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During his school days, A. Panneerselvam, an eminent diabetologist based in Chennai, never missed his history classes, not so much for its content, but for the teacher, who taught historical events like a play.
This was in 1971 when the diabetologist was a Class VIII student. Over half a century later, around 200 alumni belonging to various batches of the Government Higher Secondary School at Vettavalam village, around five km from Tiruvannamalai town, gathered to show their gratitude to their beloved history teacher and retired headmaster of the school K. Harikrishnan at his 80th birthday celebrations last Sunday.
“He (Mr. Harikrishnan) taught us English and history. His way of teaching was simple and easy to grasp for students, who are mostly from distant villages,” Mr. Pannerselvam, 67, who organised the event, recollects.
The reunion had photo sessions of classmates, a thanksgiving session for teachers, release of books that was authored by the history teacher, and a lot of time spent in talking about days of yore during the four-hour-long event.
But the most interesting part of the event was the experienced shared by the history teacher on the days spent with his students in classrooms decades ago. ”In those days, bonding between students and teachers was much closer because students entirely depended on us for their learning, as parents, who are mostly illiterate, cannot clear their doubts at home. We also treated them as our own children,” says retired headmaster Mr. Harikrishnan.
Being a drama artist, the octogenarian intertwined his artistic skills with history lessons. He displayed historical characters through his movements and gestures that attracted young minds quicker than writing on black boards and mere lectures. “During English classes, we were asked to write sentences even if they were wrong one. He (Mr. Harikrishnan)then makes corrections. His words were always encouraging one,” says Mr. Panneerselvam.
Along with retired Director General of Police T.K. Rajendran, an alumni, and film director and alumni V. Sekar, Mr. Pannerselvam managed to contact the alumni and bring them together.
Published – June 11, 2025 12:53 am IST
