Search Results

Heard about dark labs at colleges? You might have. We all heard about theories which say the Coronavirus was found and spread from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China (shhh). Surely labs and minds behind that do amazing things that can change the world for better or for worse. Here come the interesting stories of the Doakian family who worked both in dark and bright labs, where they were sharpened by genius minds. We, the Doakians of all departments at Lady Doak strive towards achieving excellence, where we have been planted. Be it English, Physics, Psychology, or Microbiology every department had different methods to sharpen the essential skills that a student needed. The Evergreen English Our class at BA English was a challenging collage of different students who were from various backgrounds. Some of us were from villages, some from towns and others from cities. Our way of perceiving, and understanding the lectures was different from each other. We as friends used to sit under the big tree which was in front of SJDH and do group study. The interesting thing about the tree was that she rarely moved to give a breeze, but she provided us with a nice shade and also shelter to many birds. While the young ladies were chatting or studying under their shades, there was also a world of busy birds who were always singing or arguing in her branches. I have sat along with Maragadham, the class representative and have explained the concepts behind poetry and the wonderful English prose. We were great partners in studying. We understood and helped each other. In class, we used to get enthralled by the flow of the beautiful language from our Professors. They were the guardians of knowledge for us. Their language flowed like rivers with the sweet sound of the English Language. It was this love for the language's sound, that I fell for this English department. Our English Department provided various opportunities to improve our Speaking skills. One day in the middle of her lecture, the charismatic Professor, Felcia Vasanthakumari of the English Department, looked intently at the class and said, "You all have to improve Your English". She stressed the words "you" and "your" when she said them. This quote which I wrote on the front page of my five subject note serves as a reminder to myself, that only I have to work for myself to improve my skills. And I started to carefully work on it. Professor Felcia Vasanthakumari even talked about how another student improved her vocabulary skills by listening to the English news channel for an hour a day. She also encouraged us to read the newspapers. Fortunately, Daily English newspapers can be found in many places at college. Especially in the grand JX Millar Library. But what caught my attention in those days was the colourful magazine called Young World which was for kids. Our college bought newspapers for each hostel too and I gelled with that young world when it came. Usage of a dictionary during class hours was insisted on by all of our professors. I started to use the pocket-size Oxford dictionary at first. Later after the arrival of laptops, we installed the dictionary on our laptops and benefited enormously from it. This professor also taught us many other classes. A fine example is a course called Understanding Self. It was there that I learned about the Johari window. A test which will help us to learn about our personality. Yes, you read it right. We can't understand ourselves fully. This test is one proof of that. This statement will surely make sense to psychology students. Another fantastic Professor named Dr Suka Joshua used to recall her hard work in trying to imitate her American Professor, who she was studying under at The American College in Madurai. The American college is known for its excellent English Department. She succeeded in mastering the language through hard work. During Dr Suka Joshua's days as a student, she used to speak aloud in English for a long time to practice the language. Dr Suka Joshua used to tell her childhood story to the whole class to encourage us in practicing speaking skills. She was raised by her young widowed mother. One day at school Dr Suka Joshua's teacher called for her mother and complained that her daughter Suka Joshua was not fit to learn English. Her mom took a vow that her daughter can and will do well in learning the subject as she believed that her daughter is capable of learning the English language. Later, her daughter proved that she can not only learn it but can teach, motivate and can shape the lives of many English literature students. She is one of my greatest inspirations. My professor taught me that any skill and credit can be earned only through hard work. There is no shortcut to success. She resembled my mother who often says the proverb, சித்திரமும் கைப்பழக்கம் செந்தமிழும் நாப்பழக்கம். We had a Language Lab on the ground floor of the Newton Block. It was just behind the central stairs of the Block. We were introduced to many interesting things there. We saw our first movie as English literature students there. It was the movie "Matilda", then "Pride and Prejudice", (who will not fall for the character - Darcy?!!)and many more... Especially I remember his cold stature and dialogue about Elizabeth when he replied to Bingley about her, "She is tolerable but not handsome enough". We saw the world of literature unfold before our eyes through those movies. Yet, our Professors insisted that one can get a complete understanding of a novel only through reading. In the final year, we had these practical classes in the English language lab where we used the computers and headphones to listen to audio which had various accents of foreign speakers with the question and answer. We used to eagerly listen to it. After which we can answer the questions of the audio lessons. It helped us to get used to the speaking style of the native speakers. In the beginning, it was bizarre, But it created the habit of listening to the different accents. Our performance was noticed keenly by the professors and marks were allotted based on our performance. We were asked to practice by listening to news channels for scoring well on the tests. Those were days when we were not able to access YouTube videos on mobile as we are now. With the available technology, the students inside the campus were able to find limited audio content only. However, we had the privilege of talking and listening to foreigners who stayed on the campus from time to time. At Sir James Doak Hall, there was this small guest room just in front of my dorm, Dorm 3. We the James doakians were excited whenever we see a foreigner occupying that room. Once a couple came to visit us from the United States of America. I had a small chitchat with them in the hallway and soon after, they invited me to their room. I visited their room along with my friend Suganya, a vibrant personality. We were both highly eager to talk to them. The pace of our language was so fast because I then believed the myth that speaking fastly shows the mastery of your language skills and the couple pointed that out and slowed us down. The lady introduced herself as a criminal lawyer. There are many other anecdotes about the foreigners I met at LDC. Let's keep that aside for another episode. Preparation for the Future: At the end of the practical classes, we had a mock interview with our Professor as a part of our lab exam. It was Professor Deborah who conducted the Interview for all of us. We were asked to create a resume for any profession that we liked and based on that our professor will conduct the Interview. I had prepared a resume and I posed myself as a Psychological counsellor in the resume. My first ever Interview at the lab was taken by Professor Deborah. She asked me to imagine and give counselling to a student who was down with depression and had no hope in life. With my knowledge of the Bible and Literature. I answered the question and she liked it I guess because it got reflected in the good score. One of the unique resumes among my friends belonged to Sheeba Mary who applied for the post of Dance Master. We passed the lab course with flying colours. We learnt that, preparation of a resume and efforts to present oneself is the most important things to watch out for before one attends the interview. We never knew the impact those listening sessions, speaking sessions, preparing and attending a Mock Interview had on us. When I look back now, I can understand that we were being shaped by our Professors to become professional women who can contribute well to society. Till now, I have been to many interviews and have this knack of clearing it. I owe it all to the practical sessions at the class and lab. The Physics Department Lab story “Life affords no greater responsibility, no greater privilege, than the raising of the next generation.” —C. Everett Koop While we literature students enjoyed our time on the campus after our morning classes, our fellow Doakians in the Physics department toiled in their lab classes. I always wondered what they did there. I had a very poor, limited experience in the Physics lab when I studied at school. I was surprised to see all the small equipment in the lab at school as I always imagined everything (ammeter, circuit boards, pipette, burette, conical flask) in my physics and chemistry books in a factory-level set-up. Huge tubes, and huge machines are what I imagined. Here at Lady Doak, my fellow Doakians had great experimentations, stories and memories to share about their unforgettable Physics lab. I had a great friend named Shobana who was our Hostel President(SJDH GF). She told that there were two physics labs namely the General lab and the Electronic lab in the physics department. In the General lab, there was a person who worked named Thomas anna. All the Professors were shaping the future scientists in the lab, they will be very strict in watching every step of the experiments, which the girls did. How much ever serious the situation there was something which acted as a mood changer. It was the sneezing of Thomas Anna. No one dared to give a burst of slight laughter at his sneezing. Some experiments like prism experiments at the Physics Lab were done in the dark room. That was one of the places where there won't be anyone to keep an eye on them while doing the experiments, the girls used to have fun chatting while working there. Often they found it very difficult to get the answers for those experiments and assumed some answers and recorded them. Never should I fail to mention that one of the girls kept a watch on the door to give them a signal while they were enjoying their chatting time. To my literature mind, these lab setup pictures are like the Ghost house in Theme Park because of its dark setup. To any action there is always an opposite and equal reaction; One day Shobana and her friends were working in the Electronic lab. They connected the circuits and started the experiments. They checked the multimeter and everything was alright. They did the experiment with great care yet with no result. They tried again and again for the whole two hours and thirty minutes. Finally, as they saw no progress in the oscilloscope they approached the dear professor named Esther who was well known on campus for her beautiful singing in the choir which Dr Christianna Singh co-ordinated. Esther mam looked at them and said, "Shobana to get the result you should first switch on the Oscilloscope". Only then did the girls realise their mistake. It became an unforgettable incident and memory for them which brings a sheepish smile whenever they recounted it. However, they managed to finish it well the second time. It was Jebamalar, A junior of mine from the Physics department who revealed an eye-opening statement about the practical learning at Lady Doak College. She previously studied at a very popular Engineering college in Coimbatore for some time before joining LDC. The practical lessons she learned at LDC were huge at Lady Doak when compared it the other institution. She and other students of physics spent hours mastering the practicals which were essential in the learning of a science subject. I used to visit the lab which was opposite Margaret Clap Hall to visit a friend during my M.Phil days. It was dear Reeta Felcia who helped me tremendously when I was putting together my M.Phil thesis. She spent long hours doing research at the P.G lab. Later she finished her Doctorate at LDC. The Psychology Lab “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” —Carl Jung One of my favourite departments in the college is the Psychology department. My roommate Sujithra used to apply all that she learned to people whom she met. We created many memories to cherish as roommates. I remember her calling me an introvert, of which I didn't approve in the beginning. As I thought extrovert personalities are more likeable than introverts. I have seen her watching me intently when I keenly listen to music from my laptop. She used to check whether I have a diversion or not. She was a voracious reader who had good knowledge about many topics. She participated in the Neeya Naana talk show hosted by Vijay TV Gopinath and was appreciated by Gopinath for her wide knowledge and for the points she brought to the argument. She was a sincere student then and she is now an excellent counsellor. Psychology had this fantastic method of learning about each other's personality by giving each other the personality test, cognitive test, career aptitude test, and colour test. I recall a day when she was on the mountain top when she mentioned the IQ test they had. And she was surprised at her top level of intelligence. I personally am a fan of these tests on personalities. It helps to know more about ourselves. The exercises, debates and conversations gave more insights for the psychology students into the subjects and each other. Those were days when these psychology courses were not well known. But these days institutions, corporations, and hospitals appoint a psychologist to help their patients heal as mental health and physical health are intertwined. It is a good sign that Mental illness or depression is not looked upon as taboo but as a practical problem which is most treatable. The most wonderful service provided by the department is the counselling sessions they offered. The counselling centre operated in a similar place where the Christian Studies Centre was functioning. The counselling centre helped the students to deal with the everyday stress and pressure they faced. Whenever a student faces a crisis there was always support from our dear professors from our respective departments. If the problem is psychological, they sought the help of the counselling centre. Dr Synthia Mary Mathew, Ms Kusum George and Sis. Liza was there for the students to offer counselling. Some of the common problems were the homesickness that the hostel girls experienced, the stress related to studies and those suffering from an inferiority complex because of the lack of English communication skills. My roommate Suji once encountered a girl who needed immediate help from experts. The girl reached out to her while Suji was working in the placement cell in a part-time job. She was full of tears when she approached Suji. Suji found out that she was suffering from memory loss. Suji directed her to the counselling centre where they gave immediate help and sent her to a hospital. She was there in the hospital for a month. Throughout this time her department stood with her. They offered her enough support that she passed her degree successfully and went for a stable job as an empowered woman. Be it a joyful time, a challenging time or a stressful time we stood with each other and were growing together as a family. The unshakeable Doakian Family. - The Lady from Doak

