Every new beginning starts with the end of something old.
This is the story of a 90's kid. The year was 2009, Thursday the 14th of May. It was a hot stuffy afternoon and the Tamil Nadu Class HSC 12th results had just been declared. India was yet to face the Jio digital Revolution. Internet was a costly service back then, still out of reach for the masses. Today in 2021, it is an absolute essential with the cheapest data plans starting from 4Rs for 1 GB. But, a decade back, all this was completely different. Internet cafes were still a thing. In Tenkasi, they were peppered here and there "Internet Browsing Centers". The browsing charges were Rs.15 per hour.
The other way of accessing internet was to go to a friend's house who had a net connection - Simple! I love to simplify things, and so I walked up to my friendly neighbourhood 'akka' Jessy Victor's house. I was there with my sister Jessy Victor at the behest of my parents, waiting to see my twelfth result. We were both sitting in front of the computer, waiting for the score to be revealed. As she entered my register number, I watched with bated breath and 'tada', there came the most awaited result which the world said will determine your destiny.
It was 786. What!!! We both were dumbstruck. I couldn't control my laughter at seeing that poor a score which I didn't ever score during the school term examinations. I was a student at the A.G. Matriculation Higher Secondary School.
My sissy looked shocked , she called her husband who was then working at Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
He took the call, He was so happy to hear the number!!! He said, "People here at Abu Dhabi will celebrate Anitha if she had scored this number here. Because this number is considered as "a lucky number" among muslims". I am a person who believes in the existence of God so I took his words seriously. In Hebrew, the number seven represents being "complete" and eight represent "New beginning". I know the number is something special, but for God all this is nothing as HE reigns over all the numbers, all the time. (Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient).
The greatest thing about the result is the love and support that I got from my parents. They were glad that it's over. They didn't blame me for the score. Later they were looked down upon by my neighbours and relatives(now I know that all these blaming and criticising only strengthened my resolve to not let the 12th result bog me down) which hurt my heart. But I always believed God had something special for my future which is reserved for me by God. Yes, this is a testimony how God can change a bad ending to a beautiful beginning, how God takes my mess and made it into a message.
My loving parents let me to choose whatever I'd like to study for my future. However, they had great dreams of me becoming an Engineer. So, we applied for an entrance exam in one of the colleges I had always adored, the name is Karunya University. I remember me attending the entrance Exam at Tirunelveli along with one of my childhood friends named Joel, and my relative named Jessy. The results came, and all three of us had cleared it. My parents were very happy, but in my heart I knew this engineering subject is not for me. I never cherished studying Math in my eleventh or twelfth standard, despite having scored more than 75% in Math just two years ago in Class 10. So much had changed in the the last two years of school. Hence, I decided not to do the same mistake again by choosing Maths by choosing Engineering.
And so God helped me take a wise choice by choosing "ENGLISH LITERATURE". It was truly miraculous that I got a seat at LDC , the marks that I got in both my language papers helped me to secure admission to the prestigious college in Tamil Nadu.
Before entering LADY DOAK, not even in my wildest imagination did I ever imagine that I was about to explore a world of beauty, love and joy. Lady Doak College, Madurai is one of the best colleges to learn English Literature. It made me fall in love with Literature, with life.
On my very first day at college. Some seniors were crossing me and my mom and they stopped by and said "It's going to be fun hereafter". They were looking at me and my mom with a smile when they said so. It was like a prophecy to me. My parents left me at college and returned home to Tenkasi. The first time they had ever left me all by myself. My dad actually got sick and developed a mild fever on the way back, I heard later. However, my journey at the campus had begun.
On the Orientation day, the college took our photos for the ID card at Golden Jubilee auditorium (in short GJ auditorium), which was declared open by none other than Former President, Bharat Ratna, His Excellency Prof. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
Inside the auditorium, all my classmates were standing in a queue to have our photographs clicked, there were two photographers who were engaged by the college for the job. As we were standing and were new to each other then, the huge hall was a bit noisy. There was much hustle and bustle as the day went on. We took our photo behind stage. Soon after, we were directed to our class at Newton block. Our teachers introduced themselves to us. My seniors did the 'literary parade' which I loved the most, particularly a girl who wore a red gown and played the role of "Aphrodite" the goddess of love. We reached our hostels after the introduction. I stayed at Sir James Doak Hall(SJDH), Dorm 3, Cube number 2.
As a only child, I have always found it a bit difficult to begin a conversation with people, starting the friendly talk etc... This dorm vs cube setup gave me enough personal space and right distance from my roommates which helped me to gradually develop a steady and healthy friendship with them. I learned to socialise with new people. My great seniors respected my shy personality and never ragged me, for which I am ever thankful to them. One of the great persons I met there was my senior from English department named Priyadharshini, who was the hostel president then. She helped me academically also.
Right from the first day, I started the journey of falling in love with my LDC. I dressed well, took the new college bag with the five subject note. I adored every bit of my walk to the Newton block, the lush green plants, tall trees, botanical garden , the beautiful guest house named Van Allen, and the most adorable Wilcox chapel. I was enthralled with the beauty of God's plan.
