Teachers Day celebrations; Sept.5, 2013

The core group of the school's alumni has been doing its bit at the annual Teachers Day event at school these past years. So when Jacklin of the group shared the info and I found time on Thursday ( Sept.5) I drove down to Egmore this morning.

I live in Adyar, the south side of this city so the easy way to get to Egmore is to swing down the Marina Beach road and get across Chintadripet.

It is always a pleasure to set your eyes on the beachside in the morning and Chintadripet, another hub for St Anthony's alumni is as maddening as ever - you cannot escape the famed fish market here but it is crumbling.

Waves of cheers greeted us as we entered school. The kids were all sitting on the ground, in semi circle format while the corridor of the main building had been turned into a viewing gallery of sorts!

All eyes were fixed on the stage where a string of dance, skit and dance pieces by the students made the most of the Teachers Day event. As expected, the hit Tamil film dance numbers grabbed everybody's ears and even the kids of Std.4 went into a frenzy when they played ' Kasu..Panam...' from the film ' Soodhu Kavam'.....and as it rocked the campus some of us alumni rewond to our days at St Anthony's when anything loud and filmi was quietly sidelined and when wild dances set to film songs were 'no-no'.

Times have changed, so have tastes and fancies. And eve a school community lives by the times, I suppose.

What impressed us was the energy that student leaders brought to the day's events which included fun games for teachers.

This as a rather stuffy morning and as the sweat began to trickle fast, the finale was called - all the teachers led by Sr. Jayarani assembled on stage and a large cake was cut and pieces shared.

Quickly, the teachers adjourned to the cool Staff Room, which is on the ground floor of the main building where I guess Std.VIII once functioned.

Asha and her group had arranged for a pack of sweets and karam and a small gift for all the teachers ( 26 I am told) and non teaching staff too. Portraits of a few teachers who are no more adorn the wall. We suggested that one of Ms Devotta who passed away recently be mounted too.

The teachers were in their best Kanjeevaram saris and seem to have enjoyed the event of the day. On the sidelines I got to know that Ms Evonne ( did I get the name right?) who teaches Std.IV now is the seniormost - in service for about 23 years and there are 2 others who have been around for 20 plus years.

Perhaps, it is time to document a St Anthonys Teachers Listing from as far as we can possibly go.

Sports Day; June 29, 2013

The annual Sports Day at the School may have shrunk a lot from the Meets of the 60s and 70s but the 2013 edition held on the school campus on June 29 had a charm of its own.
For one it was well organised and had the students closely involved.

It was 4 p.m. when I dropped by - parents and junior students sat on the edge of the ground and each House had its own cheer group. In fact. there was a prize for the best cheer group House!

It was prize giving time on stage. Rotarian Ragupathy was the guest and alumnae Asha Marina was beside him, representing the alumni besides the wife of  late P T Master Pannerselvam. The master's portrait was displayed on the stage and a trophy in his name was also given.

Each House team - Agnes, Augustine, Joseph and Teresa was seated on the ground; the rain the previous night had helped to settle the dust here.
All the chalk markings created for the races had merged with the dust.

The cheers for each prize winner was resounding indeed.

St. Jospeh's House walked away with the trophy for the overall winner and the group in red let loose their joy. But it had been a tough fight as the photo here showed the points table.
St Teresa's came second and St. Agnes third.

The March Past trophy was bagged by St. Augustine, the greens. St Joseph's was placed second and the blues, St Teresa's came third.

Once the prizes were given, the teams stood up to sing the School Anthem - I quickly recorded it and will post it soon here - and then, the National Anthem.

It was a nice evening; the Rain God let the Sun God rule. And as a gift, the schoolprincipal announced a holiday on Monday!

On the sidelines I meet young boys who had won more than one medal. There is talent here. Perhaps a need for more time and support for the sportsminded kids and better coaching too. That will allow St Anthony's team to take a place in city schools sports area.

Also, there is a need to have better trophies. A few are being recycled. The call is to the alumni to gift the school large rolling trophies/shields that can be used over a decade.

Enjoy a series of photos taken at the Sports Day - https://picasaweb.google.com/108229909377795883653/SchoolSportsJune2013?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Tribute to PT Master Panneerselvam

He went the way he wanted.
Dressed in his trademark T-shirt and spotless white trousers, sports shoes and cap; even the small locks of hair dropping down on his neck.

Former P T Master Panneerselvam passed away on June 18, felled by yet another heart attack.

The next day, we like many others made our way to his home in Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, beyond Perambur and Peravallur to pay our respects and say a prayer. And we felt good - for his family had respected his wish - 'dress me up in my favorite when I make my last journey.

The funeral service was held at a CSI church in Perambur and he was interred at the Kilpauk cemetery.

"Dad used to tell me - when I die dress me in my favourite clothes...", Panneerselvam's son Sam Aton told me outside the drawing room where people streamed him to see the body, join in the prayers and console his wife.

In many ways he was a colourful character who left a mark on many, many students at St. Anthony's. And for the boys and girls who loved sport, he was indeed a mentor with a signature style of work.

We were in Std.VI when Panneerselvan joined school after graduating from the YMCA College. His nativeness was all over him ( he hailed from the Tirunelveli area). But he spoke the English he knew and did not shy even when many of us tittered at his accent.

"Take-a-book and read man!"
"Lizsen to the music!"