"A real friend sticks closer than a brother”. (Proverbs18-24) One might be familiar with the seven dwarfs of Snow White or the seven hills of Rome. Likewise, one of the most beautiful part of my college life was me being a part of this 'gang of seven friends'. “The Super Seven” as I lovingly call the gang. We became friends gradually in the second semester. Friendship doesn’t require the same character traits to be present in the friends for them to be together. All seven of us were unique in one way or the other. We all differed from each other, yet we bonded and gelled so well. Let me here introduce, "The Super Seven". Here comes Tall Elsie, she was the most generous hearted girl one will ever see, she had this gift of giving. She stayed in the YWCA hostel, Madurai who always expressed her love through giving. She herself came from a family of three girls, the trio sisters. She extended her sisterly care to us, which she probably learnt early on in her family. As an inside hostler, I was not allowed to go out for shopping often, but here my friend Else did all shopping for me whenever I needed something. Mostly I will be in need of stationary, bakery and xerox(photocopy) work to be done from outside. Our favorite stationary shop in Narimedu was the one which was opposite to Kendriya Vidyalaya School. It was a shop run by an old man and his son, it was a very small shop yet it had everything a student needed and they were very loyal people. I call the store owner very loyal because, once I was very tired from travel from Tenkasi, and forgetfully left my laptop bag in the store and crossed the road to leave. The old man immediately sent his staff who came running across the road with my laptop bag, Phew! Another time, I left the entire package filled with the items that I had just purchased and left. The poor girl came running again to promptly deliver the goods to me. I was then a bit absent minded, I guess. Next to the stationary shop there was Mutty's bakery where Elsie often bought hot chicken puff for me. Next is our dear Reshma who had a similar background like mine, she was a single child who loved her parents dearly. Once a professor named Felcia asked the whole class a question before the start of a poetry class, “How many of you are ready to go to heaven if God appears now?”, most of the class raised our hands. To our surprise Resh didn’t raise hers. When the Professor asked for the reason she said, “She cannot leave her parents alone and go with God”. Such innocent love she had for her parents which always amazed me. Her beautiful handwriting was another speciality of her. At times, I have asked her to write my name on the front page of my note. Her handwriting script looked like musical notes. Then comes Suganya whom I always call as “ganya”. She was the most outgoing, extroverted personality among all seven of us. She had this power to light up the atmosphere with her presence. Her animated talk was one of her special features. She became very close with my parents and even visited my house which was unforgettable. She bought a lovely blue coloured umbrella made out of satin like cloth for my mom, and many cute miniature gifts for me, one was a glass paper weight with the picture of Jesus and another was a cute little princess in pink gown. Later Suganya pursued Master of Social Work Studies as it suited her personality. Next is Nivetha who was looking very homely, and she was a very responsible person. She had good advice for everyone, especially the juniors who reached out to her. She was calm, poised and moved with so much elegance. Her ethnic choices of dressing were totally adorable. She hailed from the notable place in Madurai, which is known for Jallikattu. If you jog your memory, in 2017, Alanganallur became the epicentre of the "Jallikattu Protests" held at Marina Beach by the student community, which came close on the heels of the untimely and mysterious death of our former Chief Minister Dr. J. Jayalalithaa in 2016 at the Apollo Hospitals in Greams Road. Nivetha was quite the opposite to the Alanganallur Jallikattu spirit, she was a gentle, composed demeanour which exuded equanimity. The other friend was our cute Prahi who looked cute in every outfit with her chubby cheeks and short curly hair. She stayed in the college hostel and all of us had long talks at her room. She was so adorable. She often wore cute skirts and girly tops. She was a very good dancer. Those days the popular clothing options were Patiala Pants, frill skirts, crush pants. T-shirts were a rage too. Near LDC, there was a street, where Tiruppur T-shirts were sold at nice affordable prices, they were very modern and trendy. Leggings were just making their inroads into women's attire those days. The only day when all of us accompanied Prahi with her type of outfit was on the "Sports Day", when we did Aerobics wearing white skirts and pink t-shirts. The song was "Alekka, Alekka, Alekka, Ale Ale Lekka" (a popular cine number of Tamil Nadu). It was a mash-up and medley of songs where we danced with coloured balls and other props. One highlight of the Aerobics was we formed the shape of Olympic rings, where each ring represents the five continents of the world, signifying the Olympic motto “Citius, Altius, Fortius” (“Faster, Higher, Stronger”). Finally, we all gave a big shout and filled the sky with lots and lots of Helium filled balloons. It was a fantastic sight to behold. Little later, the sports star of the college joined our gang of friends. It was none other than Janu Surendran, a basketball player, a fun-loving, cool personality, who did all mischiefs yet topped the class, with her wonderful learning and writing skills. She wore a forehead band like the world-famous professional tennis player Roger Federer, (he was one of my favourite sports stars, known for his elegance and grace in his tennis moves). Janu's exclusive style gave her a unique look in the sports department. She later became one of the officers in the student cabinet. And finally, myself Anitha Jebarani was one among them thriving in this group of lovely people. They were my tribe, my clan, my kith and kin. I was a sister to them from another mother. We were together most of the time. Be it class, canteen, library, lunch pavilion or the open-air theatre etc. We were together through all the challenges in our U.G days. Like all friends, we had our ups and downs, but we stayed beside each other and never left anyone to wage their battle alone. We were there to help each other, comfort each other and lift each other up. Any pulling of the leg was only momentary and never mean-spirited. There came a time when we were needed to choose an elective subject in the third semester. All of us were standing in a line towards the computer that was in the department library. We were standing in the end. The registration for the elective was going on in all departments at the same time. The best courses were filling up as all students were choosing very fast. Here we three- Reshma, Nivetha and I were standing and waiting to choose the course which we should study for the next six months. The problem was, we should choose subjects from other departments of which we knew nothing about. I was a bit scared that I might unknowingly end up in a tough subject. The decision not to score less anymore in my studies after my 786 mess up in 12th only added to the pressure. To our shock many known elective options that we had in our minds, had vanished from the list of choices when we finally reached near the registration counter. A CHALLENGE OR LESSON FOR LIFE? Before me was standing my dear wise friend Reshma, I have always trusted her judgements. She saw the options and chose MENTAL HEALTH as the elective option and whispered to us the name of the subject. Thus, dear Nivetha and I chose to join the same course. After finishing the registration, I directly went to the chapel and opened my heart to God. I told God that, “I had no other way but to go for this subject, yet I prayed before I came for this registration, so I need your strength to do this”. Tears rolled down my eyes with fear when I said this prayer. But I never knew that the course was a gift from God. It was one of the most wonderful subjects I have ever learned. One of the truths I have learned in life is, sometimes God pushes or makes us to go for unknown choices, which we might dread or fear, but for those who love God everything happens as planned for good by God the father, who only gives good gifts to us His children. WHAT MATTERS? - YOUR MIND We learned so much about the human mind from that course. The subject was handled by Dr. Synthia Mary Mathew, an excellent psychology professor. The Professor stunned me with her proficiency in the subject “Psychology”. We were totally glued to her lectures, especially whenever she talked about the practical application of psychology in life. Also when she taught us about any psychological disorder in the class, all of us in the class vicariously felt as if we had experienced it (that was one tricky part of learning about our mind). The introduction class went like this, my professor said, “Imagine you are on a journey by walk, and on the way, you meet people. One after another, they give you a stone to carry in your bag, you keep all the stones that are given to you. You are walking with that heavy bag for 50m, then 100m, then 150m, and next you begin to stumble... she gave a pause and asked, what will be the next stage?. I said a bit loudly "exhaustion". She said, "Exactly! you are following me Anita, one will be exhausted with the burden one carries and will finally fall down...”. She continued, ”This is what happens in life. We meet many people and many situations which can increase our burden in our mind, if we keep all the burden with us throughout the journey. At one point we will be exhausted and that is when one has mental illness. She said, "Mental illness can happen to anyone”. That is why one should learn how to reduce the burden away from time to time. Find a good friend, or neighbour to share the part of your mind which burdens you, in doing so you remain sane. She changed our perspective towards mental illness and mentally ill people that they were not somebody to be bordered from the society. My dad was someone who always had this mentality or approach towards the mentally ill people on streets. He used to talk with them, some actually responded to his talk and he used to buy them some food or tea. l used to be amazed at him whenever he talks to them like a friend. I remember a person named kumar who was mentally ill and used to roam in the streets of our colony. People used to be sacred and walk away from him. But my dad used to call him by name and treated him very kindly always. There was this another person named Rasukutty who was slightly ill when it comes to his mental health and my dad helped him to find odd jobs and even provided food and shelter at our home for some months. Later in my P.G. days, I joined with a friend named Divya and attended the logo designing competition which was conducted by the Social Science department for world mental health day which falls on oct 10. Usually the every year the social science department celebrated the day by conducting many competitions before that day, By oct 10 they will conduct a meeting at the Golden jubilee auditorium, where they will make an expert on psychology to give a lecture and then display few stage plays , mime to create awareness on the mental Heath day. finally they will distribute prizes for the winners who won in the competition. They had this excellent way of spreading the awareness to the whole college by giving us printed cards which looked like bookmarks where there will be tips maintain a healthy mind, which I have kept very safely in my bible. One time they gave us all beautiful badges which the whole college wore to spread the awareness. We won third prize for our logo In the logo designing competition. The caption of our logo was used in the banner, stage and at the end of the student's skit. They also did “thappattam” which is well known Tamil traditional dance, I have heard from my social science department friends that they will enact plays with that dance in the village streets to create awareness on social issues. I have often seen them practicing it in the open air theatre. Recently Cynthia, a social science department student of LDC is rocking Tamil Christian world with her song “palaivanamaai” . She uses that dance in her song video. My logo was printed on the bookmark too. Students from social science department held their hands together and said it loudly. It is "Defeat Depression and heal the world". Yes, we have learned a great lesson that our mind belongs to us and stays with us till the end of our lives. Hurting our mind with unnecessary overthinking will harm it, which will ultimately destroy us. On the other side it will do wonders when you feed it with healthy, refreshing thoughts. For that, you might at times need to change your perspective of looking at things. Avoid anxious thoughts and filling mind with positive thoughts is healthy. Yeah, mind matters! In our final year, all seven of us joined and enacted a fairy tale called, “Hansel and Gretel” in French department's competition. I played the role of evil stepmother, Hansel and Gretel was played by lovely Ganya and cute Prahi. We got ready with our make ups in the gym room at Sir James Doak Hall. All seven were there waiting for the result. They announced third prize it was not us, they announced second prize, it was not us. They announced the winners. Nothing entered my ears but only the shout of my friends. Hurray, we were the winners!! Our team effort paid off. There was this Asst.Professor named Ms.Lalitha who always adored, "The super seven”, saying that we remind her of her college friends!. Once she treated us at canteen to some nice treats. Unfortunately, I missed the treat. “We weren’t sisters by birth, but we knew from the start…fate brought us together to be sisters by heart.” — Unknown Yes, I believe this relationship is much more than mere friendship. We are sisters by heart.