I was seated near my friend named Hema at class. The experience of listening to the English of my professors was simply out of this world.
I had this corner seat in the bench which was very close to the window from where I was able to see the girls from the nearby O.C.P.M girls school. The little girls used to wave their hands from there. We exchanged our smiles with each other through the windows. It was a nice place to be seated.
MY ADORABLE PROFESSORS
"Literature is the reflection of life " said my professors. They lived what they taught. They helped us grow in life. I can bet that I met many great personalities there as my professors. They never ill treated anyone. They respected each and every individual. They were perfect in every way as teachers, they never name-shamed anyone. I hailed from a town called Tenkasi. Many of my fellow students came from small villages. None of my professors made fun of anybody's level of language skill. They never cornered anyone for not doing their assignments or failing in an exam. They helped everyone with love! This encouragement from our professors helped us to grow as a self assured woman from young girls.
"Young Ladies" was the word used to address us, by my very dear professor called Viji. She was excellent at making us to be attentive during her lectures, She was very good at teaching Psychology and Literature, once she called me as "Beautiful Inside-Out", a compliment to be treasured indeed. I am particularly a fan of her when she says the phrase, "blah, blah, blah " in the middle of her teaching.
Debo mam (the sister of the familiar Tamil Christian Gospel Singer - Zac Robert) with her fast rendering of lectures amazed me. After she returned from her US trip, she handled her classes in a very different way. She brought many worksheets with her and made us to use it and made us to learn by ourselves a lot. She tried to implemented the methods of American learning in us.
The way Dr. Suka Joshua (the professor whom I loved the most) taught us poetry which melted my soul. She used to read poetry in a unique way. I used to give keen listening to her words because I always felt they were precious. As I was in the corner, I had to listen extra careful to her lecture as it was less audible from the distance, especially when she goes very deep into the subject matter. Her voice carried so much of emotion. The way she told "KUBLA KHAN" is still echoing in my ears.
There was one unique professor in the English department who goes by the name Dr. Lily Ernest. She dressed very simply, tied her hair very simply. She taught differently from the rest of the professors. I clearly remember her explanation of what it meant when Jesus said, "Love your enemies", does that mean we should not love our friends?
She gave the explanation by drawing a picture on the blackboard. She drew three images of human beings in a stick figure model. She said, "When Jesus asked to love your enemies, he asked to extend your hand to reach the third stick figure(your enemy) by doing so you already embrace your friend who is standing very close to you.
Later I heard from people that Mrs. Lily Ernest helped many poor people, she was a kind hearted professor.
I always used to be fascinated by the teaching of my another professor who answers to the name, Prof. Dew Lawrence. She was an Anglo-Indian. She used to wear nice cotton frocks, mostly it will be in light blue colour. She taught us General English. She went through every exercise in the prescribed book.
Dr. R. Beulah Jeyashree, taught us the infamous subject called "HEL", The History of English Literature, this was considered as a very tough subject in that semester. Teachers warned us to work hard to pass it without keeping an arrear in that particular paper. For which I obeyed and passed it with a good percentage. I remember students suffered a lot by failing in that particular paper and they struggled to clear it till the final semester.
So, I am now looking forward to reflecting more of what I learnt in the Lady Doak Campus. It has now been close to six years after I stepped out of that beautiful campus. From time to time, whenever I feel a bit down, I just circle back to the memories of my LDC and also keep myself updated about what is going on in my college. I found out that the famed music conductor and alumni of LDC - Dr. Christiana Singh is now the Principal of the institution. Earlier it was Dr. Mercy Pushpalatha.
A few years back, I also watched one Mr. Palanivel Thiyagarajan's speech at our college function. He was the Madurai MLA then, now he is in the spotlight as the Finance Minister of the newly elected Tamil Nadu Government. In his eloquent speech, the minister highlights how his grand father Sir P.T. Thiagarajan, (the first Chief Minister of Madras Presidency) was passionately involved in the upliftment of the girl child and also his father's involvement for the cause of "education and empowerment of women". Today LDC is a beacon of hope, a light house for many young women.
It was a great learning experience. Life can bring beautiful things. The 12th marks does not define you. More amazing things await us. Life is much more than what we learn in Class 12. Education is learning to live a meaningful life. If you are able to encourage your fellow beings, love and cherish the people around you, forgive your and others' mistakes, if you learn from experiences that life brings to you, lighten up somebody's darkest moments, stand for what is right, give voice for the voiceless, use your education to uplift "the other", then you've learned to empower the society , the world you live in. As the mission statement of LDC states they've moulded "...socially responsible, morally upright, intellectually matured and spiritually inspired woman leaders" from various parts of TamilNadu. No wonder the college stands tall as a beacon to show light, truth and love to the Nation. Proud to be a DOAKIAN. Wishes to all youngsters who chose to be a Dokian.
Enjoyed reading this blog. Please let me know if you'd like to hear more of "The Lady from Doak" Series.
Enjoyed reading your blog. Like to hear more. 🙂