically nobody liked to have Jackie put his front legs on their shoulders and slobbered all over their faces.
He had an avid hatred for other dogs of our locality. If any of them happened to bark at him when he was being taken out for a walk, then the person holding the leash had better be very careful or he would be taken for a high speed ride.
The only person who did not have to undergo this indignity was my mother. She had informed him once that she did not have the strength to run after him and he obliged her with obedience. By this time he could understand Malayalam very well. I suppose, he had the command of a six year old human child on our mother tongue. I am still at a loss to know how he managed that particular trait.
But then he was exceptional in many ways. Once, I was returning from a tour after fifteen days, and only dad was there at home. I had not informed my parents about my home coming, as I wanted to surprise them. But by the time I reached our garden gate, Dad knew I was coming, by just looking at the enthusiasm that Jackie was presenting at that moment.
I still remember, on the night that my grandfather passed away, he did not bark even once although scores of people were passing through our home during that night. On the following day hundreds of people came to our house, and a few even asked me about Jackie,s whereabouts, since they could not hear his patent bark. I don't remember him barking on those two days.
He used to sleep in my room and start barking if he heard any noise during the night. In case I did not acknowledge his barks, he would come near me and unleash a special bark right in my face, so that I had to talk to him and inform him about having understood his concerns, and ask him to go to sleep, which he rarely seemed to do at night. If I happened to get up during the night, I could always see that he was looking up at me. I had never caught him napping during the night.
When we reached home, he was nervous to begin with, but in an hour or so he perked up enough to check our house from pillar to post. At that time he was told by my brother in no uncertain terms that he was never to enter the kitchen. I can still remember Ramesh giving this order to him in Malalayam, and Jackie seemed to understand the language, even though he has been brought from a house where Marathi was spoken. Jackie just looked at Ramesh in his peculiar way and he seemed to understand the order, since he never tried to cross the boundary of the entrance to the kitchen. My sisters had a habit of teasing Jackie and running into the kitchen. He would always chase them till the kitchen door, and wait for them outside the kitchen.
Jackie was huge. If he stood on his hind legs he could easily put a six foot human being to shame.
He was also very gentle when he wanted to be. The people staying around us used to call him a Lion because of his size and color.
The three people he never liked were the milkman, the postman and the paper boy. His main reason for this dislike must have been due to the fact that all these persons only came till our doorway but never entered our house. None of these three groups could ever escape without being treated to his full blooded bark. Oh! I have missed a point over here. Let me just say that his bark was such that he could possibly awaken the dead from their graves. Friends and relatives coming to call on us would check from our garden gate about Jackie being tied to the
leash. Practically nobody liked to have Jackie put his front legs on their shoulders and slobbered all over their faces.
He had an avid hatred for other dogs of our locality. If any of them happened to bark at him when he was being taken out for a walk, then the person holding the leash had better be very careful or he would be taken for a high speed ride.
The only person who did not have to undergo this indignity was my mother. She had informed him once that she did not have the strength to run after him and he obliged her with obedience. By this time he could understand Malayalam very well. I suppose, he had the command of a six year old human child on our mother tongue. I am still at a loss to know how he managed that particular trait.
But then he was exceptional in many ways. Once, I was returning from a tour after fifteen days, and only dad was there at home. I had not informed my parents about my home coming, as I wanted to surprise them. But by the time I reached our garden gate, Dad knew I was coming, by just looking at the enthusiasm that Jackie was presenting at that moment.
I still remember, on the night that my grandfather passed away, he did not bark even once although scores of people were passing through our home during that night. On the following day hundreds of people came to our house, and a few even asked me about Jackie,s whereabouts, since they could not hear his patent bark. I don't remember him barking on those two days.
He used to sleep in my room and start barking if he heard any noise during the night. In case I did not acknowledge his barks, he would come near me and unleash a special bark right in my face, so that I had to talk to him and inform him about having understood his concerns, and ask him to go to sleep, which he rarely seemed to do at night. If I happened to get up during the night, I could always see that he was looking up at me. I had never caught him napping during the night.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
My Experience.
There are so many things that I wish to say or write. I dont know where to start. I think that it would be best to start in the begining. But where do I start. Do I start from my birth? That will not be interesting to many of you. But then if I have to say these things, I have to start at the begining.
I will not bore you with all the detail of my childhood except for some arresting anecdotes. A few days back I had been to my aunts house, where we ended up discussing children and their peculiar eating habits. At that time my aunt informed me that I had a very peculiar habit of holding the milk or any other liquid in my mouth and throwing the whole thing back at the person, who was feeding me at that moment. My aunt Kanakam had received a lot of these reflex actions from me. I am deeply sorry to have inflicted my aunt as well as my mother these peculiarities.
During the same time my aunt also informed me that she never had any trouble with my younger brother Ramesh. All he ever wanted was to be left in peace to drink his milk. I still remember, that he had the ability of drinking a glass of milk, for more than an hour, so that by the time he finishes the last sip of milk, the first sip had already been digested. He had one other peculiarity, which was that from start to finish the tumbler of milk never left his mouth.
I will not bore you with all the detail of my childhood except for some arresting anecdotes. A few days back I had been to my aunts house, where we ended up discussing children and their peculiar eating habits. At that time my aunt informed me that I had a very peculiar habit of holding the milk or any other liquid in my mouth and throwing the whole thing back at the person, who was feeding me at that moment. My aunt Kanakam had received a lot of these reflex actions from me. I am deeply sorry to have inflicted my aunt as well as my mother these peculiarities.
During the same time my aunt also informed me that she never had any trouble with my younger brother Ramesh. All he ever wanted was to be left in peace to drink his milk. I still remember, that he had the ability of drinking a glass of milk, for more than an hour, so that by the time he finishes the last sip of milk, the first sip had already been digested. He had one other peculiarity, which was that from start to finish the tumbler of milk never left his mouth.
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