It was early in the morning. Outside it was a new dawning of a chilled day in December. All the students at Lady Doak’s hostels were sleeping by snuggling inside their bed sheets, dreaming that the dawn breaks a little late in this cuddly weather. I had no choice but to getup early and get ready to do the volunteer work that I signed up as a part of my services at the Wilcox Chapel. Yet, it is always a joy to use what you have for the Lord. I got ready and walked up to the next dorm where Amala Jeyashali, my junior would join me to do the work. Around 5:30 AM, me and Amala walked towards the lovely chapel while all our other friends were still in their cozy cubes. On our way to the chapel, we crossed the mess, which was very busy. The old women who worked there busily chopped the vegetables and prepared meals for the hundreds of young girls which will be ready by 7:00 AM onwards. Once we reached the Chapel, we took our colour chalkpiece box and the duster. We prayed and headed back to the blackboard which was in front of the chapel and wrote the Bible verses related to the Christmas day. For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes on him shall not perish but have eternal life - John 3:16 Then, we decorated the board with Christmas themed drawings. Yes, Christmas celebration and plannings were executed at the chapel and the Hostels from Day 1 of December. THE COMMUNITY CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION. One of the most awaited celebration in our college is the Community Christmas celebration. It was held in the Golden Jubilee auditorium. We, Doakians, gathered and celebrated the day with triumphal roar. It was one of the most energetic gatherings we had at our Lady Doak college. The mandatory programmes were the manger scene, songs from choir, choreographies, skit and the Santa Claus dance. The Santa’s dance with the jingle bells song in the background was a hit among us. Santa was running through the cheering students. The Santa shook hands with some of them, danced with some of them and running joyfully by showering chocolates over the students. Every Doakian who got the chocolate brimmed with joy like a child. No Christmas celebration is complete without Nativity Scene. I felt so blessed when I got the chance to play the role of mother Mary in the manger scene. The scene was totally angelic. The gentle presence of Joseph and assuring presence of angels, the shepherds who were at awe, the mighty presence of the wisemen, who were following the star and their shining gifts took us all to Bethlehem itself. I was sitting still by carrying the gentle baby Jesus close to my heart. In another community Christmas celebration, along with the other friends we did choreography. That was my first time to do the choreo before the gathering of the whole college. It was a powerful experience which strengthened me so much to face huge number of people at a time. After we finished the choreo all of us were holding the hands of each other and praying. I was shaking the whole time of prayer with awe and joy of the Lord. The song of the choreo was “Ummai pola indha ulagile”. Another choreo we did where we used the satin ribbon was for the song “Everlasting Father”. We were given the famous pudding cake and spicy mixture by the college after the celebration. Those stage performance which we did as a group developed the team spirit and more confidence in all of us. CHRISTMAS AT CHAPEL One evening, I went in to the chapel as I was invited to decorate the Chapel for Christmas. We have been warned strictly that we should not use the cello tapes in the wall while doing the Christmas decoration. Many students from the hostels came. I was standing with Brindha and was brainstorming on what to do with the instruction. It was Dr. Synthia Mary Mathew, the then Chaplain passed that instruction. We started to use some strong thread and tied it the nails that were already there in few places and hung green and red sparkling colour papers to adorn the walls and placed few Christmas wreath to decorate the wooden shelf. At the corner of the altar was the Christmas tree, which was beautifully decorated with the Christmassy tiny decorative items like tiny bells, santas, glowing balls, and gift boxes. Once we were very fortunate to decorate the chapel Notice board during Christmas time as hostellers( SJDH ). Chapel was the most busy place during Christmas days. It was flooded with activities. The Chaplain and the SCM leaders delivered the announcements on the title or theme for Christmas. All the competitions were held on those selected themes every year. There were competitions for verse writing, essay Writing, solo singing, group singing, drawing, memory verse writing, quiz, skit and choreography. It was pure joy to practice choreography with friends and juniors. We searched for theme based songs and invited friends to participate, juniors like Jebamalar, Vincy, Pauline, Beryl, Varshiya, Diana, Shirly sis, Evangelne sis and many others who gave their best with so much enthusiasm to bring glory to God. Skit competition was a huge hit among all the competition. Each hostel performed a single skit representing their hostels. The best skit of all was to be performed on the day of Hostel Christmas Celebration and at community christmas celebration. Once I acted as a “Sin Eater” character in the skit which was named after it. The sin eater was dressed in complete black dress, only the hands of the character can be seen with huge sharp nails. The audience were thrilIed at our performance. It was directed by Carolyn Rubavathy, enacted by many of us including Beryl, Anita and Pauline. We won the second place for the skit. We were representing the PRB hostel then. We were so joyful to perform it again in JX auditorium. Once I participated in a quiz with my friend Angella, who won the memory verse competition many times. She was a person well known for her memory power. The secret behind it was her thirst for memorizing Bible verses. Another unforgettable performance was our group singing performance we used the various types of clapping of our hands for the song named “Our God is an awesome God". Certificates and books were awarded for prize winners. CAROL ROUNDS What is Christmas without Carols ? Chapel office bearers , chapel representatives, assistant representatives, Professors, all of us went for carol service for a day in the campus. The music of the Christmas songs filled the whole campus that day. All the hostels from the Pandiyan Hall to Amy Hostel were decorated with lights, lamps, flowers, stars for Christmas. Hostels were competing with each other to win the prize for best hostel Christmas decoration. Some hostels were decorated to give snow like look, fully in white, some set the manger scene on a mountain setup, some had grown grass and gave a farm kind of setting, some had waterfall setting. It was a joy to visit hostels during Christmas days. As I served as a chapel representative and assistant representative for many years, I took part in the carol rounds representing SCM. We started the rounds from the chapel and sang the carols in every hostel. Everybody were waiting curiously to see the Santa who was also doing the carol singing with us. Once when Sweetlin akka dressed up as a Santa, I ran and gave her a tight hug. Hostellers gave shouts of joy and welcomed us when we neared their hostels. PRB hostellers lit up candles in all their floors to make it very special. The SCM president and others carried special gifts to each hostel. Mostly it was a beautiful Bible verse frame. It was such adventurous, joyful carol rounds. We also visited the houses of the non teaching staff who were living in the quarters inside the college campus. And we got the priviledge of visiting the house of our principal mam Dr. Mercy Pushpalatha, which was inside our campus. We received some yummy treats from her. I was totally thrilled when visiting her house. Another date was fixed to visit all the professors who were willing to welcome us in their house for carol singing. All of us dressed at our best and boarded the yellow coloured college van. We were singing the carols all along the way to each professor’s house. Each house was in different areas of the city. That was the only time I felt like I covered all the places in Madurai. We visited the house of Dr. Roopa, we took pictures in the spiral staircase of her house and near the musical instruments that were in her house. We saw something similar to a notice board at her house where she pinned beautiful photos of her grandchildren. Another peculiar and intresting thing was her collecting of small drinking glasses which she collected from her visits to various countries. I never knew that the trip would unfold so many beautiful things about our professors. We visited the house of Vanitha mam of English department, Dr. Rachel Barnabas the then HOD of English Department, Dr. Suka Joshua welcomed us in to her house with a warm smile and gave us delicious plum cakes. When we returned to our hostels by late night our bags were full of cakes, chocolates, book marks etc.. Another heart touching visit was our visit to the Meenakshi Mission Hospital. When we went there a team of doctors welcomed us and allowed us to sing the songs of Good news at some of the halls where sick patients were there. We not only sang Christmas songs but also songs of healing. Some people had tears in their eyes while they were listening to our singing. We earnestly prayed to God for their healing and moved on. A team of doctors thanked us for visiting their patients and gave us a return gift in memory of that visit. HOSTEL CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION. The hostel Christmas celebration mostly held at GJ auditorium. On a marked date evening, all of us, the Pandiyans, Wilcox girls, Gayloardians, Harilakshmi girls, the great James Doakians, PRB ladies, Amy Hall girls dressed well for the celebration and gathered at the GJ auditorium. We sung Christmas songs, we had skit from the hostel which won the skit competition at the chapel. I never forget the day when we sung the song, "Deva Maindhan Piranthaar", wrote by my dad at the Hostel Christmas Celebration. I did the compering with Santa Claus on the stage. A junior of mine donned the Santa costume that day. While compering, I announced on the mic, "Now, Santa will talk to all of you". But then my nervous junior, from behind the Santa mask said, "Akka, Neengalae Pesirunga akka". (Meaning - Please do the talking yourself), this left the audience in splits. Santa then delivered the Christmas message of the love of Christ for the mankind. We did the manger scene by playing the song of Chris Tomlin named “Here I am to worship”. We were given Christmas feast at the end of the celebration. When I was at PRB, we took our food and formed a big circle to eat together. In that particular day all the hostel girls had this habit of visiting every hostel and taking pictures near the decoration. It was fun. At our Lady Doak college the Christmas season was filled with joy, love and unity. We celebrated the birth of Christ together as Doakians. We celebrated by decorating, singing, participating in events and programmes. Yes, we were living heaven on earth. Merry Christmas dear all...

PRAYER - THE LIFELINE OF LADY DOAK COLLEGE One of the most powerful weapons which can be used by young and old, rich and poor, weak and strong alike, is prayer. It is clearly one of the strong foundations of Lady Doak College. It can be seen in many areas in the college. Every single day started and ended with prayer in the college. The amazing thing about these prayers were, all students stood still for prayers, whenever it was being read through the speakers (it didn't matter how busy the students were). Today, 73 years on, the college stands unshakeable, because, it was founded by a prayerful woman named Katie Wilcox. AN UNUSUAL CHRISTMAS FOR HER ! The year was 1915, the First World War was raging on. A young 26 year old American woman named Katie Wilcox set sail for a distant land called India. She bid goodbye to her friends and family in Connecticut. The journey was long and arduous. In those days, Airlines were still nascent, in fact the American Airlines was founded in the year 1926 only. So, sailing by ship was the only way to fare long distances. In 1915, it took 6 weeks to sail across the Atlantic Ocean from America to England. Then, several months of sea sailing was required to finish the journey from England to India. People often became sick and died during these voyages. Due to the First World War, the journey was even more dangerous, entire ships like the RMS Lusitania sank in May 1915 with more than 100 U.S passengers losing their lives. But, by God's grace and His great plan, Katie Wilcox reached the shores of India on the December of 1915. At once, she made her way to the Capron Hall School where she was going to work. It was Christmas Holidays and Katie was to assume duty in 1916 after the 1915 Christmas vacation. It must have been a very different and an unusual Christmas for her. Her first Christmas away from home. How good is it that we remember her in December of 2021 for the generosity and love she decided to shower on a people unknown to her. To draw a comparison, 100 years later, in 2018, another 26 year old American missionary man named John Allen Chau reached the shores of the Andaman Islands in India. But he tragically lost his life. In the year 2019, a new crop of students at Lady Doak College under one M.Ramaswamy, former Professor of Drama, Tamil University, has enacted an hour long play on the life and history of Katie Wilcox, entitled, "Ancient Root, Katie Wilcox, The Pride of Women Education in Tamil". THE CHAPEL AND THE CHOIR Katie Wilcox infused the prayer spirit in every sphere of the campus life in Lady Doak College. The Katie Wilcox Chapel aptly named after her was the vibrant centre of prayer. We received divine wisdom from there. We had various activities happening at our chapel. One of the activities was the choir practice. We were trained by a professor, Dr. Christianna Singh (who is currently serving as the principal of Lady Doak College). Choir practice classes were held weekly twice in the evenings. I was in the choir for four glorious years from 2009 to 2013. Regular attendance was taken, late coming was not tolerated, leave of absence was not entertained. We were asked to submit leave letters whenever we took leave. We were supposed to get the signature of Chris mam. In one instance, I wrote a leave letter and submitted at CFM (Centre for Music) for Chris mam's approval. One of my naughty friends named Joy Grace loved to play pranks on me all the time. She told me about an incident that apparently happened at CFM with the letter. She said that my letter was found by Chris mam’s husband Mr. Jayasingh, (He was a strong pillar of our Chris mam, a humble man behind the screen). He was known for his sense of humour. He told Chris mam that somebody wrote a leave letter to her and the name has been misspelt and written as Christiana 'Singer'. Subsequently he quipped,"Anyways you are a singer, so the student wrote it right only". And the people around him laughed at his witty statement. When Joy said this, I was in disbelief that I had misspelt the Choir Director's name and till date think it was one of Joy Grace's pranks on me. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT We, the choir girls went to the Katie Wilcox chapel for our practice sessions. We were gathered in the beautiful chapel, lit up with chandeliers and light bulbs. Most of the time the attendance was taken by a senior. She was a slim, curly haired senior with a trained voice, she was from Sri Lanka. The piano was also played by a Sri Lankan senior with very short hair. Many musical instruments were used for accompaniment and helped us in adjusting to the pitch. Our fellow students played them with intricacy. The Piano, Keyboard, Guitar, Violin, Veena, Drums and Egg Shakers were very popular there. "In God's Heart It All Began", was the most famous duet, sang by Lillian and another senior Lydia. One of the first songs that we learnt to sing in the choir was the 'Lady Doak College Song'. The best part of singing this song was when all joined in the last verse - Now to thee, and to them we acclaim, "Hurrah". When we sang the song in the assembly or any function, the whole college would love to chime in energetically for the last "Hurrah". I wonder who is the author of this beautiful song. In the choir, we were trained to sing different parts for a song. They were alto, melody or soprano and higher soprano. I was in melody and I loved the singing of alto, which was usually sung by Vanitha and Esther. I was heartbroken when I heard that our senior Vanitha lost her battle with cancer in the year 2019 and went to be with the Lord. She was a very beautiful young lady with an innocent smile. She was known for her 'rap' which she sang to the beat with quick tempo. Vanitha sang with another senior named Esther. One prominent memory is I sung alto once with my affable junior, Keerthana, for a song titled “As we travel along on the Jericho Road”. We were also taught some Tamil Christian songs. Other times, we had different trainers who held practice sessions, for example, some sweet hymns were taught by Dr. Lily Earnest. During the months of November and December, the choir was trained to sing the Christmas carols. Separate hours were allocated for the practice and a lot of effort went into the final rendering of the wonderful chorus of voices. We were trained till we all mingled in perfect harmony. There was Bagin Parco mam from Philippines, a person with a down to earth demeanour. She used to bring a child like enthusiasm to the practice sessions. Parco mam would lighten the tense ambience of the practice sessions and helped us break into a smile while we sang. The importance of a smiling countenance when singing can never be overemphasised. One time when I met Parco mam in person at Panditha Ramabhai Hall, she offered me KFC Chicken. Those days KFC was very new in Madurai and it was becoming quickly popular. Kentucky Fried Chicken became a rage amongst the college goers. Parco mam was a very friendly woman with a generous heart. And many of us took pictures with her on the Carol Service day. The practice time increased as we neared the carol service. We were given vada or other snacks along with coffee as refreshments. When the day of carol service got closer we were taken to the big stage at the JX Miller auditorium for rehearsal. In the run up to the big day, we were all engrossed with the attire to be worn on the carol night. For members of the choir, usually a cotton sari was the garment of choice. Tailors were arranged to come to the chapel where measurements were taken for all girls and then the stitching would happen. We all waited earnestly for our new costumes to arrive. In the meantime, our talks were a bit around these topics of accessories - earrings, necklaces, bangles, watches, footwear. In fact, there used to be a healthy competition amongst ourselves as to who was the best dressed and presented themselves well. Lady Doak college gave us special permission to be in the choir practice during class hours. Our fellow friends might have thought that we were having fun at choir, but it was a hard practice time where we exerted ourselves. We were standing and repeating the carols searching for scope of improvement in the hope of putting on the best performance for the glory of God and to the pleasure of the audience. In the carol service there were medleys, duets, Tamil Carnatic songs, and instrumentals by Dr. Jessie and Dr. Christianna Singh. There were also songs from the children choir, from Teacher’s choir and from Non Teaching staff choir. The children's choir was trained by Dr. Betty D'Coute. The children tagged along with Betty mam to the Katie Wilcox chapel where their practice sessions were held. I have observed how Betty mam used to train them. She made a lasting impression on the children and taught with facial expressions that a child would love to emulate. It was a merry time of singing for all of them. The choir practice was like the making of beautiful work out of wood. Most of us in the choir joined it because we loved music, some of us were gifted from heaven with a beautiful voice. But many of us lacked training which is required for harmony and professionalism. At times the carving process was painful. We had received harsh comments which hurt us, certain times few of us were trained or asked to sing alone which put us in a tight spot. But those incidents made us strong as individuals, and helped us as we gelled in a group. Some of us even shed tears in the process and had thoughts to leave the choir. But all those painful chisel cuts we received in the process transformed us to be better singers for sure. As it was at choir we were even taught to sing with right pronunciation, with right modulation of our voices according to the need of the song. Various vocal exercises for warming up the vocal chords were also taught. Dr. Christianna Singh brought various local singers of Madurai to review our level of singing. We were visited by Sherwood sir, the famous Choir Coordinator of The American College, Madurai. We were visited by Prasanna Stanley sir who taught music at CFM. He was a member of the very famous Acapella singers of Madurai named Noel Opus, which was a part of the American college Choir for a long time. It was founded by an alumnae of the American College, Madurai. SA-RE GA-MA One interesting part about the choir was that we were also trained to sing Tamil traditional songs with carnatic musical notations “Sa re ga.. re ga pa..”, which never entered in my mouth. My vocal system was totally confused to adjust to the learning of those syllables, which I overcame with great difficulty. Often I used to match with the strong singer's lip movement to keep up with the rhythm and tempo. Missing a beat is sure to ruin the practice session of the whole group. SHANTHI AKKA We all had great admiration for the decorations in the whole campus and the Miller auditorium. Cute Twinkling serial lights were hung in all the trees from the entrance to the Miller auditorium of Lady Doak College. They were a visual treat to our eyes and we had a feast with all the beautiful eye candy. The Miller Auditorium looked all decked up for the special choir day. How apt when we sang the song - Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la, la la la la... Every year it was decorated based on the theme of the carol service. Ms. Shanthi, the gifted artist and the craft teacher of the college implemented the artistic, christmassy look of JX Miller Auditorium. Some hostel students helped 'Shanthi Akka' as she was lovingly called. Her masterpiece art was at the entrance of the auditorium. There were mighty Christmas trees, Sleds, Sleighs, Santa claus, manger scene. The Auditorium had huge red or maroon hangings for the windows, red carpets adorned the central pathway. The choir steps on the stage was in red carpet and the stage had adorable paper art which had the picture of the whole manger scene along with that year's title of the carol service. THE BIG DAY When the final day arrived, we were singing the praises of the love of the father God in sending His own son into the world. I have felt the presence of Almighty God (El-Shaddai) in the midst of us students. Our professors were looking at us, the young women singing the glory of God. I was so filled with God’s presence when we were singing, “Star of the David, YAHWEH God come to where we are...”. After all the singing was over, a grand dinner party was arranged at the GJ auditorium. It was a night when we relished with joy and heaved a sigh of relief after all those hours of practice finally having borne fruit on the big day. OF ORPHANAGES AND OTHERS We, the College Choir visited many places during the Christmas time and sung Carols. The places were Mental health centres, Hospitals, Orphanages, Old age Homes. CHRISTMAS CAROLS AT THE MENTAL HEALTH CENTER: We travelled in our college van, we were singing carols all along the way. Our van stopped at the entrance of this mental health centre where they shelter kids, young men and women with mental illness. I was heartbroken when I entered and saw the condition of young men and women of our age. The college gave us right lessons of compassion by taking us to places like that. We donated cakes and food for them from Lady Doak College. When we were about to leave and a mentally ill child refused to leave one of our friends. We were totally moved at the sight of the poor child clinging on to our friend. AT THE ORPHANAGE AND THE OLD AGE HOME We went to the orphanage, the children were asked to come out of their rooms. We sang songs for them, we gave them cakes and sweets. They enjoyed our singing. Our girls went to them and spoke and played with them. Some kids were excited, some were quiet, some were thrilled to meet new people who brought music and joy to their place. Still, I sensed the loneliness they were feeling there. I prayed to God to give me strength to support kids like them in the future. My heart went out for their longing souls and I asked Lord Jesus to protect them and bless them with a good future. We have visited three different old age homes. The old men and women gathered in the main area or hall. When we finished singing, they clapped their hands for the songs. Some even danced. Some were grumpy. We sang the Christmas wish and said a prayer. And then we started to distribute the blankets that the college brought for them. They received it with joy. We were allowed to visit their rooms. Some elders were very old and were bed ridden. Some were very sick and were on intravenous fluid drips. They were having medicines near them. Some invited us to their space and engaged in conversation with us. All of them had their own share of sorrowful stories. The main complaint was the lack of support from their children. Most of them were sorrowful, but were glad that we visited them. A junior named Chalice welled up her eyes with tears as she was so touched at the story of a wealthy old woman whose son left her there as he was living in USA. This visit made Chalice to have the determination that she should be of help to the old aged people financially in future. Till date, Chalice is doing social service at many places in Chennai. In retrospect, I thank my Lord and saviour Jesus for having given me an opportunity to be a part of these meaningful visits from the Lady Doak College choir. VISITING HOSPITALS Another unforgettable visit was our visit to child care center, belonging to the Grace Kennett Foundation hospital. Grace Kennett, who lost her parents at age 2, was later adopted by an American lady doctor named Dr. Parker Vaughan. Under Dr. Parker Vaughan's guidance, Grace Kennett went on to study medicine and became one of Madurai’s renowned gynaecologists in pre-independent British India. She later adopted many children and started the Grace Kennett Foundation. My dear friend Ida Christalin John, was filled with compassion when we visited the kids there. There were crates with many children. They had heart problems, disabilities, and some were premature babies. Ida recalled the nurse's words who asked us students to visit the center often. The children there lacked the warmth of their own mother, as they were abandoned. The nurse asked us, the young women to visit the place often, and just hold the kids in our arms for sometime, which she said was a great need for them. The Grace Kennett foundation took care of abandoned children and let families to adopt these children. The most happiest part of all these visits was we visiting the houses of our professors. We visited the house Dr. Beulah J.M Rajkumar. There we sung carols and Beulah mam allowed us to play the grand piano at her house. Dr. Beulah J.M Rajkumar was a former Physics Professor and Head of Department at Lady Doak College. She also serves as the advisor to "The Center for Women's Studies". In her article on the Center for Women Studies, Dr. Beulah recalls with cherish about the contribution of a former Principal, one Ms. Shanti Manuel to the Center for Women Studies. Ms. Shanti Manuel was the longest serving Principal of Lady Doak College from 1968 to 1993. We were then welcomed into the house of our choir co-ordinator, Dr.Christianna Singh and a huge feast was awaiting us. Every year Chris mam gave us the treat with delicious dishes. We ended our carol rounds by singing the Christmas wishes at her house. As a part of choir activity during Christmas time, we were invited to carol services at churches in many parts of Madurai. We have sung carols at St.George's church which was in the heart of the city. It was built with huge stones. It was an Anglican church. We have also sung at the Divine Patience church at Railways colony. We sung carols at the Bible college, Arasaradi. We have also sung at the NOYES Matriculation Higher Secondary School located in PT Rajan Road. A few of the members of our choir were chosen and went to Aachi Masala - Sing the Season regularly. In 2011, 2012 they won a prize in the college category. The grand finale happened in the Madras Centenary Hall under the auspices of the chief guest, Mr. Padmasingh Isaac, Head of the Aachi Group. It was a state wide singing competition held with much fanfare and the finalists will have air time in the Tamil Television channel Star Vijay TV on the week of Christmas. The winning team had a rousing reception at the Community Christmas Celebration held in G.J Auditorium, in which they were felicitated with the giant presentation award cheque. The auditorium erupted with shouts of joy and thunderous applause. The choir gave us so much of good memories, great experiences and life lessons. When we were at choir, most of us dreamt of becoming great singers in the college. Becoming popular in the choir and becoming a part of the music group CFM was one of the things the girls were after. But with time we learned to accept each other and worked as a team and focussed on the growth of the team and indeed understood that becoming popular in the college does not equal with the other most valuable things in life. Cynthia Devakumari Ebenezer, the upcoming Tamil christian artist once expressed her desire to me, to be a part of CFM. She was from Social Sciences department and was then working as an intern in Meenakshi Mission Hospital. There, she got an opportunity to sing a song in the Christmas Celebration on behalf of the hospital. Coincidentally, CFM was also invited for the function at the hospital. Cynthia, like many others always dreamt of becoming a part of CFM, but it never happened, much to her disappointment. Check out Cynthia's latest Tamil Christian Song "Um Varthai Ennil". "Some things are just never meant to be, no matter how much we wish they were". Now we might laugh at the longings we used to have in our teenage years and early twenties. Need for recognition and identity crises are faced by everybody at that age. Life is full of surprises and ironies. We do not know what will happen next time. One of the greatest life lessons I learnt from the choir is that one needs to accept hardship, endure it like a good soldier and the rewards will follow at the right time. Disappointments are a part and parcel of life. Also, practice will lead to excellence.

“Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books” these were the famous words of William Wordsworth from his poem “The Tables Turned”, where he urges the reader to learn from the outside world not only from books. Here comes the story of the fun world away from the classroom where there was always a lot to learn. Apart from studies, We had so much to enjoy in the campus. There were two canteens. We used to call them as “mini canteen” and “Big canteen”. I had this habit of visiting this mini canteen at least two times a week. They used to prepare delicious sweet bun with coconut fillings, veg cutlets, multi-layered puff (the egg puff was extra tasty), coffee, lemon juice, all kinds of chips, last but not least, the cone ice-cream. I was in the morning shift batch. 8 A.M to 1 P.M was the timing. After the first two classes we had an interval. It was a time to rejuvenate, to listen more lectures later. Some will go out and do a little chitchat with the juniors and seniors. Our teachers will be rushing from their classes to the departments with a big smile. The corridors will be full of people, some will be rushing to the department to submit assignments, to ask doubts. Only a very small group of girls will be inside the classroom. And the busiest place at that time inside the college was the college canteen. https://ladydoakcollege.edu.in/admission/files/Prospectus%202021-2022.pdf THE BEE AND THE DUCK There was a smart woman in the canteen who worked like a bee. She was very friendly with everyone. Entrepreneurs have a lot to learn from her style of moving with people. The girls lovingly called her “Kala akka”. I had a great friend who often accompanied me to the canteen named Elsie, who is now Dr Elsie, with her hard earned Ph.D. 'Else' is how I call her. I called her so after we learned a story called “The Doll’s House” by Katherine Mansfield. It was a beautiful story where the author highlights a little girl’s character by personalising her as “Our Else”. https://www.gradesaver.com/the-dolls-house/study-guide/summary Here, our Else often buys snacks for our whole gang of 7 friends. Funniest thing about that mini canteen was the duck gang (I mean real ducks) that wanders around the canteen. They had the guts to chase and scare the girls to steal their snacks. I have watched a girl kicking a duck for chasing her, of which one of my professors showed discontent. SMILING.. A BIG DEAL?! We had a beautiful, loving professor called Dr Betty. She had this heartfelt smile and answer for everyone who smiles at her and wishes her. She taught us in our PG classes, she gave our class little projects regarding the college magazine and treated us with vada or Lotte Choco Pie from that mini canteen. When I got choco pie for the first time, I thought it was a crunchy textured biscuit and gave it a bold bite but then got amazed at its very smooth texture for which I became a huge fan. THE ATM MACHINE? Another interesting thing about the intervals was visiting the Big canteen. Most of the time the visit to the big canteen ended as a disastrous trip because it was very far from Newton Block and whenever we visited the canteen out of our love for Badam milkshake, we ended up coming very late to the class. It was so embarrassing to enter the class late and disturb the professor who was taking attendance. Attendance was a great deal in my college. They were very particular about the student’s attendance. There was some percentage allotted of which you should have secured, even to write the exam. Every good work was carefully rewarded with academic credits by the college. There was a machine which looked very similar to the ATM machines that we see today. It was placed near the principal's office. We were requested to check our attendance there. All one has to do is to type their reg. number in the machine and the percentage of the results will be shown in the screen. https://www.globalsources.com/si/AS/Aadhya-Technologies/6008848035708/pdtl/Biometric-Time-Attendance-Kiosk/1066510092.htm THE VADA INCIDENT The Big canteen had varieties of food. There was a white board on which they would write the menu with a marker pen. The famous delicacies were 'piece parotta' which has never tasted the same elsewhere, 'chilli parotta', 'masala dosa', very big 'chola poori' with chenna masala, delicious butter chicken. They also had many varieties of flavoured rice like Lemon, Tomato, Curd etc. There was this big T.V which was displaying something all the time. The ground floor had four divisions- the main hall, the teacher’s room, kitchen and then the area to wash hands. It had white tables and green benches. On the next floor there were two rooms where dance practices for various events were practiced and tailoring classes also went on. One day I visited this canteen with my friend named Angella whom I love to call as “Gella”. Ms. Lilly Ernest came and enquired for vada with the old lady who was working in the food delivery section of the canteen. She asked in her straight tone “Do you have medhu vada?”, the old lady said “There is no medhu vada”. Again she enquired “Do you have kaara vada?” and the old lady said, “There is no kaara vada”. Again she questioned “Do you have keera vada?” "VADAIYE ILLA" replied the old woman. (meaning there is no vada) Me and my friend were listening to the conversation and found the old lady’s answer a bit too funny. Ms. Lilly Ernest went on her way nonchalantly. THE STAR FOOD My most favourite food to buy from that Big canteen was “Plain biriyani or Empty biriyani”. I loved to have empty biriyani with crispy potato chips. It was like a comfort food for me. At times, it will take a long time to go back to home again from the Hostel. One program or another would come. The YRC meetings usually will be scheduled on weekends. The projects and thesis writing work had delayed my home visits, or at times days were simply challenging. Then, the comfort food for me was this empty biriyani. One of my witty professors passed this funny remark at both me and my friend Elsie-who used to be very tall, "Anita is growing wider and Elsie is growing taller." And I knew that the secret was this empty biriyani. I have seen many hostel girls going for outings to try biriyani from outside. But here I was so much attached to the canteen food and never left outside campus to search for one. FRIEND REMEMBERED I was friends there in the Big Canteen, with an old gentle man who was in the billing section. Once I left the college after completing my M.Phil, I visited again for the M.Phil graduation ceremony. Then, I paid a visit to the canteen as usual and this very old gentle man greeted me with a wide smile and paid for my food that day. I think, he remembered me because I gave him a parting "Thank You" card when I left the college, for all the kindness he showed towards me whenever I visited the canteen. He used to engage in little chats with me when I waited patiently to pay the bills, while others hastened him. The billing section was always crowded. He was an English literature student too and used to write an English proverb on the menu board every day in the canteen. This old man’s kindness and his thirst for learning always inspired me. We used to order cakes for birthday celebration from the big canteen. We used to sit around umbrella table setting outside the canteen to celebrate our birthdays. Lunch pavilion was another favourite place for all to celebrate their birthdays. My friends gave me a beautiful birthday party there once. It was during my M.A days. As Paulo Coelho says “Friendship isn’t a big thing it’s a million little things”. We made million memories together. No matter how far or near, in touch or not the million meaningful memories remains and will never fade. Enjoying the "Lady From Doak" series. Do subscribe for more. May this month be a start of something new in our lives, today being the first of July, 2021. A brand new month. Date: 1 July 2021 Place: Karunya Nagar, Coimbatore. Previous Blog: https://www.anithajebarani.com/post/the-beginning-for-the-lady-from-doak Thank you all for every thought shared about the above blog. __________________________________________________________________________________

Once, I answered a question in a slam book which went like this “Which is your favourite place in the world?” I answered “My Home”. Nothing equals to the place where your parents raised you with so much love. As M.K. Soni says, “A house is made of brick and mortar, but a home is made by the people who live there”. Here is phase of my life when I first left my home. It's time to stay at college hostel. THE DARING VENTURE For the first ever time in my life, I was about to be separated from my dear parents. We three- me, mom and dad were always together. We were the best team. While I was growing up, my parents slowly ingrained the thought that “one day I should stay at hostel, away from them”. My mind was already prepared for this moving out and living out from the family at that young an age. Still, fear gripped me when I faced it. I was looking very happy on the outside, but in the corner of my heart, I knew I have to face things alone, away from my parents. We packed our things. Dad bought me a new suitcase. It was red and black in colour. He also bought nice fluffy bed, not a light one, as he always wanted me to have the best comfort. My mom was very good at keeping up with the trend when it comes to fashion. She bought me many new Kurtis with Punjabi Patiala pants, which was very popular then. We travelled by train and we arrived in the beloved city, Madurai. Auto men surrounded us as we came out of the station. All set and done we started to move towards my LDC. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madurai_Junction_railway_station IN PURSUIT OF THE DREAMLAND The college had sent a letter, in which we were informed about the name of the residence I would be staying, it was "Sir James Doak Hall", (SJDH). https://ladydoakcollege.edu.in/admission/files/Prospectus%202021-2022.pdf We entered the college, many autos and cars were lined up throughout the campus. We crossed many old colonial type of buildings built by the vision filled American missionary 'Katie Wilcox'. The names of the hostels go like this, first we crossed the 'Pandiyan hall', then 'Wilcox hall', next came 'Gaylord and Harilakshmi hall'. They almost looked like an old palace. We were directed to move further and there came Sir James Doak Hall it was a two storey building which looked more contemporary. https://ladydoakcollege.edu.in/admission/files/Prospectus%202021-2022.pdf We were lovingly directed by the student volunteers to do every procedure. My turn to visit my wardens came, and there seated was this very beautiful Professor Archana from Business department. She allotted my room, it was Dorm 3, cube 2. THE REVELATION My senior Priyadharshini guided myself and my parents to the cube, it was next to hers. I was so full of joy when I saw my personal space. I was expecting something horrible like a long hall filled with beds (kind of hospital look). But Voila! I fell in love with that cube at the first sight, it was a cute little personalised space. The dorm has twelve cubes, six on right, six on left. Each cube was separated by a huge cupboard, which was like a wall on both sides, in the front was a curtain, which covers your personal space. At the end of the cubes was this vanity corner and the rest rooms. I was thanking Jesus with all my heart for that gift. My parents were so happy about how God was leading us. My mom was so touched with my senior Priyadharshini who was with us on every step, Priya akka said “Aunty, your daughter will love this place and will never leave even if you ask her to leave in future”. Her words were very true. My parents left me after the hostel orientation. I missed them a lot and so did they. But they knew that I was in safe hands. In God’s plan and protection. I had no mobile phone with me back then and the only mode of telecommunication was the campus "Phone Booth" (must have become extinct now). The "Phone Booth" was a scene of intense emotion, as I have witnessed some students sharing tender moments shedding tears with their parents from far away places. We had to stand in a long queue to pay and use the facility. Also, phone time was limited, the non-teaching staff used to urge us to end the conversation if the limit was extended. Particular timing was allotted to use the phone, two hours in the mornings and three hours in the evenings. Just near to the Phone Booth, there was a typing class going on. So much has changed in the last one decade, in retrospect, how little time we spent on the phone those days. Gone are those days. THE CAMPUS TOUR? Our hostel seniors took us, the juniors for a campus tour. They got special permission from our very friendly wardens. They showed the lunch pavilion and said, "This is the most important holy place, so when you enter you should touch the ground and fold your hands like how you enter the temple”. https://ladydoakcollege.edu.in/admission/files/Prospectus%202021-2022.pdf The place was kind of having this Buddha temple like look. Some girls believed and bowed and entered the place, some were very afraid that the seniors are up to something, so all of us entered the lunch pavilion as instructed. I kept a friendly but also a confident face. I was so curious to learn what they were up to. We were asked to form a line and follow everywhere they took us. They showed us every place and added some weird fictional story to it. We came to a building which was near the entrance of the college. It was called as “Margaret Clapp hall”. The hostel president senior Priyadharshini started to teach about the building to us. She said, this is called Margaret Clapp hall. https://www.campusoption.com/college/lady-doak-college She pointed out the same name written on the front of the building and asked us to repeat after her. Though we felt so stupid, we all repeated the name after her. She gave us the next instruction, whenever you enter this hall you have to clap your hands as this is the "Margaret CLAPP hall". We all started to clap and then happened the most unexpected twist to the story. Someone who was very fair, beautiful and respectable came out of the hall to the utter despair of my seniors. It was none other than the principal of the college Dr. Mercy Pushpalatha. My seniors stood there as if they were frozen. This wonderful first woman of the college asked the seniors about what was going on there. They said that they were taking us for the campus tour, and the principal mam replied, "The juniors know how to read I believe", for which my seniors gave an embarrassed smile. The whole scenario made me to burst out with uncontrollable laughter. We were asked to disperse and return to our hostel. There ended the campus tour. SPILL THE BEANS. We juniors were still very new to each other, so we never knew that actually some of the seniors were amongst us - acting as juniors, while we were going for this sneaky campus tour. The real seniors were ragging their fellow friends in disguise like anything. One who was in such a disguise was a senior called 'Deepa'. Deepa pretended that she was being ragged by another senior - Roselin. I felt very bad for Deepa and shared my feelings about this cruel Roselin with Shirly Akka who was walking along with me. She calmed me down but went along with the fake campus tour plan of her friends. All these plans were revealed to us in the night when we had the meeting with our warden. I believe the fake campus tour of our seniors was an entertainment not only to them but for us, their juniors as well. Soon, all of us became very close to each other. WELCOME JUNIORS There came this colourful celebration that my hostel seniors threw to celebrate their junior sisters. We were given an invitation to attend the Junior's welcome day which they prepared very lovingly and secretly. They gave us the card by waking us up in the midnight with a prank. With our eyes still heavy laden with sleep, our hair in a complete mess, we walked out to the corridor and we were given the invitation. It was supposed to happen in the evening. The Welcome program was scheduled @ 6 P.M. I dressed in one of my favourite traditional outfits, silk skirt and top, with a cute matching ear stud with pink stone. The skirt was in peacock green and top in rani pink. I went along with my friends Charanya (who left for engineering college in a month) and Reshmi of BBA (who remained a very good friend throughout that year of my stay at the SJDH-GF). We went to the GJ auditorium, I was totally impressed and amazed at how the whole celebration was organised. It was solely done by girls!!. They were here and there on the stage, they were near the sound system. They were making all arrangements everywhere! The JCAR student committee rocked. Wow! This is what woman empowerment is all about. Thank you LADY DOAK. The show started and the whole stadium had shoutouts from everywhere. Girls from each hostel shouted the name of their hostels when their girls danced. When our hostel's turn came we were shouting at the top of our voices with our seniors. At the end of the show all of the juniors gave huge shoutouts for seniors. We, SJDH-GF girls were asked to unite in a place. Our seniors joined us. We formed a line like a train. We were keeping our hands on the shoulder of the person in front of us. We started the train run. We shouted the shouts of joy, 'koo-jigu jigu' till we reached the James Doak hall from GJ. When we reached our hostel, all of us formed a circle again. The circle moved step after step in rounds with each of us holding the other's hand. President senior Priya shouted "SHALABULA, SHALABULA GUMTHALAKKA" and all others replied in the top pitch of their voice "Ohh Ahh, Ohh Ahh". She again said, "GUMTHALAKKADI GUMMAVA" and the crowd replied "JAMES DOAK NA SUMMAVA". I forgot all my shyness and was shouting with them at the top of my voice "OHH AHH, OHH AHH"and "JAMES DOAK NA SUMMAVA". After we shouted our hearts out, we all gave a chorus shout and said "OHHHHH" which must have echoed till the main road. And then we had this delicious chicken biriyani, chicken gravy, potato chips and sweets for dinner. The fantastic "Junior's welcome day" ended. THE MIDNIGHT CHAT I found a very special sister there, named Shirly, who introduced herself to my parents as our relative on day one itself. She was from Vallam, Shenkottai. She was the chapel representative. A relative from my father’s side. She used to visit my cube to see my how about. I started to rely on her guidance for many things. Every day we went together to the mess, I sat along with her friends. We started to develop a deep friendship. We used to talk and laugh aloud in her cube often. She stayed in dorm 4. One night @12P.M. we were so into our fun talk, we didn’t realise that our warden Ms.Sudha was standing just behind us in the dark night. She said “I can’t sleep when you both are laughing out like this”, she was standing exactly behind me and I didn’t dare to look at her. I was sitting on Shirly ka's bed like a stone. Later, we dispersed the night talk. What is college hostel life without senior-junior friendship, without the loud shoutouts, dance, and awesome food, without the late night talks, without getting scoldings from teachers for naughty pranks. Yes, it is The Dream Land, the "James Doak Hall GF".