Some of his colorful orders we would hear at Assembly, prayer, sport or on the campus. Panneerselvam was was the kind of guru who wanted to be involved everywhere.
But sports was his passion and his vocation and for the small community of sportsmen and women carefully nurtured by Miss Neaves, that icon of school sports in our city, he was a mentor.

St Anthony's did have impressive sporting talent. In athletics, volleyball, cricket, throw ball. And Pannerselvam helped to mould, train and lead our athletes.

Looking back, we can only smile at the condition - one PT master handling over 100 athletes, an annual Sports Day and class after class of PT sessions.

And we now know that he worked real hard for a not-too-handsome pay packet.

It was that drive that drove him to work at the Brittos Academy in the south suburbs. He used to drive across the city and back for this and it certainly took a toll. His son told us that he has suffered two attacks and yet he strained himself.

"I have been reborn," he told a bunch of us when he was in our midst in January this year at the Alumni Meet at school. ( the photo featured here was taken then). He looked trim, chirpy and was in his trademark attire.

That was the man.

( Contact Sam Anton - Panneerselvam's son - 98841 61105.

At Ms Devotta's funeral . . .

It was a funeral I chose to attend. After all, Ms Devotta was a senior teacher at our school and held in high esteem by the student community of the 60s and 70s.

Travelling from home in Adyar to Anna Nagar is to cross the city but made more difficult by the work on the new Metro Rail project which also covers Anna Nagar.
Our destination was St Luke's Church that serves this local Catholic community.

Holy Mass had begun at the altar, with four priests at the head. On the other side of the altar lay the coffin of Ms Devotta, surrounded by flower bouquets.

The church was fairly full for the 10 a.m Mass and my simple tribute here was in singing at the Mass. Nearer my God to Thee signalled the end of the Mass and the last journey of Ms Devotta. Family carried the coffin to the Vincent Parker hearse van - it would then head to the local cemetry.

We spotted the late teacher's son Ashok. I also met up with a former shipping engineer who was Ms Devotta's close relation - he told me that the Devotttas hailed from Tuticorin and were one of the earliest residents of Anna Nagar.

From the St Anthony's School community was another senior teacher Ms Kuruvilla who was of Ms Devotta's time; she now lives in Secretariat Colony, Kilpauk.Also Asha Marina and Jacklin, acive alumni assn. members and Charms Ashok. Besides a few from the 1969-'70 batch like Charles Nation.

There were smiles all around - indicative of the person who we had said goodbye too. Ms Devotta had done her job and signed off.

Remembering Ms. Devotta; a personal note

In school, some teachers make an impression on you.
Some trigger a new path in your life.
Some seem to live in your memories.

Ms Devotta who passed away on May 14 ( as reported by Asha Marina on our FB page) was a teacher at St Anthony's who had a place in my memory and will remain so till I reach the shore she has.

My earliest memory of Ms Devotta was of this very proper lady, always dressed in rich saris and speaking very proper English one would expect in a convent school in the Madras of the 1960s. She was a 'distant' teacher for us who were in Classes III and IV. Distant in the sense these teachers seemed senior and important and handled the higher classes we would soon graduate to.

Ms Devotta handled English. And for some reason this was a subject I liked. I guess the passion grew from my evenings spent reading a variety of English magazines at a club near home off Mount Road.
I wanted to write and Ms Devotta's classes had something for me.

Exams were times when I got to know the real Ms Devotta. The questions would challenge me and when the corrected answer sheets were out, enjoying the high marks and looking closely at mistakes made helped me understand how Ms Devotta assessed these papers.

I began to think that she sensed I enjoyed English, I and II and that she read closely some of the long texts I produced. And I earned some fantastic marks too.

My classmates saw value in my English essays and texts and often I would share with them my notes and then go on to produce texts that were reworded and restyled - it was a challenge I enjoyed most.

I still remember my first ever attempt at 'editing' - putting together the Class Magazine from hand written manuscripts with Ms Devotta's guidance. I guess it was produced for the displays at the annual Inspection of Schools.

Through college and my early years in journalism I hardly kept in contact with St Anthony's. Later though, when I resumed small contact in recent years Ms Devotta was happy to see me as a journalist-publisher. I still remember her acknowledgement at the Alumni Meet in 2012.

And now she is no more with us.

Perhaps, the Alumni Assn. could think of creating a Teachers' Roll in the office, detailing every teacher who has contributed to this school.

Alumni Meet ; Jan 6, 2013

January 6 has come to be the Alumni Meet of the alumni of the school.
It is called Alufest, a name some of us are not comfortable with!

With a more committed team led by Asha Marina co ordinating the alumni acts, this year's meet was simple and straight.

It was good to see over 300 guests at the school campus, though most belonged to more recent school leaving batches, which makes it a tad difficult to bridge the folks from the 70s and 80s with the new century alumni!

Teachers who had taught in the 70s and 80s were honoured. A surprise was Ms Lakshmi who used to teach Hindi to students of the 60s and 70s. Ms Nazreen were also spotted.

There were a string of dances and Tamil pop hits to enthuse the audience while a snacks tent served a limited variety.

But it was a time to catch up with old classmates. And most of them adjourned to the main block side of the school to converse.

A snappy alumni meet it was.

- PHOTO CAPTIONS. Top to bottom - Asha Marin addresses the audience; a view of the campus from the science lab side with the big tree still surviving in that corner; a section of the retired teachers ; view of campus with the tall main block in the background ; ex-Sports Master Paneerselvam (?) chats with the 70s batch alumni ; Headmistress Sr. Jeyarani clicking away happily. . .