Old students build house for poor teacher 25 yrs on

Radha Venkatesan | TNN

Coimbatore: A sterling example of gratitude set by ex-students towards a man who turned them into doctors and industrialists is bound to tug at many hearts. It’s just a 1,200 sq ft house in a nondescript village in Namakkal district of western Tamil Nadu. But behind its sparkling beige coloured walls lies a unique expression of love: it’s a gift from students to their poor, old teacher.

For over three decades, from mid-1950s to 1984, Tamil teacher Soballapuram V Venkataraman inspired awe among his students, not with his striking stick, but his stirring Tamil poetry and oratory. Two years ago, when the old boys of the Sengunthar Mahajana Higher Secondary school at Gurusamypalayam village met their 83-year-old former teacher, they were shocked. Their guru lived in a leaky, rented house, with his widowed daughter and an aged wife.

On a monthly pension of Rs 9,000, he was additionally burdened by debts incurred for the marriage of his two daughters. On hearing about the hard times he was fallen in, around 250 of the school’s alumni decided to gift him a Guru Niwas. It was their tribute to an inspiring teacher. “Although he taught me in the 1950s, I still remember his Tamil classes. He was our favourite,’’ says 60-plus, retired municipal commissioner, Ardhanari.

Contributions from old students, including two police officers settled in north India, and many others including doctors and engineers, poured in. ACoimbatore-based industrialist contributed about Rs 1.35 lakh. In less than two years, a two-storey house was ready on a Rs 10 lakh budget. The house would be handed over to him on September 6, a day after Teacher’s Day. “I never asked my old students for help. Neither did I tell them anything about my financial problems. But they offered to build a house for me. I am moved by their gesture,’’ said the octogenarian.

A CLASS APART: Around 250 ex-students of Tamil teacher Soballapuram V Venkataraman (inset) have built their poor, debt-ridden teacher a 1,200 sq ft house in TN’s Namakkal district. The home would be handed over on Sept 6, a day after Teacher’s Day