My dear parents had waited for a while before I was born to them. Earlier, they lost their precious twins. I am the third born of the family. My dad always vividly recollected and described the sight of him seeing me for the first time in the world, he said, “When I saw you for the first time, your eyes were very beautiful, your dark eyeballs were in very pure white eyes, and you were staring at the ceiling fan”. Whenever he described the moment his face lit up to be filled with joy. My parents made sure that they made every birthday of mine truly memorable. I was then studying fifth standard at A.G school and on my birthday, my dad took me to a bakery where he ordered more than 200 cakes to give it to people to celebrate my birthday. He bought the best chocolates like Eclairs, Milky Bar (hundreds of them) to give to my friends. He took me to meet important people all around the town, like his boss, to receive their blessing. One was Haji Mustafa Textiles' owner; it was one of the famous shops in Tenkasi. He was a very old gentleman with the Muslim cap and beard. He smiled at me and blessed me with all his heart. My dad was so proud when he introduced me to him. My parents used to buy at least two new dresses for my birthday. My dad used to choose frocks and skirt and top which were unique. His selection used to be very colourful yet very cool and modern kind (his artistic instincts played a role). Whereas mom’s selection used to be ethnic yet trendy. When I left home and stayed at college hostel, I know my parents cannot be with me on my birthday. It was August 27, the next day was my birthday. I was in the hostel gym room, then there was not much equipment. There was this long steel table and a green bench near the tread mill. A green bench was there near the exercise bicycle and a waist twister equipment. A few dumb bells were also there. This is where short hostel meetings for the leaders will be conducted. I was sitting on the bench and a senior was talking with me. I was missing my parents and controlling my tears. It was very close to 12 A.M. Some of my seniors came and told us that it was time and they will accompany us to the dorm, as we drew nearer I was blindfolded which left me a bit puzzled. We went inside the dorm, and I was standing before my cute little cube, and they released the blindfolded shawl from my eyes. I was in for a total surprise. They had decorated my cube with colourful shawls and lights, the night lamp on my table was covered with a beautiful pink cloth and so it shone forth the pink light in my cube. Pink is my favourite colour. Beneath there was my birthday cake. When I was mesmerised at the love of my seniors and the beauty of the place, I came to reality with a thud sound followed by sparkling colour papers which fell over me and the cube (came from the burst of a balloon, above my head, which was stuffed with colour papers). All my dorm-mates started to sing “The happy birthday song”. I was drenched with the love of God which came through the sweet girls who were singing around me. I cut the cake and all of us shared it. They also gave me a present, a dolphin shaped pink coloured alarm clock. When everybody returned to their cubes, I closed my cube and thanked God for having given these awesome people in my life. There was this wonderful senior who was very beautiful who went by the name Sowmya, she always amazed me with her leadership skill, she was the dorm representative and was the brain behind this surprise party. This was one of the most unique birthday parties I ever had. One of the persons who makes everyone's birthdays special in the college is professor Dr. Betty D'coute. Whenever a girl approaches her to get madam's blessings for their birthday, She’ll give her a warm kiss on her forehead and will say “God bless you” with her bright smile. I have learned to cherish others on their birthdays from my parents and next from these lovable lovely James Doakians. In later years, when I was doing my PG degree; I was staying at an amazing hostel named PRB(Panditha Ramabai Hostel). My roommate’s name was from a famous Shakespeare’s work. Yes! her name was Juliet. She was a Roman Catholic, she studied math. I have seen her literally memorizing math!! She had some superpower I believe. It was her birthday and, when she was out, I decorated her space, especially her study table, by making a beautiful paper bouquet and filled it with natural flowers from the campus. Along with it, I placed a small gift and chocolate. Above all, I wrote some nice birthday wishes on a chart and placed it on the wall. Juliet never expected of anything of this sort and when she entered the cube, she was so surprised and joyful to see her beautiful table. Doing a surprise for someone rather than simply giving gifts, adds more meaning to the celebration. There was this calm, godly, loving friend named Jemima Sabrina. She was someone who always stood with me during my tough times at college. 2014-2015 was my last academic year at LDC. I was staying in the second floor of the PRB hostel. The surprise plan was made. We celebrated our dear girl with all our hearts. She was surprised with the game named “treasure hunt” which ended by finding the gift. Her room was decorated with a chart which carried all our signatures. This dear friend still keeps the gift with her, and even today shared the picture of the gift. My friends who did the M.Phil research studies with me celebrated my birthday by arranging a party in the lunch pavilion. The cake, teddy, candles and last but not least friends made the day very special. The most memorable celebration was the send off, we PG friends did for our beloved naughty class rep named 'Rebecca Jeyani', who devoted her life to serve God. Not in our wildest dreams we imagined our class rep to do such a noble thing, but it was God's will and calling. This girl was very special, one day all of us were asked to go for JX Miller library, our mischievous Rebi was sitting in the cement seating which was under the huge tree and was making fun of everybody saying one thing or another, my turn came, she started to roast me, I was there waiting for God to do something on my behalf, Rebi was sitting in a very casual position and was laughing at me. Something in pure white and warm fell from the tree which settled right at the center of her head. It was crow poop! All of us whom she was roasting before, couldn’t control our laughter at what we saw, sometimes God answers right at the time. The awkward situation ended with a funny incident. When she decided to serve God, we wanted to give her a send off, at her request we got KFC chicken instead of cakes and chocolates. All of us gathered near Wilcox Hall, shared all good memories and thoughts we had about her. Our hearts were sad, yet we know she is going to be in the great will of God. Later I met her and was awe struck at how God moulded her and kept her as a blessing for many. Somebody wise once said “Do not judge a book by its cover". We never knew what can become of a person when they are in the great plan of God. Life runs with a speed of lightning, in a blink of an eye people are gone, scenario changes, everything becomes a part of the past. Only way to keep good memories is creating one. Enjoying the present, celebrating the people in your present life can bring joyful memories in the future. Celebrate my friend, celebrate life.

I knew when I met you, an adventure was going to happen - A.A. Milne, "Winnie the Pooh" All of us in B.A grew very close to each other over the years, we became one BIG family. Be it ICM, IDM or sports day, we rocked together. A day came when we were given an opportunity to have an adventurous trip together. It was a mandatory tour which was usually given to girls in the UG final year. We have seen our seniors taking trips to places and now it's our turn. Hurray! we have decided the tourist place. It is none other than the land of spices, the jewel of south India, Kerala. Kera simply means "coconut tree" and "Alam" means Land, therefore it's the Land of Coconuts. We were more than fifty in numbers, our class representative was Hussain Bi. She was known for her patience and tolerance. She used to travel to college in her violet TVS Scooty. She sat in the first bench near Tamil Ilakkiya, (a very smart learner who had long beautiful hair). There was this unforgettable incident which happened with our dear Hussain. One day our professor asked us to read paragraphs. Hussain started the reading, and in the middle of the sentence there came the word "all" and Hussain mispronounced it as "Ali". The whole class laughed including the professor. Everybody then started to enquire who was that Ali?, which left her blushed, (it was just a joke made out of wordplay) . Professors usually gave the photo copies of the poetry and other materials to her and it was her responsibility to make photocopies for all of us so that we will have the essential material at hand when the professor takes classes. Hussain often used the words "Please girls" to collect money or any other registration forms from us. She was a very polite person. All of us paid for the tour and were waiting for the instructions from our Felcia mam who decided to accompany us. All things said and done, travel plans were made. Here is the original copy of the tour plan, the itinerary which was treasured by our Hussain as a keepsake. We packed our bags and suitcases with bright outfits, coolers, some brought their cameras with them. We reached the railway station. Inside the station, all of us were waiting with our packed luggages. Maragadham (a friend of all in the class), the assistant representative was standing with Hema. Hema loves to read Tamil novels and magazines from the International Study Center at LDC, which had a very cute library. One can easily find story books by Agatha Christie (a writer of mystery stories), Sherlock Holmes (a crime detective novel series), Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), Enid Blyton( The Famous Five, The Secret Seven), Carolyn Keen (Nancy Drew Mysteries) and Herge (Tintin series). Maragadham and Hema asked for help from an old man to look after their luggages as they wanted to move a bit further. However, little did they know they had disturbed a sleeping volcano. The old man started to argue with them for calling him grandpa. He asked, "How can you call ME a GRANDPA?". The girls were taken aback. Later they managed to settle the argument. Meanwhile, some health conscious ones among our friends were fishing out coins from their pockets to use the weighing machine in the railway station which was lit up with colourful lights. Other book worms were browsing the comics and magazines at the railway station book store. I am particularly a fan of Tinkle Digest, no train journey is complete without an episode of Suppandi and Shikari Shambu. All of us had arrived except Janu. We climbed the passenger walking bridge and reached our platform. The platform was very busy with tea vendors, hawkers selling hot vada and samosas. The passengers were running here and there to find their compartment whether it was S6, S7 or S12 etc. There was this constant announcement of the arrival of the trains from the speakers. It went like this, "Your kind attention please, train number AXY123 is arriving on platform number 3". "Your kind attention please, train number QYZ197 is departing on platform number 4 on time". Our waiting came to an end with the arrival of the great Guruvayur express. All of us settled in our seats. Felcia mam was so concerned that Janu might miss the train and so were we. Though we were excited, we were anxious that we might move on without our Janu. Just then, we saw Janu running towards the train, her mom accompanied her. We were very happy as she now finally joined us safely. Our journey began to unravel to the land of evergreen forests. However, as soon the journey began, I was not feeling well, and my friends let me to lie down and take rest. Everybody started to chat in excitement. It was very loud out there for a while and little later, the noise died down as everybody went to sleep in their respective berths. Those in the lower berths switched off the lights. It was midnight and the train had stopped in Nagercoil and there was Reshma’s dad who was waiting for us. He was so excited to meet his daughter and us, her friends. He had a huge loving heart, he gave a large amount of snacks to be shared by all of us, ( hot chicken pakkoda, jackfruit chips etc), he showed so much love that we all felt as if our dad had come. Everybody started enjoying the snacks together after the dear uncle visited us. It was next day morning. Our dear Jane was going towards the train's steel wash basin to get ready for the day, and everybody started to sing "Happy birthday song" for her. Yes, it was Jane's birthday. The day started with a joyful note. Once we alighted the train in Kerala, we got into a tourist bus which was waiting for us and we reached Ernakulam, Kochi, in the morning. Loud music was played in the bus and some energetic ones started dancing a few steps to the music Beats. All seven of us got a room where we stayed together, the name of the place was "Shalimar Residency". Our room was quite clean. It had a cable T.V and huge beds which was near the window. We were about to get ready for the trip. Everybody was searching for an outfit in their bags and suitcases. I was totally impressed at the orderly arrangement of Reshma's suitcase . Our breakfast was served in the terrace of the residency. Then started the fun trip. We visited a place where there was Jewish synagogue but it was closed on that day. Nearby the backwaters, we had the motor boat ride. We got into the top floor of the boat, the boat created a trail of froth in the water when it moved fast. Some of our friends stood near the steps and watched it. Some danced for the music which was played in the boat. Mirnalini, (who was very well known for her elegant folk dance) and Iswarya (a lovely friend of Rebi), Suganya, Prahi, Nivetha and Janu grouped together and danced in the boat while some others were chatting with their friends, some gave beautiful poses for photos. It was altogether a beautiful moment. I was there captivated with the beauty of the place. No wonder they call Kerala as “God’s own country”. The coconut trees in the shore, the beautiful and majestic container ships. The island like structure in the middle of the ride was thoroughly a treat to the eyes. https://www.alleppeyhouseboatclub.com/kerala-boat-house/ Next, we travelled towards Cochin’s matchless “Veegaland”. This was my second visit there. My friends made me to enjoy the day like anything. We left our belongings in a locker room. We started with the dry games. We were in Columbus ride, where our dear friend Anita Mary was so scared and was asking the operator to stop the ride with tears. However finally she finished that adventurous ride. There was this excellent cup and saucer ride which was full of fun. Later, I was there enjoying the water rides again and again with my friends in the colourful rubber air floats. https://www.wonderla.com/kochi-amusement-park/ We drove through tunnels and slides which were red, blue, yellow and green in colours. While we were travelling through it we were screaming, shouting and reached the pool on the end with a huge splash of water. We slid on long tubes. It was not only us who were enjoying, but our dear teachers (Mrs. Felcia and Ms. Lalitha) were also equally having fun with the rides in the pool, if not more. They saw our dear friends Patricia, Jeya Sathya, Sheeba Priyadharshini and asked them to take a pic of them while they exactly slid from the water slide that was in the little pool and our dear Patricia took the digital camera and started to take quick focussed shots when everybody were curiously watching and waiting to see the results. Everybody saw the outcome and there was everything except our teachers. All of them started to roast her photography skill. There was this highly challenging steep slide which should be done by laying down on a mat. I was wearing my spectacles and was waiting behind Reshma and Janu. The most adventurous Janu went down first without any hesitation and reached the other end safely. I looked at her from the top. After reaching down she was jumping and from a long distance I could sense her joy. She did it with style!!! She looked so tiny from the top. Next went Resh and she too reached safely, NOW, they were both waiting for me to reach down. My heart started to beat very fastly and the man who pushed everybody after they lay down in a mat gave a very important instruction that we should keep our legs together throughout the ride till we reach down. My hands and legs became chill more than the chillness of the water. I laid down quietly. When the man pushed me and the mat. I felt like falling straight from a hill and in fear I opened my legs a bit wider, which gave me a