MVR Menon's Blog

I am proud of my father!

On Monday, the 22nd Feb, 2016, a dozen senior citizens came to my ancestral home "Rohini" in Nemmara to meet my father.

They had come to meet him, and invite him for a function to honor him, their teacher of 1964 when they were in their 10th class.

Some of them are retired Soldiers, Doctors, Teachers, Agriculturists, Entrepreneurs, Govt. and Pvt Company employees, and one Kerala High Court Judge. If this is only a dozen of one bach, how many such student must be there in his 33 years of teaching, I thought!

OMG! I was wonder struck with their show of respect, love, and affection towards him.

I used to always wonder why my father chose the humble profession of teaching after having a double graduation in the late 1940s. I used to think that he would have become a big shot had he moved out of the village, as many "10th pass" people of that time have become successful in their careers in Metros creating wealth for their children.

Today I knew why he chose the noble teaching profession and offered his services in a small Indian Village! He helped many young people learn and become a part in the making of India, which is the Nehruvian dream.

My father used to tell me that Pandit Nehru's call for teachers to build India made him take up the teaching profession.

He told me that Jawaharlal Nehru being a genius social reformer initiated many steps to make India a developed state.

His utmost priority as PM was to educate Indians. Jawaharlal Nehru wished for the intellectual development of India, to re-establish its presence in the world. IITs were conceived and established during his Prime Minister-ship.

Nehruji was aware of the Indian rural situation which was feudal at that time. Literacy was low and social tensions were there. In rural and urban India the purchasing power of the population was terribly low. One meal per day was the norm for many and for that also, everyone in the household, including children, had to work.

Pandit Nehru initiated the construction and functioning of a number of schools and wanted educated youths to take up the teaching profession.

As a true Gandhian, Congressman, and Secular Nationalist my father took up teaching in a village school and did his duty to mother India. Money is not everything. He wears only khadi and leads a simple life even today at 94 years of age.

I am proud of you my dear DAD!!

RAMACHAN (MVR Menon)

25.01.2016