hilarious ending. I lost control and was moving and sliding like a "Spinning wheel cracker"(Thara chakram in Tamil) and reached the end with the huge splash. My specs flew and there were standing my concerned friends Janu and Resh to ascertain whether I am alright. I collected the specs and was in total amazement at my achievement. We all laughed heartily and moved towards the other challenging rides. That adventurous incident and the feeling of achievement can be compared to a scene in the movie "Matilda" (Roald Dahl's work) where the principal Trunchbell throws a little girl Amanda so high, that she flew and ended up sliding in the garden and stands up in the end with a handful of flowers and a big smile. Elsie rode this another fun ride with me, it was like a train ride. The train moved up and down, slowed down and moved faster. It was supposed to be a thrilling ride, but with my companion Elsie it was a ride full of laughter. When the train started to run down fast from a height, she started to scream “God protect us, God save us”. More than the ride her dialogues made it so much more funny, Last but not the least all of us enjoyed in the HUGE wave pool. All of us waded deep into the pool and stood by joining hands with each other in a circle. Whenever the wave came, we gave a collective jump in a bid to offset the wave, it was pure joy. We spent a long time there. Many school children were also enjoying in the pool along with us. Veegaland has since seen a change of ownership, it is now called as Wonderla. During these pandemic times, when we cherish our best memories, I think of how the businesses have been affected, hope times will get better soon and many others can come and make fantastic memories like us at the place that gave us so much. Currently in July 2021, the Kochi Amusement Park remains closed, the people who had worked there as ride operators, ticket vendors, cleaners, those dwarf jokers who unfailingly put a smile on our faces, so many hard working people might have suffered job losses in the past year and a half. The least we can do is to think and wish well for them, and say a word of prayer on their behalf. Next day was our trip to a Kovalam sea, all of us took beautiful pics there, some of us bought the cowboy caps from the vendors, the way through which we reached the sea looked like a cobbled Italian street with huge white stones, and on the sides were expensive shops with trendy Indian outfits, shawls, handmade jute bags, to attract tourists. But these could be the regular "tourist traps". We walked through the beautiful way and reached the clean beach of Kovalam. It was pristine clean and loaded with the beauty of nature. The blue sky smiled at us with its bright light, which reflected beautifully on the blue sea. There were little rocks here and there. Also there stood this tall lighthouse which was the symbol of hope and a point of reference for the wandering fishermen. More than everything the seashore with its broken sea shells, conches and the waves of the sea which gently touches your feet, and the feeling of the sand releasing under your sole of the foot were totally mesmerising. There was a horse riding game to attract the visitors too. We also travelled a short trip on an electric train on which we met a foreigner woman from Israel. We took pictures with her, she was so surprised when I talked with her about Jewish festivals. I presented her a beautiful ear ornament. In remembrance of her she gave me an Israeli coin on which I saw the Menorah. It is a Jewish symbol. It was referred in many places in the Old Testament of the Holy bible. It was set in the Tabernacle (a temporary temple) as instructed by God Almighty. And there ended our adventurous, unforgettable, awesome trip as B.A friends to Kerala, thanks to the Evergreen English department, LDC. A huge thanks to God Almighty for letting me live life with these wonderful people. References: How to make Chicken Pakoda, (picture), https://yummyindiankitchen.com/chicken-pakora-recipe-chicken-pakoda/ Chakka Varuththadhu-jackfruit chips,(picture), https://dinetable.com/recipe/chakka-varuthathu-jackfruit-chips-kerala-recipe/ water repellent lenses for glasses,(picture), https://www.essilorindia.com/products/water-repellent-lenses Seven scariest water slides in the world,(picture), https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-7-scariest-water-slides-in-the-world_b_59359867e4b033940169ccaf THREE TIPS FOR BREATHING IN FREEFALL,(PICTURE) https://skydivemonroe.com/blog/3-tips-for-breathing-in-freefall/

I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.-Og Mandino Loss of a loved one and the subsequent suffering that follows can teach us a number of lessons on Human Existence. It can break and shape one into a transformed person. No one would like to go through difficult situations in life but such situations will polish one to become a better version of oneself, to understand the fellow human better. Dr. Betty d'Coute once gave us a meaningful exercise in a Part II English class. I was a student of Ms. Dew Lawrent but our teacher was on leave and we were attending the class of our dear Betty mam. Our Professor asked us to define life in a single line by comparing it with something else. For example, life is like a candle, star etc.. the presentation started from the first row of the class, till my turn came I was rehearsing my lines for the presentation in my mind. I said in front of the class,"Life is a beautiful song with its both pitches (high and low)". My dear mam explained,"Anita, life is a song, more than being beautiful alone. It has very tough times, hard times and also happy moments". I took her words, nodded my head and went back to my seat by pondering deeply on what she said. Here comes one such lesson which life gave me to make me as a strong person emotionally. STAND WITH THEM? It was bright sunny, breezy day at Agarakattu. I was working as an Assistant professor in J.P college of Arts and Science, Tenkasi. A special meeting for freshers was organised by the college. The meeting's motive was to encourage the students to get ready for the academic challenges they will face soon. I was seated in the last row with my friend and a co-teacher, Asst. Professor Sudha who was a very talented soft skill trainer and a teacher, I was always amazed by her bold personality, which at times was a reason behind some of her unconventional teaching methods and style, still, I found it very fascinating. We were in the middle of the meeting and the speaker Mr. Jegan was advising the students to make their parents proud. When he was about to talk more about the sacrifice that parents are making to give their children a good education. He requested the students who have lost their father or mother to leave the auditorium and wait outside, as he thought it might kindle delicate emotions, memories and breach a sensitive zone for them. When the students were slowly moving out, the speaker asked some teachers to accompany them. My friend, Ms. Sudha turned her face towards the students and said to me, "Baby, join me, let's go and stand with the students", I didn't know how to react then, I felt uneasy as I never knew how to help the children handle their emotions. I totally regret today that I never stood along with them on that day. The children were in pain and were remembering their lost parent. When one started to cry, slowly the sadness gripped everyone and many started to shed tears. Sudha went and stood near them, she talked with some too to express moral support and solidarity. THE LIFE CHANGING LOSS Months rolled by and I was there in the phase of my life where I faced a similar loss of a parent, I lost my dad on Oct 19, 2015. I never thought or dreamt that I would be going through something like that in the near future. When it struck my home, I felt utter despair for the first time. But all these never happened on day one. All my spiritual wisdom that I got for years from my dad helped me to face it when he was lying before me lifelessly. He was a great believer of christ who walked very close with Him and have imparted so much wisdom about resurrection in my young mind. So when I looked at him I was saying to myself, "This is not my dad, He is alive, just not here". As I was the only child, as much as I got everything (all love, gifts) for myself, the same happened here, I was there facing the loss all by myself. My dad was my best friend when he was alive, he was my brother who played with me whenever I needed a companionship. Everyday of mine started with him. I used to raise both hands from bed towards him, he lifted me up and carried me gently till the back door where I usually get ready to start the day. He was always there for me, when I was young, he taught me stories from a very colourful book of a Russian artist. The book had only drawings and my dad interpreted the stories for me. He was there teaching me to draw whenever I got ready for drawing competition. He stood with me whenever I needed strength. He worked so hard to give me the best of everything. In my whole life, I enjoyed the friendship with no one like that I had with my dad. But now, I was in a position where I needed to be strong for the family, without him being there. The family of three broke into two. The Bible says, "A cord of three strands is not quickly broken" in Ecclesiastes 4:12. We were trying very hard not to be broken inside. The sense of responsibility that I had on that day was huge. The way I behaved was totally unbelievable. One of my good friends who visited asked ,"How you are like this?" as my friends knew I was a sensitive person. I had no clear answer then but as Viktor Frankle, a challenging author of Man's search for meaning says,“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves". That was the most toughest moment where I challenged myself to be more strong and to be less sensitive to the actual pain. Yet, here comes the truth, anyone at one point can make themselves strong to stand before people. But when you have to face the reality alone you can never escape the grip of the grief. The toughest part of grieving for the loss is, you trying to come to terms that, as long as you live, the person will never come back. (Yes, to the fact that the one who loved you, cherished you, raised you will never come back). An irreversible loss can bring huge changes in one's life and family. It changed my life upside down. The innocent laughter I used to have when my father was there was gone in the wind. The carefree nature of mine changed, perspective toward life changed. Most importantly the perspective in looking at families who are going through the loss changed. It’s true you never knew somebody’s pain unless you walk through it by yourself. I understood what it feels to be treated like a fatherless, what it is to have a broken soul at home, what it is to have the longing to have all the lost joy back, what it is to struggle to sing again, what it is to struggle to enjoy music again, what it is to struggle not to drown in sorrow. My choices and decisions in life started to revolve around my family’s situation. I found the meaning of true friends. Yes those who stay with you when you grieve, listens to you without judgement are indeed true. I found a great friend and a well wisher named Ms. Victoria, HOD of English Department at J.P College who played a crucial role in the grieving or healing process of mine. I shared, poured my heart out to her for months. She was there to fulfil the place of a sister whom I never had in my life. The way she helped me to process what I had in mind and the way she helped me to deal with it brought me some comfort to the grief that was in my heart. Another person who became very close to me from a friend to a sister was my friend named Sheeba Mary, the girl whom I always looked upon as "special". Now I know the reason why she looked so special to me from the rest of us. God was her father throughout her life and adorned her with special abilities and gifts throughout her life. Whenever I talked with her, I totally felt the love of a sister who understands what I was going through. She was a beautiful, independent, smart daughter who was raised by a single mother. The only person who understood what my mother went through after losing her husband, (the pillar of the family) was my dear Sheeba. She was full of empathy and compassion. Our friendship grew in a very meaningful way after every conversation about our families. She knows what it is to walk in my shoes. All people have different ways in reacting and responding to a person who goes through loss. I found this out when people visited me. Some never care and will visit you for the sake of visiting. Some could stay before you when you grieve and have the guts to laugh like nuts. Some genuinely care, but will be afraid of the responsibility and develop fear to get closer to you. Some openly will say not to trust them to stay by your side always. Only very few will come, understand, empathise and most importantly will never leave your side. All one needs at the time of grieving is your presence, your shoulder to lean on, your genuine concern. I often thought how great it would be if people had an understanding heart on what was going on in the family when they were going through the loss. What if people empathised with them? What if we stay quietly with them with our presence? What if we never thought of a fatherless child as a burden? What if we visited them with a genuine concern? What if we ignore the society’s stereotype and look at a widow as someone who deserves to live and thrive well in life? I ask, why not? We all bleed the same my friend. One of the meaningful things that we can do when one bleeds is not simply watch them die before us. (Yes, many do perish in the grief) But in action, bind them with your love. A word of comfort, a simple visit, right word to brighten their darkness can do wonders. There is no need for us to wait to take action. Yes love is a not only a noun it is also a verb. When somebody asked Jesus, He rightly pointed out the golden rule as "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". Let us not wait and stare for somebody or someone's situation to get better. Do the little you could do which you will be wanting them to do to you if you went through the situation like theirs. (It will surely create a great difference in their lives.) It can happen to anyone as death is inevitable. I watch a vlog named "London Thamizhachi" where the wife Subi Charles is a nurse and the husband Charles is a psychologist. The man offers bites of wisdom now and then. Once he said when someone is sad, the gentle touch of comfort can do more healing, he said showing affection like holding a person's hand is a kind of therapy which works to bring good results. He called it as "Touch Therapy". We are the generation who are going through something very remarkable in the times of history. More than ever people search for love, people search for a word of comfort, people search for a meaningful conversation with someone who genuinely cares in these days. Why can't we be that generation who goes for an extra mile to show that we care and spread the message that "all are loved genuinely". Giving a call to that long lost friend, forgiving someone who wronged you, forgiving yourself for not standing for people when you should have and actually reach out and do more acts of kindness in the present. The world now needs love more than ever. Come on, let's do it. It is time to relearn something and do it right. The regular readers of the blog might find this content not light as usual. What stirred my soul for this writing is the passing away of the father of my beloved friend Jemima. Uncle John Sunderesan, "Josuda" they lovingly call him, known for his knowledge of the scripture finished his race recently. In 2015, the dear family of Jemima invited me to stay at their house when I went to Madurai for graduation after I lost my dad. I attended their church service and I also happened to see the library of this wise man, the varied collection of books in his shelf testified his thirst for the word of God. Uncle got miraculous healing from COVID 19 in the first wave. Till the end he lived a testimonial life. Jemima in her Whatsapp message said "Just few hours before his stroke attack, he was preaching the conclusion part of his Bible study on Book of Revelation in YouTube". I can very much relate the same scenario with my dad Sobitharaj, he was in his prayer room meditating on the holy Bible and was praying just few hours before he had his fatal heart attack. Now, I truly, firmly believe that both our fathers will be in the presence of God Almighty, singing the everlasting song of praise, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty. They left great footprints in the walk of their faith to be followed by the generations to come. Goodbye, until we meet you on the other side of that beautiful shore.

Can you imagine a world without a teacher? where there is no one to teach you what it is? yes, they are our reference points, our guides to help us to explore the unknown. In a press meet with the Prime Minister of a western country, a reporter posed this question. "Why do we have high pay for teachers in this country?". In response, the wise leader quipped, "How do you expect me to pay you more than the one who taught you?" It was very true that the teachers can never be fully repaid for everything they do for their students. I have witnessed my mother, a Tamil scholar, working, preparing, sharpening, comforting, and shaping the future of her students right before my eyes. She balanced both her work life and family life like a Pro. Google says the meaning of teach is to show, to demonstrate, to point out. I believe teachers do much more than that for their students. To all the teachers who shaped me as a person and to everybody who are shaping the future generation I submit my heart full of wishes on this Teacher's day 2021. My professors at LDC helped me to find my identity in the world. They opened and showed me the world of Literature where I felt the sense of acceptance and belonging. The world which taught me so much about life and people as they say, "Literature is the reflection of life". It shaped my thought process. My Professors with their gentle demeanour took me to explore the poetical, prosaic mind of writers. They took me to the fantasy and fictional world of great authors. Never ever have I felt so much at home, as when I was in my English Department. Dr. Geetha Kanagaraj was an excellent professor when it comes to teach us the Indian literature. She taught us many abstract, complex and controversial literary topics. I was totally in awe when she taught us Feminism, which I say is a much abused topic in the world. She balanced that topic and gave us the clarity in our search for knowledge. She taught us to be assertive as women. One day while we were all in the newton block, she asked us to tell our grievances. When we opened up the issues with the rest room hygiene, she posed a question to all of us which struck me deeply. She listened patiently and then said, "As an educated individual, you are all supposed to raise your voice when you have seen the problem that is needed to be addressed, but you were all keeping quiet for such a long time". I was dumbstruck, what she said is true. What is the meaning of education, when we are not able to stand for ourselves?. She taught us to understand, relate and move with all kinds of people in spite of the difference of opinions, belief sets and principles. She taught us to stand against the superstitious beliefs in our nation which actually separates people in the name of religion, language, tradition and caste. She gave us an understanding of social issues that were in the society. She taught us how to be a sharp literature students, active citizens and responsible women. "Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing" said Mother Teresa. One professor who personified this was our dear Betty mam, I always wondered how she had that beautiful smile for everyone. She taught us to see the goodness in every person. She made the beauty of nature around us palpable. She taught the importance of appreciating little things in life. It was Dr.Suka Joshua who taught us to walk the talk. She taught us literature with a passion. She lived out the words "kindness and patience". Deborah mam showed the importance of updating oneself with the new technology and with trendy educational methods with her revolutionary teaching methods. Dr. Vijayarani taught us to see beyond the looks and find the beauty of one's heart. Dr. Jessy taught us to give importance to details in everything. It was Dr. Synthia Mary Mathew who taught us not to be gullible but to guard our mind above all. Dr. Rachel Barnabas taught us to be honest in every little thing. Dear Preetha mam taught us to go to depth for the analysis of poetry. Dew Lawrent mam taught us to respect every individual. Dr. Christiana Singh trained us to develop the habit of giving our best to God. Yes, these people shaped us with their walk, talk and with their living, they were walking epistles, they were lighting lives. When I was in college I always used to be very excited to wish my dear Professors on Teacher's day. I used to make cards for them which is one my favourite thing to do for people I love. The most adorable thing about the day is my teachers used to receive it with a bright smile. The bright smiling face of Synthia mam while she receives the card still stays afresh in my mind. How gently these people condescended their age, experience and expertise in their chosen fields, to appreciate the very little thing that I did for them was very touching for me. My most favourite memory of the Teacher's day was when we, M.A girls celebrated our Teachers together. All of us planned, designed the back of the laminated Bible verse card, wrote about our professors and gave it to them. The department celebrated the Teacher's day by gathering behind the J.X Miller auditorium with games and cake cutting. It was so wonderful to see our teachers participating in all games. All our Juniors were so enthusiastic and encouraging our dear professors in the games. We saw our teacher's fun side on that day, especially Dr. Rachel Barnabas participating and enjoying the event like a joyful child was unforgettable. The other side of the coin As I entered the profession of teaching as an Assistant Professor, I came to know the privilege of imparting knowledge to the young minds. It was an adventurous journey. Shaping the next generation with high moral, spiritual and subject knowledge is no joke. Managing the household works, preparation of the syllabus and work life balance requires huge physical and mental strength. About the present generation, their values and attitudes toward teachers and education is a lot different than what we had when we were students. Education as witnessed now in Engineering colleges has become more materialistic. It pains my heart to see students get into the college by paying lakhs as donation after securing high scores. They tend to lose the meaning of education, reason behind learning. Once in the real world their focus and attention is to earn what they paid as donations and fees, this is more alarming in the medical education sector. The moral values and the safe zones that need to be maintained between opposite genders are over ruled and looked as cool to be in that way ! Many don't know where we are headed to? It is pathetic to see students looking at teachers as their paid workers and themselves as clients, where has the humility gone?. No matter how smart the younger generation are with the technology, no matter how savvy they might become, no matter how much they will earn in future. We are losing them, literally. It is time to restructure the professional education streams, the humanities are doing much better in this area. It is an essential need to define the right meaning of education for them. Private Educational institutions have become more money minded. Teachers are never looked upon as an intellectual individuals who deserves respect and self dignity. The foundation of the education and society itself is revolving around money. Dr. Irai Anbu's pithy couplet summarises it all. அன்று எழுத்து அறிவித்தவன் இறைவன். இன்று எழுத்து அறிவித்தவன் வணிகன். Dr. Irai Anbu is the current chief secretary of Tamil Nadu Government and a senior most bureaucrat of the IAS. He is hugely popular with the student community. Hiring teachers at low pay and doing away with them in a short period of time, has increased the turnover rates and attrition rates in many institutions. Manipulating staff records when the officers pay a visit has become an accepted routine in well known rich private engineering educational institution. The worst point was when in Oct 2020 a leading private institution offered me a job offer but asked me to submit my friend's NET qualification certificate, I humbly but sternly refused, never to consider that offer again. I wish to know what we are trying to do in the name of education. I have seen the painful exit of professors from jobs along with the huge responsibilities they shoulder for their families. Everything is happening in a way to please the morally decaying young minds. Today, this is how the nation is teaching the value of teachers to the students. It is scary to see what the future behold with this growth of unreformed enormous institutions. As for Online classes, the lesser said the better, horrendous stories coming out after the PSBB issue surfaced few months back. I have always wondered why our country is lagging in certain areas when compared to the other nations. Why are we not able to produce better, competing, well equipped men and women in every field? We are stuck in the middle of the process. Our focus is on material success, it crumbles because of people with no strong values and principles. Sadly one of the reason behind all these malaises are educational institutions which churn out graduates mindlessly. The students need to have courses like universal values, understanding self, importance of woman's education, human resources and development and mental health. This will give a holistic development for a student at college level. Celebrating teachers is important and most important is to know what the future holds for teachers and students. We need Hope... a hope that we will have a better society. My prayers are that may the ruler of heaven touch the young generation and the foundations of the educational institution to the core.

My thoughts on felicitation programme and my Interview with Doakian, olympian Revathi Veermani. All the pleasant memories of the sports day flooded my mind as I watched the Felicitation ceremony at our Lady Doak college in honour of our fellow Doakian Revathi Veeramani. I had this blessed opportunity to stay at Pandita Ramabai hostel for three years and so was able to observe the sports girls closely. They were staying in the nearby Amy Carmichael Hostel which was just behind Pandita Ramabai Hostel. The sports girls were extraordinary in their dedication to practice for their events. While the other hostel students were taking rest, these diligent honey bees were always busy sharpening their skill set for their sport. They had this early morning training which from my perspective was hard to imagine how these girls trained, disciplined their body, endured pain and became strong, achieving more whilst doing so. No matter what pain they go through they will be present for the training without fail. All their hard work resulted in great appreciation on the college Sports Day. We fellow Doakian students would be amazed at their excellence in University level competition and National level competition. The pyramid show and the army mime by the sports students have always been my favourite. I used to get thrilled at what these women were capable of with their training. I remember we all getting trained under Captain. Dr. Shanthameena for aerobics. She trained us, danced with us and taught us so many group formations. (Later, I was so fortunate to meet her by chance on one of my trips in an OLA ride in Chennai.) One such formation is the "Olympic Rings". We were given Helium filled balloons in the five colours of the Olympic rings which was used in the formation. We could not resist shouting out loud when we saw our fellow Doakians forming the alphabets L D C, the three letters which united all of us as sisters under one campus. Never did we know that we were foreshadowing the near future with our symbolic representation of the Olympic Rings. Never did we know that the hands that trained us will also train an Olympian. Never did we know that from among our hardworking Doakian sports girls will rise a star will be get the whole nation's attention and hope. We are Proud of you dear Revathy. You have set an example for every young girl in India. I was totally caught up with the words of Dr. Christiana Singh on the live programme on Aug 12, 2021 (my choir director under whose tutelage I sang in the college choir for three years). She was the Professor who always aimed at perfection. Her speech came from her heart. Our dear principal mam referred a book called Romans from the Bible to appreciate the hard work of our dear girl. She called Revathy - a star. She referred the history of the college and told that in the long history of 73 years, Revathy has set a great record. Dr. Kavitha Rani, in her speech, said, "Had our beloved Katie Wilcox been alive, she would have hugged Revathy with a proud heart." These words moved me to tears. Indeed our Revathy has earned glory for everybody and everything that LDC College represents. I was so impressed with the speech of the highly educated, people oriented leader, Dr. P.T.R. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, the honourable finance minister of Tamil Nadu. He insisted the need for our nation to set a Goal in developing the required infrastructure for the development of sporting talent. He stressed the importance of investment and incentivising sports in our nation. Dr. P.T.R is the grandson of the former chief minister of Madras Presidency. So, in his speech he said that people from a good background, who have a head start in life, when they achieve things, it is not that impressive. He declared that people like Revathy, for who ostensibly the odds were stacked against in life, were the real path-breakers. From her humble beginnings, she has shown an extraordinary growth which is miraculous. The coach of our dear sister Revathy was truly a magnanimous man. A most dedicated coach that I have ever witnessed. The college have him a huge sum of money to appreciate him, but he immediately gave it to Revathy herself. A down to earth man with a great vision is how I would like to describe this great man. My humble opinion is that, teachers like him shape the better future for India. He gave a very small beginning to the girl. He bought her a shoe, appreciated her abilities, strengthened her, sought help from people for her, stood with her to make her an excellent version of herself. He sent her to the Olympics Games!!! Revathy would not be where she is today, had it not been for the sacrificial life of her grandmother. The woman who brought Revathy and her sister up. The grandmother was crucial to Revathy as she gave the complete freedom to go after a career in sports. The sporting career paved a way for Revathy to secure a job in the Indian Railways as a TTE (Train Ticket Examiner). This is a direct comparison with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, M.S.D, who was also pursuing a career in cricket while working in the Indian Railways. Her grandmother showed much gratitude in her speech to the professors, by addressing them as Revathy's mothers. From my heart, I could say, as a Doakian, we are all privileged to have such professors who have the heart of gold, the heart of a mother in them. I am ever grateful and indebted to them for the love and care they have shown towards me. As Dr. Christiana Singh said, the whole progamme is an encouragement not only for our star Doakian Olympian Revathy. But, for each and every one of us, who studied, are studying and will study at the prestigious Lady Doak College in the coming days. It is a symbol of what every Doakian is capable of achieving in life. Achieving greatness is possible for all. As women, many of us are losing our goal because of the various burdens and responsibilities which life has vested on us. We are the same women who got our values and education under the people who created an Olympian and made history. We are meant, equipped to create one too. Cheer up my fellow Doakians, take little steps a day, be consistent, have discipline, have faith, have vision for greatness. We will be soon creating one. The article which I published when I was studying in our college magazine was called as "Natchathira Kalloori". I wrote it in Tamil. I called the college, "a star". Just like how a star showed way to the wisemen when our Lord Jesus was born. We are called to show the way, lead the way. We are the chosen ones of God to bless others, bless the nation with what we have got from our star college, from our beloved, LDC. The Interview with Olympian Revathy. After seeing this felicitation programme, I had this earnest desire to meet this star woman of our LDC. When I share my thoughts with my dear friend Sheeba who is now working as an assistant professor in English Department, she revealed the fact that this incredible young woman was her student in the English subject. With her help, we shared all the questions with Revathy Veeramani. Revathy answered our questions. I have learned many lessons from her interview. I was surprised when she said she has no role model but she competes with herself. I felt her reply was excellent that she tries to be the best version of herself everyday. She also said whenever she gets tired, the only thing she used to ask herself is, "What am I going to do in life if I leave sport?". As she has spent so much of her time and energy in improving herself in sports, she made sure not to quit amidst any pain or challenges. I have attached my Interview with her here. Do listen and get motivated. Therefore my fellow Doakians, keep these words in your mind. Arise, Shine forth, for thy light hath come. (The Holy Bible). Now is the time to shine. References: https://www.theweek.in/news/biz-tech/2021/08/09/tamil-nadu-releases-white-paper-on-economy-says-gsdp-rate-declined-by-3-in-a-decade.html https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/olympian-revathi-is-a-motivation-force-for-girls/article35883566.ece

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. http://results.worldcolleges.info/12thresults/12thresult_2009/index.php 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. https://www.facebook.com/AG-Matriculation-Higher-Secondary-School-186111878095739/ 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. https://www.karunya.edu/ 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. Lady Doak College https://www.ladydoakcollege.edu.in 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. http://abdulkalam.nic.in/sp270804-4.htm 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. https://ladydoakcollege.edu.in/admission/files/Prospectus%202021-2022.pdf 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. https://cuactriennial2017.sched.com/sukajoshua 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.